Friday, January 30, 2009

The Obligatory Super Bowl Post

by Joe Sousa on January 30, 2009

in Sports

Well, since I am a huge football fan and I have a blog I guess it is my duty to make a Super Bowl post.  Everyone keeps asking me who I think will win and I already gave a more detailed breakdown of what I think will happen at http://nfl-football-jerseys.com/thescoop/?p=46 but I will summarize here.

Basically I hate both teams.  I hate the Arizona Cardinals because the play in the NFC West with my beloved Seattle Seahawks (season ticket holder baby!!!) and thus I hate every NFC West team.  They are the enemy. People keeps asking me “Don’t you want to root for them because they play in the same division?”.  Of course I don’t want to root for them.  I want them to lose every game they play.

I hate the Pittsburgh Steelers because they were handed Super Bowl XL on a platter from the refs. Yeah, the Seahawks could have made more plays to win but those penalties called against the Seahawks were crazy.  I hate using the refs as an excuse as to why the Seahawks lost the game but if you have any sort of a brain you can realize that if the 4 or 5 terrible penalties called against the Seahawks weren’t called the game would have been VERY different (more on this game later). 

So with that out of the way let me try to put on my objective hat and see if I can give a fair assesment of what will happen.  If the Cardinals can get off to a quick start, hit come big plays early, sack Roethlisberger a couple times in the first couple drives, maybe force a turn over they will win.  My guess is 35-17. And based on what they have done in the playoffs they are very capable of this.  If Pittsburgh can put together a couple early, long, clock controlling drives and get the Cardinals in a hole early they will win.  Probably something like 17-13 or so.  They have a pass rush that can mess up any air game from any team and they should be able to get pressure on Warner.

Which scenario will play out?  Smart money is to go with the experience, ground game, defense, and toughness and go with the Steelers but I am gonna go with the Cardinals. They will get out quick and get the Steelers out of their game.

But the real winner?  ME!!! Why?  Well, back during Super Bowl XL I wanted to watch the game alone so I could give my full focus to the game and my other project for the day. I didn’t want people distracting me from my goals and from the game.  My other project?  I wanted to eat 50 wings. No particular reason for that number, it just sounds like a good round number to shoot for.  Now I believe I make awesome wings.  Just deep fry them until crispy, soak in a combination of Franks Red Hot and margerine (a 1:1 ratio for mild, 2:1 for more heat or anywhere in between) for a few minutes and you are good to go.  Very simple.  But the problem was as the game wore on the frustration of the game overtook me and my stomach was in knots.  I think I got up to 38 wings but just couldn’t finish the last few because I was so sick over the game.

This year with no emotional attachment to either team that shouldn’t be a problem.  I plan to try the 50 wing challenge again. If I am still alive on Monday (and not stuck on the toilet) I will post an update.  The only question is whether I watch the game alone with no distractions or go over to a friends house with about 5 other people so I can have a cheering section.  But that would also mean I would have to make wings for them… Decisions, decisions.

But in my mind, even if I get to 35 wings I am a winner because they taste so dang good!!!

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The People I Have Met

by Joe Sousa on January 30, 2009

in Affiliate Stuff

With the untimely and unfortunate passing of Martin Schaedel in a plane crash in Santa Monica I started thinking about meeting him at Pubcon in Boston back in 2003 and as I did my mind started to drift towards all the great people I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting over the years.  Many of you that I have met at various conferences, meet ups, and the like over the past few years have become great business associates and even more importantly great friends.  Some of these people I talk to on a regular basis, some of them I haven’t seen in years. I want to say a heart-felt thank you to all of you.

I know I will miss some people on this list so please don’t be offended if I forget someone and maybe I got the years wrong but through the years here are some of you that have stood out:

Pubcon 2002 in Irvine:  This was the first conference I went to and first put me in contact with some of you:

RC Jordan – Always up for a good meal and a great guy to just sit around and talk with for hours
Mackin (and Ruth Ann) – As has been said before “The party doesn’t start until Mackin gets there”
Todd Friesen (aka Oilman) – Probably seen him a dozen times since then.  Great guy and a great friend.

Pubcon 2003 in Boston: Many hours spent sitting at Dominics, the little pizza joint and bar next to the hotel

Martin Schaedel (aka lazerubb) – He was maybe 18 at the time but was far beyond most of us in experience
Toolman – Always good at pointing out the evil side of this business
Mark Bramley (aka NFFC) – A true Brit.
Scott Jangro – Fun times on the golf course, the craps table, the bar… Pretty much anywhere
John Cornella – Always a good conversation
Ken Lochridge (aka Drastic) – Great encouragement over the years
Dave Naylor (aka DaveN) – Never saw the guy without a beer in his hand

Pubcon 2004 in Orlando – A bunch of us rented a couple houses for a couple days and played in the theme parks. At the conference we pretty much spent all our time hunkered down in the corner table of the bar

Rasmus and Torben (aka The Vikings) – Always good to have some Viking blood around
Jennifer Slegg (aka Jensense) – I might have met her in Boston but then she made the mistake of sitting at our table in Orlando which I am sure was life changing for her.  hehe

SAS Think Tanks 2007-2008

Pat Grady (aka Donuts, aka RhinoFish) – Still amazed Mackin drug us up to that biker bar in North Scottsdale
Missy Ward – One of the pillars of this industry
Brian Littleton – You name the golf course and I will do my best to be there.  Thanks for everything
Jason Rubacky – Keep your champagne off the table dude
Todd Farmer – One of the nicest guys in the industry.  Maybe I just don’t know him well enough yet…
Stephanie Lichtenstein – How many marshmallows?

Affiliate Summits 2006-2009

I can’t remember all of them but you hopefully know who you are.

I am sure I left off many, many people and I apologize for that.  But for those of you out there who just go to the conference and don’t meet people I would encourage you to talk to people, buy them a meal or a drink, sit up all hours talking in hotel lobbies, restaurants, bars, etc. and get to know a lot of people.  Many of them will become great friends over the years and you never know the last time you will see them.

Thanks to all of you.

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My band – Modern Dissent

by Joe Sousa on January 30, 2009

in Music

As some of you know (and many of you probably don’t) I am the bass player in a band with a few of my friends.  Our band is Modern Dissent and we have been together for a almost 2 years now.

Our lead guitarists and long time friend Bob Delateur approached me in the spring of 2007 and said it had been on his heart to start a band.  He is married with 3 kids and he realized if he wanted to give a band a go this would probably be his last chance to do so.  I have played bass off and on for about 20 years and was in a band back in the early 90′s and was wanting to do something more also so I said yes.  We talked to some other friends of ours Corey Millican (singer) and Paul Weber (drummer) and they were thinking the same thing as well so we decided to give it a go.

We got together a few times to play to see if there was anything to this and we all clicked and worked well together so we wrote a few more songs and went from there. We played a few shows and decided to record an album.  The recording was done in our drummers basement so it wasn’t quite studio quality but we think it turned out pretty good.  While we were recording our guitarist came up with so many cool second guitar parts we needed to find another guitarist. Luckily our drummer Paul’s son is an outstanding guitarist (and he is only 16) so we brought him in as well. Last year we played about 8 shows or so for crowds ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred.  We don’t get to play as much as we would like to but we still all have a great time together.

Altogether we have close to 20 songs we have written. Our guitarist does the majority of the writing but our singer Corey has also written a couple.  I even wrote one that ended up sounding pretty good and Seth our second guitarist has a couple as well.  We are currently lining up shows for this coming year, recording some more songs, and trying to build a fanbase of around 1000-1500 by the end of the year.

Here is a video with some clips of some different live shows we have done in the past year:

 

Our mission statement as a band is “Modern Dissent purposes to use musical expression to encourage people from all background to think hard about Jesus Christ with the hope that they would follow and worship Him”. Yep, I am a Christian but more on that in future posts.

You can hear some samples of our songs at http://www.moderndissent.com or go to iTunes and search for Modern Dissent and buy our album.

For you musicians out there here is the gear I use:

Fender American Deluxe Precision V – Awesome 5 string bass that I bought 3 or 4 years ago and was only made for a couple years

Ampeg SVT II Pro – Sweet all tube amp.  This thing is LOUD.  I can barely turn it up before it rattles the windows in my house.

Bergantino NV610 cabinet – One of the best bass speaker cabs you can buy. 6 10″ speakers.

Fulltone Bassdrive Overdrive pedal
Vintage 1970s Clone Theory chorus pedal
Peterson Strobo Stomp 2 Tuner

I have some other stuff I use from time to time also but that is the main setup.

Want to know more about our band?  Leave a comment and ask me a question.

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