this show starts tonight!

large orange.

everybody beat me to the research from the alumni email, so i'll just let y'all know that i'm sitting at my desk, doing my school work, decked out in an orange polo and a tennessee hat. i will have orange on everyday for a while, and you should, too. pat forde issued a challenge today:

"Florida-Tennessee (17). For much of the 1990s, this was the marquee regular-season game in the SEC. Spurrier vs. Fulmer, Wuerffel vs. Manning, one national title apiece (1996 for the Gators, '98 for the Volunteers). Tennessee hasn't kept up its end of the bargain lately, losing six straight to Florida and slipping out of the league's elite. But the game could matter again as soon as Saturday, when they meet in The Swamp. Vols fans are feeling optimistic, and the Gators look ready to rebound from last year's 8-5 pratfall."

via

also, i have it on good authority that someone will be unveiling the above tramp stamp on saturday at the nyc tailgate party

Well, Mr. President... I..

I don't know what to say! I'll have to check my schedule...

get well get well soon

stephanie told me the facebook pic of my head injury reminded her of this.

"the iowa incident"

in the recent NYC VOLumni football email, the event organizer signed off with the following tidbit that piqued my curiosity:

"And a note on the 'Iowa incident' - I've addressed this with the Iowa alumni group and I ask that you not retaliate in any way and bring embarrassment upon UT or yourself. Thanks."

I did some private investigation and got the scoop on what went down during last week's game.

As you well know, the University of Iowa alumni bar is across the street from Traffic, and they suffered an embarrassing and soul crushing loss in overtime to in state rival Iowa State.

A couple of hawkeyes (thats what theyre called) ambled over to the UT bar and after a while they started feeling froggy. From the second story, they cut down the bright orange UT flags that hang from the railing, and then got in a screaming match with some Vols nearby that happened to witness their actions. Luckily there were some Vol fans outside the bar who were there with open arms to catch the flag and keep it from touching the ground. The bartenders and owner of Traffic stepped in and told the Iowa jerks that they needed to leave because their only escape was through a crowded bar full of Volunteers who were now chanting "assholes" at them. As they were being escorted from the premises, one of the future farmers of america pulled a knife and stabbed inflatable smokey in the chest! They were chased across the street and never heard from again.

Reached for comment, Iowa alum David Fulco offered, "America needs farmers."

That may be true, but America does NOT need douchebags! (we've got enough of those in new jersey).

A reliable source has informed me that traffic is going to be poppin' off this weekend for the Florida game, and that despite all warnings, revenge may or may not (but probably not) be served...

Stay tuned.

Window Pain!

The Auburn War Eagle was too drunk to perform his pregame flight and crashed squarely into a luxury box window. Figures, amiright? He's ok though.

vol (determi)nation

"I mean, I always think about it. To me, Florida-Tennessee is everything. I grew up watching it during the (Steve) Spurrier and (Phillip) Fulmer days, and I think the last time we won was 2004. To me, that's way too long. I mean, it's too long. It would be great for this program right now, but it's not something that we can just wish to happen. Our defense is going to have to step up a lot this week, make a big improvement from last week to this week and the offense has to keep doing what they're doing."
-defensive tackle, Daniel Hood

"I don't really look at it like we haven't beaten them in six years, I look at it like we haven't beat them since I've been here. I know I haven't beaten them, and I want to beat them. I've been here for a while, and I can tell all those guys I've never beaten Florida. I want them to leave this program saying they beat Florida while I was here."
-inside linebacker, Austin Johnson

tennessee remembers

a little video from the jamba-tron played during the cincinnati game over the weekend.

I think I'm a shoo-in!

Trying to get tickets to the Martha Stewart Show for when my mom visits.  Check out the highlighted area (c2e).  What do you think of my "tell us about yourself" paragraph?

Blog sneak attack!

kylie:  omg

i never though about that!

natural light is a thing

but also a beer

me:  HA!

another helpful facebook improvement

Finally, Facebook is helping users create a list of real friends inside their official friends list. There's no need to share everything with everyone, after all. But watch out, because people will know when they're downgraded to your D-list.

Throughout the next week, Facebook will create empty lists of "close friends," "acquaintances" and "restricted" buddies for everyone, according to the Facebook blog. As you add friends to these lists, their posts will be specially weighted in your news feed, and you'll be able to target status updates and photos at them. Facebook will also generate, and magically pre-populate, "smart lists" of work, school and family friends at whom you can also target content. (via)

interesting follow-up

remember yesterday, when i showed you that clip of tea party jerks wooting the idea of letting uninsured sick people die? here's a real-life scenario of that happening.

As it turns out, Paul was not speaking purely in hypotheticals. Back in 2008, Kent Snyder — Paul's former campaign chairman — died of complications from pneumonia. Like the man in Blitzer's example, the 49-year-old Snyder (pictured) was relatively young and seemingly healthy* when the illness struck. He was also uninsured. When he died on June 26, 2008, two weeks after Paul withdrew his first bid for the presidency, his hospital costs amounted to $400,000. The bill was handed to Snyder's surviving mother (pictured, left), who was incapable of paying. Friends launched a website to solicit donations. (via) 

and it seems he wasn't uninsured in some great show of individual liberty, but that a pre-existing condition caused his premiums to be out of financial reach.

beyonce + solange at fashion week

If there was any doubt as to what happens when Beyoncé — pregnant Beyoncé, if you want to get specific — walks into a room, she sure proved it at the Rodarte show this afternoon when, as soon as she entered, front row guests Taylor Swift and the Fanning sisters may as well have vanished. (via)

old neighborhood news

Brooklyn’s latest historic district – a cluster of 21 skyscrapers and office buildings surrounding Borough Hall downtown – was created on Tuesday over the objections of some of its landowners and inhabitants.

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District despite opposition from business groups that said the designation would burden owners with new costs and regulations, and from the co-op board of the district’s only residential building, 75 Livingston Street.
...
The buildings, several of which were built in the neo-Gothic style, include the 13-story Beaux-Arts Temple Bar building, Brooklyn’s tallest building at the turn of the 20th century; the borough’s 1926 Municipal Building; and the building at 16 Court Street, a stepped-back tower that rises 36 stories above Brooklyn’s municipal plaza. (See map – pdf.) The district also includes Brooklyn’s cupola-crowned Borough Hall, which was declared an individual landmark in 1966. (via)

older neighborhood news

For the last year, the Bean has been on a month-to-month lease for its space on Third Street and First Avenue. The owners tried without success to extend it, said Ike Escava, one of the partners. Late last month, the store received a 30-day notice to leave.
...
The city sheds its skin every day; Mom & Pop are always getting the boot. Manhattan now has 186 Starbucks, which is eight per square mile. There are more Starbuckses than subway stations. You might think that 186 stores on one small island is the functional equivalent of everywhere, but it turns out not to be, in Starbuckian terms, enough: outlet No. 187 is opening Friday in Times Square, and sometime early next year, No. 188 — or so — will be hanging its shingle on Third Street, right down the block from the world headquarters of the Hell’s Angels.

But sing no sad songs for the Bean.

By the time Starbucks has rebuilt the corner of Third Street and First Avenue to meet its quality standards for hospitable monotony, the Bean will be flying its flag about 100 yards south.

This time, Mom & Pop are fighting back. (via)