St. Andrew's Day

Being of Scottish heritage (we won't get into the question of "How Scottish are you?" because I know it's pretty insignificant when you break it into a fraction of my lineage), I enjoy celebrating what many consider to be Scotland's national holiday: St. Andrew's Day.

Who's St. Andrew? Even though I know who he is, I thought I'd ask this same question to Wikipedia  where I was told that he "is a Christian apostle and the brother of St. Peter." Understatement of the millennium. St. Andrew is pretty awesome, and I don't think he appreciates being put in the shadow of his brother Peter.

More important question. What does one do to celebrate St. Andrew's Day? Based upon my research, the day's festivities traditionally include: flying the flag of Scotland, wearing kilts, eating Scottish shortbread,  playing the bagpipes, and watching Sean Connery movies. Okay, I added that last one on my own, though I'm sure it's more than an acceptable way to pay homage to the great nation of Scotland.

Finally, and I believe this to be the easiest way to celebrate St. Andrew's Day and really the least you can do to honor Scotland (whether Scottish or not), drink Scotch whiskey.

 

 Source: Johnnie Walker

Homes with Taxidermy

Saw this article on The Huffington Post (link below photo) with a slideshow of houses filled by taxidermy. It's hunting season and the holidays, so maybe this is a logical fit for the season. Either way, all I want to say is, "wow." I've seen some interesting taxidermy before, but this assortment is something to truly behold. Again, I say, "wow."

I also have to appreciate an entire article about finding these kinds of photos on a real estate website. And I have to appreciate the fact that I'm writing an additional post about that article. Taxidermy is fascinating.

Source: Huffington Post

Powerball Lottery

Though the only source of this statistic is a casual office conversation (i.e. no idea how factual it is), I was told that you have a better chance of being elected President of the United States or being born with an extra finger than winning today's $587.5M Powerball. Among those three highly unlikely scenarios, I'd take the money.

But you can't win if you don't play, so I definitely bought a lottery ticket. What's even more significant here is the fact that I've never purchased a lottery ticket before, making this my first time getting a lottery ticket and hopefully my last time going into a bodega in New York City and excitedly proclaiming to a line of complete strangers, "I'm playing Powerball for the first time and don't know what I'm doing! But let's buy a Powerball ticket!"

Source: Getty Images

Melissa Rycroft

After Donald Driver won the previous season of "Dancing with the Stars," could you blame me if I didn't really think the All-Star edition of the show was quite as exciting. However, I had enough interest to at least check out who would win it all. Between Kelly Monaco, Shawn Johnson, and Melissa Rycroft, I can pretty much say I had zero preference for who should win, but when victory earns a disco ball (and to somebody that doesn't play for the Green Bay Packers), it's hard for me to make some kind of emotional investment.

Source: Access Hollywood

Congratulations to Melissa Rycroft! She went from Dallas Cowboy cheerleader to rejected contestant on "The Bachelor" to contestant on another ABC reality show, and she succeeds! That's all I've got.

Teamwork = Championships

My title is intended to say it all. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls of the 1990's were awesome, and though it doesn't take an infographic to tell me that, it kind of makes me feel validated.

Source: Fast Company

"The Best Tourist Attraction on the East Coast"

The holiday weekend is over, and it's time to go home to New York. After watching this, I sort of wish I was heading for a different East Coast destination. Either that, or it's time to gather up the crew and take a road trip. Judging my what I'm seeing here, it's totally worth the drive.

T.G.I. Friday's

Did you know that T.G.I. Friday's had REALLY great drink specials on Saturday nights? Me neither.

Daily. 4 to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to close. Cheap drinks. Franchise atmosphere and restaurant chain mediocrity mean nothing when you pay less than $5 for a Long Island Iced Tea.

Source: TGIFridays.com

And did you know that the second "I" in the T.G.I. Friday's logo wasn't capitalized, unlike every other letter in the logo? Me neither.