September 29, 2004

BRING ME THE HEADS OF THE GUEST COLUMNISTS!!!!!

I have to admit I was personally amazed at the amount of hateful posts that were left about Danny Maverick's column yesterday. I don't think I would have gone into such detail with my personal vices, but I don't think he wrote about anything that we aren't all familiar with. I'm not saying that we are or have even been crack heads, but we've all been under pressure to the extent that we exercise unhealthy behavior. That could be drinking, smoking, punching walls, watching According to Jim, or voting Republican.

Furthermore, I seriously doubt that Danny is the first college student to take hardcore narcotics to keep with the pace of his class and work schedule. Face it people, Mountain Dew doesn't cut it for everybody. He seems like an educated enough guy, so if he fries his brain, that's on him.

As a host, Jeff has done a great job allowing us to write about topics that are of interest to us, and hopefully you. Obviously, a lot of you don't like Danny's column, and if I remember correctly, didn't care much for his first installment either. My suggestion is to not read it then. Jeff would not have posted it if he felt it was too vulgar or obscene. It may have been offensive to some of you, but according to Southern Baptists, a female deacon is offensive, so it's a matter of personal tastes.

Another thing that bothers me is that Chris, who everyone is harassing Jeff to cajole back, talked extensively about his drug use and lifestyle during his 20's. Had Chris been writing his column back then, I doubt it would be much different then Danny's now. So how is it that Chris is/was a fan favorite while Danny is a crack head? Seems pretty hypocritical to me.

When I first starting writing this column nine months ago, there were three other guest columnists, Chris, Buck, and Randi. Chris wrote for some regularity and then quit abruptly noting that he had had enough harassing emails from readers. Buck may be too busy to contribute or just lost his desire to. Randi was blasted to no end on the forums, so I don't blame her for quitting. I suspect the only reason I haven't been booed out of here is that I generally bypass hot-button topics like politics, drug use, and corporate imperialism. Personally, my opinion on politics won't change yours, I don't even like taking aspirin, much less crack, and I generally hate giant corporations because they have way too much power.

It's obvious that a lot of you have your own opinions and stories to tell. So instead of blasting someone else's, why don't you submit your own?

MORE THINGS THAT PISS ME OFF

Mike & Ike's - these used to be one of my favorite candies. I used to go to the store and buy the big box for a dollar, sneak them into a movie, and down the whole box. Recently the makers toyed with it and now it sucks. First, they added an awful Strawberry flavor, and then shrunk them down to the size of Good N Plenty's. Why does what little joy I have in life have to be tampered with? I hope Willie Wonka goes out of business now.

Car Insurance - I hate paying car insurance. I pay roughly $600 a year to the car insurance company to be allowed to drive my car (valued at $800) back and forth to work. I live far enough away that I can't walk to work, but I have so little faith in the city transit system to get me back and forth to work in a timely manner that I pay the $600 instead. Plus, I have to go through relative no name companies to get the best rate. I called Geico a few months ago for a quote and they said it would cost $1000 for six months of liability coverage on my 1981 Oldsmobile 98 Regency. This is with no violations mind you. God forbid if I had a speeding ticket. My last insurance company dumped me after I was two months into a pre-paid 6-month insurance policy and sent me a refund check in the mail. No reason or explanation. Of course, I didn't know it was cancelled until I got the check in the mail. By the time it reached me, the policy had been cancelled for a month. If I had gotten pulled over and taken to jail for the night for driving without insurance, there would be some dead car insurance salesman in the Athens area right now.

Dazed & Confused - Ever since I talked about this movie last week I've wanted to see it. However, after driving all over Athens on Saturday, the movie is no where to be found. It looks like I'll have to order it online for the same price I could have bought it at Wal-Mart for six months ago. But now I'll have to pay for shipping.

SEASON OF THE INJURY

It's a dangerous time to be an NFL football player this year. This weekend alone two starting quarterbacks were seriously injured and probably will not play for the remainder of the season. In the case of Rich Gannon, his career is probably over after he suffered a broken vertebra in his neck. He'll be fine, but he won't be able to play football for a while. That's what he gets for being a Raider.

The Bears lost Rex Grossman to a season ending knee injury. Tough break, but did Bears management really think they were going to build this team around a University of Florida quarterback?

Thankfully, the Denver Broncos have been injury free this season, even though Quentin Griffin played like he was hurt yesterday. One of the best known rules in football is that as the season progresses, the healthier teams go farther. The Tennessee Titans are the only exemption to this rule.

POKER

Sorry, I couldn't have a column without mentioning poker. Anyway, I just wanted to note that in the last two days, I won two tournaments. One with 207 participants and another with 167 participants. My two-day winnings amount to $143.50 for about 3.5 hours of combined playing time. Since it is slowly beginning to look that my job may be cut due to continued budget tightening (not that I would care that much), I'm happy that my practice and skill are
starting to pay off with some regularity.

That's all for today. Maybe I'll give an in-depth expose about my addiction to sugar cookies next week. You can reach me at jacsv76@hotmail.com.

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