The Soundtrack to My Fantasy Football Draft

Last weekend I had my Fantasy Football draft.  I wasn’t going to do a league this year, but caved in at the last minute and signed up for a public league on ESPN.  I found a league that had an opening and was drafting in a little less than an hour.  “Perfect” I thought, “Just enough time for me to put a playlist together in iTunes!”  So instead of scouring the interweb for tips on the late round sleepers, or checking the injury reports, I spent a good portion of my time rummaging through my music library putting together the perfect Fantasy Football Draft soundtrack.  I figured, I’d be spending the better portion of an hour sitting at my computer as each member of the league made their 16 picks, so I might as well rock out.

Here’s what I was looking for when I put my playlist together: Mostly 80s music, and all Rock & Roll.  I put iTunes on shuffle, so I didn’t really put any thought into track order.  Also, I guess I kind of honed in on only a few artists, but it pumped me up.

• Van Halen – Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
• Thrice – All That’s Left
• Bon Jove – Livin’ On a Prayer
• Atreyu – The Crimson
• Simple Minds – Don’t You Forget About Me
• Guns & Roses – Don’t Cry
• Underoath – Reinventing Your Exit
• AC/DC – Hell’s Bells (Reminds me of Browns games)
• U2 – New Year’s Day
• Van Halen – Panama (Greatest Rock & Roll song of all time??)
• Ratt – Round and Round
• Guns & Roses – Welcome to the Jungle (still remember hearing this song at Bengals stadium when I was little and how awesome that was)
• Atreyu – Right Side of the Bed
• Bon Jovi – You Give Love a Bad Name
• U2 – Pride (In the Name of Love)
• Van Halen – Right Now
• Underoath – It’s Dangerous Business Just Walking Out Your Door.

Share your Fantasy Football Draft playlist in the comments!

Autumn’s Soundtrack

Inspired by @benbrugler, I put together a list of the songs that would be on my Fall soundtrack.

These songs make me want to do one of three things: 1) Wear a flannel shirt and grow a beard  2) Wake up early on a frosty morning to drink hot cider  3) Jump in the car with no set destination–just to look at the changing leaves.

Sigur Ros – Hoppipolla
The New Amsterdams – Hanging on for Hope
Matt Pond PA – New Hampshire
Death Cab for Cutie – The Sound of Settling
Mogwai – Take Me Somewhere Nice
M83 – Kim & Jessie
Damien Rice – Cannonball
Youth Group – Forever Young
Minus The Bear – Pachuca Sunrise
Explosions in the Sky – Your Hand in Mine

Fall is my favorite season, but I also find it the saddest of the seasons.  Even though it’s the death of summer (or what little warmth we actually get up here in NE Ohio), I think that Autumn also represents hope and imagination.  It’s usually the time of the year that I feel the most self-reflective and the most creative.  I hope these song choices reflect that.

With that being said, I couldn’t think of a more perfect month than October for the release of the movie Where the Wild Things Are.

List Fantastic: Weekly Top 5 (3/22/09)

Week of March 22, 09

1. Dr. Pepper Cherry. My two favorite caffeinated beverages of all time: Cherry Coke and Dr. Pepper.  Imagine my surprise when I saw Cherry Dr. Pepper sitting on the shelf of my local grocery store.  Dr. Pepper’s website doesn’t have any information on it, but I can assure you that it does exist.  I bought a 2 liter bottle a week ago and it was smooth, delicious, and refreshing.  It was so enticing, sitting there calling out my name, that it caused me to fall off the wagon (I was 2 weeks into a campaign to give up caffeinated drinks). It was well worth it though – definitely give it a try if you can find it.
2. Zebra G-301 Gel pen.  I’m a huge pen guy – some might even call me a pen snob.  I try to only write with gel pens because I like to write neat and with a fine tipped pen.  If I can, I avoid ballpoint pens at all costs.  I first tried this pen at a restaurant when the waiter left it with the check.  I wanted to steal it so bad, but it was a classy restaurant, so my girlfriend went out and bought me some the next day (she’s cool like that).  I love the way it looks with the stainless steel.  It’s not too expensive, but looks like it should be.  The one downside is that it does run out of ink fairly quickly, but each pack comes with two pens and two refills, and the refills are pretty easy to find.
3. Getting a haircut at a real barber shop. I had gone to a variety of the budget hair salons for quite some time…the Best Cuts and Great Clips and always got annoyed when I got home and realized how bad of a haircut I got.  Going to a real barber shop let’s you talk about real things with real people, and there’s none of the uncomfortable small talk.  Unlike at a budget salon, I don’t get the same questions from my barber that I heard him asking the guy before me, like, “Just gettin’ off work?  Where do you work?  Doing anything fun this weekend?”  Also, the barber never complains about his life and tells stories about his irresponsible sister having another kid with no daddy.  I don’t know you, I don’t care!  A barber knows how to cut a guy’s hair, and when you develop a relationship with one, they learn what you want and don’t even have to ask.  And if you’re going to a real barber, you get the warm lather and straight razor shave.  There’s nothing better!
4. Having a job.  I just accepted a position as Webmaster/Internet Specialist with a specialty auto parts manufacturer for hot rods, muscle cars, classics, etc.  Very excited.  Everyone knows this is a tough economy, so I’m extremely grateful that I was able to find something so quickly.
5. McDonald’s Southern Style Chicken Sandwich.  I have no idea if this sandwich is healthy or not…the sodium numbers look pretty alarming, but damn is it tasty. I prefer this sandwich over their burgers, but try to keep my McD’s consumption to a minimum.  They should make some sort of Singing Chicken commercial to promote this sandwich.

List Fantastic: Weekly Top 5 (3/15/09)

Week of March 15, 2009

I’m going to try and do something that should help inspire me to a) write on this more often and b) try and give my blog a little bit more of an identity and hopefully give people a reason to come back and read it. Each week, I’m going to create a Top 5 list of things I found interesting or just thoroughly enjoyed. I realize this is hardly an original idea, but it seems kind of fun, so I’m going to give it a shot.

Since I just thought of this an hour ago, this week’s list will be a compilation of some of my favorite sites, and other random things.  I’ll work on compiling some ideas throughout the week for my next list.  Here it goes, in no particular order:

1. Esquire.com’s The 75 Skills Every Man Should Master:  This is one of my all-time favorite articles.  Every couple of months I go back and re-read this and try and focus on a couple of the items on the list.
2. Lakewood Dog Park:  I took my dog Casey here this afternoon and met up with my friend Eric and his dog Frank.  Check out pictures from our day at the park.
3. IZZE Sparkling Juice:  Made with 70% pure fruit juice, a splash of sparkling water, and contains no refined sugars, no caffeine, no preservatives, and no artificial flavors or colors…truly delicious and refreshing!  I’ve tried every flavor but Peach and Blueberry, but so far Grapefruit is my favorite.  I’ve found it at Target and CostCo, but you can go here to see a complete list of retailers that carry it.
4. WebMonkey.com:  One of my digital media professors turned me onto this site.  It’s An excellent resource for Web Developers, that has everything from tutorials on software and design fundamentals, to hexidecimal color charts, to a code library with fully-developed code you can add to your site.
5. Mustache Pizza:  A short video by an improv comedy group named Action Pals.  I may be alone on this, but I found this video absolutely hilarious.  It’s only 14 seconds long, and utterly ridiculous, but I LOL’d when I first saw it.  This video does contain some inappropriate language, so be careful where you watch it.

That’s all for now – check back next week!

Cavs’ Owner Gilbert is Lead Investor in Proposed Casino

Cavs' Owner Dan Gilbert

Dan Gilbert, Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner and Founder of Quicken Loans,  is one of the lead investors in a proposal to build a full-scale Casino in downtown Cleveland.  The proposal also has plans to bring similar casinos to Toledo, Columbus, and Cincinnati.

Gilbert issued a statement saying, “The timing of this effort could not be more appropriate or important, considering the current economic challenges are as difficult as Ohio has ever faced.”

Plans are in place to begin gathering signatures in an effort to get it placed on the November ballot.  If approved, construction could begin as early as next year.

From Cleveland.com:

Proponents promise to be generous with the $1.8 billion a year that the casinos are expected to haul in — a conservative estimate, they say — by sharing proceeds with state, county and local governments while also sending cash to public schools and the horse-racing industry, which figures to be left out of the plans for new types of gambling.

Former Cincinnati Mayor, Charlie Luken believes it would be beneficial for the state of Ohio. “I don’t know anyone that is offering to put up a billion dollars in capital investment, 20,000 jobs and $600 million in tax revenue to the state.”

Personally, I’ve never been in favor of outsiders trying to build casinos in Ohio, especially outside of the Cleveland area.  Not because I believe it will lead to the destruction of families and create gambling addictions,  but because I’ve never felt like the investors have Ohio’s or Cleveland’s best interests in mind.  I am intrigued by this proposal because Gilbert is one of the primary investors.  He’s already shown the people in Cleveland that he believes in the city by investing in, and dramatically revamping the Cavaliers, acquiring ownership of the Lake Erie Monsters and bringing minor-league hockey back to Cleveland, and also by opening a Quicken Loans operation in downtown Cleveland.

You can learn more about this story at Cleveland.com, WKYC.com, or WTAM.com.