Y'all don't know what it's like, bein' male, middle-class and white. http://www.twoglasses.com Sat 29 Jan 2010 11:30 EST Hey All, guess what? I'm moving! Well, not really. TwoGlasses.com isn't going anywhere, but the blogging related program activities will now be here. Yeah, after all this time I've decided to use blog software. What a concept... Blogging http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002649 Sun 22 Jan 2010 13:15 EST A month or so ago, my dreams of the Jets getting to the Superbowl were naught but fading embers, their once-mighty flame blown out by the blow out in Foxboro and the ashes further cooled by a mind-boggling loss to the lowly Dolphins. I had pretty much accepted the fact that while coach, QB and team showed enormous promise, they were at least a year or so away from the Promised Land... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002648 Fri 14 Jan 2010 18:00 EST Hey All - or should I say "Hey Some" - I thought I'd put this out there now since Tracy, Angelos, Fridge and I will be rolling out of the Shire dark and early tomorrow and I'm not planning on bringing the laptop with me. Our plan is to get to Rehoboth Beach around noontime. There we will rendezvous with Chris, Michelline, Rose and Rose's husband for Chris' 40th birthday brewery bash at the one and only Dogfish Head. Looking forward to a great time with good friends. Wish the rest of you could be there... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002647 Mon 10 Jan 2010 20:00 EST Tossing out a fresh Couch for anyone watching Oregon take on Auburn in the BCS "Championship" game. I have not so much as a teacup chihuahua in this fight, although I supposed if threatened with some scathing liberal rhetoric -- we all know that's what really hurts people, right? -- I'd back the Ducks. They're the underfowl and they're from the beautiful Pacific Northwest, which resonates with me a shade more than Alabama is ever likely to... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002646 Sat, 08 Jan 2010 15:00 EST Putting this out there now in case I'm not out of work hell before the first game. Ack. Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002645 Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:30 EST I thought about putting together a new Year-End questionnaire this year, but after looking this one over I realized it really does touch all the bases, cross all the i's and dot all the t's. Also, it's become something of a tradition. And also, I'm lazy... Miscellany http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002643 Sun, 26 Dec 2010 12:45 EST Hey all, how's the Christmas hangover treating you? Snow is falling here in the Shire as we hunker down for the first storm of the season, a major nor'easter expected to dump up to a foot and a half of snow on us. The stinkin' Patriots once again bump the Jets today - I think that's the fifth time this year - but rather than head out to a sports bar on a snowy, blustery day we'll be availing ourselves of HowardLink to watch the Jets on the laptop while New England toys with Buffalo on the big screen. The fridge is bursting with leftovers and we've got beer galore. Tracy's going to put together a batch of jalapeno poppers and I'm planning on grinding up some ham salad later on. Good times. Add to that the fact that I anticipate working remotely tomorrow and today should be quite little party... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002642 Sun, 19 Dec 2010 12:45 EST Hey all, just got back home from Boston and I'm trying to get this Couch out there under the wire. Busy day on tap here. Tracy and I are kicking off this week's Clean-a-palooza during the early games. Casa de Toast is a friggin' sty and we need to get things under control before we have family over for Christmas. We'll have the G-Men on in the background (GO BIG JAKE!) and I'll have one eyeball on the score in my frat league fantasy playoff matchup (GO... KERRY COLLINS!) but mostly we'll be tidying, dusting, cleaning, vacuuming and whatnot... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002640 Sun, 12 Dec 2010 11:30 EST Good morning from Couch headquarters here in the Shire where it's rainy and chilly outside but warm and comfy inside. We've got a fair amount to do today, including getting started on X-Mas cards, cleaning and decluttering the house, and a variety of other chores. I'm hoping to get a little work work done, and also to get cracking on my shopping for Tracy's X-Mas gifts. Nevertheless, we'll still be making time for football. Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002639 Sun, 05 Dec 2010 09:00 EST Hey, football fans, what's goin' on? Busy morning here in the Shire as I try to get my shit squared away for my trip to San Fran. Clothes are packed and I'm checked in for my flight. Need to pack toiletries and technitries. Can't forget my books, either. 'Shift will be happy to know that Why We Suck, which he was kind enough to give me for my birthday, will be making the trip. Between that and book three of Song of Ice and Fire I should be all set for the nine hours of flying I've got out and back... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002638 Sat, 04 Dec 2010 18:00 EST Big game tonight for the UConn Football Huskies (7-4) as they take on the University of South Florida (7-4) for the Big East championship and a BCS bowl berth, both of which would be firsts for Connecticut. I hadn't been following the Huskies too closely after they got off to a shaky start this season, but I'm jumping back on the bandwagon tonight. GO HUSKIES! Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002637 Sat, 04 Dec 2010 09:30 EST I need to pack. Well, not yet. First I need to clean two bird cages, then do a little shopping - I need a beard trimmer and one more pair of 40" pants, preferably a neutral-colored pair of jeans - and then I need to pack. I'm heading west tomorrow, all by my lonesome. My company has seen fit to dispatch me to the DreamForce conference in San Francisco along with a half dozen or so co-workers, so I'll be departing BDL for SFO (via MSP) at 11:20 AM. (I hope I get to go through a Naked Machine instead of having someone touch my junk.)... Miscellany http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002636 Sun, 28 Nov 2010 10:45 EST Greetings, Couchers, and welcome to what I suspect will be a rather quiet Sunday of football 'round these parts. The Jets, Saints and Cowboys all played on Thanksgiving. Clan Howard is busy ransacking shopping centers throughout northern Florida. I've got a few hours planned outside today, finishing the job of putting up our outside lights, and after that Tracy and I will be trimming the tree and decorating indoors. Safe to say football will be running on a background thread today... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002635 Sat, 27 Nov 2010 08:00 EST I think what really bugs me about the term "chillaxin'" - beyond its gratingly superficial hipster cutesiness - is the fact that it fails utterly as a hybrid neologism because it combines two terms that mean the same fucking thing. Culture http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002634 Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:30 EST Hey there, football fans! Are you ready for some pigskin pageantry? 'Cause I sure as hell am. Damn, I haven't been this jacked for a Football Sunday in some time. We've got our Jets going at home against one of the worst pass defenses in the league, so I expect Sanchize to get his swerve on at warp speed. For the late game we've got a tasty little thang called Manning vs. Brady Part Onze. I'm seriously - seriously - pulling for my man PeyTON to upset the Pats. Those bastards shouldn't be 7-2 right now. They haven't got the defense to merit that record. They need to be a few games in back of us, and Manning is the guy to start getting that done. And then, for the night cap, we've got the Mighty Men of G versus the Unstoppable Dog Torturer. We don't normally stay up for the entirety of Sunday Night Football, but I think tonight's matchup might merit an exception... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002633 Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:30 EST I'm not offended that FOX News chairman Roger Ailes called NPR executives "Nazis". Right wingers, apparently still unaware of Godwin's Law after all these years, use "Nazi" the way normal people use "asshole". It's a verbal tic with them at this point, and thus easy to shrug off. No, what angers me about Ailes' diatribe is his accusation that execs and producers at NPR "don't want any other point of view" (one assumes he means "other than liberal") on their shows. I repeat, he was talking about NPR. That would be the same NPR which has for years now been painfully obsequious and accommodating towards the Republican establishment; the same NPR which absolutely never offers a liberal take on events in their news shows without a countervailing conservative viewpoint for "balance"; the same NPR which has spent much of the last year or so giving free publicity to clueless "tea party" knuckledraggers. That NPR - that very one - is the organization that Roger Fucking Ailes, head honcho at FOX Fucking News, the most successful political propaganda outlet in human history, accused of being one-sided. That is offensive. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002632 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:00 EST Today's contestants: David Brooks and Anne Applebaum. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002631 Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:00 EST Friends and readers, from the heart of the Shire I bid you good morning. It's a lovely day here in the 860 - sunny, breezy and crisp - and Tracy and I are looking forward to our first "normal" football Sunday in a month. Breakfast is on the horizon, and I've got a spicy Bloody Mary by my side. A last check of the fantasy lineups is in order. ESPN Sunday Countdown is on for background noise. The Jets have the early slot on CBS all to themselves. Got a bunch of big beers in the fridge ready to go. Seriously, this is the kind of Sunday I can really get behind. This is how I like to roll... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002630 Sun, 07 Nov 2010 11:00 EST As our vacation draws to a close, there is nothing I would rather do today than kick my feet up on the coffee table here at the ol' Toast Homestead, watch a little football, and take it easy. Alas, the fucking Patriots are on opposite our Jets, so that happy vision will not come to pass. Instead, we'll be heading out to the Cambridge House Brew Pub up in Granby to watch Gang Green take on the Lions. I suppose I should count us lucky that it's an early game rather than a late one. Rolling back home at 7:30 PM the night before returning to work after a long absence would suck a lot. But enough whining about that... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002629 Sat, 06 Nov 2010 10:45 EST "If John Boehner is speaker of the House for the next 20 years, he'll be lucky to match her achievements." -- William Saletan on the ridiculous notion that Nancy Pelosi's Speakership should be looked upon as a "failure" because of this election loss. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002628 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:00 EST I'm having a hard time getting too worked up about the shitty election results on Tuesday. Sure, listening to GOP hacks and liars bloviate on the airwaves about What It All Means is tiresome, but I'm finding it pretty easy to just change the channel or turn it off. Tracy's taking the beating much harder than I am. She was positively dour yesterday... Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002627 Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:00 EST In his speech last night celebrating the Republican Party's capture of the House of Representatives, House Speaker-elect John Boehner said "We hope that President Obama will respect the will of the people and change course and commit to making changes that they are demanding." I hope Obama and Congressional Democrats respect the "will of the people" to exactly the same degree and extent that Republicans did in 2006 and 2008. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002626