So NOT Pretty

Ok...she's so NOT pretty but I can't help adoring this commercial. It makes me think of Tammy T everytime. AWESOME Commercian Nike! Here's to "the pretty girl" getting her ass handed to her in the finals today by Justine!

RAGE Takes 1st Place Again!!!

Wow...what a weekend. Our softball team returned to Milwaukee this weekend to defend our title at the Dairlyland Classic Softball Tournament. This year, however, we played under a different name. Roscoe's RAGE. Thank you Roscoe's for the sponsorship!

We started the tournament very poorly. We actually didn't play so badly, but our record indicated differently. We lost all three of our pool play games, got a poopy seed in the bracket and then to top it all off....lost our first game in the double elimination tournament. For those of you whom have played in a double elimination tournament. Being the first team in the loser's bracket is SO NOT where you want to be. So with Saturday coming to an end....we were 0-4. Can someone give me the Debbie Downer noise please? WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!! Not only that, we had to be back at the fields at 8:15am as our first game was at 9am. WE WERE DETERMINED to win this game. Losing meant being completely eliminated from the tournament by 10am. It'd be similar to Ms. Brost being the first one eliminated from Elimidate. Huge expectations and a huge disappointment.

Fortunately, we turned it on and played our asses off from 9am until just after 5pm. Games are 50 minutes long and each new game was scheduled to start on the hour. So this meant we had just 10 minutes between each game to do the line up, rest and get our heads back into the fight fight fight mentality.

I honestly thought we wouldn't place after the day we had on Saturday. And as the day moved on Sunday and we got closer and closer to bringing home hardware....i slowly began thinking it was really possible for us to win it all. We made it to the championship game along side New York City. However, being in the losers bracket still....we had to beat them not just once...but twice to win it all. Otherwise we were going home with a 2nd place trophy. We dominated the first game winning by quite a margin. The second game was much closer. Fortunately, we had a good inning and were able to maintain the lead to go home with the championship trophy. I must say....EACH AND EVERY PLAYER on our roster had a huge part at making this happen.

Oh yeah...thank you Ed for pitching!!!! GOD I MISS PLAYING SHORT!

Skrimps

Wow. I got lost in blog world for awhile tonight and came accross this picture. I HAD to post it. It made me laugh way to hard.

We've Got Friends in Low Places

United Airlines DC-10 Flight 232 crash

I was just sitting here thinking about the past. With the air and water show taking place right now in Chicago the loud noises i am hearing from all of these planes made me think of the plane that crashed in my hometown. It will be a day I'll never forget. United Airlines DC-10 flight 232 crashed in Sioux City killing 112, but 184 on board survived. The plane lost all hydraulic systems over Iowa, and attempted crash landing. Miraculously, there were more survivals than casualties.

stevegcole.com Turns One!!!

So today is the day. "A Random Collection of Thoughts" has turned One Year Old. I was about to type that "I can't believe it has been a year already" but honestly, it's felt much longer. I was just sitting at David's the other night discussing this very same thing. It seems we are so quick to say that time flies. While i agree with this statement, these less than 3 years i have been in Chicago have gone by very slowly. I feel like Davey and I have been friends for years and years..and that i have lived in Chicago for a decade. I am the luckiest guy in the world to have the friends that I have in Chicago. And to think that making friends was one of the things I worried about most with leaving Nashville. I was terrified I was going to be lost in a city of this size. It's kinda funny to think about in retrospect. I seldom walk down the street without bumping into someone I know. It makes me think I was meant to be here. I have been thinking about that a lot these past few days. My mother booked a flight this week and is coming to visit me in September. I am so excited for her to see my apartment, the city i live in, my nieghborhood and most importantly to see two of the most special people in my life. My sisters. It is very important to me that my mother knows I am happy. She's good at worrying. Isn't that what mom's do best? Fortunately, I feel confident that by just meeting Cook-a-reta and Betty...she will find comfort i knowing that I've got a little family of my own in the city that has been so good to me.

Ach Mein Gott

Leave it to Ian to take me out of my NERVA mood. Jordan & I have just instated the FUITH and MINERVA warning levels using the jacked up state of self defense 'code system' as our guidelines. I was well into code Yellow Minerva and working my way up to Code orange when Ian sent me the video below.....THANK YOU IAN for taking me into GREEN...free of all minervaness.

When Good Concubines Go Bad.

So the title of this entry sounds a little "Girls Gone Wild" but I assure you, it's not. My little concubine Connie moved to Chicago less than a week ago. (First off, thank you Momma for giving him the perfect nickname.) I am SO happy to have him back in town. I spent nearly every summer Sunday with James last year and am looking forward to doing it again this summer. Ah the memories.

So back to the concubine going bad. James and I had so much fun on Sunday that we decided to continue the fun into Monday. I had the day off so he and I went and played 3 sets of tennis. aka Connie went wrong. BAD CONCUBINE. She whooped my ass in tennis 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. (I blame the hot guy two courts down for the 6-0 set...where's my ridalin when I need it?)

We are off to play again tomorrow morning at 10am...assuming the rain holds off. He's one heck of a player...i look forward to him running my ass back and forth. I have a league match on Friday so this will be good practice for me.

It's bedtime.

Lillian Fontainne & Lady Lychee Present....

Latest Video Posted

I can't believe I'm posting this. I may even decide to remove it after a few days. Ms. Brost and I caught our infamous act on tape...enjoy while you can! Click the image above this post to view the movie.

Norma Jean & Nair

You know you have good friends when they plan an evil plot against you, and then forewarn you of their strategy. I got a phone call from Tammy Delusian this morning to inform me of his evil plan. He told me the next time he, Ms. Brost & I go out...they are going to slip a couple of Norma Jean's in my drink (aka Ambien) and then NAIR one of my eyebrows out.

I honestly was a little scared by the tone of Tammy's voice. She was WAY TOO EXCITED about this. I could not help but bust into laughter...it was too funny!

(please read this next bit sentence as if you had carrie bradshaw's narrator voice) So that made me wonder...What would I look like with a missing eyebrow?)

Thank you photoshop for allowing me to see this HORRIFIC sight.

Tammy & Ms. Brost.....I would do EVIL EVIL things if this "were" to ever happen!!!!!! FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!!!!

Love,
Steve

It's 3 am I must be lonely.

"she says baby
it’s 3 am I must be lonely
when she says baby
well I can’t help but be scared of it all sometimes
says the rain’s gonna wash away I believe it"

So it's 3am and I just got home from work. I am still a bit wired as I had a pretty busy night. I was just sitting out on the back deck watching the rain fall lightly and the lyrics to matchbox 20 entered my head.

I have two softball games in the morning. We play Buck U's and Crew Crush. Afterwards I think we are going to head up to Andersonville for the Midsommer Fest. Here's to looking forward to a good Sunday.

And Monday you ask??? Gay Great America!!!! WATCH OUT!!!

What the HELL is a Hoosier?

So I was chatting with a friend online today, whom we will from now on Call HoosierManKnx, and we got on the topic of sports. While we agreed on one team, the Volunteers, we didn’t really have much else to go with as far as supporting each other’s teams. All was good until HoosierManKnx dissed the Cubs.

This led me to the question in which I’ve asked many many IU fans over the years. While I was on edge a bit with HoosierManKnx’s blow to the cubs…I will be forever greatful for his response to my question.

HoosierManKnx first responded with….”Are you sure you want me to tell you the two stories?” I begged him….i have long been awaiting this answer…I had learned what a Sooner was….and FINALLY…after years of mystery…I have learned what Hoosier is…and it COULD NOT BE BETTER!!!! Now I know why Hoosier fans always “claim they don’t know”

Story #1
< HoosierManKnx > the original settlers of indiana came up through kentucky, settled southern indiana, and of course had a hillbilly drawl
< HoosierManKnx> and they all used to live in log cabins, like miles away from their neighbors
< HoosierManKnx so, when someone knocked at the cabin door, they kentuckians used to say "who's there"...which in their accent sounded like "who's ere"
< HoosierManKnx which became Hoosier

Story #2
back in the pioneer days, people used to be a little rough, you know
< HoosierManKnx and they'd get into fights and whatnot
< HoosierManKnx > well, legend has it that someone pulled out a knife in the heat of the moment, cut off someone's ear...but in the melee, nobody knew who's ear it was
< HoosierManKnx > so, again, in southern indiana speak, it became "who's ear"
< HoosierManKnx> Hoosier

RAGE

So it’s official. I suck at keeping this blog updated. I have started to write several entries but each time something comes up which causes me not to finish. This is going to end today.

Life is GOOD. A lot has happened since my last entry. Probably the biggest of these happenings is that I quit my “real job” at Special Events Management. I had a good time working there and learned a lot. But it was time to move on. I had grown to loathe it. So now I am working full time at XO. Not really what I want to do when I grow up but it will work for the time being. I am having a really good time there and it will allow for the perfect summer.

Speaking of summer, softball is in full swing. I am blessed to be playing with an amazing group of guys this summer. We’re a great team and we are having A BLAST together. We won our first game this weekend. I believe the score was 27-1. After losing close game after close game….it felt really good to have such a strong win. We needed it. And will be getting two more next week! ;)

If not…I think Chad said it best….”At least we’re pretty.”

"Arena"

So leave it to my good friend Ian to provide me with a crazy random Wednesday night last week. He called me last Wednesday afternoon while I was still at work and asked me if he could come over and shoot a scene for a 10 minute movie he was working on. I am a camera whore, and Ian knows this...we were standing in my kitchen shooting before I knew it. GOOD TIMES!!!

Click on the image above to see "Arena".

Opening Day at Wrigley

Wow! It's hard to believe that baseball season is already here. The cubs just had their opening day at Wrigley yesterday as they stomped on the Cards beating them 5-1. Today they came back at the end to beat them 3-2. My oh my how my neighborhood changes with the start of baseball season. I LOVE IT!!!! However, I do not love the parking situation.

I slept a record 16.5 hours last night as I was exhuasted from a week of too much work and too much partying. Last night I took a nap from 7-9pm woke up for a short while to bail out of a pre-bar party and then went back to bed and slept until 11:30am. Unfortunately, in this deep slumber, I forgot that i lose my parking spot during Cubs game. My roomate Tommy and I were in the kitchen sipping on some coffee this morning when we heard a loud knock at the back door. WTF??? Both of us were like...who the f*ck would be knocking on our door at this hour? It was one of the men in charge of parking cars behind our house. He said...welcome back to baseball season! To which i replied....i'm so sorry..i'll be right down to move my car.

It was just after 12 and the game started at 120pm. I was screwed. i somehow managed to find a parking spot one street over on Wilton (Thank God I own a jeep....i can fit into ANY spot) and was back home within 15 minutes. For those of you who know my neighborhood during baseball season...parking can be an hour long job. I thank you Gladys for taking good care of me. (For those of you who don't know...Gladys is the parking God...if you are good to her...she'll be good to you. Kinda like Momma in the musical Chicago.)

And with that...i must get ready for my cocktail shift at X/O. Stop in and see me!

Super Size Me

So I just finished watching the movie SUPER SIZE ME. Wow. I had heard all the hype when it was released but never got around to seeing it, that is until tonight. I'm disgusted. I couldn't have watched the movie at a more perfect time. I've been in a bit of a funk lately, as you may have noticed from the lack of blog entries. And with this "funk", came plenty of fast food. I'm not sure if it was the ease and laziness of picking up fast food or the cheapness and lack of money i've had these past few months that have led me back into the trap of fast food but after watching SUPER SIZE ME... It's about to dramatically come to a halt.

I am very fortunate as for the most part, I eat whatever I want. I would consider myself to be under the average weight for a man of my age and height. For this, I should be thankful. But we can't help but notice our every. I hate the gut I've acquired. It's probably something I'm pretty much destined to always have with me. It's just the way my body is designed. I have gotten myself back into the habit of the gym for the most part this year, but have continued to eat like crap. While I am happy to be the heaviest I've ever been in my life (164lbs), I still dislike the way my body looks. It's time I do something about it. Not just with fast food, but with all of my food in general. I'm lazy. And when you are lazy...it's easy to eat crap. So here’s to being more away of what I stuff down my throat. (I’m still talking about food here.) ;)

So with that said, I am setting a goal. You read it here. If you see me eating the foods below from now through the month of April. PLEASE CALL ME OUT!!! Summer is right around the corner.

#1 - McDonalds (even after a severe hangover)
#2 - A Toffee Almond Bar from Starbucks. (This is going to be tough...but I can manage as long as I still get my coffee)

Let's start out slow. This is going to be a tough one. DAMN I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS MORNING'S TOFFEE ALMOND BAR WAS THE LAST!!!

Harry Potter and the Brokeback Goblet

Broke MAC Mountain

Feliz Aniversário

Need I say more?