6th Floor Super Bowl

Welcome to the .

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Super Bowl Sunday

Quick note before I get on with the post. I've connected with a domain, so now the official link of the blog is www.ceetar.com/6thfloorblog. Likely switching to wordpress, but working on getting the starts of an acceptable theme setup, so as of now, that link redirects. But it won't. I've commissioned Sara to start tweaking some stuff, for instance, the width of the site. It was stupid and small prior, and I always felt like things were getting squished. I should've done this a while ago. I also need to fix the header graphic now, as it looks tiny.

“Vegas was a blast, but I'm glad I got the red-eye and am here for Super Bowl Sunday! Woo, go Steelers!”

“I think I'm going with the underdog story in the Cardinals.”

“I'm just hoping it ends. Some cool commercials, like last year, couldn't hurt.”

“Good football, good snacks.. That's all I need.”

“I've already resolved myself that football is over, and there is no way the game will be as good as last year.”

“Baseball season! Baseball! Pitchers and catchers report in like two weeks!”

“Rather giddy aren't you? You'd think you'd have learned by now, yet every spring you get your hopes up, and every October you're a miserable wreck of a person for two weeks.”

“Bah! This year IS the year. You just wait and see.”

---------Football Game----------

“I dunno Scott. That game was pretty exciting.”

“Last year was better.”

“Two Super Bowls for Ben Roethlisberger now. Are we going to get Eli-Ben comparisons again about how the Giants should’ve taken him?”

“No, I think Eli’s fine. I’m sure some idiots will bring that up on WFAN, but Eli won last year, he didn’t have a great post season this year, but I don’t think anyone’s worried.”

“So, how lame was the 3D glasses thing?

“Hated it. The commercials weren’t bad, the the idea that they actually sent out millions of glasses around the country?”

“Would’ve been lamer if Tabitha hadn’t spotted the glasses and picked them up for us.”

“That’s true. Kudos Tab. Maybe I’ll even watch Chuck tonight to make the most use of them.”

“There were some funny commercials..but in general I think this year failed. Maybe the economy caused the ad agencies to let some of their people go?”

“You’d think they’d be smart enough to keep the funny guys though.”

“You know what the big-wigs thing is funny, and what’s actually funny are usually completely different things.”

“It’s the old adage: Most people end up doing the job that’s one level above what they’re good at.”

“That can't be true. It implies that most people are doing things they're not good at.”

“Explains the state of our country though.”

“Hard to argue that.”

Trash Talk

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Sara, Frank

Subject: Trash Talk

“I see the Mets are making a habit of this September collapse thing.”

“Can it curse boy. The Mets are still the wild card leaders.”

“They were in first place this time last year too.”

“And Yankee games still mattered!”

“Can't win them all. So we have to wait another year for 27.”

“Yeah..good luck with that. Didn't Carl Pavano win more games than super rookies Hughes and Kennedy?”

“Big moves coming this offseason.”

“At least the Mets aren't talking about the offseason yet.”

“Give it another day.”

“We'll see!”

“We will. I wouldn't miss collapse part two for the world.”

All-Star Aftermath

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Billy and Scott.

Subject: How we fared

Wasn’t going to bother with an aftermath post, (Alright, I’m just lazy), but Brave Astronaut asked in a comment: “So the game went on longer than many expected. Anyone up yet there on the sixth floor? Did anyone make it to the end? I fell asleep in the 13th. No drinking was involved, unfortunately. I'm just old.” So since I/we don’t get many commenter requests I figured I’d acquiesce (Never used that word before, it’s a bugger to spell), and rather than a comment reply which chances are he’d never check back to see, I’d just post.

Ann: I’m not that into baseball, and I was going to read while we watched, but Sara made me put down my book and Scott forced beer into my hands and made me pay attention. I cheated a little and didn’t always drink when I was supposed to. (See? I can too cheat when I want to Scott!) When the game (both drinking and All-Star) deteriorated, I stopped drinking and was pretty much fine.

Sara: Sara was doing fine, until Billy Wagner blew the save. Sara points out that had he not let up runs last year, the NL would’ve won that one too. While she continued playing after that, She was also doing plenty of side-drinking too. She stumbled out of here this morning to go to work not looking pleasant, and she had _two_ travel mugs of coffee with her.

Tabitha: Tabitha likes baseball the least of any of us, but that led her to really pay attention to the drinking cues rather than any of the actual game. She switched between beer and weak kamikazis, so she was pretty much okay by morning.

Billy: Billy really took to the game, and since he was off Wednesday he didn’t even have to worry about work. Even though we did stay up for the end of the game, Billy had to ask Sara the score the next morning, because he didn't even remember that we stopped paying attention to the drinking game sometime in extra innings.

Scott: Scott's really developing a crazy tolerance. We joke that no longer can we buy a six pack and split it evenly, he has to get his own. Tonight Scott may have gone overboard, finding excuses to take shots all night long. There is a disturbingly empty looking bottle of gin in the sink (and cracked) and I'm hoping that most of it leaked out through that crack and not into Scott. Scott was all ready to start up a game of asshole after the game ended, and even got as far as bringing out the cards before we groaned at him. After the game ended he decided it was a good idea to make pancakes, which made some of us nauseous and the others hungry. This became funnier in the morning when Tab, not really hungover but very groggy, sat down at the table and ended up sitting in a half cooked left over pancake. Apparently Scott was experimenting with his pancake flipping abilities..drunk and lost one. I wish I'd gotten a picture.

All-Star Game Drinking Fun

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Billy

Subject: All-Star Drinking Game

“Help me with these.” Billy asks, as he comes through the door with a ton of boxes.

“What have you got there?” Ann asks, getting off the couch to help.

“I got some beer for the drinking game for the All-Star Game.”

“We're doing that again? Where's the game this year?”

“Umm..it's right here in New York. At Yankee Stadium. Where have you been?”

“Guess I tune out anything baseball.”

“I've devised a Yankee Stadium version of the game. I'm sure it'll be favorable to getting drunk via the Yankee Stadium lovefest I'm sure the game will be.”

“We're well stocked if it is.” Billy says, as he loads 6-packs into the fridge. Maybe we should drink for the Home Run Derby too.”

“Probably not enough action than that. Don't they usually hit like 40 home runs?”

“Usually a little less than that. But we could make it simple, just each pick a player, and take a shot for each home run they hit. We'd have to switch it up to keep us from dying though, so if you're player advances, you win and don't drink anymore, and a loser takes up your player.”

“We could try that. If we get too plastered too fast, we'll just stop drinking to the derby, and just drink.”

“Seems fair enough to me. I'm going to need plenty of alcohol to get through two nights of baseball.”

“As long as we're still on to go to New Roc City to see Dark Prince next weekend.”

“Of course, providing we can all get up there.”

“Back to baseball though. I figure I'll need to drink for it too, I'm going to be sick of Yankees talk about 5 minutes in.”

“Sure Frank will love it though.”

“I'll just grill him about the Mets being better if he does.”

“The Mets are doing better now? When did that happen? Weren't they playing like crap?”

“Actually, they're on fire. They've won nine in a row. Only one win behind the Phillies.”

“Well, that's pretty good. I'd think they'd have to at least give them props for that during the game right?”

“Maybe they'll mention it when David Wright is up, but otherwise I doubt it.”

“Really down on the Fox broadcasters huh?”

“It's one of the reasons I try to get out to Shea on Saturdays. It means I don't have to listen to those guys when they do a game.”

“That's a good idea. Hey, we should all go to a game together this year. I haven't been out to Shea and I guess I should see it one more time right?”

“Sure, it'll be like a 6^th Floor does Shea experience.”

“And it'll give me something to blog about!”

“Well, we know where your priorities are Ann.”

6th Floor blog Plans a Trip

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: 6^th Floor Blog plans a trip

Scott gets a plate and a fork out of the cabinets and walks over to the chocolate cake sitting on the counter to have a slice when Tabitha walks up behind him and snatches the fork from him.

“You can't eat Sara's cake before she gets home!”

“Did I hear cake?” Billy asks, strolling out of his room with his nose in the air. “Smells good.”

“Have you been home this entire time? We just assumed you were working when you didn't show up when the apartment started smelling like chocolate cake.”

“Nope, working tonight. I just assumed I was having a chocolate cake craving, I didn't really think you were baking on a Monday!”

“Is Monday a non-baking day?”

“Isn't that why most bakeries are closed on Mondays? It must be a bad day for baking.”

“This cake smells good at least, so maybe Tabitha's the exception to the rule.”

“Why is it Sara's cake, and why can't I have any?”

“We're celebrating that she found a new job. She's off getting her physical and drug screen right now.”

She'll be back in time for dinner though right? We were going to watch the Mets game tonight since the Yankees are off.”

“Probably, it's just a physical. She had to go to Jersey City for it though.”

Sara walks in just then.

“She's early! Surprise Sara! Cake!”

“I thought something smelled good.”

“So you got a new job? Where? Doing what? Are you going to start paying for coffee again?”

“It's in Jersey City, so I'll have to play on the Path train everyday. It's ..well I don't really know what my job would be. Sorta tech support for some of their applications. Not a perfect job, but good enough for now. Well it'll be at least three weeks before I get my first paycheck, so don't expect me to pay for coffee before that!”

“Sara's here now. Can we eat the cake?”

“Shouldn't we have dinner first?”

“You made me dinner too?”

“No..I forgot all about making dinner. Pizza delivery anyone?”

“Cake!”

Scott and Billy start chanting “Cake! Cake! Cake!” and pretty soon Frank and Sara join in too.

“I guess we're having the cake for dinner. We could order pizza for dessert?”

“Good idea. And some garlic knots. Gotta love the knots.”

“So when do you start Sara?”

“Two weeks.”

“Wanna pre-spend your first paycheck and go to Cooperstown?”

“Cooperstown huh? I've never been..sure!”

“Anyone else want to come?”

“I'll come. Can we go to Howe's Caverns too?”

“Sure, that's one of the quintessential upstate New York tourist destinations I hear...have you been?”

“Years ago with my family.”

“This sounds like fun! When do you want to go?”

“You've got the physical and everything you need for work out of the way right? How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? Not like I have anything to do..Can you get off work Ann? Anyone else?”

“I can, yes.”

“Nope.”

Scott and Tabitha shake their heads.

“Just us then. Good, we can all fit in my car.”

“Shotgun!”

“Doh!”

Fantasy Baseball

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Sara, Frank.

Subject: SimYard

“You have any fantasy baseball teams this year Sara?”

“Don't I always? I've got the one we're in together on Yahoo, and another Yahoo one.”

“I went overboard. I've got four Yahoo teams, and a Sporting News team. The Sporting News team is cool though because it's a salary cap league, so you have to buy and sell players as they increase or decrease in value.”

“That's neat. A little more strategy than just hoping you get to draft early to take A-Rod or Reyes.”

“Reyes? You have to take Hanley Ramirez over him don't you?”

“Reyes had a bad year, Ramirez had a good year, and they were still very close in fantasy points in most leagues.” Sara says, sticking her tongue out at Frank.

“I actually agree, I think Reyes will do better than Hanley this year.”

“Speaking of fantasy baseball, you should check out SimYard. It's a fantasy baseball management sim.”

“Management sim? Like Sim City sim?”

“Kind of, yeah. You got a roster full of randomly generated players, and then you play pick-up games in the park against other teams, and you can add to your roster. Every year, which is a month of real time, you can train your players and they get better and stuff. There are even playoffs. It's kind of addicting.”

“So the games play themselves or something?”

“Well, you can micro-manage a little, but yeah. If you join a league and buy a stadium, you don't even have to set up games, they start automatically on schedule.”

“Buy a stadium? So what, it schedules a 162 game season or something? Can I be the Yankees?”

“Screw the Yankees! It's not supposed to be real world teams anyway. Some of the names are kind of funny. Killer Dust Bunnies, No Talent Ass Clowns, Humanity Annihilatng Choloroflorocarbons.”

“Ass Clowns? Like Office Space?”

“Yeah. Their icon is actually Michael Bolton.”

“Ha! That's awesome. So maybe I'll check it out.”

“You should.”

“Okay. I will.”

“Sounds good.”

“It does.”

“Okay then.”

“Okay.”

Easter Eggs

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Easter

“Wow, I think I ate way too much junk. My stomach is angry at me.”

“Mine too. I actually ate half of that huge chocolate bunny my parents sent me.”

“You girls are lightweights.” Billy says, buttering himself another piece of Easter bread.

“I can't believe we went through a loaf and a half of that stuff...you must have eaten half of one yourself Billy.”

“It's good stuff. Ann is a good baker.”

“Thanks. Those pastries Frank bought were delicious too.”

“Want another? There are plenty left.” Frank says, peeking into the bakery box.

“No! I'm full. I'm on chocolate hiatus.”

“Chocolate hiatus sounds like a sin.”

“It probably is.”

“I think I've eaten too many eggs. I think I had five today, that's a lot of cholesterol.”

“Maybe if Tabitha hadn't insisted we dye so many...”

“You're right, I think four dozen eggs may have been overkill, but it was fun!”

“I ran out of ideas though. And then Sara had to make too many blue and orange Mets colors eggs..Speaking of which, are you getting up to watch any of the Red Sox against the As in Japan Sara?”

“Probably not. It's on at 6 right? I'll probably wake up and catch the end of one of them, just to see some real baseball.”

“Yeah, I may just stay up all night. We'll see. I have to remember to make sure all my Boston and Oakland players are active in my fantasy leagues though.”

“Yeah, I should do that too.”

March

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: March

“It's that time of month again!”

“Oh no! She's going to ask us about March! Run!”

Scott and Frank leap up and start dashing towards the bedrooms, but Ann blocks their way.

“Tough. It won't hurt that much, I promise.”

“That's what the doctor always says too, before he comes at me with a giant needle!”

“At least he puts a Mickey Mouse band-aid on your boo-boo.”

“Yeah, that's true.” Frank sits back down and resumes his game with Sara.

“Hey, I'm losing 34-22? You didn't pause it?!”

“Oh, you wanted it to pause it? My mistake.” Sara grins.

“You'll regret that! Prepare for an amazing comeback.”

“My birthday's in March, so that's cool. This year's the big Two Seven.”

“The big Two Seven? What's so great about 27?”

“Well, It's prime for one thing.” Sara calls over from the couch.”

“No it's not...nine and three..?”

“Oops. Nevermind. So what is so great about 27 then Scott?”

“I just wanted to say the big Two Seven. Nothing special.”

“I know it's a little cliché going with a food answers, but I like cornbeef and cabbage as well as Irish soda bread.”

“Speaking of that, did you see that Guinness is looking to make St. Patrick's Day an official holiday?”

“Not a bad idea. I love Guinness.”

“They got a petition I guess? I'd sign that.”

“915,913 signatures to go apparently. That's a lot in only two weeks. I don't even like Guinness but I think it's a good idea.”

“They even have a commercial, where they're interviewing what I guess is a pilgrim, asking him if he's jealous about the idea.”

“On that avenue of thought, I'm going to say green beer is my favorite thing about March.”

“Green beer? You know it's just food coloring right? I could make you some green beer right now.”

“Wouldn't taste the same if it's not the 17^th. Your turn Ann, I know how you like to weasel out of your own questions.”

“That's easy, my favorite thing about this March is that Wednesday marks one whole year of writing the blog. I'm proud of myself.”

“A bit modest are we? I'm going to say Easter. It's neat that it's early this year. I Looove dying Easter Eggs.”

“Yeah, that should be fun. Maybe we should all stick around here this year instead of going home to our families. Last but not least, Sara. No baseball reasons, you always find a way to make it about baseball.”

“But.. But..”

“No! And I might not let you use it in April either!”

“Speaking of days that should be holidays, Opening Day should really be a national holiday so we can all watch our national pasttime.”

“I'm with you there. Look on the bright side, I'm my own boss and you are unemployed. We can both watch it at leisure!”

“I knew there was a benefit to being home all day! If I can't have baseball, I'll go with the 'In like a lion, out like a lamb' cliché. I look forward to the warm weather again.”

“See, and no one died. If you guys start thinking about your April answers, maybe you won't find it so grueling.”

“And Frank, you suck. Did you just lose to Sara by 27 points?”

“Best two out of three?”

February

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: February

“I never did a What Do You Like About January post did I? Shoot. Oh well, there is always next year. Guess what! It's February!”

Frank groans. “Fine, but you go first.”

“Happily. I like February for Valentine's Day. I've only been dating Mark a little while, but I think it's long enough to get pampered on February 14^th.”

“The pampering is nice, but the best part about it is the chocolate. Sweet delicious chocolate. And even if you don't have a boyfriend, all the stores are selling delicious stuff.”

“Beware the Ides of February!”

“February 15^th? Is that your favorite part of February or are you just being stupid?”

“So's your face.”

“What? That doesn't even make sense.”

“So's your face always makes sense.”

“Scrubs reference high-five!” Scott and Frank high five, and then snap their fingers.

“Super Bowl! The Super Bowl is Sunday. Let's go big blue!”

“I didn't realize you were such a big Giants fan.”

“They're growing on me. Did you know that the Jets were named for the planes at neighboring LaGuardia airport and their colors come from the Hess gas station colors?”

“I didn't know that. That's a lovely history they have. Was Hess one of their original owners?”

“Yeah.”

“Back to the ides, pitchers and catchers report to spring training on February 15^th. Baseball season is getting closer!”

“Baseball high five!”

Sara and Frank slap five.

“I like February for my birthday. Quarter century this year.”

“25's a good number. I liked that age. I like Groundhogs day. It's such an unappreciated holiday.”

“Unappreciated? What's to appreciate? We make a big deal about a rodent coming out of the ground, and either bitch and moan about the cold weather, or cheer that it's almost spring. Woo Hoo.”

“I liked the movie too.”

“Fun movie. Doesn't make the holiday any better.”

“Doesn't make it any worse.”

Ann cuts in. “That's everyone! That wasn't so bad was it?”

“I liked January better.”

“I didn't do this in January.”

“Exactly!”

Ann's a Jinx

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Frank and Scott.

Subject: Exercise? Never heard of it.

Frank walks in and peels off his heavy jacket. “I’m soaked. It’s warm out there!”

“Is it? I haven’t been outside all day.”

“Yeah. It’s probably 70 degrees out. I guess it’s nice if you aren’t in a heavy jacket.”

Ann walks in from the bedroom. “It’s warm out? Maybe I should go out for a walk.”

“It’s a nice day for it. It’ll probably be cold again before you know it. You’re a jinx, only a couple of days after you blog about it being frigid out and now we have a heat wave.”

“Maybe I should blog about not getting something I’ve written published then.”

“Or blog about not winning the lottery.”

“Or blog about never finding a boyfriend.”

“Ouch! Low blow Frank!”

Frank just grins. “I feel like sitting outside with a beer and watching baseball in weather like this. It’s a shame it’s still many months away.”

“Still over a month before pitchers and catchers even report to spring training.”

“I know. Only seven football games left too. Guess there is going to be a lot of hockey watching in the near future.”

“Or you could actually go out and play sports, exercise, that kind of thing.”

“Exercise? Naaaaah.” Frank flops on the couch and flips on Comedy Central. I want to watch the Daily Show from last night, I forgot. First one back since the strike started.”

“Oh, right! Screw the walk.”

“Now who’s skipping exercise?” Scott teases, bringing over three beers.