Thursday, November 30, 2006

Weirdo

I was tagged by Jill and with a little time here at the end of my lunchhour, I thought I'd come clean on all my little secrets:

1. I can tell you the entire plot summary of all 179 I Love Lucy episodes within the first 30 seconds of the episode and sometimes with just the title of the episode. I even know most of the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hours that followed the original I Love Lucy. Sometimes I can even recite lines from the episodes without prompting.

2. Talking animals freak me out, but only animated talking animals like in The Lion King or Happy Feet. The last animated talking animal movie that didn't freak me out was Bambi. I am not, however, freaked out by live action talking animals, for instance the new Charlotte's Web...that's ok...I can handle that. I can't explain it, but that's who I am...and don't try to tell me how good those animated talking animal movies are...it won't work. :)

3. I can travel to places no one ever thought possible with my thought processes...I mean incredibly weird like "how did you get there from here" kind of things. For example, say the words "spiced tea" to me and here's my brain's function: Spiced tea makes me think of Ashley because Ashley gave me the recipe, which I in turn used to create gifts for my co-workers last Christmas, one of my coworkers Erica loved the spiced tea, she has a husband named Art who loves Ohio State to which my brain starts contemplating the possible opponents that Ohio State will play in the National Championship game and why the impossible opponents won't be playing them. See...I told you...from Spiced Tea I can get into a debate with myself over who should play Ohio State for the championship.

4. My brain (as evidenced above) is about 95% useless knowledge, and 5% useful knowledge. I know things that no person in their right mind should ever know because there's no reason to. For instance, I know that there are 2 other players on the Colts team who share Peyton Manning's birthday (3/24). The other two players are Mike Doss and Bo Schobel, both defensive players. I also know that Bo Schobel has a cousin (Aaron) who plays for the Buffalo Bills. And that Peyton's birthday is exactly one week after his wedding anniversary. And it's not just limited to sports either. I can tell you that on the show Designing Women the actress who played Charlene (Jean Smart) met her husband on the show he was the actor who played JD Shackelford who was dating the Mary Jo character. The two actors got married and had a baby. Jean Smart was really pregnant when her character was pregnant on the show. See...useless knowledge. I mostly know all of this from reading news articles on the internet until my eyes hurt because I love knowledge (useless or not). By the way, the useful stuff, at least if you're a publicly traded company, I can write your annual report for you. Love that accounting degree.

5. The accounting degree leads me to my next item. I am an accountant because of MTV. Yes, you read that right. When I was in high school, I watched The Real World religiously. The Los Angeles season was on and there was a guy named Aaron on the show who was a student at UCLA studying accounting. I got curious, did some research, and here we are...I'm an accountant.

6. Finally, I yell at the TV...no matter the program: series, news, sports, whatever. I yell at the TV. I know sometimes I'm yelling at make believe stuff, but that doesn't stop me from telling some character that can't hear me that what they did was stupid. When it comes to sports, I'm usually yelling at the referees or giving the players little pep talks. Again, I know they can't hear me, but it makes the show go by faster if I have this little interaction with the TV.

I'm quite certain there are more than 6 weird things about me, but hey...this is what I narrowed it down to. Hope you enjoyed this little look inside Leann.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

November 7, 1991

How many of you know what that date is or know exactly where you were when you heard?

15 years ago today, Magic Johnson announced his retirement from the game of basketball because he had contracted the AIDS virus, HIV. Yeah we know he contracted it because of unprotected sex, but that aside, he was the first icon of our generation to announce such a thing.

I was 13 years old and I was getting ready to go to a junior high dance. Right before my mom drove me up to the school, Magic Johnson held his press conference and we sat in my parents' bedroom staring stunned at the TV screen.

I had grown up knowing the story of Ryan White, the young boy with hemophilia who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. Ryan had died a year and a half before Magic Johnson's announcement and two years to the day before Arthur Ashe announced that he, too, had AIDS, contracted through a blood transfusion during heart surgery. Before them, Rock Hudson was the only celebrity or icon who had AIDS that we knew about. All three of these resulted in fatalities. It's a crazy disease that has no cure, though Magic Johnson has managed to live 15 years on a cocktail of drugs.

My parents can tell you where they were when the bombs dropped during WWII or where they were when they heard about JFK's assassination or where they were when President Nixon announced his resignation. My mother specifically can tell you where she was when she heard Elvis died.

I, on the other hand, can tell you exactly where I was when Magic Johnson told the world he had HIV.

No matter the way it's contracted, it's still a disease that has prevention and no cure. Don't let awareness sleep folks. That just makes the disease grow.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

Win Or Lose

*****Update: I'm worn out. I mean just plain tired, but what a game that was. I was sick all day Sunday, but felt this immediate calm win the game came on and Bob Sanders was dressed out. Welcome back, Bob. And if you missed Peyton's new MasterCard commercial, it's a good one. "Rub Some Dirt On It" is my new favorite phrase. Adam had a rough night in kicking and in booing, but I still adore the heck out of him. Oh, and I think I'd marry Cato June if he asked me.*****

I unintentionally made a deal with football gods last year, and they took me seriously. I jokingly said that I would forgo the Super Bowl last year if the Colts would beat the Patriots in Foxboro. Important part of that sentence: JOKINGLY! Important lesson from all this: Don’t joke with the football gods. They took me seriously. This time no jokes, no deals. The only way I want the Colts to win the game tomorrow night is if it leads the Colts to a Super Bowl win. I’m tired (mentally and emotionally) of this being the defining game of the season. I’m tired of the comparisons of the two QBs. I’m tired of the criticism. I’m tired of the hype. Just let those 106 players play the game and let the best team (that day) win the game. But I guess if there weren’t big games, comparisons, criticism, and hype, we’d have no opinionated sportscasters…wait a minute……

But seriously…as a Colts fan…I think they can win the game if they play the way they know how to play. Without Bob Sanders (as it’s looking like), Mike Doss, and Montae Reagor, it’s a tough sell I know, but I’ve seen teams with a lot less talent surprise people (Texans vs. Jags, Oakland vs. Pitt…seriously…who saw either of those coming?...not me). It may be an uphill battle, but I’m behind them all the way. No other defense reads Peyton as well as the Patriots and no other offense plays as well against the Colts as the Patriots. It is a good game, but really I’d rather people just see it as another game on the schedule instead of proclaiming the entire week leading up to the game Colts/Pats week (ESPN did this). There are 30 other teams in the NFL and 26 of them also have games this weekend. The Colts have come this far and while a 16-0 run into the playoffs and the possibility of the first time having 2 undefeated teams in the Super Bowl is interesting, let’s just play the game at hand and worry about January when it gets here.

So here it is…win or lose…they’re still my team…win or lose…I still think they’re the best in the NFL (yeah that’s my homer attitude)…win or lose…no deals with the football gods…win or lose……

P.S. My thoughts are with Adam Vinatieri who is entering some hostile territory tomorrow night. Let it be known that Adam did not cut and run for the money. Adam only wanted market value...to be paid what a player who has won 2 Super Bowls (and got robbed of the MVP) for the Pats was worth. The Pats had the opportunity to match the Colts' offering (After the $3.5 million signing bonus he's only making $1.7 million a year.), but they didn't. And boy is he worth every penny of that 12 million dollars!!!