(T)MMR: Potpourri

Yes, another hodgepodge MMR of random shit floating through my brain. Someday I'll come up with some single topic I want to pontificate on, but that day is not today. So, you know, deal with it.

My first mini-rant of the day has to deal with the common cold. I have it. It sucks. However, with the amount of drugs I've been taking over the last few days, it seems to be leaving pretty quickly. I kind of sensed it coming on late last week, and started taking ny-quil and zicam and such. But it hit with a vengeance Sunday night. Monday I spent at home with my mommy, and she made me feel all better. I'm still rather dragging, but I believe the worst is over. By the time the Sharks game I'm going to rolls around Thursday night, I'll be all better. However, colds suck. They just come at you, and there's nothing you can do to avoid them. This is one of the many reasons why the winter blows.

Another reason is rain. I don't mind the rain. But when it rains day after day after day...jesus, I live in California to AVOID having to deal with this winter type weather. It's been raining pretty non-stop since Friday. Over that stretch we've gotten like 8 inches of rain, and I'm pretty sure this rain storm is the cause of my cold. Needless to say, I really miss the winter of a few weeks ago, when it was 72 and sunny. Spring needs to hurry up and get here.

Speaking of spring, the spring is an amazing time of the year for sports as well. The baseball season begins, the NCAA tournament kicks off for basketball, and the NHL playoffs start. These will be glorious times! Just gotta get through the rest of this month.

I went to Kohl's on Friday and used my gift card to get two new shirts...and a black fedora. I've never tried to pull off the fedora look, but this one fits me pretty well, so I figured I could give it a shot. The new shirts are sick, though. I could describe them, but I'll just wear them on occasion and let you guys point them out if you think you see them. Needless to say, the wardrobe is ever expanding. When I get some extra money, I might go get a new suit...or at least a new sport coat.

Oh, OH! This was interesting. One of my favorite bloggers/sportwriters, Joe Posnanski, posted a personality test he found. It's very simple, and worked pretty well. I'll repost it here, and then you try it, and see how well it works for you. Also, guess which one I picked.
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From Joe's Blog: "...the other day, I was having lunch with Dancing Queen Holly and her delightful parents, and they mentioned this simple little personality test. It seems to be fairly popular on the Internet and with consultants — I will link to all that in a minute — but, of course, had never heard of it before Thursday. And, of course, being a sucker for such things, I immediately went home and tried it out of my family.

And here’s the thing: It worked PERFECTLY. I mean, eerily so.

So, we’ll try it here on the ol’ blog. I’ll tell you up front that I’m not doing the test right, and my conclusions are not scientific. But, hey, it worked out so well this way at my house. I have sort of reshaped it so it is more of a personality test based on my family. And here we go.

What you will need to do is take out a piece of paper of some kind — full piece of paper is fine, but a scrap will work just as well. If you have a little chalkboard, that would work too. Also those little kids tablets where you can write something and then lift the page up and make what you wrote disappear. Yeah, that would work. An Etch a Sketch isn’t ideal, unless you’re this guy. Really, just about anything will work.

OK. Now, on your paper or whatever, draw a circle.
OK. Now, on your paper or whatever, draw a square.
OK. Now, on your paper or whatever, draw a triangle.
OK. Now, on your paper, draw a squiggly line.

That’s all. That’s the whole deal. Except for one thing … look at your paper now. And ask yourself … which one are you? Don’t overthink it. Just, simply, which one are you?
And once you’ve chosen, yes, it’s over. Pencils down. Hands up. You have taken the personality test.

So, now the test will tell you, more or less, what you are like based on the shape you chose. I make no promises … this thing might not work for you at all. But as I mentioned above, this thing worked PERFECTLY for my family. There are four of us, and by pure chance each of us chose one of the four shapes. Of course, we are dealing with my wife Margo, our 7-year-old daughter Elizabeth and our 4-year-old daughter Katie.

So here is what the shapes are supposed to mean, at least the way I understand it:

* * *

If you chose the CIRCLE … you are supposed to be a very social person. You are sensitive and do not especially like dealing with conflict. You have a good sense about people, and you have a lot of empathy. You listen well. Elizabeth, our seven year old, chose the circle, and she chose it because she thought the circle looked most like her face. But she chose precisely right. She’s an incredibly sweet person, sensitive and more empathetic than anyone I have ever known. From the day she was old enough to talk, she has spent most of her time complimenting people. I think the first full sentence she ever said was to a complete stranger, and the sentence was, “I love your shoes.”

Daily Express example of a CIRCLE: Helen Mirren.

* * *

If you chose the SQUARE … You are a square. You are extremely well organized. You work hard. You often think it would be more of a pain to explain to someone else how to do it rather than just doing it yourself. You’re not a great delegator. You think in a linear way and because of this you bring a lot of common sense to the table. But you can get flustered in an environment where there isn’t enough order or structure. Margo, my wife, chose the square and frankly the previous few sentences could be her Wikipedia page.

Daily Express example of a SQUARE: Actor Daniel Craig.

* * *

If you chose the TRIANGLE … You are supposed to be outspoken and forceful. Bossy, is a good word. You take charge of situations and you are confident in your opinions. You are a leader. You can, on occasion, rub people wrong with your aggressive nature, and you do feel like you should get credit for your efforts. My four year old Katie chose the triangle, and she promptly informed us that she would NOT be a triangle at all, that she was NOT bossy, that she would not STAND for people to call her bossy, and that from now on she would be considered a circle, just like her sister.

Daily Express example of a TRIANGLE: Model Kate Moss.

* * *

If you chose the SQUIGGLE … yeah, you’re crazy like I am. Squiggles, I guess, can be creative people who do not have the world’s longest attention span. Frankly, I find that this has no connection to me whatsoever. I mean, it’s, wait, what were we talking about? Squiggles can get bored easily and, unlike the squares, do not do well thinking in any sort of linear way. We supposedly think by association instead. We are outgoing and quirky. I don’t see it at all.

What’s interesting about the squiggle is that — whether you chose the squiggle or not — there are things to be learned about you based on WHAT KIND of squiggle you drew. For instance, horizontal squiggles apparently are a little more detail driven than vertical squiggles. Or something like that. And if you drew a diagonal squiggle, well, hello, you are a nut job. You are WAY out there. You apparently are headed for Belleview. And I can say that because I drew a diagonal squiggle.

Daily Express example of a SQUIGGLE: Elton John."

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Anyways, I found that interesting. And it killed some time. And, yes, I chose the squiggly line (like anyone's surprised...). And if you are into sports, then Joe's blog is a pretty darned good read. Some of his posts can run on a bit, but he's usually very interesting, and his topics vary daily.

Here's something I've always wondered about: Who is more bitter about Valentine's Day, single people, or guys in relationships? I've heard v-day referred to as Singles Awareness Day, indicating that being single is a flaw you should be ashamed to be aware of. However, I've heard plenty of guys grumbling about all the shit they had to do for their women for v-day. In my limited experience, I had a girlfriend for exactly one valentine's day ever. And it was a nightmare, to be perfectly honest. The girl told me not to plan anything for v-day, because she was handling it and had big plans. Cool, works for me, but I still got her flowers at school and some good presents for the evening. And the evening was nice, and she did a good job. But later on we'd be fighting about this and that, and she'd always complain "you didn't do anything for me for valentine's day." That was pretty retarded. The day itself wasn't a nightmare, but the aftermath was. Being single on v-day hasn't been the end of the world. In college we would throw our annual Anti-Valentine's Day Party...and it was usually a big hit, among both couples and singles. It only really sucks when all of your friends are not single, and are therefore not free to hang out with you at all on v-day (like this year, which was especially bad since it was a saturday of a holiday weekend). But I was mostly just bored, not bitter.

I think Valentine's Day would be a lot easier to swallow if the male equivalent, Steak and Blow Job Day (March 14th), was equally as hyped.

We are also only one month away from St. Me Day. So, remember to get your green outfits ready, and yes, if you want, I'll accept gifts on my day as well! :-P

I guess that's enough for now. Hopefully that kept you entertained/distracted for long enough. Maybe I'll jump in later in the week with some Ruminations...you know, if anything's on my mind.

Cya!