Greg.sRant

Interesting piece of news. On Saturday, a Michigan couple got the surprise of their life - probably not the happy kind - when their pet chihuahua literally blew away.

Dorothy and Lavern Utley were setting up their display at a local flea market when Tinker Bell, an 8-month old long-haired chihuahua, was picked up and tossed by a 70 MPH gust of wind.

Luckily, there is a happy ending! On Monday, the Utleys, with help of a pet psychic, were able to locate the 6-pound pup over a mile away from where she was swept off. She was perfectly fine, except for being hungry and a tad dirty.

I'm pretty sure they will never look at frisbees  the same again.

Well let me tell you! Actually, it's on sellout.woot.com, but something I always wanted!

A Kai Shun Mandolin Professional Slicer!!!!

I didn't know that I needed - nor craved - something like this in my personal appliance collection until I saw this badboy for sale for a cool 250 (plus 5 dollars shipping). No longer will I have to be restrained by the hands of corporate America telling me how thin or thick I can slice my deli meats!

Without asking them, at least.

Also, if you have never checked out the mother site, Woot! is a great site to get things on the cheap, as long as you don't mind the whole one-sale-a-day thing. I got my Roomba off of it! Find it at www.woot.com.

Link: Sellout.Woot

So, I went out to play tennis today, and it was hot. Like, real hot. So hot, in fact, that I struggled to even make it through the entire game. Good thing I won.

 I have noticed this year so far that Mother Nature has forgotten the idea of ideal temperature. Usually in the springtime, you have at least 2-3 weeks of nice temperature before it skyrockets to almost unbearable humidity and temperature levels. Somebody must have forgot to turn off the wood stove in the sky, because we had maybe 3 days this year? Even those days were on the slightly windy side, but at least that made it cooler out.  Today was like almost summer temperatures, with it hitting about 90. And 3 weeks ago it hailed.

 Sigh.

Just for a few weeks I'd like to go out and not feel like I am going to suffer sunstroke or mirages.

You'll always be my golden girl. 1922 - 2009.

My thumbs feel cramped enough if spending 3 minutes sending text messages, so I wonder what it's like if you send over 200 thousand messages over the course of a month. Well, wonder no longer, as Lancaster natives Nick Andes and Doug Klinger have done just that. 217,000 to be more specific. I hope there were some twitter updates in that.

 That's not even the worst part, however. After their month-long textual tirade of trying to get into the Guinness Book, T-Mobile slapped them with a $26,000 phone bill. Not cool.

Being unlimited text message subscribers, they freaked when they saw that the bill came in a box that took 27 dollars just to ship, and called the phone company, who then credited their account and was "investigating the charges."

No word has been said whether or not Guinness will honor their attempt, but you guys are still amazing in my book.

Link: Yahoo!

So, apparently Miss USA was crowned tonight. Congratulations to Miss North Carolina for coming out on top of the other 50 contestants (States + D.C.) and asserting your dominance on the field of sex appeal and the ability to answer a question.

I did not know until researching a little bit more that Miss USA is not Miss America. Huh. Apparently, in Miss America, they need to perform a talent, which they do not do in Miss USA. Go figure. Also, Miss USA goes on to represent our nation in the pageant of hotties from around the world, Miss Universe.

There was some drama, as well. The question given to Miss California was regarding Same-Sex Marriage, and whether or not it should be allowed in the United States. Her reply, after a few seconds of soul searching, "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." Talk about being put on the spot. She went on to win runner-up, but that didn't stop a chorus of applause and boos to rain down from the audience. Afterwards, there was even a verbal brouhaha in the lobby regarding the topic.

Sounds like a very exciting time in the world of Miss United States of America. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch the pageant because I was too busy seeing Herschell Walker get fired from the Celebrity Apprentice by the hands of one Donald Trump. Who, coincidentally, also owns the rights to Miss USA.

Finally, a good day in the realm of Philadelphia sports teams.

In the wake of the death and funeral of Harry Kalas, the Phillies dropping 2 late inning leads, and the Flyers losing a game they should have won, the City of Homogeneous Bro Love came out swinging.

The Flyers returned salvo from a dismal set of games in the city of Pittsburgh to take a 6-3 win over the Penguins today, and bring them to a 2-1 defecit. I was very impressed by how explosive they were today in their play style. It seemed as if they were a completely different team, probably aware that they needed to win this game in order to stay in the hunt to move on. Last year their season was ended in the semi finals by the hand of Malkin, Crosby, and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins (who then got decimated in the finals by the Red Wings), so I am thinking that there is some bad blood left over. There were a lot of fights, some high sticks leading to blood being spilled, and an overall entertaining game.

The Phillies came back in the 9th inning to win it 5-4 off of a Raul Ibanez 2 run shot deep into the right field stands. That guy, he's paying dividends. He had some big shoes to fill in replacing Pat Burrell, and I think right now he's got Dr. Scholl's inserts or something, 'cause he's not missing a step. He is currently batting .386 with 5 home runs, 10 RBIs, and a whole lotta Philly love. He even got the traditional shaving cream pie in the face after the game, something I haven't seen in years. It was a good game, stressful but well worth the watch. I just wish Brad Lidge hadn't blown his first save in 47 regular season opportunities last night. But ah well.

And finally, the Sixers. Ohhhh, those Sixers. You underdogs, you. Coming back from down 18 in the 4th quarter to win it 100-98 over the heavily favorited Orlando Magic? Good thing you had the Lex Luthor to Superman Dwight Howard Andre Iguodala on your team to nail that 18 foot jumper with 2.2 seconds left, or else it could have gotten ugly in Philly. Dwight got away with a ton of things, too. He travelled at least 4 times where it went unnoticed by the refs, and of course he dominated the paint with 31 points, 10 rebounds (his best performance in a post-season game). But what mattered was keeping the outside shooters of the Magic in check, and that's exactly what the Sixers did. But don't get too comfortable, Philly, as remember that you guys won the first game versus the Pistons last year, and then they promptly sat you down the next 3 games. I feel good about it, and even better that we were able to snatch a game we probably shouldn't have won.

So yeah, that is about the extent of the Philly news this weekend. Man, there has been a lot of sports posts, hasn't there? I guess it's because it is such a hotbed right now, with 2 playoffs going on, and another season starting up. Plus I am a huge sports fan, so that can help to explain why I put so much effort into it, haha.

I recently rekindled my love for this song, band, and music video when I requested this song on my friend Steve's radio show. You can check him out at http://djdallasjones.com/.

God, it's so good... Basement Jaxx can write a fine piece of music. 

 It's official.

John Madden has retired from the sport of football.

This comes as kind of a surprise to me, because I thought John Madden would be involved in the sport forever, or until he scoffed down his last Bloomin' Onion. But he announced his retirement Thursday, midway through a 6 year contract with NBC. He cited wanting to spend time with his family, and righfully so, since he has been active in the NFL since 1967.

I think it's because Brett Favre finally retired, and he has nobody to adore anymore.

To be honest, I never really "got" John Madden. Dick Ebersol has called him "the greatest sportscaster of all time," and of course that can't be right, because that would obviously have to go to Joe Buck. (Ed.: That is a LIE! HATE)  I just got really confused whenever he spoke. Frank Caliendo did it best when he went on his Madden rants. Priceless entertainment.

I don't think we have seen the last of Madden. He's going to pull a Favre himself and un-retire, reviving himself as an analyst for the Arena Football League or perhaps the XFL (you know it's coming back).

Regardless, hats off to you John Madden. And you still have the top grossing sports game of all time. Unless EA Sports combines all the major sports next year and renames it Joe Buck's All Around Sports Broadcast Challenge: The Quest to Hate Philadelphia Even More. Not to mention Outback steakhouse. Thanks for being there Mondays nights for much of my childhood, and the hours of me shaking my head wondering wtf you just said.

Here is Susan Boyle. She is 47, lives alone with her cat Pebbles, and has proclaimed to have "never been kissed." I guess that is the way to make a voice so pure, words can barely describe it. She is truly amazing at singing, and I hope that life takes her down a path of greatness that she so rightfully deserves. Apparently Simon Cowell's Sony BMG label is already in talks with her.

Brava, brava, bravissimo.