[Shrek] Turns out the April Fool is Dr. Melinda Boone

For those that don't know who Dr. Melinda Boone is, she is the superintendent of Worcester Public Schools. Part of her job is to cancel school due to inclement weather.

In a statement released to media in late March last year about an incident where an autistic child was allegedly assaulted Boone said “Worcester public schools takes student safety very seriously and has taken immediate and appropriate action.”

It is snowing over an inch per hour, the roads are nearly impassible with accidents being reported all over the city, and several of the colleges in the city have closed for the day. But as of right now the public schools are open.

So much for caring about student safety.

[Shrek] A Not So Positive Post

I think all the snow is starting to irk me a little, so while I'm in a bad mood allow me to mention a few people that have raised my ire the last few days.

The douchebag driving the Pontiac Aztek who pulled out in front of Fiona and I Tuesday morning on the snow covered roads. Good thing you fishtailed in front of us because if you hadn't we would have plowed right into the back of you. I'm sure the Honda Accord in the oncoming lane that nearly drove into that snowbank was happy to see you too.

And speaking of Tuesday morning, the meteorologists who called for "a dusting to an inch" that morning that turned into 3" to 5" made me wish I could screw up as often as they do and still keep my job.

Continuing on the subject of snow, I'd like give a shout out to how well the city of Worcester has cleared the roads after all this snow we had in the last 30 days or so. And by "how well" I mean "could you possibly have done a worse job?". A word of warning to people heading to the city, if you park at a meter and can't get to it to put money in the "parking enforcement officers" will still ticket you.

Even more on snow, why does the city of Worcester demand people shovel the sidewalks that abut their property (and for folks that live on Meadow Lane, sidewalks that used to abut their property) but the city doesn't clear crosswalks and handicap ramps from snow? There's also miles of unshoveled sidewalk abutted by city property.

I'd also like to mention that one of the biggest morons in morning talk radio, whose name I refuse to mention because he's such a jerk, got one of the nicest guys I have ever met fired and replaced him with someone that is nothing more than a parrot. I guess I should be a little happy for SW (full name withheld, but most will know who he is) because he no longer has to work for that train wreck of a station in WTAG, but being out of work in this economy does suck so I wish him well.

Here are a few things I've been reading the past week or so...

The new Governor of California Jerry Brown is cracking down on workers who have a state paid cell phone. Not exactly a huge cost savings, but every penny counts.

Speaking of debt, ever wonder how they come up with credit card numbers? It's a quick, interesting read.

As a music fan I found this very funny. No mention of greatest hits or live records, though.

The bowling alley here in Worcester has a rotary phone, so I found this an amusing little tale.

Regis Philbin, the King of morning TV, has announced his retirement. I can't recall the last time I watched his show, but whenever it was I recall thinking he was a little out of it and looked like he was being led around like a small child.

And to make sure I end on a positive note, here's an uplifting story about a Southwest Airlines pilot doing a good turn for folks that suffered a huge tragedy in their lives.

[Shrek] Go get 'em Joe!

There is nothing worse to a writer than to see your work stolen by someone else.

Now I'm not talking about someone "borrowing" your words and then giving you credit, because there isn't much cooler than that. I'm talking about people just out and out stealing your words and then claiming they are their own. It's happened to me on the hockey and sports blogs I contribute to, and I've had message board posts "stolen" and added to newspaper/blog stories without credit being given.

Each time it's happened I've gone after the people responsible to get the credit I felt I deserved. The vast majority of time it just takes one e-mail and all is resolved, but occasionally it takes what would seem to be more effort than it's worth. But I do it anyway.

Now I don't know who "Joe" is, other than he's the writer that owns a site called Backyard-Hockey.com. It's a nice little site with lots of good stories that he obviously takes a lot of time preparing, and I read it whenever there's a new post.

So I was pretty disgusted when there was a post on backyard-hockey saying the Manchester Union Leader plagiarized one of backyard-hockey's stories. Now it did turn out that one e-mail set everything mostly straight, but it still amazes me that someone could be dumb enough to take content from a niche site and think that anyone interested in reading the information wouldn't recognize the information as coming from a blog dedicated to that topic. It also amazes me they offered no apology.

So, on behalf of the Union Leader, allow me to apologize to Joe...I'm sorry there are lazy writers that try to steal the content and hard work of others, and I'm sorry that what was once a proud newspaper but is now a shell of its former self couldn't say the words "we apologize" to you.

[Shrek] Unladylike Behavior?

For those that don't know, the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team beat the US 2-0 to win the gold medal. After the arena was empty of fans the ladies returned to the ice to celebrate their victory...












From Yahoo, about the "incident"...

The celebration raised eyebrows at the IOC, which said it would look into the matter. Informed of the antics by The Associated Press, Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, said it was "not what we want to see."

"I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values," he said. "If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public. We will investigate what happened."

(Marie-Philip) Poulin, who scored both goals, doesn't turn 19 — legal drinking age in British Columbia — until next month. The drinking age in Alberta, where the Canadian team trains, is 18. Photos showed Poulin on the ice with a beer in her hand.

"We understand that they were asked to go back onto the playing field after the stadium had emptied to take a photo," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "We understand that some people may have felt that their behavior was over-exuberant."

Steve Keough, a spokesman for the Canadian Olympic Committee, said the COC had not provided the alcohol nor initiated the party.

"In terms of the actual celebration, it's not exactly something uncommon in Canada," he said.

While the committee does not condone irresponsibility, Keough said, "I think Canadians understand it's quite an emotional moment for our team. It was not our intention to go against any IOC protocols."

Not even uncommon at these Olympics. After Jon Montgomery won a gold medal for Canada in skeleton, he walked through the streets of Whistler guzzling from a pitcher of beer that he gripped with two hands.

The International Olympic Committee is the single most corrupt organization on the planet, and they have the audacity to give athletes trouble because they celebrated in a virtually empty building something they have spent their entire lives to accomplish?

The IOC really needs to STFU here, and so do the mental midget worrying about Marie-Philip Poulin drinking underage. I don't condone teenagers drinking alcohol on a regular basis, but there are a few times where I don't have an big issue with it. Winning an Olympic gold medal is certainly on the list of times where it's OK.

[Shrek] You're kidding, right?

A portion of a story about First Night Worcester 2010 making some changes for this year's event...

First Night Worcester 2010 has canceled its annual fireworks display, citing a decrease in donations and the lack of a sponsor.

The earlier fireworks show for kids is being replaced by a giant Bubble Wrap carpet on the stairs of the Worcester Auditorium, where kids can stamp on the Bubble Wrap and “pop” their own fireworks.

Bubble wrap? Really?

REALLY?

Morons.

The whole story from the T&G

[Shrek] Am I wrong here?

Imagine you have tickets for a concert that you've paid decent money for, and when you arrive at the venue you're told that there is a very slight chance the building could burn down because a nearby building is on fire. But because the chance is so slight they've totally discounted the possibility and they've blocked all the fire exits with more seats so they could sell more tickets. Right now you're thinking that could never happen...

...but that's almost exactly what the Worcester Tornadoes did Friday night.

With a severe thunderstorm warning and (ironically enough) a tornado watch covering our area, the Worcester Tornadoes opened their unprotected ballpark as scheduled for fans with tickets to the BBQ tent. Yep, that's right folks; with the National Weather Service issuing those watches and warning, the Tornadoes decided to allow fans to enter their unprotected ballpark and sit under a tent.

And here's some important information--the Tornadoes have no viable evacuation plan for their ballpark. Their evacuation plan is to have fans at the ballpark exit through the main gate and enter the parking garage next to the ballpark. A parking garage, I might add, that sits higher than the ballpark it serves, and certainly doesn't qualify as a "safe structure" if severe weather were to strike.

Oh, the best part? The BBQ tent is the furthest away from the garage that you can get and still be in the ballpark. And because it's at field level, you'd have to climb to the top of the seating section before you could even make your way out of the ballpark.

Because of the watches/warnings, and knowing the Tornadoes have no ability to protect fans at the ballpark, Fiona and I didn't go to the game. The Tornadoes, after allowing fans into the ballpark, waited out the rain and started the game at 8:45pm, meaning according to their policy I'm not entitled to a refund.

Right now the person who ran the event for us has an e-mail in to the Tornadoes asking for one anyway. If the Tornadoes have any business sense, they'll be writing us a check. If they don't, this could turn into a PR nightmare for them.

[Shrek] I Couldn't Care Less

Lots of people totally mangle the English language when they speak. Part of it is laziness, part of is regional dialect, and I'm sure there's a small amount of wanting to sound more educated/intelligent than they really are. When I hear someone butchering the language I usually just smile inside and don't correct the person. I couldn't care less how someone speaks, only that they can clearly communicate what they are trying to say.

What I could care less about is writers, especially professionals, that can't spend just a few precious seconds making sure they're using their idioms correctly. If you're going to spend time putting thought to words, how about trying to express yourself in a manner that makes at least a little sense.

Do you see what I did there, or could you care less?

[Shrek] Some Random Stuff

In our April 22nd post I said we'd talk about our recent voyage to Manchester, NH, so I shall start there.

A bunch of us from the Worcester Sharks Booster Club went up to Manchester to watch game two of the Sharks/Monarchs playoff series. Now I had been to Manchester a few times, and in fact had stayed at a hotel that looks down upon the Verizon Wireless Center. I had never been in the building, so it was something new for me on a lot of levels.

Because the trip was badly mismanaged the booster club went up in two vehicles--a rented mini-van, and my buddy Rich's Durango, which was the vehicle Fiona and I were in. We were joined by some other "Sharks buddies" Ernie and Dave. Dave is also a "Tornado buddy", so I'm sure you'll be hearing more about him in the future. The drive up was a lot of fun, a mishmash of conversations about our jobs, politics, and whatever else struck our fancy. It is here that I learned of the term "LBGs". It is extremely "non-PC", and I will not explain what it means. But I do expect to use that term a lot in the future.

So we arrive in Manchester and the first thing you notice is the Verizon Center has no lobby. Everyone is lined up outside in front of the doors waiting for them to open. Luckily it was a beautiful evening so it wasn't a problem. I can envision huge issues if it were raining or snowing, something that happens frequently in the winter.

The mini-van that was driven by Chris had arrived before us, and they were at will call getting our tickets. I was not shocked to find out there was a problem, which luckily were easily solved. I will refrain from posting about how funny it was watching Chris, who has some form of chronic laryngitis, try and communicate with the woman inside the ticket booth.

So into the building we go, and it is an oddly designed place. As you walk around the concourse you go from the standard arena look to what looks like office space, and back again. We made several stops at the Monarch's Booster club table, where they were all generally nice folks. However, the vast majority of the rest of the fans are complete numbskulls.

As the game went on every hit by a Monarchs player resulted in huge cheers; every hit by a Sharks player caused a whine so high looking for a penalty you'd have thought the building was full of preschoolers. It got to the point where we'd laugh at the crowd's reaction. Unfortunately, they got the last laugh as Manchester won the game in double OT, 4-3.

One odd aside, while we were in Manchester several of us commented how good the food was, and how there was a much wider selection over the DCU Center. Later in the series there were several Monarchs fans that came to Worcester and told us how much better the food was in the DCU Center over the Verizon Center.

I guess the saying "the grass is always greener..." fits there.

In other news...

My fall bowling leagues are just ending. In my Thursday league I had the second high average on the team and bowled fairly well throughout the season. In my Monday night league I was, well, terrible. In neither league will my teams finish in the top half, which is a shock because in the Monday league we led the pack at the halfway mark.

Tuesday will see the summer couple's league start, and I'm changing teams from who I bowled with the last couple years. I'll be bowling with Fiona, Rich, and Josie (you can read one of Josie's blogs that is linked in the right side menu). I'm going into that league to have fun and just stay loose over the summer...or so I say now.

With the Sharks being eliminated Fiona and I will focus on the Worcester Tornadoes (Can-Am league baseball) when that season starts. For now we're passing time watching the New England Surge (Continental Indoor Football League).

I'm sure there's some other stuff I'm not remembering right now, so until next time...