"If you cannot convince them, confuse them."

     Well, we've come to a new year, and I thought I would start it off with my very first blog.  This blog has no set topic, so I will just post whatever I feel like.  Since this is my first blog, I guess I'll start out with talking a little bit about myself.

     I am an 18 year old college freshman who goes to school about an hour outside of Pittsburgh.  As of right now, I study biochemistry, but that can--and likely will--change sometime over the course of the next 3 1/2 years.  My entire life has been spent near Pittsburgh.  I am an avid Steelers and Pirates fan, and also a fan of University of Pittsburgh sports teams.  I am a former swimmer and hockey player.  During the summer months, I work as a life guard.  Like most teenage males, I enjoy watching movies and playing video games.  Additionally, I love reading, listening to music, and making art.  All told, I'm a pretty boring person, just like everyone else.

Now onto some random thoughts:

First, the NHL Winter Classic:

 

     As you may have noticed, I mentioned teams that I like before, but the Penguins were absent.  That is because they belong in the "Teams I Hate" category alongside such teams as the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens.  Now, I won't go into detail about why I dislike the Penguins, just know that it has more to do with the fans that anything else.  Therefore, you can imagine my dismay when I heard that the Penguins were to play in their second Winter Classic and that it would be played in Pittsburgh.
     Pittsburgh is a fine city, but wintry is not one of the words I would use to describe it.  As you may have seen, the weather was in the mid-30s and rainy, not quite a "Winter" Classic.  In my opinion, the Winter Classic should be rotated between 2 or 3 cities.  Cities such as St. Paul or Buffalo, where you are virtually guaranteed to have snow, therefore fulfilling the "Winter" part of the title.
      However, you still need to provide a good game to meet the "Classic" requirement.  Tonight's game was greatly lacking in that department as well.  Now, this likely had something to do with the weather.  The game was slow and sloppy. Past Winter Classics did indeed live up to the title, but this one failed to deliver on both fronts.  Here's hoping for a 25-game pointless streak by Crysby.

Number 2:

     Coheed and Cambria's announcement of Neverender: Second Stage Turbine Blade.  For those unfamiliar with Coheed, they are a progressive rock band that happen to be my favorite band.  A few years ago, they did a concert named "Neverender".  They played each of their four albums at the time in their entirety over the span of four nights.  They did this in four different cities: New York, Chicago, LA, and London, if I remember correctly.  It looks as if they are back at it again, albeit in a different manner this time.  Now they are playing one album at a time, in a different city each night. 
     First off, they better come to Pittsburgh, and if not, it better be somewhere close.  Secondly, I don't really like this idea.  Sure, they can bring the concert to more places, but I feel like it takes away from the epic-ness of it all (and I rarely use the word epic).  Unfortunately, I did not attend the original Neverender.  I had been hoping that they would do another Neverender, and I planned to skip school for a week, stay in a hotel, and see my favorite band in concert five times in a row and hear every song in their repertoire.  THAT is epic.  Hearing about 10 songs, waiting a few months and hearing about 10 more, waiting a few more months..... not so much.  I will certainly go see each album performed live if I am able to, but I would much rather see them all back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back.

Well, that's all I have for right now.  I plan on posting every couple of days, so stay tuned for any further updates.