Gross insults. Name calling. Petty squabbling. Perceived slights blown out of proportion. Yes, it’s that time of year again! Time for…
FANTASY FOOTBALL!!!
Even though we’re 11 days away from draft day, the excitement is palpable. Adding intrigue to this season are a couple of controversial rule changes (we’re going with 3 starting wide receivers instead of 2 if you can believe it and the new waiver wire rule will reward teams for showing patience and restraint rather than sucking). Also, the long-standing 14 team league managed by my good buddy Tio split into two 10 team leagues this season, one, The League of Apathy, made up of mostly former Stargate cohorts (ie. Robert Cooper, Mark Savela, Alex Levine, Ivon Bartok, Lawren Bancroft-Wilson), the second, whose name decency prevents me from stating, is made up of the more spirited and colorful rabble-rousers of previous years (Daryl, Derek, Steve, and, generally, whoever has managed to stay out of prison in the off-season). Tio, Alex, and yours truly will be pulling double duty, participating in both leagues.
Is there a double championship in the cards for my Snow Monkeys? Maybe. The team is looking to add a couple of more of these babies –
– to the trophy case. Yep, that’s the 2011 Fantasy Football trophy won by my Snow Monkeys following an improbable run that saw them make the playoffs on the last weekend of the regular season before sweeping aside the top contenders to take the prize. But, of course, I don’t have to tell you this because you’ve already read all about it on this blog – and purchased the video, Snowfall and Rise: The Joseph Mallozzi Fantasy Football League Story.
So, following yesterday’s blog entry about that restaurant in L.A. that is offering up a water menu for those with (presumably) refined palates – and money to burn – two of you posted links to a Penn and Teller video in which they poke fun at water snobs. The point they seem to make is that most people can’t tell the difference between bottled water and tap water. Alas, I’m going to have to call bullshit on that…
May I direct you to our latest Pick a Flick poll that sees the legendary Galaxy Quest running away from the mind-bending 12th Monkey and (by all accounts) dreadful Skyfall. Make your (it’s looking like) meaningless voice heard and cast your ballot:
Is your significant other making you sit through the latest season of Top Chef Masters too? Forget host Curtis Stone’s douchey purple sweater, the uninteresting online segments, or last episode’s baffling challenge that saw competitors effectively rewarded for their sous chefs’ inability to break down a piece of meat. Instead, watch it for this guy –
Chef Douglas Keane who is competing for Green Dog Rescue Inc. – and preparing some mighty delicious-looking culinary creations along the way.
Read all about him here: http://www.bravotv.com/people/douglas-keane/bio and here: CHEF DOUGLAS KEANE and read check out his charity here: Green Dog Rescue Project
Vancouver water must be pretty bad if bottled water wins. I should send you some of our water from Cold Lake, Joe. It’s simply awesome.
Regarding the water question, I suppose it really depends on the brand of bottled water and where the tap water is coming from. My understanding is that much of bottled water is from a municipal supply but is filtered to improve taste. Also, I’ve heard that the testing standards for municipal water is actually higher safety-wise than bottled water. (Mind you, I’ve done no real deeper research on it, so take it for what it’s worth.) That said, the water in the city here is terrible (but safe) so we use bottled water at work. The water here at home is great though, so need to have bottled.
The big question is, what was the “hair issue” on set that would require Paul’s attention? That seems like an odd emergency!
Hi Carl!!
Love seeing all the guys in your water video. Your writing partner is gorgeous. Beautiful eyes. I can’t tell bottled water from tap water because each brand of bottled water tastes a little different, just like everyone’s tap water tastes a little different. So… think I’ll go get a big cold glass of recycled feces. 😉
I voted for 12 Monkeys only because everytime I say “monkey” it makes me smile a little.
(Fantasy) Football season is about to start again? 🙄 Oh boy. I’ll be over at Akemi’s blog if you need me…
The water at our last house was horrible and the chlorine smell/taste ruined many a cuppa tea. In this house, about 8 miles away, I can’t tell the difference between bottled and tap. Go figure. 🙂
Passing the word along on the Green Dog Rescue Project; very cool!
I call BS to it also.. I can taste water difference in different freaking locations, much less bottled/tap. That said, tap is a waste and not cleaner than tap water, just made to taste better. We have used a water purifier for about 24 yrs now. Hell of a lot cheaper as we use for the dogs, cooking, tea, coffee even sometimes brushing my teeth. We actually have 2, a heavy duty one in the kitchen and simpler, less effective but still decent one in the bathroom.
I’ve always said that you can taste the chlorine in the water.
i’m sure bottled water is better than the chlorinated tap water of atlanta & los angeles (the only 2 big cities i’ve visited) the water in atlanta had more chlorine though. 😛
I prefer bottled water everytime, it’s possible to tell the difference between the different brands, at least in my opinion. I just wouldn’t drink anything from the tap and haven’t done for a long time.
Wasn’t a fan of the water you get in hospital mind you, had various bottled drinks brought in for me when I had my somewhat lengthy stay years back when I had complications after my appendix burst lol
I grew up on well water, and in high school, when we switched to city water, it took me a while to get used to the chlorine taste. I missed the “sweet” taste of the well water though. The closest bottled water taste to the well water I grew up with (that I have found) is Fiji Water.
Well water can taste bad though. My Uncle’s well in Georgia had a sulphur problem…it wasn’t unhealthy, it just smelled of sulphur (rotten eggs).
I’m sorry, but didn’t you swear off fantasy football at the end of last season?
This reminds me when I told my stepfather that I preferred the taste of butter over margarine. My stepfather said no one can tell the difference and challenged me to a test of toast. When I correctly stated which two were butter and which were margarine he had a screaming fit, yelling that I cheated.
He was that kind of guy.
Good times. 🙂
I long ago installed a Rainfresh water filter and plumbed it into my fridge water dispenser and ice maker.
Victoria’s water supply has much the same problems as Vancouver’s, albeit at a lesser amount. Heavy summer rains can drive sediment into the water system, especially if we have had a drought, which we often do during the summer. Sediment in the water requires larger amounts of chlorine to properly sanitize, so you sometimes get gritty heavily chlorinated water. I recall once we had freshwater shrimp like thing just large enough to see with the naked eye. The water had itsy bitsy tiny little pinkish red dots in it.
If you drink chlorinated water all the time you don’t notice the flavour of the chlorine unless they bump up the amount. If I go from my filtered water to tap the chlorine is very obvious. Sometimes if there is a problem with the water you can smell the chlorine it’s so strong.
My filter uses two cartridges, a silver impregnated ceramic cartridge that lasts a good year, and a carbon filter that lasts six months. The first is $25, the second $10, so $45 a year for water and ice that doesn’t taste like anything at all. I fill up a few bottles and keep them in the fridge for when I go out.
And yes, water has feces and urine, never mind all the dead animal bodies decomposing in the water catchment area. That’s what the chlorine is for.
Mmmmm. Now I’m thirsty.
LOL at the video. Congrats on your win.
@Ponytail: I’ve always thought Paul was great looking too with the dark hair and those eyes. 😀
Good Luck to the Snow Monkeys. Does the new team have a name yet?
I agree with the others, it depends where you live and how they bottle the water. I grew up on well water and it was much better tasting than Memphis water. Which is saying a lot because Memphis has good water. http://memphis.about.com/od/historyandfacts/f/memphiswater.htm
When my son was a baby, I didn’t have to boil the water for his formula (per pediatrician). Friends from Nashville didn’t believe me about that when they visited with their babies. They would boil it anyway. When I visit Nashville or Arkansas, their water does tastes odd. Then I use bottled water.
Do you think there is a big difference between tastes of that really expensive water? The kind flown in from somewhere that spoiled actors demand to have their trailers stocked with? I probably won’t ever even see the famous brands here but you live in gourmet land, so you might.
Make your (it’s looking like) meaningless voice heard and cast your ballot: Why do you say “meaningless”?
Good morning.. (Aug 10th), wanted to be the first(maybe) to wish Carl Binder a happy birthday,!!, I should do it again for tonights post, but wanted to be sure and not forget, So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Carl and many more!!
I went to a fancy three star restaurant in Florence Italy last November and they had a bottled water menu. I’m not kidding. It was an 8 page menu with more than 60 types of bottled water from around the world. You would have loved it, Joe.
I was only picking Skyfall because I was hoping Cookie would state that it wasn’t a great movie. If you listen to just about everyone else, it’s one of the greatest bond movies ever. I hardly think so. Again another movie that I felt was building up a great story and then halfway in fumbles the ball. I felt the whole end of the movie at his childhood home was a compete let down.
Nick: What price range was the bottled water?
Happy Birthday Carl Binder!
Hold up Joe! I thought you were done with Football and the Fantasy league after last year!
No idea if the companies that sell Mineral water are honest about their sources but I love the stuff personally lol
Stuff like Evian is a good brand of water.
HAVE YOU SEEN MASTER CHEF UK PROFESSIONALS YET? IT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN ALL THE OTHER TV COMPETITIONS BECAUSE THE FOOD IS THE DRAMA, NOT THE CONTESTANTS. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.
Happy Birthday, Carl!
Found out that the reason the water at this house doesn’t taste horrible is because there are filters everywhere. Who knew? Ok, Mr. Deni did. I saw one under the sink but didn’t really give it a second thought. He’s got one plumbed into the fridge and ice maker as well. Makes a world of difference!
When we lived in San Diego, we had drinking water delivered. Their city water made me physically ill. Here in Utah, the tap water is very tasty. Same sources as Mt. Olympus bottled water, so maybe I’m spoiled.
Metro Vancouver water is quite good compared to a lot of other places I’ve had tap water from. And ever since they started using The Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant, I stopped using my Brita filter as the amount of chlorine in the water dropped considerably and tasted pretty much the same as the filtered water. Every now and then there will be a spike in chlorine levels that you can smell coming out of the tap, but its quite rare.
It’s also supposed to prevent any more issues of turbidity in the water, which according to the reports did its job quite well in October 2012 when source turbidity skyrocketed from Seymour but the treated water was unaffected by the turbidity increase of the source.
@ Alexis – and the dimples too… 😉
Miguel Reimer: It’s nice to hear Vancouver got their water situation sorted out.
From what I’ve read the filtration plant would not have had to been built if the water boards didn’t allow a large number of logging roads to be built and allow clear cutting in the watersheds.
Apparently they did the same here in the Victoria watersheds, but here they de-commissioned the roads and made sure the clear cut areas were planted, in Vancouver they didn’t, and the higher mountains with greater spring run offs cause more problems. The Victoria area doesn’t have mountains, just large hills and they have very little snow on them. Almost all our water is in the form of rain, rather then the rain and snow pack melt in the Vancouver area.
Interesting things I never new and only looked up because you mentioned the filtration system. That filtration system itself was a heck of a building project. I watched a short video on it. I bet it cost a pretty penny. Probably cost a good deal more then what water users got for allowing logging in the watersheds.
I wonder if fifty years from now the companies will be pushing to log in the watersheds again.
Dog is the special ingredient for tonight? But everyone knows black is tastier. So how good of a chief can he be?
Tam Dixon: The prices started at about 8 Euros and went up to over 50! It was quite shocking. I don’t remember the names of the expensive selections. The restaurant is Enoteca Pinchiorri. The best dining experience I have ever had. For the record, I had the 8 Euro bottle of Italian sparkling.
I just went to an expensive restaurant with my daughter. They asked if we wanted tap or bottled water. The tap water around here is pretty good so we took it. We could only imagine the cost of the bottled water at this place!
I can tell the difference, too. The tap water here is disgusting. In Florida, it tasted like swamp water. In New York it tastes like sewer. We have a purifier on our tap, too. I give my sister a hard time because she tells me the reason they use bottled water in New Jersey is because of all the pollutants in it. And then uses that same water to cook food. I use the purified water for all things we are going to ingest. I use the tap water for all the things we are going to clean. My dog gets purified water, too.
I have not been watching Top Chef Masters this season. Too many TV show commitments.