For those of you that are regular readers of the blog here and AREN’T wrestling fans don’t worry… this is the last wrestling related post for a while.

With that being said, WrestleMania 28 is officially in the books and it’s time for a recap and a look back at the show that was.  As per usual we built our yearly Beeramid which was epic.

First off, I’ll say this was a FAR superior show compared to the last couple of years.  I always enjoy WrestleMania weekend cause we turn it into an event, but I have to say the show itself was a BIG part of my enjoyment this year.  That’s something I’ve not been able to say over the last couple of years.

• Sheamus beat Daniel Bryan for the World Title
  If you blinked, you missed it.  Sheamus hit Bryan with his finisher as soon as he turned around from giving AJ a kiss and just like that it was over.  The WWE has gotten a TON of shit for this one but I have to say this match got one of the loudest pops from us.  While you can’t really call this a “match” and I would have enjoyed watching Sheamus and Bryan go at it, this was a pretty cool way to get the show started.  And when you think about it this is a really nice way to play into the Daniel Bryan story line.
• Kane beat Randy Orton
  I can only imagine how pissed Randy and Kane were when they found out they were going on second.  Guess that’s what happens when you have no time to build a story line and when Orton is hurt all the time.  This was actually a really good wrestling match, but as I watched it I couldn’t help but think we were watching an episode of RAW.  Kane gets the clean win when he choke slams Orton off the top rope.  Good finish and good solid match.
• Big Show beat Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Title
  With all the talk of how Big Show chokes at Mania, this was a no brainer for me (though apparently I was in the minority).  Cody Rhodes is clearly an up and comer and quite frankly I think he needed to lose the title so he could move forward in his career.  This was a relatively short match but one that I thought was pretty well done.  Big Show is nearing the end of his career and I for one was happy to see him get a victory on the grandest stage of them all.  He was visibly emotional at the end  which makes me think he’s nearing the end of the road.  Decent match.
• Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos defeated Beth Phoenix and Eve
  Um… yeah.  This match happened.  Was there any doubt that Kelly & Maria were going to win this?  If you doubted it, you should have read this beforehand.  Celebrities don’t lose at WrestleMania… period.  To be fair though, Maria had some broken ribs from her stint on Dancing With The Stars and didn’t totally embarrass herself.  Thankfully this was a short one.  Oh yeah… and Even is smoking hot.  Yum.
• The Undertaker defeated HHH in Hell In A Cell
  I still don’t think Shawn Michaels should have been in this match, but I have to say that all 3 guys brought it and did a HELL of a job.  If you want an example of old school wrestling storytelling you don’t have to go any further than this match.  While Taker, HHH and Shawn are all clearly well beyond their prime these guys far exceeded my expectations and put on an outstanding match.  As big a Taker fan as I am, I had to say that before the match I was VERY worried that the streak would end, but I’m happy to say that he managed to run it to 20-0.  Now I’m just hoping that he’ll retire and not even think about turning back.  If that’s the case I’d like to thank Undertaker for an outstanding career.  Match of the night in my opinion.
• Team Johnny beat Team Teddy
  Honestly I couldn’t have cared less about this match.  To me this was just a way to get a bunch of guys onto the WrestleMania card.  And let’s face it, NO ONE in the locker room wanted to follow HHH/Taker so the placement on the card here makes perfect sense.  It wasn’t nearly the spot fest that I thought it would be and as I sit here just 5 days removed from the event I really can’t pick out anything memorable.  That said, I can’t pick out anything overly terrible either so for a 12 man match this is about as good as we could have expected.
• CM Punk retained his WWE Championhip by making Chris Jericho tap
  Heading into the match there were quite a few folks (myself included) that were hoping this would be the next coming of Savage/Steamboat from WrestleMania III.  And while it didn’t quite live up to that, it was a DAMN good match.  Lots of back and forth action with Jericho doing the clean tap job in the middle of the ring.  With the “your momma’s a whore” build prior to the event the outcome was pretty set in stone, but these guys told a great story and had a superb match.  If I wasn’t such a Taker fan this would have been the match of the night for me.
• The Rock beat John Cena
  I just don’t get it.  The booking here makes absolutely no sense to me.  I stated before where I thought they were going but based on this match and the outcome I’m clearly wrong.  I just don’t see the value of Rock winning here.  The next night on RAW, he did what we all knew he’d do and essentially said goodbye for the foreseeable future.  And for all those John Cena haters out there, PLEASE take a look at this match and watch how he CARRIED The Rock through the whole thing.  Pay special attention to when Rock is in Cena’s submission finisher and damn near falls asleep.  Dear Rock… it’s not a sleeper.  You should be in agony when your leg is touching your head.  I can only hope that there’s some sort of longer term plans here.  The match itself was pretty decent (aside from a couple of examples) but with a year long build which I think was a HUGE mistake this one was bound to fall flat.

So there you have it.  As I said before, overall it was a VERY entertaining show and far superior to the last few year’s offerings.

For those keeping track at home, the final win/losses for the night were:

• Chewie: 5/8
• Pip: 4/8
• Marko: 4/8

Speaking of the WrestleMania 28 Drinking Game.  Here are the final tallies on how often we drank for each rule.  I’m sure we missed a few here and there, but this is the gist.

1 Time

• If a Diva and wrestler make out
• Every time it’s mentioned that Miami is the Rock’s home town
• If Michaels super kicks someone
• Submission victory
• (Uunannounced) legend appearance or surprise return

3 Times

• Small package attempt
• Ref bump

4 Times

• Foreign object

5 Times

• Bloody wrestler
• Reference to the sponsored song
• Footage of a previous WrestleMania
• Something is “trending worldwide”

10 Times

• Missed match outcome

And the CLEAR winner… with a whopping 27 occurrences…

• A finishing move

Once again, it was an absolutely tremendous event and we’re already looking forward to next year.  Got a rule you think we should include in next year’s game?  Post a comment and we’ll get it added!

Unfortunately, living in our areas there aren’t all that many options, but The Wife did the research and found Windstream which offers Internet, home phone and cable (through DISH) for FAR less than Time Warner.  On top of that they were offering a “lifetime price guarantee” which we know most likely isn’t actually that but it sounds good.  To make a long story short, we’re going to save nearly $1,000 a year.  Nice.

So the one thing that I requested when all of this was going down was to have my own DVR in my man cave (basement).  As you can imagine, I have considerably different tastes in television and movies from the Wife and boys so I didn’t think that was too much to ask.

I came home one day and it was all taken care of.  No more Time Warner boxes, brand new DISH boxes and a new home phone number.  Everything seemed good until ya know… I turned it on.  Low definition.  Oh yeah, and I didn’t have a DVR.  I was sharing the signal with the upstairs TV and I when that unit changed channels, so did mine.  Not good.

After about a week or so we got it all straightened out and I’ve got glorious HD in my basement with my very own DVR.  Not to mention we’re getting 3 free months of all kinds of movie channels which is super cool.  Good riddance Time Warner… I can’t say that I’ll miss you.

I’m in need of a new laptop so the Wife was kind enough to find a couple of online deals.  I’m not a gamer anymore so I’m essentially looking for a light, quick PC to do email, browse the web and do some web development.  Best Buy had one and with my Best Buy credit card I could take 6 months to pay without interest… score.

Managed to rummage through my wallet and find my card that had seen better days.  Went through the checkout process (with Best Buy not able to look up my Reward Zone number – I’ll deal with that later…) and  came to the point where I had to enter my card number.  Naturally, the card didn’t go through.

So, I get on the horn with Best Busy customer support to see what the issue was and how to fix it.  I figured that my card had been deactivated due to lack of use, but it would just be a matter of a phone call, a reactivation and I’d be on my merry way.  WRONG.

First I’m connected with an operator who to say had an accent would be an understatement.  Folks… if you’re going to put someone on the phone PLEASE make sure they can understand and speak English.  I know it’s a lot to ask for but trust me on this.  I managed to explain my situation to the woman and was told that my card had in fact been deactivated because, “It hadn’t been used in many days,” and that I could get another one right away… in the store.

Yep, they wouldn’t or couldn’t take care of it on the phone.  So what we’ve got here is a customer support rep on CYBER MONDAY telling me to hit up their brick and mortar location which happens to be about 20 miles away.  Oh yeah… and it was closed.

Needless to say, I didn’t put the transaction on my Best Buy credit card, nor will I be opening up a Best Buy credit card any time soon.  I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where businesses were run logically?  Fail.

• Empire Snow Removal – Solon, Ohio & Twinsburg, Ohio
• Not Worth The Paper It’s Printed On
• Mint.com FAIL
• This Just In – Verizon Makes Bad Decisions
• XM Radio – “I Wish I Knew How To Quit You.”

I’m happy to say that this isn’t one of those times.

I recently got a couple of overdraft charges on one of my business checking accounts at Fifth Third Bank.  I don’t keep a ton of funds in that account cause it’s linked to my PayPal account.  In any case… I’d made an online purchase and due to some changes in the order, they credited my card and had to do the transaction twice.  You can see where this is going.  Naturally, the credit didn’t go through in time and due to the double charge I was hit with $91 in overdraft charges.

That in an of itself wouldn’t have bothered me… except for the fact that I’ve been a customer of the bank for years, have multiple accounts and oh by the way, have a savings account with them as well that could/should have been used for overdraft protection.

I sent Michael an email and explained the situation.  I received an Out Of Office reply that he’d be out of the office until Monday.  The DAY he returned to the office, he emailed me letting me know that the charges had been refunded and he’d taken the necessary action to ensure that the situation wouldn’t arise again.

HUGE thanks to Michael at Fifth Third for taking care of this.  BRAVO!!!!

The title of the letter was “Important Information About Your Escrow Account”.  This type of letter comes once a year and typically tells me about an overage or a shortage in my yearly escrow account.  No big deal.  So I’m reading through the details and get to the nitty gritty.  I’ve got a shortage… of a whopping 4 cents.

And here’s where it gets good.

“Our analysis of your account has resulted in an Escrow Shortage of $0.04.  Please be aware of the following two payment options that are available to you:

1. Your $0.04 shortage will be collected as part of your monthly mortgage payment over the next 12 months, interest free.
2. Pay the total shortage amount now by including the bottom portion of this page with a check or money order made payable to ….

So… they’ve done their analysis, determined that I owe them money, typed the letter, printed the letter, stuffed an envelope and paid the postage to mail it to me.  All over 4 cents.

Needless to say, I’m not going to choose option 1 which would cost me more to write a check and mail it than the “entire” shortage.  I’m very interested to see how they take a additional third of a penny out of my account every month for the next year. *shrugs*

I loved the flick the first time around and the second time was no different.  In fact, I think I may have enjoyed it more the second time, but I don’t really think it was due to the 3D.  I have a feeling going into it the second time, I was able to pick up on more of the subtleties in the flick (if there are such things in a Michael Bay flick) and really got to sit back and enjoy the story a bit more.

I will say that this was the best use of 3D that I’ve ever seen in a movie.  And yes, that includes Avatar.  Michael Bay uses 3D the way it was intended to be used… to provide a little bit of depth.  I was worried that with the way Bay makes movies the added dimension of 3D would just be too much.  I’m happy to say that I was wrong.  The 3D really does add to the movie experience and with the exception of a few scenes really just blends in as part of the experience rather than the gimmick that it is.

All of that being said, I’m still not sold on 3D.  For me it just doesn’t add enough to be worth the extra ticket price.  I won’t say that I’ll shy away from 3D but give the choice between the two I’d probably go with the “regular” experience.  In all likelihood the next time I see a 3D flick will be when Star Wars returns to theaters (again) to get even more of my money.

• Edge retained the World Title over Alberto Del Rio
  I thought for SURE that Del Rio was going to walk out of Mania with the strap.  Not sure where the WWE is going to go with his character at this point but it’s clear he’s going to continue to feud with Edge based on the fact that Edge beat the hell out of his car post match.  I’m guessing we’ll get some sort of Edge/Christian/Del Rio feud in the upcoming weeks here.  This was a solid opener and I really had high hopes for the show after this one.  I was kind of disappointed that they kept telling us that Edge was 0-3 when defending the title at Mania.  Kind of gave away the outcome in my opinion.
• Cody Rhodes beat Rey Mysterio
  I can’t say I’m shocked that Cody got the win here.  I think he actually needed this match (career wise) way more than Rey does and I’m happy to see Rey putting over a younger competitor.  That said, this wasn’t Rey’s finest match.  I’m guessing that we’re going to see Rey against that new high flier that they’ve been introducing.  So so match and DEFINITELY not the worst on the card.
• Kane, Big Show, Santino & Kofi beat The Corre
  Who cares?!?!?  This was thankfully rather short and actually wasn’t too bad to watch.  I’m not quite sure why the Corre wouldn’t get the win here though… why not build those guys?  I mean they DO have 3 title belts between the four guys right?
• Randy Orton beat CM Punk
  Another WTF match for me.  If you’re going to go through WEEKS of building CM Punk as a bad ass and a few MORE weeks of having Orton dismantle his team then why WOULDN’T Punk win this match?  Makes no sense from a storyline perspective.  Punk at this point is buried.  Stupid booking by the WWE in my opinion.  That said it was a good match with Orton playing the “my knee won’t hold me” card and a very nice finish with a RKO out of nowhere.  Quite frankly either this or Edge/Del Rio is match of the night.
• Michael Cole beat Lawler by DQ
  This was just piss poor.  Lawler actually got the win and then the RAW GM (why do we still have THIS storyline going on) comes on and tells us that Austin interfered so Cole gets the win.  This was so bad it made Vince/Bret from WrestleMania 26 look like a masterpiece.  This makes NO sense on so many levels.  Complete waste of a match.
• The Undertaker made HHH tap
  This was decent but it was missing something…. and that something was HHH’s career.  For a No Holds Barred match this was pretty uneventful.  You can tell that both guys were really working hard but they’re just nearing the end of the road.  I’m guessing we’ll see a rematch of this one at next year’s Mania with Taker going for 20-0 against HHH’s career.  Not sure why in the hell Taker was carted out after the match.  He must be setting up his 6 month hiatus that he typically takes after WrestleMania. Decent match but not nearly what Shawn/Taker was the last couple of years.
  

At this point in the night we realized that there was something wrong timing-wise with the show.  We had about an hour remaining with 3 advertised matches.  Houston… we have a problem.  As it turns out, Sheamus/Daniel Bryan for the US Title was a dark match.  That sucks cause I’m guessing that would have been a hell of a lot better than some of the crap we got.

• Snooki, Trish, Morrison beat Ziggler & LayCool
  Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame.  I knew for a FACT that Snooki wasn’t going to lose but come on folks… you’ve got to give us SOMETHING better than this.
• Miz retained the WWE title over John Cena
  I think we all saw this coming a mile away.  Maybe not the way they got there but the end result.  Cena/Miz go to a double count out and out comes Rock (saying “Fuck THAT shit…” which is really funny).  Rock gets on the mic, restarts the match, gives Cena a Rock Bottom and Miz retains.  We’re clearly headed toward a Cena/Rock program which doesn’t NEED the title involved.  This was mildly entertaining though I was just sort of waiting for things to happen.

I’m not sure if I’m just a jaded wrestling fan or what, but I’ve been pretty disappointed with the last couple of year’s offerings.  This is the biggest show of the year and I’m just always hoping for a HUGE show from the WWE.  Maybe I’m just building things way up in my mind to the point where I can’t be satisfied.  That said… I can’t WAIT for April 1st, 2012… WrestleMania 28 in Miami!

What did you think of the show last night?

I apologize in advance to those that this will offend.  The language contained within will not be nice nor will it be “suitable for work” or for a child’s ears (not that you’re reading this blog to your child – boy would that be cool).  With that being said… STFU.

We live in world today where the vast majority of our interaction is digital.  140 character tweets, text message, status updates, etc.  It only stands to reason that some of that digital communication will be done in short hand so that we don’t have to go through the laborious task of actually TYPING what we think (perish the thought).  With the digital world that I’ve molded for myself (between Twitter, Facebook, online communities that I belong to, etc.) I’ve come to accept and downright rely on many of these.  A few of my “favorites” are below:

• AFAIC – as far as I’m concerned
• AFK – away from keyboard
• ASAP – as soon as possible (this one really isn’t specific to the online world, but I thought I’d include it)
• ASL? – age, sex, location (typically found in an online chat forum)
• AYBABTU – all your base are belong to us (don’t ask)
• FAQ – frequently asked questions
• IIRC – if I recall correctly
• IMHO – in my humble opinion
• LMAO – laughing my ass off

Those are pretty straight forward… and then we get to these (NSFW – not suitable for work for the non-initiated) gems:

• FFS – for fuck sake
• FOAD – fuck off and die (a personal favorite of mine, though I can honestly say I’ve never used it)
• FML – fuck my life
• LMFAO – laughing my fucking ass off
• PITA – pain in the ass

And the one that is the crux of this post: LOL – laughing out loud.

Folks… it’s one thing to use this on occasion.  You know… when you’re actually laughing out loud.  But when you put it in your Facebook status update more than once in the same update you’ve gone too far.  Stuff like this (see below) REALLY pisses me off:

“Just got home from the store and the dog ate through the couch cushion LOL.  Guess no dinner for him and I’m going to have to find a new couch LOL!“

First off… your dog eating through your couch cushion is not:

1. something I care to hear about
2. something that is funny
3. something that you should be laughing out loud about

Furthermore, if you ARE in fact “laughing out loud” at your dog eating your couch, you’ve already told me once.  There is absolutely NO reason to tell me about it again at the end of the message.  Are you honestly telling me that you started laughing out loud at the beginning of the message, stopped laughing out loud and then started laughing out loud again after you determined that you needed a new couch???

Don’t get me wrong… I’m not suggesting that the use of LOL be banned or even that you NEED to be physically laughing out loud every single time you use it.  I’m just as guilty of this as the next guy.  These days LOL has really come to be a way of saying, “Hey, that’s funny/clever” to one of your online buddies.  My issue is when it’s used alot… like a TON.  Like, a REALLY REALLY REALLY lot.  LOL.

OIC, u r just being a POS PITA right? LOL.  I’m ROFLMAO at you.  TTYL cuz this is the SSDD that I always hear from U. FML.  L8R.  LOL. FOAD (there… now I’ve used it )

I’m Alright – Caddyshack (1980)

I can’t embed it here, but if you want THE edition of this song you’ve got to check it out here… the hair ALONE makes it all worth it: Kenny Loggins – I’m Alright (Live-HQ).  If you’ve never seen Caddyshack… well, PLEASE for the love of God stop reading this and go out and rent it… like right now.  Shame on you.

Playing With The Boys – Top Gun (1986)

OK, so this one has a bit of homo eroticism thrown in there, but it’s not Loggins’ fault… damn you Val Kilmer.  Damn you to hell.  To up the “stud factor” Loggins came back with Danger Zone on the same soundtrack. Too cool.

Footloose – Footloose (1984)

Pure… brilliance.  I imagine there’s a video of Pip and I floating around somewhere dancing to this song at his wedding.  I haven’t seen it, but I know it exists… somewhere.  God help me.  (If you’re interested, here’s my toast to him).

Meet Me Halfway – Over The Top (1987)

It’s like a switch… enough said.

Throw in two other of my all time favorites Conviction Of The Heart (even after you factor in the Al Gore connection) and his version of Rainbow Connection and I’m more than sold. I’ll leave you with one more Loggins tidbit.  A twitter pal LaVieBoheme73 turned me on to this gem: The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas.  Epic.  Long live Loggins!

I live in northeast Ohio.  I also happen to live in a particular spot of northeast Ohio called the “snow belt”.  If you’re not familiar with the term please allow me to explain.  Based on our close proximity to Lake Erie our climate is a bit more humid that most.  So, before the lake has frozen for the year, there is a TON more moisture in the air.  When you add very cold temperatures to moisture in the air you get something called SNOW.  Now… the snow belt is named as such because of something called “Lake Effect Snow”.  This is due to the fact that all of this snow created from the moisture above Lake Erie dumps right on top of my house.  There you go… snow belt and lake effect snow defined.

Folks… this shit happens EVERY… SINGLE… YEAR.  It’s not as if Lake Erie is here one year and gone the next.  Which is why I get completely FLOORED every year when it snows and people say shit like, “Man… when’s it going to stop snowing.”  Living in Cleveland, the answer to that question is “March… maybe April.”

In any case, we got a snow storm a couple of days ago.  Sure it came during rush hour and it was a lot of snow, but it wasn’t the worst storm I’ve ever lived through, nor was it the coldest.  But you’d think we were living in the middle of the Sahara and people had NEVER seen snow based on the way folks were driving.  Good lord.  Luckily I had some good music and podcasts to listen to on my trek to work.  I really wasn’t that upset.  Like I said, I’ve lived here for a long time, this shit happens every year… I’m used to it.  For better or for worse.

What I’m NOT used to is people driving like idiot when the snow is done.  THIS morning, I rolled out, left the house a little earlier than usual and STILL was stuck in complete gridlock.  No snow on the ground, no snow falling yet I’m still waiting in a mile long line just to get on the freeway.  What… the… FUCK!  Turns out some jackass flipped his pickup truck in the middle of an interchange during morning rush hour.  Who knows… maybe he was texting one of his buddies asking when it’s going to stop snowing in Cleveland.