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Why you should run (Letterman-Style top 10)

August 26th, 2009

Hi.
I must apologize,there has been a total lack of bloggage lately though no one complained and I’m guessing it’s because like us, you were partaking in the sun and fun of summer. Now that the season for no shirts shorts and skirts is (almost) over…LET THERE BE CAKE!

For the folks here at cake, the fall season=marathon season and we’re all already committed to and training for fall races. For me it will be the Philiadelphia marathon and as this is my 2nd marathon training season I’m forced to reflect upon my 1st and wonder how many times this year I’m going to be asked why and how far I’m running only to hear “26 miles?!? I don’t even like driving that far!”. To which I may then say- “Great! So why not run it with me?” Jk. …But seriously… why not?

Forget a marathon, most folks I run into (no pun intended) are completely turned off to the idea of running at all. Which I get, you know I used to be one of “those guys” – it all started when I was that dude riding the bench @ football practice in high school teasing all those cross country kids with the “FARTLEK: It’s a runner thing, you wouldn’t understand” shirts to “GO RUN FOR FUN! HA HA” … little did I realize then, that while I wasn’t good enough for 3rd string on my sub .500 high school football team the sport of running doesn’t discriminate, lets everyone participate and rewards everyone with a sense of accomplishment…unlike football. Which made me realize…well, nothing. GO GIANTS! Anyway…

Here’s a quick top 10 list, Letterman-style, why you should run:

10. You may never understand a FARTLEK, but you can still wear the shirt and feel cool.
9. Even if you’re vegetarian, there is no good reason to be a couch potato.
8. Feel a little more justified eating this
7. We’re only 9 months into the New Year, still time left to make good on that resolution!
6. No phone/kids/work/spouse/gf/bf/bff…basically, no stress – no problem!
5. You ran everywhere as a kid, what’d you get old or something?
4. If you only run when you’re being chased, you’re going to get caught.
3. Because looking chiseled is better than having parts that jiggle.
2. It’s less expensive than that easily stored fad exer-machine that didn’t even work for the model advertising it, trust me.
1. Charity…that’s how we all got started.

Unlike my football team the running culture is very friendly too. I met 3 friends running and we started a blog. No kidding! You might have heard of it…

Sit for nothing – Run for anything! (yea, I made that up)
See you out there,
Banks

PS- I wanted to point out that in our absence we’ve undergone a redesign that while still incomplete includes a nifty tweet button for all you twitterers so you can spread the word and we encourage you all to follow us on twitter @isthereanycake. (Thank you!!!!)

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Posted in Advertising, Athletes, Charity, Running, Sports

The Best…ever.

May 27th, 2009

Butter vs. Margarine,
Paper vs. plastic,
White vs. wheat,
Big mac vs. whopper,

All subjective, all part of Americana. You pick a side and you defend it to the point where the plastic user wouldn’t use paper if it they had to wipe with it. The same goes for sports.

The great debate in sports is who’s the greatest. Season in, season out, all teams and athletes strive for that number one spot. Which brings us to our topic of discussion today, class – WHO IS THE GREATEST ATHLETE OF ALL TIME?

Digression – I got into this because the NBA playoffs, for once, are actually interesting. Many nail-biting, buzzer shot winning, overtime games (in case you haven’t been paying attention) and the buzz surrounding a possible Kobe/Lebron finals has got me thinking about the best, of any sport, ever. Funny that basketball fits in here because….

Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete of all time. Period, end of story…Sshhh.

What? Is that really so hard to believe? Go ahead; keep shouting at your screen how much you think _________ is so much better. NOW QUIET DOWN FANBOY!

Sure, back in the day dude/dudette was legendary, and Tiger Woods and Lance are great now, among the best ever in their sport…but Mr. Jordan transcended his sport. Think about it, how many times do you hear Tiger Woods compared to Michael Jordan as opposed to other great golfers like Jack Niklaus? Kobe and Lebron play against each other, but even then who are they really playing against?
Great athletes get endorsements, Jordan gets his own sister brand complete with his own logo from Nike. Great athletes win championships. Jordan wins 3 in a row on 2 separate occasions and gets the MVP award every time.

Still not convinced? Credentials: http://www.bestbythenumbers.com/2006/07/athlete-number-23-michael-jordan.html

And just like the ball in the hands of “His Airness”, here’s the game-breaker…in the movie Space Jam when the MonStars stole the talent of 5 NBA players (2 of whom are among the 50 greatest all time) and challenged the Looney Toons to a game a basketball to wager their slavery at an alien theme park – Bugs and company recruited a retired baseball playing Michael Jordan 2 years removed from the sport of basketball to save them all…and they won (sorry if you didn’t see it) They could have had ANYONE, they took Mike.

He had his own McDonald’s burger AND his own song. Just last night, when the NHL wanted him to show up in a Chicago Blackhawks jersey, he had them remove the Reebok logo (Reebok produces all NHL jerseys) and they did so willingly.
Only fitting too that on the night that he was inducted to the basketball hall of fame in 2009, his former college team the North Carolina Tarheels won the NCAA championship (then again, they were only playing Michigan State. What?)

Since you can’t possibly provide any evidence to counter my assertion feel free to try me on my other picks: Butter, plastic, wheat, Big Mac.

How’s that cake taste?
Banks
PS – We’re officially on Twitter @isthereanycake

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Posted in Athletes, Debates, Facts, Sports

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Looking at our “Cake”

April 26th, 2009

If you’re living in the Northeast this weekend you couldn’t help but notice that summer came early. This weekend has been B E A U T I F U L…a little on the hot side but I can deal with that.

This past Saturday you may have seen EJ and myself running a 15K in beautiful Clinton, NJ…I was rockin’ my “Is there any cake left?” performance T (for sale soon – all proceeds going to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!!) and if you’re here because you saw my attempt at advertising – Welcome and thanks for coming!! Likewise if you saw Lungs running the “Quest for a Cure 5K” in Moutainside, NJ…

During my race I ended up pacing myself for a bit with a nice young woman who made a move to pass me around mile 7 and commented that she was looking at my cake. All I gotta say is HELL YEA THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! We want folks to look at our Cake! Thanks for pushing me, if I weren’t frantically looking for fluids and shade right after finishing I may have chatted more.

And while I’m making shoutouts – I’d like to thank the women of the Clinton Haircutters…Kathy and company do a fantastic job cutting hair, are great for conversation, and have always supported my efforts with the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. I told them that we created isthereanycakeleft.com and they said they’d spread the word. Thank you ladies. I highly recommend stopping by and seeing them if you’re ever in the area.

If you are new here you should know that for every comment you post to any of our blogs we’ll donate $1 to help the fight against blood cancers. It’s the easiest charity work you’ll ever do, and we all appreciate it.

In other news…

This time of year marks the anniversary of tremendous turning point in my life – it was this same 15K last year where I committed to running a marathon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Societies Team in Training Program, which is where I met my blogmates and the rest is Cake…I didn’t see the Team in Training tent this year at the 15K, probably because they hosted a 5K on Sunday as I mentioned above, but I thank them also for all they’ve helped me do for others and realize about myself. It is because of them and their cause that isthereanycakeleft.com was possible and all of us here are forever grateful.

This blog will have to be continued…I wanted to get a point across but I don’t want to write a book and this is long enough already. Besides, it’s so nice outside – what are you doing on the Internet? Get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Till next time…
Banks

PS – Look to see everyone minus EJ running NJ Marathon next week!

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Posted in Advertising, Charity, Innuendos, Living in NJ, Running

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Hi, My name is Banks…

April 1st, 2009

And im a Dunkin-Donuts-aholic.
*HI BANKS!*

I should specify…im not big on donuts, bagels, breakfast sandwiches or any beverages that begin with cappa/frappa or end in latte. I’m just straight up in love with their coffee. To call myself a coffeaholic would be inaccurate because I only really love Dunkin Donuts coffee.

Oh I’ve tried other stuff…there’s community coffee where I work. Usually it’s your standard grocery store brands though sometimes it’s something wild like blueberry flavored weirdness or a pound of grounds blazoned in advertisements claiming that it’s 100% indigenous to some region unfamiliar to me and therefore superior in some way. It doesn’t matter what it is really because if it’s not D&D it’s all schwag. I drink it and panic – the jitters set in the world is ending and suddenly I can’t cope with simplest of life’s circumstances. Caffeine sensitivity? Not likely…because D&D doesn’t do that.

Beyond that I feel loved there, it’s like they know me. Try walking into your hometown coffee shop – Unless you speak ‘Fratalian’ are big on emo tunes and carrying a ‘journal’ (see my last blog for more on that) you’re not welcome. I had a friend suggest that I go to Mikey D’s for coffee because it’s .99 for any size cup. How crazy is that? The Super-sized empire selling their stash for less than a buck at any size because even they know…

I tried MD’s. They asked me how many creams and sugars I wanted in it like I’m supposed to know that information. I walk into my local D&D tell ‘em ‘Cream and Sugar’ and it’s perfect every time. Beyond that, they hand me a cup…just a cup…with a brilliantly engineered self-containing spill-proof heat-containing lid. No fancy cardboard heat shield with a crummy plastic lid that I have to peel back or worry if it’s sitting in my car’s cupholder that a small bump will send scolding hot liquid all over me and my car’s what-nots.

Oh, and their corporate slogan – “America runs on Dunkin” …how did they know I was a marathon runner? They’re THAT good, that’s how.

About the only problem I have is that you HAVE, I repeat, HAVE to get it from them. You can buy a pound of their stuff and try to brew it yourself, it’s not the same, don’t even try it. I can’t tell you how many $’s I’ve spent trying to perfect the brewing methodologies to make it taste like they do. I’ve concluded it’s impossible. I’m not sure what they do to make it taste like that but I believe if anyone ever figured it out the process would become illegal.

So thank you Dunkin Donuts, I hope this economic recession does not affect you. I truly believe that if you were to stop waking up when it’s “Time to make the coffee” the backlash would be worse than if the government bailed out banks (the financial institutions, not me) only to have them take the money and pay bonuses to the executives that started the problem in the first place. (Thank goodness that never happened)

And they didn’t even pay me for this…
Banks

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Posted in Humor, Life, Running

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My blog V-card

February 18th, 2009

Well here it is…my blog virginity, gone. It’s yours, take it. It’s a big moment for me that only comes once and I wanted it to be perfect…I guess this is it. This cake idea has come out of the gates faster than I ever imagined and if you’re reading and I don’t know you then it’s successful thus far. It’s your cake now, take some and come back for more…yea, I’m easy like that.

You see, I was hesitant to start blogging because while I’m still young (20-something) I do remember a day when SPAM was just canned meat and girls kept diaries which boys were not allowed to read, or have, unless they REALLY wanted to get made fun of. Some dudes in those days tried to have a “journal”, but Journal =’d Diary (nice try losers).

I can’t say that anymore. Diary = Journal = Blog these days and much like opinions, everyone has one. Here is mine. Like my own little piece of the pie but sweeter – cause it’s cake. While I’m at it I can also share with you my non-canned SPAM, which comes in the form of emails offering prescription drugs without the prescription at street-pharmacist prices, offers to improve the size and reliability of my muscle(s), and repeated opportunities to help the royalty of a foreign nation launder money through my bank account to evade taxes for a small phenomenal fee paid to me that would probably cost them more than if they just paid the damn taxes. I almost don’t categorize these particular emails as spam because judging by their horrific grammar and spelling I can tell they definitely aren’t from an English speaking territory, but being the patriot I am I politely decline to assist.

I guess what I’m trying to say that if it weren’t for the World Wide Web, SPAM would be meat and this would be a diary, but I don’t have a diary. I have a blog. It’s different. No really, it is…

 

You can call me Banks (because I’m so money. No jk, but props to you if you do get the name reference). I’ll be back soon and frequently. Hope you’re hungry for cake…

 

-Banks

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Posted in What I Wish