When I saw this article: Weather Channel Founder Wants to Sue Al Gore, I laughed. I laughed for multiple reasons.

ohn Coleman wants to sue Al Gore for fraud. Coleman, who founded the Weather Channel in 1982, thinks taking legal action against Al Gore would be a great "vehicle to finally put some light on the fraud of global warming." Coleman rejects the notion that people must take drastic actions to reduce their energy use.

First I don't buy the global warming alarmist stuff, I don't see enough scientific data to prove anything. I'm sorry, the earth has been around more than the 100 years worth of reliable data they are basing this on. There is other evidence that the earth goes through cycles like this over large spans of time. So we are on a warm up, well in so many years we'll have a cool down. If Coleman won, I would love to see Al Gore's reaction. Which would probably be the same he has for everything else, damn robot.

Second, As much as I would love to see this happen, I think the guy would be throwing his money away. There is no way that any judge would let this go to court. Most of them wouldn't want to stand in the middle of this kind of political mess. Even if it did go to court, I highly doubt a judge would rule in favor of Coleman.

Anyways, It made me chuckle.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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After a meeting this morning, the news I had been expecting, yet dreading was delivered to me. When I returned to my desk I had no less than 50 instant messages, e-mails or people walk up and tell me that Brett Favre announced his retirement.

I handled it well all day and kept myself composed, but I'm actually saddened by this news. I started really watching football in the early 80's. I remember watching Lynn Dickey, Randy Wright and Don "Magic" Majkowski lead my team on the field of glory. I also remember watching a game on September 20, 1992 when Majkowski hurt his ankle and was replaced by Favre where he lead the team to his first of many comeback victories. Over the last 16 seasons, almost half of my life, Favre lead my team to 15 winning seasons, 2 tie seasons (8-8 record), and one losing season(2005). When we won the Super Bowl in 97, Favre was easily recognized as Green Bay's favorite son.

Favre in the Super Bowl

It's not because of this that it saddens me, it's that over the last 16 seasons he's been there on the field for us. I've watched him, cheered for him and have seen him overcome many obstacles. He overcame injury, addiction to vicodin, injuries, the death of his father, his wife Deanna's breast cancer and Katrina damaging his home town. Brett was a classy man that is a role model to kids and adults. He has been a big part of my football life and I'm going to miss watching him play.

I was just happy I was able to be at his last winning game in the NFL. The most memorable game I've ever seen in my life. It was a great time and a good victory. I'm really glad I was there for it.

Thanks Brett. Thanks for everything you did for me, my team and the NFL in general. You deserve your retirement. You are one of the greatest.

However, if you come out of retirement like some people think you might, you're more than welcome back!

Posted by: Contagion at 06:06 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Tonight is the “second” Rock River Raptors home game of the season. And to be honest, I’m not sure if I am going to go or not. The management and front office have really angered me to no end. It all started last year when the Raptors made it to the playoffs.

To increase sales the management and front office offered a package deal. If you bought all the playoff tickets and the 2008 season tickets they would knock 25% off of the total package and if the Raptors didnÂ’t make it to the next level of the playoffs they would refund the money for the tickets. It was a huge savings and well worth the money. I jumped on and purchased the tickets.

The Raptors were eliminated in the first round. Meaning that the second round of the playoffs and the championship tickets should be refunded to the ticket holders that purchased them. I kept waiting and calling about the refund only to never get it. The office would give me the run around about whose fault it is or just not return my calls. At one point I called the Raptors because I had heard that some of the season ticket holders that had pre-paid for tickets were not showing as paid.

When I called they told me they did have a record of my payment. I inquired about the refund and they told me they did not have me on the list for the refund. I was about livid. They added my name to the list along with the friends of mine and my father who had all prepaid. I still received a song and dance about when we will get the refund.

My tickets where paid for in June. The last playoff game was toward the end of July. It is now the beginning of March and I still donÂ’t have my money back. They where quick to take the money out of the account, but they sure donÂ’t want to give it back.

To make matters ever worse, they changed the league they play in from the UIF to the CIFL. When they did this they sent out a nice letter saying that they decided not to raise the cost of tickets this year, like they would have received another dime from me or I would have accepted anything short of the refund they owed me. IÂ’m still fighting to get my money when the schedule comes out. They shortened the seasons from 8 home games to 6 home games. In the past they were all on a Saturday night, now some are on a Friday night. Okay, itÂ’s a little annoying as no pre-game partying, but I can live with it.

When I questioned the raise of ticket prices, I was told they didnÂ’t raise them. Yes they did! I paid for 8 home games, I got 6 home games. ThatÂ’s when I was told that I still get two home games, but they are pre-season. Pre-season, thatÂ’s right. To add insult to injury, one of the preseason games wasnÂ’t even held at the MetroCentre (The arena the games are normally played in). The night we were able to pick up tickets we had to go to this indoor sports center in Loves Park, fight with parking to get into a crowded arena to pick up tickets. Where they wanted me to pay an additional $5.00 for Clone (my four year old) to get into the game. Again, they are not getting anymore money from me.

This wasnÂ’t even a pre-season game; it was an exhibition game against some local iron-man football club. You didnÂ’t even get to see them play players of the same caliber. They had an away pre-season game against a rival team from the UIF. Then they scheduled a pre-season game on a Monday night. Monday night?!?!?! Hell, IÂ’ve given up NFL tickets because itÂ’s a Monday night game. IÂ’ll be lucky if I get home before 11:00 PM tonight. Most of the people I know canÂ’t go because they have kids and itÂ’s a school night, they have to work, they have weekday obligations or itÂ’s just not feasible.

As for the regular season games, IÂ’m going to miss half of them because they are scheduled during re-enactments. ThatÂ’s not their fault, but when you only have 6 home games, it decreases the chances of you being able to get to one if you have any other hobbies, kids or plans.

Needless to say IÂ’m a bit annoyed. I do know that IÂ’m not spending one dime more than I have to this year on this team until I get my money back. I also know that I better get a huge apology for the treatment IÂ’ve received. There are a lot of other fans out there just like me, I bet you see their support drop off this year. You donÂ’t treat your fan base like this and expect to keep them.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:45 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Contact a lawyer or at least tell them your contact a lawyer and make up a law office and send them an "offical" letter threatening to sue if you don't get your refund.

Posted by: Quality Weenie at March 04, 2008 07:44 AM (uHRYR)

2 Or show up in person at the main offices. I think if you can find a day (yeah, I know) to go there at 9am and demand to start seeing people and refuse to leave until they see you, you might get some help. It's a pain, but that's the only way to deal with some people. And if you're especially creative, get a lawyer and file a class-action lawsuit for breach of contract...

Posted by: Ogre at March 04, 2008 08:18 AM (oifEm)

3 Second home game? Last I checked the season didn't even start until the 29th?

Posted by: Shadoglare at March 04, 2008 03:18 PM (Volhe)

4 No comment.

Posted by: Bruce at March 04, 2008 07:52 PM (j8iYO)

5 You might want to contact the IL States Attorney's Office for your county. If they're doing this on a wide scale, it may be construed as a fraud. (And you wouldn't be stuck for your own attorney's fees.)

Posted by: Omnibus Driver at March 06, 2008 02:04 PM (WOXRM)

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Reality shows, we've all seen one at one time. Some of you may have only seen bits and pieces of them while others are hooked on a dozen or so of them. Either way it's mindless television for the masses. When the writers strike was going on, the only new television were reality shows. They don't need writers or scripting so they could continue to make them.

I'll admit I've watched a couple of them. I was a Survivor fan for many seasons, the last couple have done nothing for me so I quit watching. Occasionally there is another one that comes along and I start watching, like this year. I was bored with re-runs so I turned on The Moment of Truth. The first day watching I told Ktreva, "This show is a divorce waiting to happen." Some of the questions got down right personal and really revealing. Yet, these people would continue to play in order to win money up to $500,000.00.

The premises of the show is that they hook the contestant up to a lie detector prior to the game and ask them a series of True or False questions. During the show they ask them 21 of these questions as the game goes one, as the stakes get higher, the questions get more difficult. If they lie once, they lose all of their money.

In the three episodes I've watched, I've seen people admit to things on national television that really surprises me. Especially since they have their loved ones and friends sitting there watching them. At some point you know that one of these people is going to ruin a relationship by being on this show. What makes it worse in my mind is that the contestants know what they are going to be asked and still go on the show! How stupid or greedy do you have to be?

To prove my point, here is the last three questions asked of Lauren Cleri.

At the Fox site you can see the clip of the questions she was asked, there are quite a few. Even if their marriage was over and she was just looking for the money, why would you admit this to anyone on TV. I mean come on, she's now damaged goods. Would anyone in their right mind want to hire her, or start a relationship with her? The funniest part is that she lost the whole thing when she was asked, "Do you think you are a good person?" and she answered yes, and the detector said no! I want to know what's going on in her peroxided head to believe that, "I lie, cheat, steal and love another man other than my husband, I'm a good person." Actually if it had come up true, it wouldn't surprise me either, it would just prove that she is more selfish and a bigger witch than I already thought she was. At least now I think she feels some remorse for what she did.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:51 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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We all know I love the zombie genre of movies, games and books. I'm also fine for theme weddings, I had one myself. Ktreva and I were married in a traditional Scottish wedding. All the men wore kilts and the all the ladies had on Elizabethan style gowns. The church that hosted the wedding still talks about it to this day.

For the life of me, I could never, ever do a zombie wedding. First off, I don't think I'd want it. Secondly even if I did, there is no way in hell Ktreva is going to go for it. But that is us. Apparently there are people that would and have done such a thing.

If you want to see more pictures, head over to Fun-hunter.com and check out the rest of the photos. This does give new meaning to "until death do us part." Wait, wouldn't that nullify the wedding then and there?

Posted by: Contagion at 09:09 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Need to kill some time? Try Sea of Fire 2. It's a sequel to Sea of Fire that I introduced to everyone last May. I've spent hours playing this game, trying different strategies and even betting it on every level. It starts off easy, but it gets difficult quickly, especially once you jump the island.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:55 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I like to cook, but I don't host that many parties were it isn't much more than a buffet style kegger. It's not that I wouldn't like to have the other kind, it's just we don't have room for something like that. However, if I ever did host one, or for those of you that are planning an upcoming party, I'd try to make these:

Bacon Cup

Over at not martha they have the complete instructions on how to make these yummy little salad holders.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:46 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Since it's been a while since I've posted about zombies, I thought it would be okay to hit you with a couple of items today.

Over at Jalopnik they have a list of "The Best Post-Apocalyptic Survival Vehicles"

We asked you what you think the best post-apocalyptic vehicle would be, assuming you could fuel it up and were unable to stay in one place due to the lack of other resources (and likely abundance of radioactive zombies looking for a tasty brain to munch upon).

Now most of the vehicles on the list aren't even available to the general public, are one of a kind or just plain fictional. But If I had my choice, I'd want the SISU XA-185 for all the reasons they list.

I bet I'd look cool driving it too.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For years the FDA has banned the importation of haggis into the United States. The only way to get one is to find someone that makes it here, which is damn near impossible. But that's okay, for those of us that like Haggis and can't get it, we have an alternative.

Gummy Haggis!

Haggis is a traditional Scottish delicacy consisting of sheep entrails and spices boiled inside a sheep's stomach. As much as we'd love to sell the genuine article (NOT!), we're just not in the business of boiled innards in stomach casing. We are, however, in the business of gummy candy that looks like boiled innards in stomach casing. Lucky you.

Each 3 1/2" long, 100 gram hunk of brownish Gummy Haggis looks disturbingly realistic and has the unmistakable flavor of butterscotch.

How cool is that? BTW, this is made by the same people that make Angry Scotsman Chewing Gum.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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