SPECIAL 100TH EPISODE EDITION

This is a most historic entry here at The Gene Pool. Today is the 100th day in a row I've done a blog entry. I shocked the world, baby. Shocked the world. Anything's possibleeeeeeeeeeeeee! Anything's possible.

Can you believe it's been 100 days in a row? Well, believe it, baby. I'm so excited I could turn this whole Web site upside down. Instead, I will institute a simple change. I've noticed the last several weeks that my color for Thursday (brown) just wasn't cutting it. It was hardly noticeable on the page, and the other colors were making fun of it. So I fired brown. Told it to get to stepping. In its place, I'm going with this cute, girlie pink color.

I didn't really think I was going to make it this many days in a row until I was somewhere in the mid-80s. I knew I could easily get to 50 and had a real shot at 75, but I figured I'd miss a day before 100. There has been a lot going on in the past few weeks. Baseball playoffs, NFL season, TV season, harder days at work, etc. Plus, I'm really lazy. Yet somehow, someway, I've done it. I wonder what the Vegas odds were for me getting this far.

To commemorate this mind-boggling feat, I got to thinking of the close calls I've had with ending the streak.
-- GUSTAV. Not even a hurricane could stop The Gene Pool. Of course, some of you thought otherwise. I'm still in search of the Blog Streak Hating Five. None of you cowards showed your face when I called you out on the 75th blog in a row. Don't think I've forgotten about you. You have one more day.
-- A couple of weeks ago I raced home to start the blog because the computer here at work wouldn't let me sign on. I made it with about five minutes to spare.
-- The days when I thought I was out of material. That's happened a few times. But I've come through. And it goes on and on and on and on. I do think I will eventually run out, though. What a dark day that will be.

I promise not to dwell on another number-of-entries milestone ever again. Unless, of course, I make it to No. 200.

THE TINA CURSING CORNER

My mom and I are watching TV in the living room Wednesday night.
Mom: Can you turn down the TV in your room?
Me: I'm taping something in there.
Mom: Why the fuck you got it so loud?

Mom looks through the mail. "Fuck me."

Mom is fast forwarding a show on the DVR. It skips past the final scene and goes straight to the would-you-like-to-delete-this-show question at the end. "What the fuck is going on here?"

DON'T MESS WITH MY MEMORY, MAN

I'm not going to lie to you. I have a fantastic memory. OK. So maybe you already knew that. But I've used it twice in the past 24 hours to prove someone else's assertion to be incorrect.

1) At the casino.
A player on the other side of the table collects a pot with a hand of 3-5. He says to the dealer: "Man, I can't win at all with Ace-King at this table, but I can win with 3-5." That set me off.

Me: But you have won with Ace-King at this table.
A-K man: I just lost with that hand, man.
Me: But you won with it earlier.
Guy sitting next to me: No. He split that hand with me. We both had Ace-King.
Me: OK. First of all, he didn't lose with Ace-King on that hand, now did he?. And second of all, I'm not even talking about that hand. I'm talking about the first hand he played when he sat down an hour ago.
A-K man and Guy next to me: What hand?
Me (looking at A-K man): The hand where you had Ace-King and raised. Then, you flopped an ace and turned an ace to beat that guy over there who had pocket kings.
A-K man: Oh. Oh yeah.
Me: Exactly. Shut it. (OK. I didn't say that last part out loud.)

2) At dinner.
The discussion involved the Saints' injuries (and will they make a big playoff push when healthy) and how great the Panthers are playing. I say they might be winning close games, but I'm not convinced about Carolina yet. Then, both teams are compared to the 2007 New York Football Giants. The Giants, like this Panthers team, kept finding ways to win. That's true. Then a co-worker says something like, "Well, the Giants were terrible to start the year. They were like 2-4."

To which I responded: "Uh, I said early on (last year) that the Giants were the best team in the NFC. They were like 5-2 at one point." (I looked it up. They were actually 6-2.) That ended that part of the discussion.

Now, mom may not believe this, but I will admit that I'm wrong every now and again. After all, I'm not perfect. I say stuff sometimes that's just as far off the mark as these aforementioned comments. But I'm always surprised when people spew random facts from the past and hope nobody disputes the statement. (Not that I haven't done it myself.) That shit don't work on me. Well, on some things it does. I, however, remember vividly conversations, quotes from movies and TV, sports information, etc. So don't be trying nothing on me on those topics.

I'm on this Earth to bust your chops if you misremember. I'm busting chops. Ask anyone.

PARTING SHOTS
We're talking about the falling price of gas. Brick says some people are loyal to certain gas stations, no matter the price.

Brick: If I normally buy Derry gas, I'm going to continue buying Derry's gas.
Liam: All I heard was Derry's gas.
Derry: How many gallons you want?

I'm at the casino last night. A player and a dealer are discussing how good the Hornets will be this year.

Player: Yeah. They got everybody back too.
Dealer: No. They lost Pargo.
Player: They did? Where'd he go?
Dealer: To a team in Russia.
Player: Damn. Good for him. He'll be a star there. They should have got somebody in free agency then.
Dealer: They did.
Player: Who?
Dealer: That guy from Boston.
Player: P.J. Brown? But he's old, though.
Dealer: Not P.J. Damn. I can't think of his name.

Marcus walks over to Max.

Marcus: Max, I need you to work the Sunday after the Georgia game. Lopes is going to London to audition to be Queen Elizabeth's love slave.
Liam: I hope that's a new reality show.

THE DAILY TOP LIST
To prepare for the big game Saturday, my top five memories of Florida vs. LSU.

5) LSU 21, Florida 17. October 15, 2005.
Tigers commit five turnovers but still win. This is mainly on the list because I was there.

4) Florida 19, LSU 7. October 11, 2003.
One blemish on a phenomenal season.

3) LSU 28, Florida 21. October 11, 1997.
I have no distinctive memories of the play-by-play, but I remembered watching with my dad and going crazy.

2) LSU 24, Florida 21. October 9, 2004.
I was at Kevin's surprise 21st birthday party for this Addai-led comeback. Crazy times were had after Addai ran right into the corner of the end zone for the winner. The quote of the day that day was the theme of the party: "If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly bear." Whatever that means.

1) LSU 28, Florida 24. October 6, 2007.
Five fourth-down conversions. That Les Miles does have stones the size of Gibraltar.