February FitnessBlog

(Just as a reminder.... this is more for me to motivate myself a little than for any other purpose.)

For February, I went to the gym.... 17 times. That's one less visit than last month, but considering February has 3 fewer days, that screams "staying the course" to me. So I'm pleased.

Latest "Breaking News"

Peanuts Creator Schulz Watched Wrestling In Later Years

You know you're getting old when....

.... you can't even be bothered to stay up for the main event of Raw anymore. Now... we here in Ontario are watching the show an hour later than you Yanks on the East Coast, so the main event typically ends just after midnight, but STILL!

I remember, maybe 10 years ago, when the Monday Night Wars were in their infancy, I would race home from whatever I was doing to be in front of the TV set at midnight and watch Raw all the way through to 2 a.m., and do so HAPPILY! Nowadays, I'm pooped by 11'ish.

And I can't even use the show's quality as an excuse these days; it's really started to pick up steam as we head into WrestleMania, and really, the last three episodes have been pretty good. Still, I'm more likely to log onto World Wrestling Insanity (cheap plug) halfway through, read Mallory Mahling's excellent "real time" results for the rest of the show, and pop a tape in the VCR if the rest sounds interesting. This is also a prime reason why I rarely watch ECW (which airs here Fridays at midnight) - that and the fact that the show sucks.

We're Number Two

Just found out from The W.com website (where I started the whole Bulldog shtick about four years ago) that I finished SECOND last year in the PPV Predictions! This was from No Way Out 2006 to Royal Rumble 2007, and you had to submit predictions for at least 6 of the 14 WWE PPV's. Here are the final results:

1. Torchslasher: 43-15; 74.1% (8 PPVs guessed)
2. CANADIAN BULLDOG: 55-29; 65.5% (12)
3. Big Bad: 30-20; 60% (7)
4. Freeway: 42-29; 59.1% (10)
5. Redcumo: 43-30; 58.9% (10)
6. geemoney: 56-42; 57.1% (14)
7. Evil Antler God: 34-27; 55.7% (8)
8. Oliver: 27-23; 54% (7)
9. Gugs: 37-35; 51.4% (10)
10. Texas Kelly: 19-19; 50% (6)
11. JohnHayduke: 20-21; 48.8% (6)

Not bad, if I do say so myself.

The Curse of Billy Miner

I brought it upon myself.

For the last two years or so, every time I've gone to The Keg (a chain of steakhouses across Canada and, I believe, Texas) with my brother and sister-in-law, we've played something of a scam on their staff. You see, whenever you tell them it's your birthday, you get a FREE slice of Billy Miner Pie (kind of a coffee ice cream pie with OREO crust-type dessert). Truth be told, I don't even care for Billy Miner's favorite dessert that much (and we're not sure who Billy Miner was - perhaps an old prospector who gained notoriety by giving people free pie on their birthdays), but we've turned it into a game to see how often we can snag said pie.

It's been (in no apparent order): my grandfather's birthday, my sister-in-law's birthday, my brother's birthday, my sister's birthday, my friend's birthday, and mine at least three times now over the past two years and coincidentally, we end up at The Keg to celebrate. Sometimes, it will accidentally fall on our ACTUAL birthdays, but we try to avoid that as much as possible (where's the fun in that?).

The plan last night was for my brother, sister-in-law and I to meet up for dinner and then head downtown for a night of social interaction (eg drinking heavily). I arrived at the restaurant first (and I damn well better, as it's in the lower level of my apartment complex) and I came prepared with a gift bag to celebrate my sister-in-law's (ahem) birthday. To weigh the bag down, I bought a compass at a nearby dollar store and a bottle of Pop Shoppe (only true Ontarians will understand that reference) brand cream soda. As if they were going to check the gift bag to see if I wasn't faking. But give me props for coming prepared.

Then my brother and sister-in-law arrived - THEY had gifts too (it was my birthday as well, apparently). Their fake gifts were a lot nicer - a box of chocolates, and a book and DVD I had lent them. So the official story was, it was both mine and my sister-in-law's birthday (quite plausible, because our ACTUAL birthdays are within days of each other).

Dinner was great, and without us asking for it, we're brought our complimentary dessert -- not one, but TWO slices of Billy Miner pie. This was a real coup for us in the world of pie-scamming. We act surprised ("Wow! This is even better than my birthday last month!") and the waitress points out that she managed to get us two whole slices of pie (we assumed she was just jockeying for a better tip). I took maybe four, five bites of mine and then passed it off to my brother. My sister-in-law had her own slice (this becomes important later on).

After dinner, we come back upstairs to my place to drop off the fake gifts and plan our evening, when all of a sudden, both my brother and I get sick to our stomach. Sister-in-law is fine. This ruins our entire evening. We're trying to think of what could have happened -- the three of us had completely different meals and even beverages -- and then hits us. The waitress, possibly wise to our game, spiked the Billy Miner Pie!

Okay, I'd like to see YOU come up with a better explanation. Until then, the curse of Billy Miner lives on.

The Office Line Of The Night

Michael: I love you, Jan.
Jan: Okay.
Dwight (from backseat): You guys shouldn't break up.

Between Dwight inspecting the CFO's house, Michael and Jan throughout the cocktail party, and Roy and his brother tearing up the bar in a rage, that was one of the more awkward episodes. But not even awkward in a bad way... just a lot of uncomfortable humor.

Runner up goes to Creed and his fake ID business. He's slowly growing on me, just because of how unpredictable he is.

Latest ITR

Who-maga?
Vince McMahon has made his choice: his comically shellacked hair helmet will be defended at WrestleMania 23 by.... UMAGA. Who is also your new IC Champ, but that's a whole other story.... so who should Donald Trump select as his "representative" against Umaga? That's where the Canadian Bulldog comes in handy. He's prepared a full scOOuting repOOrt, not only Umaga, but on 9 of Trump's potential candidates. OO still likes the idea of Mick Foley (with Dusty Rhodes and Roddy Piper) facing Umaga (with Afa and Sika) at WM23.... but Bulldog has myriad other alternatives, which he proudly presents in the very latest hand-crafted edition of Inside the Ropes.

So Not Awesome

According to the Wrestling Observer:

Mike Alfonso, better known as Mike Awesome, was found dead on Saturday evening in the Tampa area according to those close to the family. He was 42.

Friends were coming to his home in Tampa to pick him up and go out Saturday night at about 10:30 p.m. and he never answered the door and found him hanging in the home. It is believed the death was due to suicide pending results of the autopsy.

Mike Awesome was one of the top foreign stars in FMW in Japan, who as a high-flying big man was made ECW champion on two occasions in 1999 and 2000. As champion, he signed with WCW, creating a situation that many feel ended up killing the title as Tazz from WWF was brought back to ECW to win the title, yet at the same time the title was jobbed in WWF.

He worked for a few months with WWF after the collapse of WCW, as well as with All Japan, but had not wrestled in some time. He was working as a realtor at Coldwell Banker at the time of his death.



Very sad.

The Office line of the night

"And you realize, this isn't a graduation?"

Certainly not the best episode, but not without its charm. Jim as the vampire had a lot more potential, though the whole bat storyline (especially the ending with Meredith/Mary Beth) produced some great moments. Michael as a guest lecturer practically wrote itself and the chocolate bar analogy ("Is that a candy bar in your pocket?") was fantastic. Still, Pam's art exhibition kind of fell flat, and again, I just say they fast-forward past the Roy/Karen stuff and get Pam and Jim together already. Yes, I know it won't happen until the season finale (at the earliest), but still..... If the show ever needs a nice ratings boost, THAT'S the rabbit they should pull from their hat.

Dante's Pizza

I don't think I've ever opined on this before here in three years of blogging, so here goes: The world's best pizza happens to be in Thornhill, Ontario, in the form of Dante's Italian Eatery.

Why am I bringing this up now? I became reacquainted with my old friends at Dante's the other night after probably 9 months of lesser-quality pizzas. Why the long wait? Well, firstly I moved and wasn't sure I was in their delivery area anymore and also, it's quite expensive. Thus, I limited my "pizza nights" (generally speaking - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, sometimes Friday, Saturday and Sunday) to frozen pizza and the ocassional Pizza Pizza (for anyone outside of southern Ontario reading this, roughly the McDonald's equivalent to pizza) offering.

But the other night, I decided to treat myself and it was just incredible. Their sauce is the main attraction -- it's just so thick and, I don't know, zesty. The sauce is highly addictive (I was hooked on the stuff in the late 80's). But on top of that (technically, below that, I guess) is one of the best crusts I've ever had -- not too doughy, but not hard as a rock, either, with cornmeal sprinkled on the bottom to give it some more texture. Their cheese is easily the best anywhere. And though I'm not normally a Pepperoni Man, they just seem to slice and cook it perfectly.

I realize breaking down a pizza to this level of detail sounds a bit silly, but once you've had it, you'll know what I mean....

Latest "Breaking News"

WWE Legends Agrees To Part Ways With Junkyard Dog, Rick Rude, Others

Piper's Return

(Note: This is kind of a Raw spoiler, but hell, you've already read the title of this, so might as well read on.)

I was SHOCKED to see how good Rowdy Roddy Piper looks post-therapy. I know it's one thing to have his gimmick be a "lifelong fighter", but this really reinforces it. Good for him. And the entire segment, featuring two others, was EXTREMELY well done.

In fact, Raw is at the halfway point right now, and it's been a tremendously well-booked show so far. You Americans don't know what you're missing.

The Police Reunion

Did I tune in late, or did they ONLY play one song (Roxanne)?

Having said that, that was probably the most anticipated musical event (to me) in the last 10 years. One of those things I never thought I'd see again, and I'll probably be among those trying to get reunion show tickets if they come to Toronto.

Also, how does Stevie Wonderful look older than Tony Bennett? Something is very wrong with that picture...

The Office Line Of The Night

"Phyllis and Bob, if you two were a celebrity couple, you'd be known as Phlob."

This was BY FAR the best Season 3 episode I've seen (mind you, I still haven't seen a bunch). Between Dwight as the bouncer, the return of Scrantonicity and of course Michael as the "Employer of the Bride", this was just classic.

One thing that I've noticed: The longer Pam and Jim stay apart, the more it actually, physically bothers me. WHY? I have no idea. I used to be a massive Cheers fan back in the day, yet I really didn't care what happened with Sam and Diane. Ross and Rachel getting together? Meh. It was just a TV show, you know? But this storyline just seems so much more... important.

Does admitting that make me gay? Yes.

Temporary Hiatus

It's that time of year again where I have to cut down on my schedule a bit due to external commitments. While I wouldn't expect something new every week from me on Online Onslaught, World Wrestling Insanity and Club WWI for the next month or so, I do expect to have some new material over that time. Just not nearly as frequent.

There. Now I can enjoy my vacation in the Poconos guilt-free...

Latest ITR

Memories of Bam Bam

It's been a couple of weeks since the wrestling world lost Bam Bam Bigelow. But now that the initial shock and sadness have worn off a bit, what better time to look back at Bam Bam's career, and maybe isolate a few Little Known Facts about Bigelow? Here at OO, we have a saying: "When it comes to Knowing Little about wrestling, we always turn to the Canadian Bulldog first!".... so for a big list of Little Known Facts about Bam Bam -- along with a comprehensive preview of TNA's upcoming Against All Odds pay-per-view, lots of other news, an exclusive interview, and another slew of ItR Trading Cards -- I turn you over to Bulldog's latest Inside the Ropes.

Latest TWS

Behold the tasty True Wrestling Story of TNA.

Hyatte's Last Stand

I realize that there are a lot of people who don't care for his writing (or at least, won't admit it), but his final column (apparently) ran today. It's worth a read.

Video Of The Week

Great Marketing Idea

I'm surprised no one had ever thought of this before -- just noticed in Orville Redenbacher's how they now slip in free DVD's of hit TV shows. Talk about knowing your audience!

Anyways, the one I got tonight has old A-Team, Miami Vice and Magnum P.I. episodes. I saw one with The Office as well, but seeing as I already have all of the episodes available on DVD, what's the point?

Anyways.... great idea.

Coming Next Week To World Wrestling Insanity....

....possibly the best "True Wrestling Story" ever!

EVER!!!

January FitnessBlog

(Don't mind me. I'm doing this more for my own benefit than anything else. See, last year, I was very strict about going to the gym 4 times a week, even if it was for half an hour. I've been struggling a bit lately, so I thought by posting this in a semi-public forum, I'd become more motivated to keep it up. At least, until I forgetting about doing this next month).

For January, I went to the gym.... 18 times.

(Again, I realize that's not a major accomplishment or anything. But 18 visits looks good on paper.)

The Office Line Of The Night

Michael: Mr. Franklin, I would have to say you're the sexiest president ever.
Ben Franklin: Actually, Michael, I was never president...

(Honorable mention to Dwight for "I want some man meat!")

The whole "Ben Franklin: Male Stripper" thing was gold, as was Dwight believing that it was the real Ben Franklin. Not a terrific episode overall, but there's probably not much more you could have done with a bridal shower for Phyllis.

Speaking of which, guess who I saw when I was re-watching some Arrested Development season 2 episodes the other night? PHYLLIS!!! True, she was just making a cameo in a boardroom scene, but still... crossover! Yessss!