When it comes to sports, I don't write about them. It's probably for the same reason that I don't write about music. While I enjoy music and sports, I don't feel that they fall within my area of expertise, so I'll leave the analysis to people better suited to it. But I do enjoy watching sports, particularly when there's something exciting going on. Being in a Chicago-dominated pro sports area, I was raised on the Cubs, the Bears, and the Bulls. Not so much the White Sox or Blackhawks. We'll get to that in a moment. Here are my random sports thoughts thrown into categories. (Read more...)

The other night I had this dream that I came home, opened my door, and my living room had been completely emptied. As in, everything. Gone. Entertainment center, TV, DVD shelf, pictures off the wall, all my furniture, my filing cabinets with my most important documents. All completely gone as if no one had lived there. Who could or would steal everything? (Read more...)

Last weekend, my girlfriend Kathy and I made Oreo balls. Saying that sounds slightly wrong, and I can't help but be reminded of that classic SNL sketch where Alec Baldwin touts his famously delicious Schwetty balls. (Read more...)

This entry is continued from part 1.

Going up the page in reverse order of my daily comic-strip reading, what's next?

Zits by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman: What's not to like? Zits has got to be among the funniest of current comic strips. We've all been teenagers, so we can all relate. Zits is current, fresh, funny, and true. The interaction and sarcasm between Jeremy and his parents reveal the best and funniest of teen-related cliches. This is the rare comic strip that can actually make me occasionally laugh out loud. The authors understand humor, which might be more rare in comics than one might think (see B.C.). (Read more...)

There are those habits that you persist in continuing out of what seems like sheer obligation. Obligation to what, I don't know. Perhaps it's an obligation to continue merely because you've been doing it for so long already. That's a lame-ass reason, I know. (Read more...)

This is where I go public with a blog, one of those things that's mandated by what the marketing gurus in the online industry call "Web 2.0." Apparently, Jammer's Reviews was so Web 1.0 until today.

First of all: What is IDWID? You could say it's a way of life. Or an inside joke. Or a blog based on a whim. Or a license for rampant pointlessness. Or all of the above. Basically, it's an acronym for "it do what it do," a name that hopefully sets the tone for this blog — a tone that's still being set. Read about what IDWID is and where it came from. (Read more...)

When I registered IDWID.com and ItDoWhatItDo.com back in October, it literally was for the reason: "Because I can." That and it only cost $9 per domain. You can see the whole story in the IDWID history. (Read more...)

So, just what do we mean by "It do what it do"?

Back in October, my IDWID cohort, Michael Freimann, definied "It Do What It Do" as the following:

For too long, media attention has been given to the overachievers or those who stand in the spotlight. The irony of this, of course, is that it is the rank and file, the Average Joe and the consistently good — but not great — elements of our society that really make things work. This web page is a salute to all of those things — people, places, products, what have you — that do what they are supposed to do — and only that.

That was back when IDWID.com was simply a vanity URL, registered as a joke under that always popular motivation known as "because I can." (Read more...)