Milestones-a-plenty, ZiggyBackRiders! First of all, this is this site's 101st post - a perfect opportunity to look back, to celebrate, to relive the great moments of our first "century" together. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, you've logged on to "ZiggyBackPride: The Centennial Celebration!"
There's been meaningful social change - read June 10, 2003 (one of the very first posts) and then see June 8, 2004.
There's been romance - see the "Season For Loving" series from January and February of 2004. By the way, I used the material from the "Shape of My Heart" post in my stand-up set last Thursday and it went over big. Apparently it is funny to other people besides me that we use Valentine's Day as a yearly chance to lie to one another about what the heart looks like.
There's material for the sports fan - see June 13, 2003 or April 8, 2005; July 15 or 22, 2004 or the most recent post from the January 22, 2006.
We've even had hackers - see July 28 and 29, 2004.
We've made friends, including the now-defunct "cabinprayers" and "buffetlinementality" blogs, and the still-going-strong "dorfmangoestohollywood" and "centralstandards" blogs. (Other bloggers are welcome to share their blog addresses via the comment feature. I just didn't know who wanted to be outed and who didn't.)
It has been a glorious first hundred (and one) and I can't wait to see what the next century brings. Thanks for the memories, Riders. Strap in. There's more to come.
The next big thing? Visitor number 5000! Amazing! I mean, come on! That's a lot of time wasted* right on this very site! Let us know using the comment feature if you are lucky number MMMMM!
*That was a test. Don't ever be tricked into believing that time spent here is time wasted. See you soon!
Monday, January 30, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Best Year Ever?
The pirates are back!
The Steelers are back!
Sounds like a big day for Pittsburgh, right? Well it is, but only because of the Steelers, my Steelers, who are champions of the American Football Conference and who will play in Super Bowl XL (that's 40, not extra large) on February 5th. This, mind you, comes less than three weeks after the Texas Longhorns, my Longhorns, won College Football's national championship. In addition, my two favorite college basketball teams - the Memphis Tigers and Texas - are ranked 4th and 5th, respectively, in the nation, and may move higher when new polls are released tonight. The Texas Baseball team is a threat to repeat as champions of the College World Series and the New York Yankees, my favorite professional baseball team, have added to their already ridiculous collection of talent and have an excellent chance to be playing come October of this year. To top it all off, the Temple Israel Lady Rabs, whom I coach, are preparing to start season number two, reloaded and ready to make a run at a championship against the high school girls of the other Jewish organizations of Memphis. So....
Is this the best sports year ever? It has potential. Of course, if you don't happen to like all of the teams that I like, it probably doesn't seem as great to you. That'll teach you to like other teams!
In other news, pirates are in the news again. Pirates!!! In 2006! See the ziggybackride archives for November of 2005 for a previous unlikely pirate appearance and see this article:
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060122120809990005&ncid=NWS00010000000001
for current swashbuckling goings-on. Those who watched Saturday Night Live last night and/or have seen my comedy act recently and/or watched the movie, Dodgeball, will find it painfully obvious that pirates are back and a real force in our world. Spectacular!
The content of this post was too important to preempt in favor of the ZiggybackPride Centennial Celebration originally slated for this 100th post. Don't fret. It's coming. Seriously. Don't fret.
The Steelers are back!
Sounds like a big day for Pittsburgh, right? Well it is, but only because of the Steelers, my Steelers, who are champions of the American Football Conference and who will play in Super Bowl XL (that's 40, not extra large) on February 5th. This, mind you, comes less than three weeks after the Texas Longhorns, my Longhorns, won College Football's national championship. In addition, my two favorite college basketball teams - the Memphis Tigers and Texas - are ranked 4th and 5th, respectively, in the nation, and may move higher when new polls are released tonight. The Texas Baseball team is a threat to repeat as champions of the College World Series and the New York Yankees, my favorite professional baseball team, have added to their already ridiculous collection of talent and have an excellent chance to be playing come October of this year. To top it all off, the Temple Israel Lady Rabs, whom I coach, are preparing to start season number two, reloaded and ready to make a run at a championship against the high school girls of the other Jewish organizations of Memphis. So....
Is this the best sports year ever? It has potential. Of course, if you don't happen to like all of the teams that I like, it probably doesn't seem as great to you. That'll teach you to like other teams!
In other news, pirates are in the news again. Pirates!!! In 2006! See the ziggybackride archives for November of 2005 for a previous unlikely pirate appearance and see this article:
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060122120809990005&ncid=NWS00010000000001
for current swashbuckling goings-on. Those who watched Saturday Night Live last night and/or have seen my comedy act recently and/or watched the movie, Dodgeball, will find it painfully obvious that pirates are back and a real force in our world. Spectacular!
The content of this post was too important to preempt in favor of the ZiggybackPride Centennial Celebration originally slated for this 100th post. Don't fret. It's coming. Seriously. Don't fret.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Product Of An Atrophying Mind
Question of the Day
(our first in a long while)
Why do hospitals have religions?
Know what I mean? No? In my city, the two major hospitals (other than St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, of which we are very proud) are Baptist Memorial Hospital and Methodist Hospital. I was out of town recently and passed by a Jewish Hospital. Jewish hospital? I'm Jewish! I wanted to stop and talk, and see if the hospital knew any of the same people I know. (It's a little game we Jews play - Jewish Geography. Playing successfully is our favorite way to prove we're genuine Jews to other members of our faith family upon whom we happen.)
Back to the question, though. Why the denominations? As far as I know, all of these hospitals will treat anyone that comes in (provided they have insurance or money, but that's a question for a different day). The doctors come from various religious backgrounds (except maybe at the Jewish hospital). It all just seems so incredibly arbitrary. If it made sense to have your faith's name on a hospital, wouldn't it also have made sense to have pharmacies and other steps in the medical process. Geez, I hope I don't start a big war amongst the religions as they all try to convert Walgreens, CVS, Duane Reade, and others.
Alright, I was just interrupted by a phone call from regular reader, Sarah W., who informs me that Texas Longhorns National Championship commemorative Coke cans are on sale in Austin. My excitement over what I like to call "America in liquid form" being sold in Longhorns packaging has ended any hope of my exploring our question of the day any further. I have got to get to Texas immediately, if not sooner, and get me some of that!
According to blogger.com, this is the 99th post on Ziggybackride. Check back soon for our Centennial Celebration. It's going to be awesome!
(our first in a long while)
Why do hospitals have religions?
Know what I mean? No? In my city, the two major hospitals (other than St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, of which we are very proud) are Baptist Memorial Hospital and Methodist Hospital. I was out of town recently and passed by a Jewish Hospital. Jewish hospital? I'm Jewish! I wanted to stop and talk, and see if the hospital knew any of the same people I know. (It's a little game we Jews play - Jewish Geography. Playing successfully is our favorite way to prove we're genuine Jews to other members of our faith family upon whom we happen.)
Back to the question, though. Why the denominations? As far as I know, all of these hospitals will treat anyone that comes in (provided they have insurance or money, but that's a question for a different day). The doctors come from various religious backgrounds (except maybe at the Jewish hospital). It all just seems so incredibly arbitrary. If it made sense to have your faith's name on a hospital, wouldn't it also have made sense to have pharmacies and other steps in the medical process. Geez, I hope I don't start a big war amongst the religions as they all try to convert Walgreens, CVS, Duane Reade, and others.
Alright, I was just interrupted by a phone call from regular reader, Sarah W., who informs me that Texas Longhorns National Championship commemorative Coke cans are on sale in Austin. My excitement over what I like to call "America in liquid form" being sold in Longhorns packaging has ended any hope of my exploring our question of the day any further. I have got to get to Texas immediately, if not sooner, and get me some of that!
According to blogger.com, this is the 99th post on Ziggybackride. Check back soon for our Centennial Celebration. It's going to be awesome!
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Journey Through Time
Happy 2006 everyone! I am recently back in the States from my little jaunt through Israel. It was a great jaunt, by the way - fun, meaningful, memorable, and shared with a great group of people. Now that I'm back, I'm catching up on life and all I missed in the first two weeks of this New Year. It's like I slept through it, except that I actually slept very little and am just now catching up. So, it's really not like I slept through it at all. It's more like I was just out of town or something. Profound, no? If you have any great stories from the opening days of our year, please share using the comment feature below. And remember, this is a family site!
Many people have asked me what my favorite part of Israel was. Was it the Western Wall? The Dead Sea? The falafel? The camels? The enchanting night in an authentic imitation Bedouin camp? No. No. No. No. And no. Ready? It was the Texas Longhorns' Rose Bowl victory, garnering a long-awaited, well-deserved, and hard-earned national championship! Not an "Israel experience," you say? Wrong! Massada, the ancient mountain fortress will forever be intertwined with Texas football in my (keen and reasonable) mind. For it was atop that mountain, in the early hours of the morning of January 5th, that I (and other Texas fans with whom I climbed) got up-to-the-minute info about the details of our glorious victory. I have pictures of our half-way-around-the-world, 10-hour-time-difference, enjoying-a-site-with-tremendous-religious-and-historic-significance victory celebration that I plan to send to The Alcalde, the magazine of the Texas Exes.
I didn't get to watch the game, but I did wake up at 3 a.m. to try (with a severe lack of success) to pick it up on a short wave radio. Though I couldn't find the feed, I did eat the baggie of Baked Cheetos that I had brought with me from the States to ensure that I would ingest some orange food on game day. That's probably why we won.
Okay, enough (for now) about the Texas win. Israel was great and I loved the group that I travelled with. So now I face the familiar challenge of keeping in touch with a new group of dispersed friends. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully, I can get them to come along for this ride: The Ride of Your Life.
Happy 2006! It's good to be back!
Many people have asked me what my favorite part of Israel was. Was it the Western Wall? The Dead Sea? The falafel? The camels? The enchanting night in an authentic imitation Bedouin camp? No. No. No. No. And no. Ready? It was the Texas Longhorns' Rose Bowl victory, garnering a long-awaited, well-deserved, and hard-earned national championship! Not an "Israel experience," you say? Wrong! Massada, the ancient mountain fortress will forever be intertwined with Texas football in my (keen and reasonable) mind. For it was atop that mountain, in the early hours of the morning of January 5th, that I (and other Texas fans with whom I climbed) got up-to-the-minute info about the details of our glorious victory. I have pictures of our half-way-around-the-world, 10-hour-time-difference, enjoying-a-site-with-tremendous-religious-and-historic-significance victory celebration that I plan to send to The Alcalde, the magazine of the Texas Exes.
I didn't get to watch the game, but I did wake up at 3 a.m. to try (with a severe lack of success) to pick it up on a short wave radio. Though I couldn't find the feed, I did eat the baggie of Baked Cheetos that I had brought with me from the States to ensure that I would ingest some orange food on game day. That's probably why we won.
Okay, enough (for now) about the Texas win. Israel was great and I loved the group that I travelled with. So now I face the familiar challenge of keeping in touch with a new group of dispersed friends. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully, I can get them to come along for this ride: The Ride of Your Life.
Happy 2006! It's good to be back!
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