Short Post - Pop Warner

So apparently Pop Warner, the governing body of a lot of youth football leagues, is putting a ban on kickoffs for it's three youngest divisions, everything ages 10 and under.  Well that has to be the stupidest damn thing I've heard in a while.

I realize that it has become a growing concern in this country that our children be SHELTERED from every little thing that we can possible shelter them from, but this is ridiculous!  If you don't want your kid to possibly get hit by another kid, then don't put him/her in a CONTACT sport.

And I'm sure some of you who know me personally are going "But UA, you don't have kids so why is this a concern to  you?"  Well, since you asked, here is why:

1. I do not have kids, but want to have them one day and I want them to be able to do things as they were meant to be done, not some watered down, extra padded, version of them.
2. I do not have kids, but I have several who I care for a lot.  2 nieces, 3 god kids, and a host of others.  I want them to grow up in the "real" world, not a sugar-coated lie.
3. Getting skinned knees, bike rashes, going through poison oak, and a host of other things BUILD CHARACTER.  If our kids can't experience these things because they have been sheltered or things have been banned then they aren't humans and longer, they are sheep.

The Soap Box - Short End of the Stick

**The Soap Box is my series of pure ranting posts.  If you think I'm being personal in some of these...well it's because I am!**

So while I love living in the East Side of Orlando, with it's close access to just about everything in the world shopping-wise that I could ever need within a 3 mile radius, there are some shortcomings to the area.

I live in the zip code with the single largest population in the greater Orlando area.  It is larger than entire cities that are near by in fact.  While it is not in the Orlando city limits, it is considered Orlando and my address says that on it.  All of that having been said it makes absolutely no sense to me why the area is treated like it is by certain companies.

Amazon

I'm a huge fan of Amazon.  I have been a member of Amazon Prime since the year that they came out and continue to be a loyal member.  The savings in 2-day shipping alone has paid for the $99 cost itself (yes, I order a lot of crap).  Throw in Amazon Prime Video and I'm a very happy fat man.  In October 2015 it was announced that Amazon would be adding "Same-Day Shipping" to the "Greater Orlando Area".  Well, that is unless you live in 32828.  That little zip code with a lot of people in it.  And it sucks even more now because Amazon has just announced one and two-hour shipping on some products.  Not saying I ever need something THAT fast usually, but it would be nice.  Jeff Bezos is a jerk and I hope  his space craft blow up on the launch pad (with no people in them of course).

Cable

While cable television/internet prices are typically high and no one likes their provider for longer than the initial reduced-price year or two, at least most people have a choice on who they can get cable from.  Not in lowly 32828.  We are stuck with Dim...err...Bright House Networks.  And thanks to recent mergers if we COULD get Time Warner or Charter they would actually be under a larger umbrella with Bright House by year's end.  For television we could get a satellite, but that would still mean that we would be stuck with Bright House controlling the internet (which is appalling on it's best days).  We can't get Xfinity.  We can't order Uverse.  We can't have Fios.  We are stuck with Bright House.  It sucks.

Closing Thoughts

While I love living in the area that I do, it definitely has it's drawbacks.  As I stated earlier, we have some of the best shopping opportunities in all of Orlando.  Thousands of people come from other areas of the city to shop here and then return to their homes, sometimes just a couple of blocks out of 32828, where they get better cable service and can have Amazon send them something later in the day that they may have just looked at over at one of our shops.  Am I bitter, yes perhaps I am, but I think that companies should treat an entire area, especially when they list "Orlando area" for something, the same.

What About Bob?

This is the Levinson family (well, to be more specific, these are the seven grown Levinson children).

I've been lucky enough to have known several of them since I was in my late teens and an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida.  The oldest of the girls, Susan, was even my date to my first formal for my fraternity.

This is Robert Levinson, better known as Bob (pictured with his with Christine).

I have not had the chance to meet Bob personally, though I hope that one day this changes.  Why have I not had the chance yet?  Because, Bob is currently the longest held hostage in American history.  Back on March 9, 2007, yes, you read that right 2007, Bob was doing some work on Kush Island in Iran when he suddenly disappeared.  Besides a few proof of life videos and photos almost nothing has been seen or heard of him.  Other prisoners held by the government of Iran have been released, but not Bob.  The United States government owes this to Bob, a former DEA and FBI agent, and his family.  They owe it to every single person who knows and loves the Levinson clan.  They owe it to all of this country.

There is no way that I can say enough in this post to convey how much his family misses him.  How the grandchildren he has yet to meet want to be held in his arms.  How his wife wants to kiss her husband again.

I admit that I write a silly little blog, but this is not a silly little topic.  Please visit the sites below and read more about Bob and his family.  After you have been there, please call the White House and your government officials and demand that something be done to find out more about his current whereabouts and what is being done to bring this man home to his family.

http://www.helpboblevinson.com/
https://www.facebook.com/helpboblevinson/

Short Post - Invictus Games

This is going to be a very short post for me, but I don't want the importance of it to be lost.

The Invictus Games are currently going on at Disney World here in Orlando (where I may or may not be employed).  The Invictus Games, for those that don't know, are a Paralympic-like competition held every 2 years created by Prince Harry (yes, THAT Prince Harry).  The way that they differ from the Paralympic Games is that the competitors are ALL members of the armed services of the country that they represent.

Watching these events while working I am just in awe of how these people, who lost so much defending their countries, still manage to give so much back.  Showing that just because they lost an arm or a leg or an eye, they can still fight.  And not only that, it's not rare to see the winner of a competition go back down a lane or around a track to cheer on a competitor or teammate, or even give them a hand.  These heroes show us all what a human being truly has inside of them.

Invictus means "Unconquered" or "Undefeated" in Latin, and watching these men and women compete I truly have hope for our world knowing that those so many consider "broken" can be so badass.

Return of Short Posts

At one point, when I first started this thing, I had planned on posting more.  But what to post when I don't really have something to say?  Well, a short post obviously.  So here goes again, let's see if I can do this for more than a week without vanishing...

Earlier this week Donald Trump became, effectively as everyone else has dropped out, the Republican party candidate for the highest office in the land, the President of the United States.  And unless something really strange happens it looks like Hillary Clinton will be his opponent.  The funny thing is here is how many people are upset that Trump is getting the appointment by his party.  People are burning their voter registration cards saying that they are changing party affiliation among other idiotic things.  My only big thing here, and I'm still not sure who the hell I'll be voting for in the end, is obviously a MAJORITY of the registered Republican's in the United States of America want him to run for President and to win.  Yes, he has some crazy ideas (oh wait, that is all politicians).  Yes, he doesn't know what the hell he is talking about at times (again, all politicians).  Yes, he has a tribble living on his head that he borrowed from William Shatner's "TJ Hooker" days (OK, he owns that one).  But despite all this, he will still get the nomination.

The last thing I'll say is this; He is rude, he is crude, but he speaks his mind.  His opponent is boring, either a liar or an idiot (or both), but she has political experience that he lacks.

Screw it, I'm voting for Cthulhu.

Star Wars Day Thoughts

Well today is a day that many geeks, nerds, freaks, and any other term you can think of, look forward to during the year.  It's Star Wars Day!  So called because May the fourth, when said aloud, sounds very similar to the good luck saying in the Star Wars franchise of "May the Force be with you" (I am sure 99% of those reading this knew that but I felt I should give some background).  The "holiday" started in 2011 when the details for the complete blu-ray box set of the first 6 Star Wars movies were released.

While I enjoy this day, and will be forcing my very understanding girlfriend to watch "The Force Awakens" again this evening, the whole day got me thinking about some things.  20 years ago, though millions of people loved and still regularly watched the original Star Wars trilogy, if an idea like "Star Wars Day" had been brought up in a group of 10 people by one of them, most likely the other 9 would have looked at him/her funny and made jokes about it.  Now, thanks to the overwhelming acceptance of "geek culture" in this and many other countries, it is an accepted event.

Gone are the days, thanks in no small part to the wildly popular Marvel Comics-based movies, where a grown man can't walk down the street proudly wearing a shirt emblazoned with Captain America's shield, the Spiderman logo, or Superman's "S".  Comic books are almost back to the popularity that they were in the early 90's, when Stan Lee was a young 70-year old!

Video games, once thought to be a fad and for a specific type of counter-culture, are now mainstream, with nearly half of the United States having some kind of video game system in their homes.  And they aren't just for the pre-teen/teen-aged sons.  Soccer moms play games on their phones while waiting for their kids to get out of school.  Some companies even support "civilization-style" war games because it encourages team building.  We've come a long way from playing "Joust" and "Galaga" in a shopping mall arcade or neighborhood pizzeria.  One of the most acclaimed novels in the last couple of years, "Ready Player One", has to do with video games and the legacy that they have and will have.

Once upon a time the idea that TENS OF THOUSANDS of people would converge on a convention center in a major metropolitan area, dressed as their favorite comic book superhero, video game star, television character, or a storm trooper would have been considered ludicrous.  Now it brings in MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to an area in just a few days.  Even my hometown of Pensacola has gotten in on the act with Pensacon, which sells out within days of the announcement of when it will occur.  For reference, the area of San Diego that hosts San Diego Comic-con, by far the largest convention in the world, brings in roughly $140 million for that week.  THAT WEEK.

But, not all elements of this world have been so greatly accepted.  The stigma of role-playing games still abounds.  The idea of five or six pimply-faced teenage boys playing a pen and paper game with dungeons (oh no), dragons (oh my), and demons (oh Christ!), while scarfing down large amounts of pizza and sugary soda still scares people (we won't even get into LARPers).  Why?  Is it because unlike something on a movie or television screen it requires one to think more?  By the way, some pretty famous people have at least TRIED to play role-playing games: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kevin Smith, Stephen King, Joss Whedon (ok, we knew that one), Stephen Colbert, and even Tim Duncan.  Hopefully one day this will go away as well and more people will give it a try.  Until then, my girlfriend will continue to clutch my arm tighter as we walk past those rolling around a D-20 when I make her go to a comic book store with me.

I guess what I am trying to say is, while yes, all "geek culture" is not the same, I admit this, but a few short years ago almost none of this would have been looked at favorably or even acknowledged.  I think that if more people sat down and watched some people playing D&D or Rifts or even Warhammer 40K and saw the work that goes into playing one of these games then their opinion may change some. 

Maybe the modern "geek" has changed.  Maybe the world has also changed a little as well.  And maybe it could stand to change a little more.  All of that having been said, May the Fourth be with you and have a fun day no matter who you are.

Oh yeah, May the 5th, while known to most of us as "Cinco de Mayo", or the day we all drink a lot of margaritas, Coronas, and Dos Equis and pretend we are Mexican, is apparently also known as "Sith Day"...something I admit I didn't know.  Either way, be safe and have a strawberry margarita for me for "Sitho de Mayo".

Wackadoo's

This past week it was revealed that the student union at my alma mater, UCF, would be closing down a school tradition to put in a chain restaurant.  The tradition is a restaurant called "Wackadoo's".  Wackadoo's has been at UCF since 1995 (originally called Loco's) and was opened by a UCF alumnus named Scott (who despite being a brother of TKE is actually a pretty chill guy).

The restaurant, which takes up a section (can't say corner as the SU is a mostly round building) of the first floor of the student union just off the main atrium, is what you would expect from any bar/pub style restaurant anywhere in the country, mostly.  A good-sized bar with televisions for watching sports.  A lot of durable, polyurethand-covered, stop-signed shaped tables for the beers that will inevitably be spilt.  And a couple of pool tables and other video games to entertain those who don't just want to eat and drink.  However, for any fan of the UCF Knights it is a mecca of history.  Jerserys and other sports memorabilia adorn the walls while those previously mentioned tables have years of photos from UCF Knights sports, events, famous visitors and students sealed forever for the patrons to look at while enjoying that Fat Ass draft beer.

Wackadoo's has always been a great place for students, visiting parents, and alums to drop in and have something a little different than the normal chain food that is offered in much of the rest of the student union.  The wings are perfect, the burgers are huge, the beers are always cold, and the buffalo chicken sandwich is one of the best you will ever have.

There is a limited time to try and go get a meal there (end of May at the time of this posting), and if you live in the Orlando area and have never been, or haven't been in years like myself (up until this past weekend), I urge you to stop in, have a chat with Scott (as he is sure to be there), order a Fat Ass beer and a buffalo chicken (or if you are feeling really brave be one of the last to try "The Challenge", 2lbs of beef, 9 slices of cheese, 9 slices of bacon, a pound of fries, and a pound of smothered BBQ pork).  You'll either be filled with memories or create some new ones that you won't be able to repeat any time soon.

Also, if you happen to like those tables, Scott is selling them for $150 each.