The Daily Bongo

July 2008


Thursday, July 31, 2008 -- Evening

Live eviction night on Big Brother 10 started off with a bang. Jerry has been getting on everyone's nerves by kissing the butt of whoever is in power. Well, he was telling Angie that she might not be going home, and Angie was explaining to Jerry that he was aligning himself with the wrong group of people. Lots of fireworks ensued when Jerry blamed Michelle, Jessie, and Memphis for the problems. Angie told the others what Jerry said. Libra and April start feeding crap to Keesha about Jessie in the hopes that Keesha will go against Jessie. During one of Julie Chen's commentaries, Julie told us that the airplane banner did not have anything to do with Big Brother. Finally, it's time for the live vote. Every single person voted to evict Angie. So obviously all the drama that Jessie caused did have an effect on the vote. Dan was the houseguest voted to be America's Player. Dan accepted the offer, and the possibility of getting $20,000. Dan'e first assignment is to get a houseguest nominated for eviction. We all get to vote on who that will be.

It's an endurance competition for HOH. The houseguests basically had to live on the edge, but staying on the edge of a building. It was fine until the building tilted over. At least the houseguests had a hand rail to hold onto, but then they had a simulation of an earthquake (because of the earthquake earlier in LA). The houseguests were dropping like flies after the shaking and the wind that blew up dust and garbage. Within an hour, everyone except for April, Renny, and Michelle were out (Jerry and LIbra were the first two because they are the biggest losers in the house.) It looks like the three women are there for the long haul.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 -- Evening

The latest episode of Big Brother 10 was on this evening. I haven't been watching the live feeds very much lately because I just haven't had the opportunity to do it during work. The HOH competition was an endurance one to a degree. The competitors (Keesha, Jessie, Angie, Libra, Ollie, and Memphis) were supposed to be flowers in a trough. They were buried in dirt, and then had water dripping on their heads. They were covered in worms and then composte. They had to stay in the trough for an hour but no more. Whoever was closest without going over would win. Keesha came out at 22 minutes, then around 55 minutes (or so she thought) Libra went out, followed by Jessie. Then it was Ollie, Angie, and Memphis. It seemed that everyone else was in the trough at least 15 minutes longer than needed. Jessie called out Libra in the competition. Keesha said that she nominated Jessie because he put up Steven. Jessie told Keesha that he put up Steven because Libra told him to do it. Jessie called Libra out while they were in the trough making Libra admit that she was the one who told him to put up Steven. However, Keesha is too stupid to see that Libra is the puppet master. I am not a Libra fan. In fact, I don't think I'm a fan of any of the houseguests. Jessie has been caught making anti-semetic remarks on the feeds, and none of the others is likeable (in my opinion.) So everyone starts talking to Keesha about putting Libra up. No one in the house likes Libra. However, Keesha feels a loyalty to Libra because Libra squeezed out a loyalty promise out of Keesha. The best part of the show was the fight between Memphis and Jerry. Jerry was going around telling everyone that Memphis is a womanizer. That really started an argument. I can see Memphis' point. As he said, Jerry doesn't know him. How dare Jerry say that about Memphis without knowing him. I'm not a huge Jerry fan either. The argument came right after a banner was flown over the BB house. Only Michelle, Angie, Jessie, and Memphis were outside. The foursome came up with a plot to say that the banner said "Libra is a liar. Love Steven." Memphis told them that wasn't really what the banner said. Memphis said it said "Libra and blank are liars. Love Steven." Memphis claimed that he couldn't make out the blank. Of course, none of that changed Keesha's mind. She made a deal with Libra, and she was going to stick with it regardless of how much it hurt her.

Unfortunately, the lame America's Player is back. There is a poll to choose America's Player. That player can accept to be America's Player for the week, and if the person accepts, he or she gets $20,000 and will have to do whatever they are told by "America" during that week. We should know who is America's Player on Thursday.

Monday, July 28, 2008 -- Afternoon

The Steelers started camp this weekend, and the big story was that Casey Hampton showed up for camp, and wasn't able to complete the physical. it seems that he failed the running test. In fact, he gave up on the running test. Hampton has had a problem with weight in the past, and this season, he didn't participate in some of the other mini-camps that might have gotten him into shape. Hampton didn't understand the big deal that Coach Tomlin made of it by putting Hampton on the PUP, or physically unable to perform, list. Hampton claims that it's just training camp and that he will be in shape for the rest of the season. I think that is just so much hooey. It's extremely unprofessional for Hampton to show up out of shape. What message does that send to the team management and players? Obviously that Hampton doesn't really care for his job. Maybe in the past, Hampton could lose the weight and get into shape quickly, but he's older now--over 30, and things don't come as easily as you age.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 -- Evening

This evening on Big Brother 10 Keesha admitted that lots of people kiss your butt when you are HOH, even when they didn't talk to you earlier. The interesting thing was when Keesha said that she didn't know how she would up, and Libra startedgetting nervous because she said that she didn't want Libra to be a loose cannon. Keesha said that she feels that there are a slew of people who are responsible for Steven going home. As Keesha said, the big group wanted Dan, Jerry, or Rennie to go home, but it wasn't their decision, it was her decision. Keesha shared her HOH letter from her parents with Rennie because she said that Rennie is closest to her, and Rennie is the one person in the house that she trusts. I really don't understand the Ollie and April relationship. They don't seem like a couple that belong together. Keesha really didn't seem to know who were friends and who weren't. Keesha decided to nominate Jessie and Angie. Keesha decided to follow her gut to make that nomination, and she felt that either Jessie or Angie needed to leave. Eviction night has been moved to Thursday. So the episodes are on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. At least Thursday is a return to the usual eviction night. It was weird having the show on two nights in a row.

Friday, July 25, 2008 -- Evening

Intrigue in the Big Brother 10 house. Jessie and Angie have been put up for eviction. Jessie has been trying to get Keesha to see that Libra is the one who should go because she causes conflict, in the house, but Libra has already gotten into Keesha's head. The trio of April, Keesha, and Libra are buddy, buddy for now, and they probably won't backstab each other for a little bit. The POV competition is going on now, and the trivia is on the feeds.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 -- Evening

It was eviction night on Big Brother 10. I have to admit that I really do not like the Libra, April, Ollie, and Keesha alliance. Libra really rubs me the wrong way because of her attitude. She never wants to take responsibility for her own actions. I hope that they get their comeuppance soon. The funniest part of the question/answer period was when April said that she liked to "conversate" with Ollie. Okay, then! We got to see Renny and Jessie's families. Renny's son, Sparky, said that Jessie was talking like a punk. We also found out that Jessie used to be a small kid who used to get picked on. Finally it was time for the live eviction vote. Everyone voted to evict Steven. As Steven left the house, the crowd cheered and applauded him. Steven was crying over the goodbyes. Keesha, April, Rennie, and Dan gave very nice farewells. As Dan said, he came into the house with preconceived opinions, but after getting to know Steven, he changed them. Dan said that he doesn't think of Steven as Gay Steven. Meanwhile, Jessie said farewell in a weird way, saying that he hoped that enjoyed helping Steven work out, and hopes that Steven can realize his potential because of the insight that Jessie gave him. It was really like a promotional piece for Jessie as opposed to a farewell for Steven. The HOH competition had the houseguests saying which rooms had once housed objects that were now missing. It came down to Keesha and Libra as the final two, and Libra guessed wrong on the answer leaving Keesha as the winner. Darn!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 -- Morning

I watched Big Brother 10 last night, and things are really picking up. Dan used some strategy and threw the POV competition to appear to be a weak player. We got to see Libra's blowout with Renny and Jerry. It seems that Libra was complaining about how her team lost the food competition because they had two old people on the team. Jerry got really pissed and said something to her about how he is not slow and old. Yeah, he's old, but he says he's not slow. Well, Librar starting yelling and screaming at him. Libra is a psycho, power hungry woman, and I hope that she gets thrown out of the house soon. It seems that there was a plan afoot for Michelle to use the POV to take one of the guys off the block, and to put Libra up instead. However, when Steven approached Jessie and Michelle about it, that group backed off of the plan. It will be interesting to see who gets booted tonight, and then who wins the HOH. I think it would be hilarious if it was someone like Renny. That would really put the house in some turmoil.

Sunday, July 20, 2008 -- Evening

Here are my pictures from the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.

Big Brother 10 was on this evening. I loved how the show started with Rennie calling Jerry on the fact that he "didn't wear anything military" during the POV ceremony. As Rennie said, Jerry must have done that because he knew that he was breaking a vow. It was really funny because Jerry got all pissed and said that Brian backstabbed him. Obviously, Jerry is an idiot because Jerry backstabbed Brian--no two ways around it. Meanwhile Libra is constantly scheming. She is worse than Brian. The most irritating people are Libra, April, and Ollie because they are constantly talking about people. Jessie needs to realize that those people aren't really on his side. Jerry is a loser and doesn't realize it because when he was in the HOH room with Jessie, Libra, April, Ollie, Michelle, and Memphis, no one would talk. As soon as he left, Libra said "finally we can talk." Then he goes to the other group, and they don't talk around him. Jerry is the outsider. Of course, Jerry nominated Steve and Dan. It seems from the live feeds that Steve is the one who will be voted out.

Saturday, July 19, 2008 -- Evening

I've had a busy day. The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix is this weekend, and I went to check out the cars for abit. It was incredibly hot, so I didn't stay long. I did get a few pictures, and will post them tomorrow.

This evening, I went to a Pittsburgh Riverhounds USL soccer game. They played the Bermuda Hogges. It was an entertaining game. I wish that I had taken my camera, but I wasn't sure how conducive the situation would be to picture taking. There were 950 fans there, and there were plenty of seats available. The team plays in the Charteris Valley High School football stadium, so the seats were somewhat uncomfortable--bleacher seats. Parking was $3 which was pricey considering the event, and tickets were $9 for general admission. Food was reasonably price with $1.25 for a bottle of water (usually $3 at the Pens game), which was great because it was really hot, and I was sweating alot. As I said, the game was good too. The Riverhounds won with a final score of 2-0. I would go to a game again.

Jesse, the Big Brother 10 HOH, put up Dan and Steve for eviction. Michelle won the POV, but has been saying that she won't use it. Jesse is going to make the same mistake that others make. They get rid of people that others don't like instead of going for the players in the game, like Libra. That girl would be first on my list to go.

Friday, July 18, 2008 -- Afternoon

Ray Shero obviously appreciates Michel Therrien more than some of the fans do. Therrien signed a three year deal to continue as the coach for the Pens for the next three years. Shero said that the team could have just offered an extension to Therrien, but they decided to reward him for his hard work with a new contract. I've been a fan of Therrien's since he started coaching the Pens. Sure he is opinionated and a whip cracker. Who says that the players have to love the coach? (Rumor has it that some aren't fans of Therrien.) What the coach has to do is get the best out of the team, and Therrien has done that.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 -- Afternoon

The Pens announced their schedule for the upcoming season. It starts off against the Ottawa Senators in Stockholm, Sweden on October 4 and 5. The games can be seen here in PIttsburgh at 2:30 p.m. The home opener will be a week later on October 11 when the Pens play the New Jersey Devils. Here's the complete schedule.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 -- Morning

Scientists have been analyzing data from the various Mars orbiters (from the US and Europe) and have decided that Mars once used to have "widespread" water. They believe that they see evidence for lakes, rivers, and deltas all over the planet, which means not only that water was all over the planet, but that it was probably there for a lengthy time period. It might also mean that there is a change that some early life forms may have developed on the planet. The question to ask is what happened to Mars? What made things take such a horrible turn that all the water either evaporated or moved into the polar caps? I know that some say that all the water is now in the polar caps, and that if they can be thawed, Mars would once again have water. So why did all the water gather at the poles? Some scientists think something must have happened at one point when Mars was hit by an asteroid or comet. It will be interesting to learn what new theories the scientists come up with as they gather more data from the Mars Polar Lander.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 -- Evening

The Pens' front office announced the first home game of the coming season. It will be on Saturday, October 11 against the New Jersey Devils. The complete regular season schedule will be released tomorrow.

It was eviction night on Big Brother 10 tonight. One of the new things about this series is that eviction night is in front of a live TV audience. Brian has been scheming over the past day or so to get votes. It will be interesting to see how things work out. Brian is quite a schemer. He got some of his cohorts to hold a sock puppet show. It was really funny. Meanwhile the ones who really are the problem are April and Libra. Angie was trying to talk Keesha into voting Renny out, and April got upset because she and Libra want to think they are as powerful as Brian. April started crying and carrying on. I hope that Brian stays because he is a fun guy, and I would love to have more of the scheming and drama that Brian brings into the house. Finally, it was time for the live vote. Here's how the voting went: April, Libra, Michelle, Ollie, Jessie, Keesha, Memphis, Steven, and Angie all voted to evict Brian. Only Dan voted to evict Rennie. Quite a disappointment, but that's what happens when you start playing the game too early. It was time for the HOH competition. It was one of those competitions where the houseguests had to answer with the majority. After eight questions, it came down to a tie break between Libra, Ollie, Jessie, and Steven. The question was about the number of pillows on the bed in the POV competition. Jessie's guess of 200 was the closest to 300 without going over, so Jessie became HOH.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 -- Evening

Another episode of Big Brother 10 was on tonight. Brian was obviously playing the game from the very beginning, and thought that he was flying under cover. He was too busy talking to everyone about whether he had the numbers. Unfortunately for him, that got tongues wagging. Brian made a big mistake by telling Angie that he had Jerry where he wanted him. Brian was going around trying to get everyone on his side by cutting deals while he's not even HOH. We saw Brian talk to Angie, Steve, Memphis, Ollie, and Dan. Brian was very stupid because he thought that he was calling the shots. The stupid part was where Brian was telling Ollie and Dan that he was calling the shots, and noone was going to take him out.

The POV competition was sticky. The houseguests had to under a fence, through a honey pool, rip open pillows, find a teddy bear, go back under the fence and through the honey to return the bear to a jar. They had to get five bears, and Jessie won. So Brian told Dan that he had it all under control because he could convince Jerry to nominate Memphis since Memphis was such a strong player. The problem was then Brian told, Ollie, Libra, April, Keesha, and Renny that Memphis would be going home. Libra was really offended by the way Brian was talking about how he could assure everyone that Memphis was going home. Libra tells the girls that they shouldn't do Brian's dirty work for him. The girls start talking and target Brian as the person who was the most intimidating and scary player. Libra tells April that she thinks Ollie is with Brian and Dan. April gets upset because Ollie didn't tell her about any alliance. April calls Ollie on it, confronting him in front of Libra. Ollie is attracted to April and is in her corner, but in order to prove himself to her, Ollie tells the truth to her and Libra. Ollie tells April and Libra that they need to flip the power play onto Brian. Ollie then tells Memphis that Jerry and Brian are in an alliance and that gets Memphis in action against Brian. Everyone except for Brian and Dan approach Jerry in the HOH room and spill the beans to Jerry about the things Brian has been doing. Jerry blindsides Brian by announcing at the POV ceremony that he has heard about Brian's scheming and was nominating Brian for eviction.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 -- Afternoon

The Pens sent out a text alert this afternoon to say that they resigned Kris Beech to a one year contract. Beech has been a real disappointment, who hasn't lived up to expectations. I guess that they need someone in case of injuries, but Beech is just a loser in my opinion.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 -- Evening

Big Brother 10 started this evening. I just love the show. It wouldn't feel like summer to me without Big Brother. Julie Chen was making a big deal of how this is the first Big Brother since BB3 where the houseguests don't know each other. From the intro to the houseguests at the beginning of the show, no one really stood out as someone I would like and root for. There were a few of them, maybe even quite a few, that I really don't like. Rennie is one of them. She's an older woman--early 50s, and she had a low cut dress with her boobs spilling out over the top. Then there's Libra, the extreme democrat who has four kids. One of the babies is only a few months old, and the woman is leaving it to the father's care. One of the big unexpected twists was that the houseguests had to pick the HOH before they went into the house or talked to each other. All houseguests had to go to a counter and vote for HOH based on looks. They could not vote for themselves, and they didn't find out immediately who was HOH. Once the houseguests got into the house, it was very obvious that Rennie was very annoying. She was making rude remarks to the others, and she had a very abrasive sounding voice. Jerry was the most fun though. Jerry is 75 years old, and when April (who has really huge boobs that she said were natural) made Jerry feel her boobs. Jerry went along with it, and said that the boobs were indeed real. Rennie thought that Jerry did something highly inappropriate though.

The first competition started, and it was a competition to win one of the classic cars. One of the houseguests had to sit out, and Jessie volunteered. But he was really upset with himself when he found out that he couldn't win the game. After they were told the rules of the game (pulling the car from inside of it, and losing one person at a time until the end. Then at the end, the other houseguests push the car. The winning team also gets food for the week while the other team gets slop. Rennie was forced to drop out of the red car, and she didn't seem happy at first, but she wasn't pulling or doing work. Meanwhile, Memphis was being really annoying, saying that he wanted the car. He seems like he's really going to be annoying. The red team won food, and Memphis won the car.

We found out who was HOH. Rennie was in second place with three votes, and Jerry won HOH with four votes. Jerry said that being HOH lets him pick who he wants to go to the end with. Jerry said that he's not the typical 75 year. He seems very fit, and was shown at the beginning of the show doing pushups with his grandson on his back. Jerry is also a huge fan of BB and has watched all the episodes. Dan talked to Brian and Ollie about forming an alliance. Dan said that he could tell from the blacks of Ollie's eyes that he would be true to the end. Hmm, funny when you don't know a person that well. Renny was annoying folks at night by talking alot, and having a loud voice during the night with a cackling laugh. Jessie tried to talk to Renny about being quiet at night when people are trying to sleep. Rennie tolk Jessie to "come on, lighten up, give me a break." Rennie thought that Jessie was such a baby.

Brian starts talking to Jerry, and Brian makes a deal with Jerry. Jerry wants to get rid of Dan, but Brian talks him out of it. Jerry says that you should get rid of conflict, and he thought that Rennie picked on Jessie alot. I would get rid of Renny because she is one weird cookie. Jerry nominated Jessie and Rennie for eviction because of the conflict between them. Jerry thought his nominations were safe because he thought that Jessie and Rennie would self-destruct. Meanwhile Brian was smirking the whole time because he felt that he was behind the nominations and that Jerry was showing that he was committed to the alliance.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 -- Morning

It's almost time for the Big Brother 10. I have to admit that it wouldn't seem like summer without Big Brother. The cast was finally announced this morning, and it seems like a diverse bunch. The most notable is 75 year old Jerry. Yeah, you read that right. They are going to have a 75 year old guy on the show this season. Jerry originally comes from Texas, but now lives in Wilkes Barre, Pa., near Philadelphia (at the other end of the state from me). Jerry is retired (duh), and takes care of his wife who was just diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. I wonder who is taking care of her while he's on the show. She might not need alot of help though at this stage, so she might just have family looking out for her. For the most part, the others are mid to late 20s with only a few outliers, a guy who is 22, another who is 35, and a woman who is 53. The cast does seem like an interesting one, and I can't wait to see how they get along. The house also looks interesting. Julie Chen also gave the viewers a tour of the house. It looks really neat. The rooms are setup to represent different decades. The kitchen is right out of the 1950s, and the bedrooms have a 1980s feel to them. So now, I'm exctied, and I can't wait for the season to start this coming Sunday.

Thursday, July 3, 2008 -- Evening

Finally, Marc-Andre Fleury signed a deal with the Pens. It's a $35 million deal for seven years. That comes out to $5 million a year which is not a bad price. It's nice to know that the core guys are going to be staying here, like Fleury, Malkin, and Crosby. Fleury said after the signing, "That's where I want to be. I love this city, the organization, the guys on the team." The Pens also signed two other free agents, Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko, both former New York Islanders. Both have one year deals: Satan for $3.5 million and Fedotenko for $2.5 million. As for Jaromir Jagr, his agent said that he is taking his time to consider his options. Georges Laraque said that he could understand that the Pens couldn't keep him, and he actually went home to the Montreal Canadiens. His deal is for 3 years and worth $4.5 million. Laraque also got a partial no-trade clause. Since Laraque was born and raised in Montreal, this must be a dream come true.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 -- Evening

Shocker for the Pens today. Marian Hossa signed a one year deal with the Detroit Red Wings for $7.4 million. That's not anywhere near as good a deal as the Pens offered. Ray Shero, Pens' general manager, seemed abit shocked that Hossa took a deal that was only for one year. The Pens were offering him a multi-year deal for the same amount. However, a comment was made that Hossa wanted to be on a team with "better players." Hmm, interesting comment! So there was some good news. Evgeni Malkin officially signed an extension with the Pens. He signed a Sidney Crosby like deal. It's a five year extension for $43.5 million. Malkin did indeed give the Pens a hometown deal, because he could have made alot more elsewhere. Brooks Orpik also signed with a six year deal with the Pens. He's only going to get $3.75 million a year, which was less than he was being offered by others. I think that the Pens were waiting for the Hossa decision because as soon as they came out, they announced the Malkin and Orpik deal. Another player who will be missed is Jarkko Ruutu who signed with the Ottawa Senators. Still no word on Jaromir Jagr and Marcus Nasland. Nasland, who used to be with the Pens, is supposedly being serious courted.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 -- Late Evening

One of the local sports announcers just said that he had a report that the Pens had offered Jaromir Jagr a two year, $10 million deal. Obviously more news tomorrow. It's 11 p.m. now so i don't think there will be anything else this evening. I am really getting excited because I do like Jagr. I know, I know! So many fans are cringing. The sports guys have been saying all afternoon that Jagr is awful in the locker room and will bring down morale. Fooey on that! Let's see what happens!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 -- Late Afternoon

Today was the first day of NHL free agency, and there was alot of movement. The Pens resigned Mark Eaton for two years for $2 million. I suppose that Eaton is a good player, but I have to admit that I feel ambivalent about this one. After all, for the past two years, Eaton has spent most of his time on the injury list. Pascal Dupuis also resigned for three years. Ty Conklin was picked up by the Detroit Red Wings, and Tampa Bay has been busily signing a slew of free agents including Adam Hall. There are still reports that Evgeni Malkin has a deal, but nothing official yet. At least, there hasn't been anything that has resulted in an official report from the Pens. The biggest story though, in my opinion, are the rumors surrounding Jaromir Jagr. Jagr is a free agent, and supposedly, he would like to stay with the New York Rangers. However, rumors are swirling that the Pens may have approached Jagr to find out how interested he might be in coming back to Pittsburgh. Personally, I would love it. I have always been a huge fan of Jagr's, and I really don't care if he has the pouty, whiny baby image. He's a good player who loves to have the puck fed to him, and loves to score. What more could one ask for? The story is that since Marian Hossa is probably going to leave, the Pens would need someone of Jagr's abilities. Also, Jagr has made it clear that he doesn't want a deal longer than two years. It would really be interesting if Jagr came back.