Peeves and non-peeves

Slow drivers in the fast lane. Cell phone talkers while driving. Gas prices while the government, which is owned by big oil, does nothing. Yankee fans. Phillies fans. Patriots fans. Dolphin fans. Any pro hoops fans. Actually, anything to do with pro hoops - it's just not like it used to be. Foreign golfers. Foreign tennis players. Tennis players. Nascar goobers. Dale Earnhardt fans. Dale Earnhardt Jr fans. Both Earnhardts. Democrats. Republicans. Whigs. Wigs. Sequels that suck which happens to be most of them. Prequels that suck which...them. Today's music. Awful. Today's TV choices. Pro wrestling. Tennis - I know, I'm being repetitive. Sue me. Speaking of which, lawyers. Drug commercials. Any of those mixed matrial arts things. Freakin' stupid. New Jersey bashing. It's up again since Jersey seems to be all over the place. Tweeter. Is that what it's called? Taxes. Hmmmm...let's see...I'll think of some more down the road.

Good things? Fast drivers in the fast lane. People who use their blinkers properly. Dogs. Otters. Dolphins. Monkeys. Armadillos, especially baby armadillos. Sports (most of them). Barbecued ribs with Penzey's Nothwoods Seasoning. Everyone has got to try this rub. Best I've ever made. Books. Most older movies. Abbott & Costello. The Marx Brothers. Gordon Ramsey. Ramsay? Lottery scratchers. The Beatles. My wife. My family. All of them. The internet. Mountain Dew. Those machines that make the flattened pennies. Great for scratching lottery tickets. Some cats, not all cats. Penicillin. Refrigeration. Air conditioning. Navy Seals and that group that took out Bin Laden. Manchester United. The Jets. The Mets. The Rangers. Michigan football. Michigan hockey. Hockey. Cape Cod. Las Vegas. Montserrat. And freakin' New Jersey. It's expensive to live here, it's crowded, a lot of the people here are asses, it doesn't get a lot of respect, but I can think of nowhere else like it. It's literally got everything. Except otters and armadillos.

Maine and Manchester United

Not that the two are related, but Maine and Man U are on my mind. First off, the wife and I traveled to Maine this past week to attend my niece Patty's wedding. It was held in Camden, Maine, a small, out of the way seaside town about halfway up the coast. I mean, next stop, Canada. Ten hours in the car, though, thankfully, mostly all highway. We'd never heard of Camden, at least not the Maine one. I've been to Camden, NJ - you don't want to get out of your car there and if you happen to be unlucky enough to have to drive through there, drive fast! - and I've even been to Canden, SC. Well, Camden, ME has got them both beat. What a nice little town, and what awesome clam chowder. I had it like 4 or 5 times and every time, wow! The season (summer?) hadn't started yet so the weather was cool, but sunny. You could walk to one side of town to the other in like half an hour. Great, picturesque little harbor and Mt Battie, right outside town, offered a great view of the town and surrounding areas. Totally worth the trip, regardless of the wedding. About the wedding, again, wow! My niece looked so beautiful, her brothers and sister and the other wedding partiers(?) looked great as well. The groom stood tall and took the plunge gladly. I'm really happy for the two of them and I hope them all the best. The reception was at this elegant, really cool hotel. The food was incredible - lobster and seafood orzo!, prime rib, open bar - and the time spent was just great fun. All in all, what a great trip.
The drive sucked. It wasn't difficult to navigate, the weather was so-so on the way up but who the hell put Maine so freakin' far away?! For cryin' out loud, the trees hadn't even started to bud up there yet while back in Jersey we had full leaves on ours. Maine. Liked the state but hated the distance. Bring it closer next time. And any of you remaining unmarried relatives, NJ has puh-lenty of nice places to get married and hold receptions. Eastern PA is nice, southern NY, northern MD, etc. But I must say, wouldn't have missed this wedding for anything. Love you Patty.
Now, just for all you English soccer, yes SOCCER, fans out there, how great is it that Manchester United is now the all-time leader in league titles won, huh??? The best team, coached by the greatest manager ever, Sir Alex, finally passed Liverpool with 19 titles. As a sports nut who roots for all the losing teams imaginable, ManU has been my only ray of sunshine since I started to root for them back in my teens. We didn't win anything until the early 90's, but since then, 12, count them 12 titles in the last 19 years. Top that Lakers, Celtics, 49ers, Yankees!
The season was weird, no losses through the first 25 or so matches, but not a lot of wins. Trailing a bit in points then taking the top spot and never relinquishing it. Rooney with his lack of goals and contract squabble, Ferdinand and others with long injuries, getting knocked out of the League Cup. But there weas Berbatov picking up the scoring slack, Chicharito looking like the best signing in years with 20+ goals, Giggs overcoming a freak arm break to become the winningest player in FA history. I don't care what any haters out there say, it was a phenomenal year and it's not over. The Champions League final against Barcelona looms and that's gonna be real tough. They're awesome. The best player in Messi, a great system with constant motion. But they're also huge whiners, divers, fakers, and seem to get all the calls. With the final at Wembley, at least ManU should have most of the crowd behind them. Let's just hope the officiating holds up and doesn't fall for all that Barca crying. I still see an uphill battle but I can hope for the best. Let it at least come down to the last few minutes. ManU seems to own the late game heroics and Rooney and company are playing very well right now. Keeping my fingers crossed...and toes, legs, arms, eyes...