A Sensless Loss

So this weekend an old co-worker sent me a yahoo article that said that someone named Ryan Bricklemyer had been shot in the chest and had passed away. Now I was reading the article, so I knew it was not about me and just had an "That is awful" reaction. Today, I did one of those vanity google searches, which I do so often, and I started to see more of the coverage. Some of the local coverage and then it happened. I saw his picture. I knew who he was. It was the kid with the really bad hippos as his myspace background. I had been trying my best to make sure his page would come up after mine in search results for the past month. It was that kid.

He was an 18 year old high school student in Fort Cherry, a football player. A bigger kid with some amazing hair. He looked like a happy guy, every picture with a smile. I went back to his myspace and started to read. Posts from friends, family. Those in shock and remembering the good times. His friends talking about the way he was able to make them laugh. There are posts talking about his seat in class and his parking space, the space that will be left for him at graduation. He just seems like an amazing person.

Strangely I feel really attached to this guy who I never meet, never knew he existed six months ago. I feel for his friends and his family. It is a terrible loss. I am hopeful that I can have the personal impact on those I come in contact with as he did, as he has on me.

Rest In Peace : Ryan Bricklemyer, Fort Cherry PA, April 6 2007

Are You Kidding Me

I am not sure that you all know this, but the Phillies were a great hope in Philadelphia this year. Something else you may not know is they have started the season 1 and 6. That is right, One win, Six losses. Which means they are already five games under .500, five games back of the Braves and once again starting the season out about as bad as you can. The only thing keeping the Phils out of the basement in the NL East is the woeful Washington Nationals, who are currently 300/1 to win the world series.

So here we go again, another season of high hopes and disappointment, but there is something different about this season. Our starting pitchers have put in some gems. We really should have won three or four at this point. It has been the bullpen where the Phils have really come up short. Lets not overlook that after two games this season Ryan Madson, a former starter and jewel of the Phillies farm system, record stood at 0 and 2. He Lost Both Games.

I am still hopeful that Pat Gillick can do something to get some help in the pen. I am hopeful that my desires for a playoff showing are still valid. I am hopeful that I won't have to stop caring about baseball for the season in June as opposed to September.

My Head Must Be Enormous

No, I am not talking about my personal ego, though I am sure it contributes. I just wanted to point out that it is nearly impossible for me to find some sunglasses. Yes, this whole post is about sunglasses.

First, I think it is important to understand my current situation, and why protecting my eyes from the ever damaging rays of the hurtful sun. I drive... I drive all the time. Daily, I drive a hundred miles plus. I see the sun come up and go down each day, and that causes a problem, cause well, the sun is really bright.

In order prevent my ever precious eyes from being injured I would like to find some sunglasses. Now I am sure that for most of you this would not be a difficult venture. You take a trip to the mall or Target and pick up a pair. You may try on three or four, but eventually you find a pair that fits your face and look pretty good. This would be where you and I differ. When I take this trip I try on 10-15 pairs of this simple product and find that not a single pair look good. If i were trying to find a pair of swimming goggles I would be golden. Every pair make me look like I am a mad scientist. It is just crazy. It doesn't matter if the glasses are 10 bucks or 100, they all just look awful.

So here is my challenge to everyone who reads this, help me. i need some decent looking sunglasses for under a hundred bucks. Anyone who is successful gets dinner on me. Good Luck to all of you.

Dollar Dogs a Plenty!!

I am a born and breed Philadelphia Sports fan, sorry to those of you who are not. This means that I have some interesting, sports related, traits. In order to explain I would like to let you know about the following facts:

1. Our teams have not won a championship since 1983... I was 2, couldn't enjoy it.
2. Our Baseball team was the losing-est franchise of the twenty first century.
   
3. Our Football team has never, ever won the Super Bowl.
4. We did Boo Santa, but we had good reason.
5. We Love Our Sports, Our Teams and Our Players

I honestly believe that Philadelphia is one of the greatest sports town in the world. Our fans are knowledgeable, passionate and just want to win something. With all that passion comes a great deal of tradition. For example, the Eagles have a fight song, played on approriately on mummer style banjos. The baseball mascot is some sort of big green thing, but we love him anyway. We host the Army-Navy Game for crying out loud. But there is one, somewhat unsung, tradition that continues to create great memories for Philadelphians and visitors alike: Dollar Dog Night

Now I know other sports teams run promotions where they sell hot dogs for a dollar, but they are not the same. First for a buck at Camden Yards in Baltimore you get a little flimsy, slightly discolored, semblance of a thing. In Philly we are talking All Beef, Hatfield's Finest franks. These things are big. Not to mention the way the fans take to the dogs. In some parks you will see the number of strikeouts kept track of, or home runs, but how many places do you see competitions on how many dogs can be put down in nine innings.

My friend Matt and his wife Alyssa are headed to Dollar Dog Night on the 28th of May, and let me tell you, those Dogs don't stand a chance.

Two Blogs... Are you crazy?

Some of you may have gotten here from my 0ther blog, A Brick Once Said, others from my AIM profile, or Facebook, or anywhere else I put myself out there on the world wide web. All of that is cool, but it is important to clearly state why I have put up this blog in addition to my other presences on the Web. Mostly I am going to write here. Just write. It is pretty rare that I spout out my personal life to the people I care about, but for some reason putting it on the web seems like a safer, better idea. Judge that if you want, but ultimately it is the way that I choose to express my issues, happiness, sadness, frustration and elation.

The reason to have two different places for this is simple, they are different topics. While I think there is some value in making the links between the creators of each post, but ultimately this is really going to be a space where I can let it all hang out and put to "paper" just the stuff that is going on. If you like it, i hope you read it. If you don't, I am still going to put it here.

Happy Reading