Rejected

Well, this was a first.

For the first time in over 20 years as a member of the digital universe (save for my foray into online dating):

I’ve been rejected as a potential “friend” online.

It was bound to happen, sure. But I didn’t expect it from someone I had actually met in real life. And had over for poker in my home.

Now, I completely understand his rationale. The person in question lives in the L.A. area and hangs in celebrity circles; He gets phone calls from Ben Stiller, and I’d seen photos of him at the house of the beautiful Jenna Fischer (born just one week after me, BTW). Also, he has close to 3,000 MySpace friends. So I imagine he wants to keep the fanbois on MySpace, and leave Facebook as a place for those he is closest with. Quite understandable.

This interesting response still came as a bit of a surprise. Which makes sense, because he is an interesting guy… which… is why I wanted to keep up with him in the first place! I throw up a little in my mouth when I think of joining MySpace, so that’s not happening. If only he were on Twitter…

Well, in any event, no hard feelings, Joe. Good luck in your travels. And say hi to Jenna for me. Big fan.

(hmm, is she on Facebook…?)

Since the 2008 Beijing Olympics are in full swing and on everyone’s mind, I thought I’d share my brush with Olympic Greatness.

At the 2004 Special Transplant Olympics in Minnesota, my wife won a Gold Medal in tennis. So rather than skipping out early (as we had done in ‘02), we stuck around for the Closing Ceremonies with a special sense of pride. At these ceremonies, Olympic champions Chris Klug and Carl Lewis were among the speakers.

While my wife would have liked to have met Chris for sure, we did not see him after he left the podium. However, as we were leaving the (kinda lame-o) dance party at the end of the event, I noticed a tall, slender-but-ripped man in a very snug shirt approaching us in the hallway. It was none other than 10-time Olympic medalist Carl Lewis.

He seemed engrossed in conversation with a small entourage. That didn’t bother me one bit. I walked right up to him with a cheery “Hey Carl! How ya doin’?!” I was greeted with a lukewarm response. Still (naturally) undeterred, I motioned to my future sister-in-law Cathlin to get ready for a photo. I turned back and asked Mr. Lewis: “Can I get a picture, Carl?!”

His response?

A stern “Reeeal quick.”

And so it was. I wrapped my arm around his back (probably the most musyular I had ever touched), smiled, and Cat’s quick trigger finger captured the moment! The look on his face says it all — this is truly an athlete who adores his fans.

And one with perhaps the cheesiest. web site. evar. (but it seems like they’re working on it in ’08…)

Pic 1 | Pic 2

Good shootin’ Joe!

“That spectator is something we have no time for right now… You’re either in the playing field or out of the arena.”

Unfortunately, where I live, I’m more likely to have Buddhists passing me by in an accident, versus Scientologists.

Here’s a brief interview with Dave on WPHT radio last night:

Frankly, she looks much more like an average high school kid, kind of a ‘husky gal’, and not a model at all. Shouldn’t this girl just go to school and try to have as much of a normal life as she can, given her ancestry?!