Pizza (and chicken) Time!

 

 Last May, I stopped at a place called Pastavino's and there was a sign stating "Driver Wanted". I asked and then reached an agreement that I can be on call in the afternoon and evening for deliveries since I live less than 10 minutes away.

Usually I make $5-10 per delivery (including tip) and have between 5 and 10 deliveries per week. Though it does not solve my financial situation (as someone actually thought it did as I need to leave a party to make a delivery) it helps. The only time I made significant money was during the town fair when I was delivering food to their booth all weekend.

I have discovered over the past 4 months that weather will play a part in the number of deliveries I have. When we had a storm last week, I was expecting a call but did not get one.

After the storm passed, I got a call for a delivery which was later than usual. On my way there on Irving Park Road, I notice police lights at Wood Dale Road and a three car accident. There was a traffic cop directing people going my direction to turn south as the road was blocked. Since I needed to go three blocks further east, I was considering going back around to get back on Irving but noticed police were now blocking traffic as I hear a fire truck arrive.

Knowing the streets in the residential area, I knew where to turn to avoid speed bumps and driving around fallen branches and other debris got to the point where there is a street to get back to Irving. However, construction over the railroad tracks that started that day blocked it.

I continued around a large fallen branch forcing me to drive on the curb to pass and notice the street was blocked by a fallen tree. I turned around and knew I had to head south a ways to get to a street that connects to Route 83 so I could head back north to get to Irving to head west.

What usually took a couple minutes took 15. Where was the delivery? On the same street as the closed railroad crossing. Fortunately I noticed the fallen tree was being removed as I passed it on route 83 and was able to make the delivery with a slight detour to get a $3 tip plus the $2.50 delivery fee.

Here is the map:

Luke Ski Con wrapup

It has been about 2 weeks since the awesomeness of Luke Ski Con happened and due to recovery time and the holiday, I finally got the time to post a couple of charts related to it.

This first one shows from where people came to attend. If by any chance you see this and know of a state I omitted, please let me know and I will correct it. (Note: I only reference those who had actual concerts in the chart and did not include those who either did a podcast or appeared on stage in someone else's concert on Saturday.)

The second chart is based on the Luke Ski tribute CD Worst Tribute Ever. This lists the source material for the 25 performance tracks on the CD. The dates listed are those of the album the track covered was originally released.

Fictional list of numbers 14-42

As I stated in the first list, this only applies to fictional characters and not those based on real ones.

There are numbers that I could not find a significant character who wore it. As with the other list, if you see an omission, let me know.

14 - Billy Chapel (Detroit Tigers) Played by Kevin Costner in the Golden Raspberry winning movie For Love of the Game

15 - Bart Simpson (Springfield Elementary)
Honorable Mention - Jimmy Chitwood (Hickory HS)

When I saw the Simpsons episode for the first time, I correctly determined that the episode title would be "Bart Star" since (Green Bay Packers hall of fame quarterback) Bart Starr wore number 15. Though Hoosiers is based on a championship Indiana high school team, the movie was not the story of that team but based on it.

16,17,18 - Jack, Steve, and Jeff Hanson (Charlestown Chiefs)
Honorable mention - 16 - Sam Malone (Boston Red Sox), Shane Falco (Washington Sentinels) Pete LeFleur (Average Joe's)
Honorable mention - 17 - Doug Remer (Milwaukee Beers), Richie Cunningham (Jefferson High)
Honorable mention - 18 - Curly Howard (hunchback)

All the honorable mentions are good enough characters to warrant being the best at their number but there is only one Hanson Brothers.

19 - Steve Nebraska (New York Yankees) The player recruited in the movie The Scout.

20 - Gavin Grey (LSU, Washington Redskins) - The grey ghost - Everybody's All American

21 - Sidd Finch (New York Mets) The Sports Illustrated reported prospect that was a famous April Fool's Day joke.

22 - Paul Kreue (Mean Machine)
Honorable mention - Moe Howard (quarterback)

Though The Longest Yard was remade, the original is far better.

23 - Kit Keller (Racine Belles)

meh

24 - Roger Dorn (Cleveland Indians)

The movie Major League probably is among the top in producing by number as many major characters than any other sports movie.

26 - Hawkeye Pierce (M*A*S*H 4077th)
Honorable mention - Ricky Bobby

The movie version of M*A*S*H finishes with a football game against an army unit.

28 - The Pie (Grand National Steeplechase)
Honorable Mention - John McIntyre (M*A*S*H 4077th)

The horse ridden by the Elizabeth Taylor character in the movie. It won the race but was disqualified as the jockey passed out after crossing the finish line.

30 - Larry Fine (halfback)

The 1940 Three Stooges episode "No Census, No Feeling" involved them working as census takers and they decide to crash a football game wearing jerseys in an attempt to collect information about everyone there.

33 - Al Bundy (Polk High School)
Honorable mention - Foghorn Leghorn (Tune Squad)

Al Bundy would remind people he scored 4 touchdowns in the 1966 city championship game.

34 - Spearchucker Jones (M*A*S*H 4077th)
Honorable mention - Lou Brown (Cleveland Indians)
also - Elliott Richards (Diablos)

The ringer from the infamous football game. Though Spearchucker was played by former football player Fred Williamson, he was not based on the player. Today the brain surgeon would have had a different name than the one used in the 1970 movie.

37 - Nuke LaRouche (Durham Bulls)
Honorable mention - Herman Munster (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Though The Munsters tv series was a repeat of the same joke and the episode where Herman destroys the baseball field and injures players where the Dodgers train is a classic. However, Bull Durham is far more memorable.

42 - Scott Howard (the Beavers)

I could not find the name of the high school where the Teen Wolf played basketball.

Please help

Even after discovering that my hearing like a color blind person sees really makes it inadvisable to sing, I have always dreamed that I could do the lead vocals on a CD or even a song on one.

In February, Carrie Dahlby told me she is creating a tribute CD for the great Luke Ski to be given to those at Luke Ski con and stated she wanted me to contribute a track. My response was why knowing my limited ability and Carrie got me to reluctantly agree to do it as long as it only appears as a bonus track.

One of my first thoughts was the song Jack Bauer which I have a cameo as a henchman being interrogated. However, I realized that at 6 minutes, 24 seconds, it is way too long for me to attempt. I did figure a way to do a shortened version of the song and after going through the lyrics way too many times in my head recorded the main part of the song in one take spending less than one hour total to record the song. My initial plan was to call it "You Probably Shouldn't Listen to This." but realize it would be best called by its position on the CD, "Track 24". I appreciate Devo Spice, the man who mastered and organized the CD, editing a bonus track into multiple segments allowing mine to be the 24th track (and last one) on the second CD of the 2 CD set.

The con has come and gone and he was shocked by the CD. Though I did not get a chance to perform the track live, I saw a Facebook entry complimenting me on it which was liked by some of the artists who produced much better quality tracks on the CD.

Anyway, this is how I could use help: DJ Particle hosts an Internet show called the Dementia Top 20 that is determined my people voting. The website is www.madmusic.com. Voters have to register on the site before they can vote. The third item under the features part on the page is for the Dementia Top 20 which will show links to MP3 files of past shows and has a link to the ballot for the current show which lists the top 20 from the previous week plus tracks from other sources to consider. In the left column under the name Track 24 is my song. Please vote for that and others if you are so inclined. Clicking the sound bar will allow people to listen to a sample of the track.

If you have any questions please reply or ask me personally. Thank you.

Fictional list of numbers 0-13

Earlier, I posted an explaination of what is included and not included. If you see an error or omission let me know and I will add or fix it.

0 - Moron Mountain Monstars (Space Jam)
other - Stan Smith (Langley Falls), Millhouse Van Huesen (Springfield kids football)

Though the Monstars were based on 5 NBA players, they were not voiced by them and they did not have the same jersey number as the players they emulated so I decided to include them

00 - Dick Dastardly (Wacky Races)
Honorable mention - Clark Griswald (Chicago Blackhawks) Willie Mays Hayes (Cleveland Indians)

The ultimate incompetent bad guy. His car had a jet engine and was racing against vehicles made from rock, a tank, one with a steam powered engine, and one with blades for wheels among others. He did not have to cheat to win.

01 - General Lee (Dukes of Hazard)

I always wanted the car to wreck just once after making a jump.

1 - Henry Rowengarter (Chicago Cubs)
Honorable mention - Tommy Hanrahan (Long Island Ducks), Bugs Bunny (Tune Squad),
others - Lucy Draper (Texas State Armadillos) Slagg Brothers (Wacky Races)

One of my toughest choices but the way the Rookie of the Year's name on the jersey ended up on the sleeves overcame some of the horrible things that happened in the movie which could have been made a whole lot better.

2 - Scott Sterling (Yale volleyball)

Honorable Mention - Ogie Oglethorpe (Syracuse Nationals), Daffy Duck (Tune Squad), Nelson Muntz (Springfield kids football)

The man; the myth; THE LEGEND! Setter for the 2015 NCAA Volleyball Champions who made numerous saves at the end of the 5th and deciding game in the final.

3 - George Bailey (unknown)
others Kelly Leak (Bad News Bears) Nigel Gruff (Washington Sentinels)

In the movie It's a Wonderful Life, George wears a generic jersey with the number 3.

4 - Steve Stifler (East Great Falls High)
other - The Red Max (Wacky Races)

To my surprise, I could not find any other significant fictional character that wore number 4.

5 - Speed Racer
Honorbale Mention - Ray Finkle (Miami Dolphins), Penelope Pitstop (Wacky Races)

Speed Racer won a race through an active volcano covering 800 miles in 5 hours on one tank of gas. If Pops Racer could head to Detroit to design passenger cars, the world would be a far better place.

6 - Number 6 (The Prisoner)
other - Yosemite Sam (Tune Squad)

He is not a prisoner, he's a free man. Another number with few people.

7 - Harry Potter (Gryffindor Quidditch)
honorable mention - Reggie Dunlop (Charlestown Chiefs), Jake Taylor (Cleveland Indians)
other - Ant Hill Mob (Wacky Races)

Three characters all deserving but one clear choice.

8 - Crash Davis (Durham Bulls)
Honorable mention - Porky Pig (Tune Squad), Dottie Hinton (Rockord Peaches)

Though Crash Davis is the name of an actual former major league player, the player in the movie was not based on him just named after him.

9 - Roy Hobbs (New York Knights)
Honorable mention - Racer X (Speed Racer), Peter Perfect (Wacky Races)
others - Johnny Utah (Ohio State), Bobby Boucher Jr (University of Lousiana)

As much as I despise the fact that the ending of the movie The Natural was 100% the opposite of the book, the way Hobbs looked in that jersey overcomes that.

10 - Kate Veatch - (Average Joe's)
others- Lola Bunny (Tune Squad) The Buzzwagon (Wacky Races)

Even if she did not state she was bisexual at the end, the character would still be on top by far.

11 - Amanda Wurlitzer (Bad News Bears)

Same as above. No other choice I could find.

12 - Paul Blake (Texas State Armidillos)
Honorable Mention - Tanner Boyle (Bad News Bears)

Better of once again a few options

13 - Pedro Cerrano (Cleveland Indians)
Honorable Mention - Kenny McCormick (South Park Cows), Wile E. Coyote (Tune Squad)
others - Willie Beamen (Miami Sharks), pipe wrench guy (Take on Me video) Owen Dittman (Average Joe's)

A tough choice but I had to go with the character who had to overcome bad luck to succeed.

As stated before, this is subject to edit.

Fictional numbers explaination

I recently decided to determine the best all time fictonal character player numbes (movies, tv, cartoons) and decided to compile a list. I took suggestions by others and will be posting results over the next couple of weeks.

First, this is what will not be on the list:

1) Any real player number. There have been many stories of real players portrayed by others in movies and tv and as they are real, they do not belong on the list. So Rudy, Lou Gherig, Jackie Robinson and others like them do not count. If a story is based on real life events but the names and details of them are changed, I will include them.

2) A real player (or person) in a fictional story. Michael Jordan, Dan Marino, Tom Brady and others have appeared in stories with fictional characters. The fictional characters would count but the actual players won't.

3) A fictional player portrayed by a real one. Occasionally an athlete will portray a player based on himself sometimes even havng the same number. So the Texas prison football team which had Jerry Rice, Dick Butkus, Barry Sanders among others don't count.

4) Miscellaneous characters. I am only going to include the important ones and not every player on teams. If you believe I missed a significant character from a movie or tv show, let me know.

Note: The list is subject to change. If you see something omitted, let me know and I would change or add it. When there are more than one that wore a number, I will select what I believe is the best and include Honorable mention and others for those not at the top. Since there are over 100 possible entries, I will be making the list in multiple parts. Also if a character wore multiple numbers, I will only include the number worn most or most significantly. There will be a seperate list of those whose number has a letter or character in it.

NHL playoff preview and prediction.

Yesterday the shortened 2013 NHL regular season ended and it is time for what I call the dreaded playoffs to start. Why do I not like them? Over the past three years, the top team in the regular season lost in the first round twice and the one that won had to go to overtime in game 7 to advance. Also in the 45 series over the last 3 years, the lesser team has won 22 of them so home ice advantage has been non existent. Even in game 7 of the NHL finals 2 seasons ago, the road team won.

I have 2 theories: The difference between the teams is small a lucky break or bad play can make a difference. Having playoffs during late spring creates poor ice quality evening the field.

Anyway, I determined who will win by the only logical way I know for this scenario: random chance. I rolled dice with 8 numbers on it 15 times and that determined the winner of each seies and the number of games. Here is the results:



Since the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins had by far the most wins in each conference, I will be rooting for them to meet in the final and not what happened with the dice. I am also glad that unlike last year, every playoff team has at least won 24 or half of its games so at least this year's champion will not have a losing record.