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Dos and Don’ts of Skipping Work to Watch the NCAA Tournament
Today kicks off the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, and it is — traditionally — a day when office workers take really, really long lunches so as to cram in as much men’s college basketball tournament fun as possible (read: drink). So, anyway. A list. Because people love two things: AMERICA. And lists.
My Attempt To Prevent A Man From Having To Shave Off Body Hair
I get a lot of e-mails that have nothing to do with my day-to-day job. Most of these e-mails are saying that I’ve been given a crazy amount of money and all they need is my bank info in order for me to get it. But the other day, I got an even stranger e-mail. Instead of summarizing, I thought I’d post it here. And in doing so, I truly hope I am helping the sender (you’ll understand in a minute).
Krista,
First off, this is going to be a strange request, and I’ll admit that on the front end. But, as you will see from the email chain below … [I'm trying to get] a (very brief) article published in local magazine/paper in order for me to meet a prerequisite for entry into an adventure race called the Death Race. The race is held in Pittsfield, Vermont – it is crazy.
Anyway, the racers have been told that if we don’t get an article published about our entry into the race, we will face a “penalty” at the race in June – either shaving all of my body hair off or taking hay bales from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain…neither of which sound too appealing to me.
I’m not sure if you can help me out or if you have any suggestions on where I should turn, but please let me know if you have any thoughts. Thanks in advance for your help.
Hope this helps!
Still Time to Join the D Magazine NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge-a-Thon
Again, our group name is Best Waffles, and we’re right here. If you win, you get a $150 gift card to Ozona, AS WELL AS an almost imperceptible head nod from me, a steely eyed fist pump from the distant film/TV father of your choice, one of the pens off my desk, bragging rights for a year, and — just added! — a post on FrontBurner to say whatever you want, so long as you don’t curse and don’t mind me editing it to reflect my own personal views.
Anyway, get to it.
Play D Magazine‘s NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge Contest Thing, Win $150 to Ozona, My Grudging Admiration
Join us here. Our group is called Best Waffles.
I’m sure I have somehow botched this, so let me know in the comments, with as little cheer as possible. Or a ton of it. Just use exclamation points and I won’t know the difference.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention, if you need some help with your brackets, by all means check out the great Luke Winn over at SI, who has the best rundown around AND a playlist by Dallas’ own Gorilla Vs. Bear.
Food Nerd News: Ancient Beer Found in Shipwreck! Let’s Name It!
Five bottles of dark, foamy beer were found by divers searching a 19th century shipwreck near Finland’s Aland Islands. Scientists are breaking it down to determine the recipe so they can brew it again. We want YOU to name it.
Texas Is the Nation’s Chess Powerhouse
Once again, UTDallas won the Pan-American Championships, beating out the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The third and fourth place were won by UTBrownsville and Texas Tech, which is using chess as a recruiting tool for bright students:
“To be quite frank, Tech is not Harvard and we have to compete really hard for the best students,” said Dr. Haraldur Karlsson, an associate professor of geosciences at the university who is also the chess club’s adviser. “And there tends to be a link between good chess skills and good academic skills.”
Tim Rogers Co-Hosts the Dallas Mavericks Post-Game Show: The Drinking Game
Take a drink when …
- He makes an incredibly generic sports point
- He makes an incredibly generic sports point three years too late
- He references his new shirt
- He attempts a complicated comedy bit during a return from commercial
- He tries to explain the complicated bit of comedy and why it’s funny
- He tries to impersonate a player
- His impersonation comes off as vaguely racist
- Or xenophobic
- He bogs down the conversation over a slight grammatical error
- He attempts to restart the conversation with a joke
- That joke is vaguely racist
- Or sexist
- Or xenophobic
- Or not funny
- He attempts to explain THAT joke
A Race That Happens This Weekend. (I Promise.)
Remember how excited I was for the Jailbreak? Yeah, wrong weekend. As you kindly pointed out it’s the 18th and 19th. Apologies. As far as this weekend, how about signing up for the City Chase? Billed as “the world’s largest urban adventure series,” it’s basically a lot like the Amazing Race (without the travel). You and a partner will be tested physically, mentally, and emotionally as you complete 10 ChasePoint challenges all over town. And since Blackberry is a major sponsor, use of your smartphone isn’t considered cheating–it’s encouraged. The race starts and ends at Gilley’s, which is perfect! You can stop and shop at The Dallas Flea before heading home.
Newtoy Bigwig Responds to Bitchy Words With Friends Players
An alert FrontBurnervian pointed me to the current comments that folks are making about Words With Friends. Sample: “This app totally blows chunks!!! It’s worse that Obama!!” Folks are getting interminably long spinny wheels, along with the frustrating “rebuilding” message. Please know that I feel for everyone who has experienced these hiccups. Me, personally, since I became good, close, tight, almost brother-like friends with the Newtoy guys after we put them on the cover in June, I get my games routed through a special VIP-only server reserved for special VIPs such as Rhett Miller, Justin Bieber, and all of Chelsea Clinton’s bridesmaids. We never experience delays when we play Words With Friends. We also get non-random tile draws. Those all-vowel racks became a thing of the past the day I was promoted to the special VIP status. Thanks, Newtoy!
Anyway, I asked my best friend David Bettner, co-founder of Newtoy, what is going on with the servers for the hoi polloi. Here’s what he had to say:
We’re working as fast as we can to increase server performance to help alleviate these issues. We’ve had some bugs cause decreased server performance which is why people are experiencing long ‘updating…’ times during peak hours. Version 3.10 should help resolve these issues over the next few days as more people update.
The reality is that we’re constantly trying to stay ahead of the growth curve and this is one of those points where we’ve fallen behind a bit. We’re releasing another update (3.11) to Apple in the next few days which should help more with performance and give us a little more breathing room.
Thanks again for sending this over. Have you personally been experiencing any issues?
That last question from him was rich. It made me laugh. David! You slay me!
Tuesday Trivia: Mary, Merrie or Marianne?
Back in 1964 Peter Sellers and Angela Lansbury starred in The World of Henry Orient directed by George Roy Hill. Sellers played a narcissistic, second-rate concert pianist with two 14-year-old groupies. One of those teenagers grew up to become:
- Mary Suhm
- Merrie Spaeth
- Marianne Staubach
Here’s a clip from the movie. Wonder if she can still jump over a fire hydrant?
What To Do in Dallas Tonight: June 28, 2010
What a weekend. Actually, what a Saturday. The elbow-connected-to-the-tubes to top off the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, followed by a fist-biting loss by the home team to Ghana in World Cup Soccer. Well, it was fun while it lasted. If you don’t have total FIFA fatigue by now, I say just pick a new team to cheer for, and head to Trinity Hall to watch the game. Isn’t your distant relative from Slovakia? They are battling the Netherlands at 9 am. Didn’t you always want to visit Brazil? Good enough–they are playing at 1:30 today. It’s the summer for goodness sakes. Let’s continue the day drinking as long as possible.
Another thing to do tonight: eat for free. Trece restaurant is offering free dinner on Monday nights. The restaurant has been doing this for a little while, but people still really don’t seem to know about it. Yes, you have to pay for your drinks, and you also pay 20% gratuity. But a little flask full of vodka in your purse goes a long way toward a cheap meal out (or you could just get a Diet Coke, drunky).
What To Do in Dallas This Weekend: June 18–20
Wake up! There’s so much to do, you’re going to need to get an early start. First of all, you must visit a bar very, very early today. And I mean, like, right now. Ready? Okay, the U.S. is playing Slovenia in a World Cup match up this morning at 9 am, so skip the cereal and get breakfast at your favorite watering hole. The Gingerman, Vickery Park, Idle Rich, Trinity Hall, and the Old Monk are opening at 8:30 am today. With the proper amount of Listerine and a doctor’s note (written by the bartender, duh), your boss will be none the wiser. And hopefully mine won’t be either (hi, Jason).
Later tonight, the highly anticipated Mark Morris Dance Group (read Danna Reubin’s interview with Morris on FrontRow) will perform at the Winspear. Crafty girls and guys will want to DIY-it at the free Etsy Dallas Craft Party, happening at the Make Shop & Studio in Oak Cliff.
On Saturday, It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman is opening at the Wyly, Whoopi Goldberg will be at the Meyerson, and thousands of costumed and painted techno music lovers will be in Fair Park for the Electric Daisy Carnival. Get this: carnival rides are free! Take that, State Fair. (Wait. They won’t have corny dogs. Big Tex, I’m yours again).
Sunday is Father’s Day. I’ve summed up your options over here. For more things to do this weekend, push this button.
Final Recap of Chris Cree’s D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament Victory Over Trennis Jones, Rich Goff, and Rhett Miller
To the left there is the final board of the final match of the D Magazine Words With Friends Tournament. Chris Cree defeated Trennis Jones by a score of 423 to 283 to take the title.
My favorite moment of the evening came after all the action was over and the crowd had thinned out. A small group continued to gather around Cree and his wife Carla (who, I’m told, was intensely watching the video streams we had projected on screens as both the semifinals and finals were played). Â A group of Newtoy Inc. employees peppered Cree to get his thoughts about Words With Friends. He said it was an intriguing variation of the game that he knows so well. Bingos, worth fewer points than they are in Scrabble, aren’t as important. And the different point values and configuration of the bonus squares are “a real equalizer,” he said, meaning that coming up with those seven- or eight-letter words isn’t as important. Â I love hearing an expert –an expert in nearly any field– expound upon his area of expertise. The excitement and joy in his eyes as he recounts key points in a particular match is infectious.
I asked Cree for some final thoughts about the contest. Here’s what he had to say, followed by the final boards from each of our two semifinals.
Carla and I truly enjoyed the experience. What better way to spend an anniversary! We capped off the evening with a celebratory chicken fried steak and onion rings at D Magazine’s #1 choice – Ozona’s.
As far as game notes – Against Rich I pretty well drew the bag. I was able to bingo twice with the blanks – AEERRR? – REARERs and AENOPR? – PERsONA. I had four other “non-goes” in that game (bingos that did not play). TIDINGS, DENGUES, CINEAST/ACETINS and HIGHEST.
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