Dome Pondering

Well, we are at that point folks. After a year and a half of wedding planning, apartment hunting, saving, spending, listing, delegating, searching, living, and many of the other things life has thrown this way, yours truly and my tag team partner are going on vacation. A twenty-second timeout in life as my tag team partner would say. It has been awhile since our last excursion, two and half years to be exact, and it is amazing to see how much our lives have changed since then. We have our new home, a new life together, and for her, a new last name.
After such changes, which of course has seen us go down a Unity Road, we are in dire need of this twenty-second timeout, or as in this case, a complete full timeout. With 9.24 getting smaller and smaller in our rear view mirror, the time is upon us to head down to St. Lucia for seven days of relaxation and fun in the sun for our honeymoon.

On a cold night on October 28th, 2011, I’d be remised if I didn’t touch base on what has been an amazing World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals. Usually, yours truly will touch base on the most memorable moments after the season is completed (Remembering The 2010 MLB Season), but the 2011 World Series brought a different dynamic for the game of baseball.
A World Series that did not feature the mega-market ratings grabbers in the New Yorks, Bostons, Chicagos, Philadelphias, and Los Angeleses, yet, Dallas-Forth Worth and St. Louis gave us the type of World Series that baseball has needed for awhile. It was a series that not only kept the die-hards interested, but reeled in the casual and the sporadic fan.
It was a World Series that had intense drama, various storylines, and reintroduced a key aspect that makes the game of baseball such a beautiful thing.

What is it about? 
Peter Highman, a high-strung, busy, and aggressive architect, who is also a father-to-be is forced to hitch a ride with a quirky amateur actor, Ethan Tremblay across country. Their journey is a wild and chaotic one in order to make it in time for the birth of Peter's child. 
Who is in it? 
Robert downey Jr. - Peter Highman

Zack Galifianinakis - Ethan Tremblay/Ethan Chase

Everything is bigger in Texas.

And Albert Pujols proved that last night with his performance in Game 3 of the World Series.

If going 5 for 6 with three home runs and six runs batted in weren't enough, Pujols' first home run probably would still be traveling if it didn't careen off the facing of the left-field upper deck at the Ballpark in Arlington.

With all of the talk about baseball needing to revamp the World Series somehow to increase TV ratings, last night's game was a clear testament that the game doesn't need any gimmicks or tricks to draw interest, just sheer star power and talent. And as much as this year's World Series lacks the big cities like New York and Philadelphia, it has two great teams with great players, including the greatest player in the game in Albert Pujols.

Anyone that knows me, understands my reasons for not liking to run. Plain and simple. It hurts. It's always hurt. Being born with two club feet, with one surgically repaired with a metal pin still inside, and under developed lower leg muscles, I hope you can understand the reasoning for the hurt. It is a hurt that I have carried with me my entire life whenever I've played sports, or have been physically active. Like any other person, my legs have their good days where I feel like I can run forever, and those not so good days, where I just want to stay off of my feet. Most days of my life have been somewhere in between, but yes, with that hurt.
[Blog side note: DP devotees know my story, but for new readers, a doctor told my parents that physical activity was out of the question for me in my life. Safe to say I've carried those words with me as motivation for my entire life.]

Since the invention of television, the little tube box, now a slimmer box, that sits as the center piece of our living rooms have produced many years of entertainment. As the years have gone on, we've seen various fads and genre's of programming such as talk shows, sitcoms, drama series and games shows, thus creating various types of entertainment, and many options. With the average household having at least one television and 150 channels, our society is more in tune with everything going on around them along with the need to look in on the lives of others, the current trend in television is that of reality television. And while reality TV has developed some pretty amazing concepts (Survivor, Amazing Race, American Idol, and Ultimate Fighter), the concept has done more damage to our society than any other type of television genre. Heck, I'll be honest, I loathe most of reality television. In the following Pondering 10, we'll take a look at the top ten rea…

It is time to push the red button. Alert! Alert!
Yes, it is time to panic.
After the recent marathon meetings held by the NBA and the Players union, nothing has been settled other than the clear fact the NBA or it's players just don't care about the health of their brand. As per the case with these labor lockouts and strife in professional sports, the casual sports fan usually generalizes the issue by stating "its nothing but millionaires fighting over billions". Most of the time, they are completely correct, but often, there is a bit more to the complex situation. Yet, in this situation, as a huge NBA fan, I find myself harboring the same thought process on this issue - enough already!

I'm annoyed. I'm frustrated. I'm hurt.
Heck, I love the NBA. I need the NBA! I understand it is a league that is hit or miss depending on your geographic location in this great country, but for a kid growing up in Brooklyn, NY in basketball-rich New York Cit…

What is it about?
The story of how the historical social network site, Facebook, was founded. 
Who is in it? 
Jesse Eisenberg - Mark Zuckerberg

Andrew Garfield - Eduardo Saverin
Justin Timberlake - Sean Parker

Around this time last year, yours truly expounded on what was a very good Bound For Glory, with a payoff that surely looked like a new era for TNA Wrestling (Bound For Glory Could Mark A New Era In TNA Wrestling). Of course, that potential came to a screeching halt after a mess of a pay-per-view event in the 2011 version of Victory Road (An Emphatic, "What Is This?" TNA Victory Road A Dead End). However, the past recent months have really begun to have this fan fall in love all over again with the Impact Wrestling product. 
From the re-branding, re-focus, and infusion of young talent in the X-Division, an interesting (but not perfect yet) concept of the Bound For Glory Series, a string of strong Impacts, and the focus on some new talent (or so we thought), Impact Wrestling seemed to have finally gotten out of it's own way. Something it hasn't been able to do in the past three or four years.
Heck, I'd even been enjoying Hogan's work the past couple months.
With …

The United States of America falling behind in the Global Education race has been the 800lb Gorilla in the nation when it comes to domestic issues and policies. For years, our nation has kept this issue hushed in an attempt to wish it away by not acknowledging it or embracing it. Somehow, we believed turning a blind eye to the issue us the best way to deal with a problem that has only grown in severity as the informational age explodes.  Today, the issue is no longer deniable, ignorable, and avoidable. The future of America is in great danger. And while the current economy is the biggest threat, the production of the future minds of our nation is a driving force.
Every time I drive past my High School here in Brooklyn, NY, I shake my head in despair when I look at the building. See, my High School experience was an interesting one. While it taught me many valuable lessons about people, relations, and the real world earlier than the young adult would, that building depri…

What is it about? 
Blu, a domesticated macaw bird from Minnesota is off to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in order to save his species by meeting, an independent macaw, Jewel. After meeting, the two embark on an adventure to reconnect with Blu's owner, but end up having an adventure that will change their lives. 
Who is in it? 
Jesse Eisenberg - Blu
Anne Hathaway - Jewel
George Lopez - Rafael

After the devastating night of the New York Yankees elimination occurred, I decided to give myself a few days to mope around, to wallow in this hurt, and most importantly, to allow the usual end of the season "retain or release" column to be filled with sensible decisions rather than ones of sheer fandum emotion. 
What I found and heard the days following that disappointing Thursday was a fan base that had absolutely lost it's marbles. A fan base that flooded blogs, forums, and of course, sports radio with the type of thinking I wanted no part of. A thinking that is destructive and downright irrational. 
It was the type of thinking that quite honestly, yours truly found very embarrassing to be a Yankee fan.

What is it about?
A chronic bank robber looks to balance his current life and his feelings for a former bank manager connected to his last crime while attempting to make his way out of the family bank robbing business. 
Who is in it? 
Ben Mcray - Ben Affleck

Rebecca Hall - Claire Keesey
Jon Hamm - F.B.I. Adam Frawley

On the heels of the release of Amanda Knox from the Italian government, the appreciation for our justice system seems to have come to the forefront as of late. Our government by no means has a spotless history, nor is it perfect, however, anti-American bias that was shown in the Knox trial overseas caused a slight appreciation for our American system. Whether she is guilty or not is not the issue here at hand, and quite honestly, one that I am not completely sure of. Nonetheless, the Italian press coverage that purposely withheld vital information to the case from it's readers and viewers is the type of justice, or injustice, that is offered to Americans overseas. 
Nonetheless, while the current victory that our government and society crowned as Knox has returned to American soil in Seattle, our government is under as much scrutiny as I have ever remembered in my lifetime. On all fronts, it seems Americans has lost confidence in those that are supposed to be repres…

September is gone. 9.24 is over. The Unity Road has ended. 
October is here, and the playoffs have begun. Time for yours truly to get back to the real world, and various topics and subjects that need to be pondered. One of those topics being the 602nd save of Mariano Rivera. 
While yours truly has suffered from severe tunnel vision on my own Unity Road, Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all-time, slammed the door shut on some poor team baffled by his wicked slider, to become the all-time saves leader in baseball history. And as late as this piece is, there was no chance of me letting that event go without acknowledging it here on the DP. Besides being the greatest closer of all-time, Rivera is the greatest pitcher that yours truly has ever seen in a lifetime (yes, really), and of course, my favorite athlete ever since I was a 12 year old boy.