I folded on one of my life principles today and I’m not particularly proud of it.  I broke down and did something I swore I would not.  I got a flu shot.  In many ways I’d consider myself a principled person and as The Wife would tell you these little stands I take on various subjects can be “difficult” for those around me from time to time. 

With the recent media push to scare all of us into having a government issued serum injected into our arms due to a few people getting the sniffles, certain members of my household have consulted with physicians and gathered what pamphlets are necessary to demand that I not put The Wee One’s life at risk via influenza.  I am a firm believer that it is important for your body to learn to beat these things rather than “cheating” via an annual shot.  It keeps your immune system on its toes as opposed to letting its guard down waiting for something else to come along and save the day when things get tough.   Think about it, who is smarter – the kid that learns the material through studying or the one who’s handed the answer key before the test?

Let’s talk about the whole concept of the flu shot shall we?  So the process is that you go in and get injected with a dummy strain of the virus so that your body basically receives a How To guide on taking on the real thing when it shows up.  So in theory, you personally are basically covered from the day you take the shot for 7 of the 10 strains, but… the influenza virus is everywhere.  The minute that you use an ATM or push a shopping cart you’re probably getting it on your hand and in turn you begin spreading it onto whatever you touch and in turn passing it to anyone you’re around.  It’s a vicious cycle.  By my getting the shot I am taking zero steps towards protecting my daughter from exposure (to the bug you sicko) than I was prior.  So for anyone who is under the impression that by receiving an injection you are now impervious to all things ill, I’ve got news for you…

Regardless, I got the shot and frankly have felt like crap from that moment on.  My head hurts, I’ve been irritable and tired, and my arm feels like a lead weight ever since I got “cured.”  I took the easy way out this winter – in the name of protecting my daughter via a path that offers her absolutely no protection – so I thought I’d pay it forward and serve you all the interesting things in the news of late via my regular Friday Fun column so you don’t have to lift a finger to stay in the know.  Enjoy…

  • The NHL lockout is over!!!  I assume by now you’ve had an opportunity to clean up after the party that spontaneously erupted at your house when you received the news.  This article ”Waiting For Bettman” (an excellent play on the Christopher Guest movie Waiting for Guffman) by Bryan Curtis for Grantland.com did a magnificent job encapsulating the lockout itself and the players involved.  In particular the juxtaposition of the affect the lockout had on each side of the border is just fantastic.  Game on!
  • It bothers me that these people got to make and cheer for an NFL team that made the playoffs and we did not.  There should be a rule about if your team barely makes the playoffs but suffers a tragic injury in the process (i.e. their starting quarterback), then you give up your playoff slot to a more complete team with the same record for the good of the game.  Same goes for if last week somehow the Redskins had found a way to beat the Seahawks but had lost Robert Griffin III in the process, I think the Seahawks should have still gotten to advance.  Does the NFL want a competitive playoffs or the teams that happened to be leading when the clock ran out? 

And yes, I do acknowledge my blatant homerism has affected my view to slant towards my own team being rewarded by this made up rule and I would be totally against it if situations were reversed

  • While The Wife and I did not have the most outrageous of New Year’s Eves, it was scores better than the Jamie Kennedy hosted event on KDOC in Los Angeles.  Watch this clip before it gets taken off the internet (it’s the only place I could find it still up).
  • This story is just fantastic.  A fisherman fights a fish for hours and gets it up to the boat only to realize it’s a great white shark.  In the fishing world this is actually a bummer because no one wants to bring one of those demons on board their vessel.  The solution?  Wait for a bigger great white to come along and eat it.
  • Perhaps the greatest lede in recent print, “Lindsay Lohan moves through the Chateau Marmont as if she owns the place, but in a debtor-prison kind of way.”  Well done Stephen Rodrick and the New York Times, well done.
  • The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame will be throwing a party this summer for no one.  I can’t imagine that a business that has reportedly lost money in eight of the last ten years – $2.08 million in 2011 alone – is enjoying their view from the high ground right now.  Instead of dwelling on all the folks who didn’t get in, maybe everyone would be happier looking at this.
  • Funny or Die – Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s online funny business (pun intended) just got their 5 millionth Twitter follower.  This video ensued.
  • I don’t know much about Taylor Swift – aside from the fact that I never want to break up with her – but these folks in the band Walk Off The Earth have, what I only can assume, improved one of her little ditties…

  • Once again I find myself late to the party as I have yet to make comment on the now infamous Kanye West-Kim Kardashian love spawn.  I think that’s because I have no opinion on the subject one way or another.  The only thing I can think of, and it’s kind of sad really, is that I can see the day ten years from now where I’ll refer to this child as, “Is that the one she had with Kanye?”  It really seems like he’s going to be a great father though.
  • And finally, this high school kid and his mind blowing skills can go to hell.  I took a year of lessons and everything and can’t play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  This kid figured out how to lay the thing down and just flick it to create this.  Damn you…

Happy Friday Everybody!