Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope y'all enjoy the holiday. Spend time with your family, and be thankful for the blessings you have.

I'll be hosting the extended family and smoking the turkey on my Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. Beer will be a delicious Cold Mountain Winter Ale from Asheville, NC.

Clemson vs. Carolina Prediction 2013

That's all I have to say about that.

Hateweek 2013 (Day 2: Talking Trash)

Carolina vs. Clemson in the Modern Era

You want it, Clemson?

Molon labe

My favorite Thanksgiving dish? Probably dinner rolls, since like Clemson they're flaky, have two "L"s, and burn like little Christmas trees when you put too much heat on 'em.

[h/t EDSBS]

Also, this would be a good time to highlight the difference between the two head coaches. Clemson's coach likes to model grandma sweatshirts in his spare time not coaching football.

Spurrier spends his spare time being awesome:

I'm not saying that Spurrier is more of a badass than Dabo. Well actually, yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. If you want to see Dabo talking trash, you can see it here.

I guess we'll see what happens on Saturday. Can Clemson re-take the State Title? Prediction tomorrow.

What do I think about the Iran Deal?

The West gets to say they have a "deal", but if you're the Iranians, you're loving the fact that you're getting harsh sanctions lifted in return for....pretty much nothing. Is it "Munich"? Nah. It's not that bad. We're just cutting a deal that makes Iran stronger later down the road.

Here's what Leno had to say about it.

Heh.

Crow Uses Lid to Snowboard Down Roof [VIDEO]

Multiple times. He's definitely doing this on purpose - you know - for fun.

A snow boarding crow? Crow-boarding?

One thing to keep in mind is that crows are really smart as far as birds go. Crows have been known to pick up tough nuts and drop them onto a road where they are crushed by traffic, then going down and eating them. They can also distinguish different humans by recognizing human facial features.

Crows. Better keep an eye on them. Creepy suckers.

HateWeek 2013 (Day 1: Warming up the Hate)

Welcome to HateWeek 2013, campers. Everyone take a knee and gather round. It's time to get ready for the South Carolina State Championship.

Just to recap, Clemson has lost the last four games to South Carolina. Dabo Swinney is going to need to get his team ready to play in a hostile environment this Saturday night, because Williams-Brice is going to be rocking, and the HBC and the Gamecocks have a home winning streak on the line.

This year should be a great game, since this will be the first time that both teams will be in the Top 10 going into the game. Pretty safe to assume that one team will not be in the Top 10 afterwards.

Clemson: you might want to bring your A-Game this year, or it's going to be 5 in a row.

We'll have a post each day this week leading up to the game, culminating in a prediction. Tomorrow, we'll look at some trash talk in recent history.

Coastal Carolina's Head Football Coach Followed an Unconventional Path

Today at 1:00PM, my South Carolina Gamecocks host the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. However, the most interesting story of this game doesn't involve a player. It involves the head coach for Coastal Carolina. His name is Joe Mogila, and he's followed an unconventional path to end up coaching college football.

Coastal Carolina's Head Football Coach: Joe Moglia

After being a defensive coordinator for Dartmouth for two years (1981-1983) Moglia took a job with Merrill Lynch, and ended up working his way up through the ranks of the investment bank over the next seventeen years.

In 2001, Mogila left Merrill Lynch to be the CEO of Ameritrade (now TD Ameritrade). In his seven years at the head of Ameritrade, he grew the company through a series of record earnings and mergers and acquisitions. However, being a high-flying wall street banker isn't what he wanted to do.

He wanted to coach college football.

Accordingly, in 2008, he stepped down from the top post at TD Ameritrade and took an unpaid internship with the Nebraska Cornhuskers under head coach Bo Pelini. He then coached some semi pro teams for a few years, before taking the head coaching job with the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

In his first year leading the Chants, Moglia guided the team to an 8-5 record, and a share of the conference championship. This year, the former Wall Street CEO has the Chants sitting on a 10-1 record, already clinching a share of the conference championship yet again.

In discussing his approach to the game, Moglia is more analytical than emotional, comparing the game of football to chess.

We have to be able to compete at the national level. We’re not quite ready to do that, but we’re making good progress. I’ve never been a wild football fan, but I’ve always loved the strategy of the game. To me, it’s advanced chess with 22 people functioning at once with a lot at stake. The game has changed, but it’s still about having a well-executed plan. Hopefully, one day we’ll win a national championship.”

Now his team comes into Williams-Brice stadium for what is undoubtedly their biggest test of the year. We'll see how well Moglia can match moves with Spurrier across the chessboard.

Happy Friday With a Willys Jeep

Time to hit the road, ladies and gentlemen.

Enjoy your weekend, wherever it takes you.

Over a Thousand Absentee Ballots Were Not Counted in Richland County

Government is just another name for things that we do together massive failure.

Remember the Richland County election debacle in the general election last year? It wasn't that long ago. It was the most recent election we just previously had. You know, last time.

So how did this election go? Oh, swimmingly, except for the fact that over a thousand absentee ballots weren't counted. But that's not the best part.

The best part is that the person most responsible for the 2012 fiasco, Lillian McBride, wasn't fired back then for being incompetent. She was reassigned. Guess where she was reassigned to for this election...

Wait for it....

She was in charge of counting absentee ballots. Excuse me for a moment.

This is insane, y'all. The person who screwed the pooch last time wasn't fired. She was simply transferred to an easier job. Then she managed to immediately screw the pooch on her first assignment. You would think that a normal person who makes a catastrophic mistake would be kind of on their toes the next time they get any assignment. Not Ms. McBride. Apparently, she cannot coordinate her department to complete the task of tallying an increasing sequence of positive integers.

It's not really that hard. 1, 2, 3.... Anyone seeing a pattern emerging? The numbers increase by one each time. All she has to do is count little pieces of paper. I know 6 year old children who can do this. However, Richland County government cannot seem to perform this basic task in elections.

Is this really the best we can do? How many chances should Ms. McBride be given? Where else can we transfer her? If she cannot count pieces of paper, what assignments can she handle?

The degree of sheer incompetence here is staggering.

In Case of a Snake Bite...

“A man should always carry a small bottle of whisky in case of a snake bite. A man should also carry a snake.” - W.C. Fields

Blonde Girl in a Cute Sun Hat

I'm just trying to be more stylish, you know. She also has some cute sandals and a sundress that goes well with her hat. I'm not sure where she shops, but it appears that she values quality products and coordinates well.

Health Insurance Company Makes Ads Mocking Obamacare

My health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is a beneficiary of Obamacare, since the law requires people to buy health insurance.

However, that hasn't stopped Blue Cross Blue Shield from making some ads goofing on the abject failure of the healthcare.gov website. It's actually a good ad, as it takes a soft shot at Obamacare not being able to deliver insurance, then reminding the viewer that they can just go to Blue Cross Blue Shield directly and buy some insurance.

It's actually a series of three ads, and you can see them all here.

You know it's getting bad when health insurance companies are starting to turn on Obamacare because I'm pretty sure that big companies focus-group their ads to make sure the ads aren't offending anyone.

I guess public opinion is fine with making fun of Obamacare now that it's been revealed to be such a train-wreck.

I'll Be Blogging for Fig Columbia!

What's Fig Columbia, you ask? Fig Columbia is a local magazine and social media presence that is dedicated highlighting the great aspects of Columbia, South Carolina. It will be a great place for keeping up with social events, new restaurants, and all the goings-on around Columbia. It's kind of like Garden & Gun, but specifically tailored for Columbia.

About a month or so ago, I was asked to be a contributing blogger to Fig Columbia and provide a guy's perspective on certain things. Frankly, I was very flattered just to be asked, since I'm not the most stylish person. The Shop Tart will be running Fig Columbia's style side, so if you're familiar with her work, you already know that Fig will be very stylish and wonderfully done.

My pieces for Fig will be along the lines of my "Gear for Guys" posts that I've done and tied into Columbia. You can read my first piece for Fig Columbia here.

All of the content that I create for Fig Columbia will be over there first, but will ultimately be linked back here. I would encourage any of my Columbia readers to go check out Fig Columbia for all sorts of great stuff.

If you don't live in Columbia, don't worry. I'm still going to keep Permanent Press going with all my random rantings, football breakdowns, BBQ musings, political mockery, firearm photos, and all of the otherwise brilliant posts you've come to know and love here.

Another Obama Website Problem

Ok, it's just starting to get kind of ridiculous now. You know how the healthcare.gov website has been "less than optimal" so far? Well, President Obama decided host a teleconference event for his most ardent supporters (Organizing for Action). Supporters were going to be able to go to a special website and hear the streaming audio of the conference call.

Guess what? That's right.

The website didn't work very well. You can't even make this stuff up. No one would believe you.

So, let's see if I have this right: In response to a failed website, the President sets up a website to encourage his most loyal followers to "keep fighting"(whatever that means) but the message doesn't get through because that website doesn't work.

I'm starting to feel sorry for the Obama at this point. Ok, wait. That moment passed.

Carry on.

Hotty Toddy!

With the conference schedule all wrapped up, South Carolina is sitting in the clubhouse at 6-2. The only other team that has a chance to win the SEC East is Missouri, who is currently 5-1, with two games left to play.

The two games for Missouri are: (1) on the road Ole Miss this weekend; and (2) a home game against Texas A&M the following week. The Rebels are on a great roll right now, and TAMU is always dangerous with Johnny Football at the controls.

Right now it feels like like Missouri needs to birdie their last two holes to win. I'm feeling pretty confident that Missouri isn't going to win both games. However, I'd like to see Ole Miss go ahead and take care of Missouri now, so I don't have to watch the scoreboard during the Clemson game.

To that end:

That is all. Carry on.

College Football Is Kinda Silly

Because things like this happen and will have massive implications.

Seriously. Auburn won the game because of this. I still can't believe it.

I'm sorry, Georgia. No one should lose a game like this. That's just cruel. It's also proof that the football gods have a sense of humor.

SEC East Predictions For Week 12

Morning, y'all. Let's do this thing.

Two big games in the SEC East today: The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry (Georgia at Auburn) is the 3:30 CBS game, and the nightcap will be Florida coming to South Carolina at 7:00PM.

Both of these games will go a long way towards deciding the winner of the SEC East this year. Georgia faces a must win situation on the Plains today. If Georgia loses to Auburn, they can pretty much give up home of going to Atlanta.

Auburn faces a similar "must win" situation, as they're trying to keep pace with undefeated Alabama. The Auburn Tigers are hoping they can get into the Iron Bowl with only one loss and try to knock off Bama. Doing so would punch Auburn's ticket to Atlanta. Look for a great game today out on the Plains. Permanent Press Prediction: I'm not a believer in Georgia's defense, so I think Auburn grinds out a close win on the ground. Georgia 20 - Auburn 27

South Carolina concludes conference play tonight against a beat-up Florida team. If South Carolina can start fast, Florida will have no chance to win this game. The only way Florida wins is if the Gamecocks have multiple turnovers to give a totally inept Florida offense a short field. Permanent Press Prediction: South Carolina doesn't turn the ball over and wins comfortably. Florida 13 - South Carolina 38, and Cocky gets a kiss.

If South Carolina wins, they'll finish 6-2 in conference play, which coupled with a Georgia loss to Auburn, would put a lot of pressure on Missouri to win their two remaining games against Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Mizzou is a great team, but those are two tough opponents.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Gear for Guys: Timex Weekender

In our continuing "Gear for Guys" theme, it's time to talk about time. And by that, I mean keeping time. I know, most of y'all keep time on your newfangled iPhones these days. That's great and all, but there's no replacing a solid wristwatch.

This device does not need to be recharged at the end of the day.

Sometimes you go places where you're not going to take your iPhone. Gasp! Yeah, seriously.

You may not want to take your iPhone to the beach, or out on the water, or out on that quail hunt. Your watch isn't going to run out of battery power at the end of the day if you spend all day checking your Tweets. Your watch isn't going to drop out of your hand and crack into a million pieces. Heck, sometimes a quick glance at your wrist is easier and faster than pulling your iPhone out of your pocket, and turning the screen on.

Also, taking your cell phone out of your pocket is easily noticeable, whereas you can much more discreetly glance at your watch. In certain social situations, that can be a big benefit. Guys, you know what I'm talking about.

Accordingly, Permanent Press recommends the Timex Weekender. At $31.96 on Amazon, it's not going to break the bank like a Rolex or an Omega, so you can give it to your 10 year old kid and not worry about what happens to it very much.

Basically, it's a simple and effective way to keep time. It's got a good light for nighttime use, and it even has the military time numbers if you're bad at math.

When you're heading out for the weekend, it's pretty much going to fit in for anything you do unless you're going to the Academy Awards or a State Dinner. Heck, I'd probably wear it to those events, myself, but that's just me. Also, if you're a really fashionable person and you want to change the look of this watch, you can buy different bands for it to suit your needs. I just happen to like this single stripe look, but you can get leather bands, rainbow bands, solid colors...really anything.

In any event, maybe it's time you got a watch.
 

Friday Morning Firearm Advice

Good morning, campers.

Just some handy firearm advice from Permanent Press this morning: The rounded part of the cartridge  faces forward in the magazine.

[h/t Insty]

Need a Local Adventure near Columbia?

Try the Congaree National Park.

It's the largest intact expanse of old growth, bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States - and it's about a 25 minute drive from downtown Columbia.

First, it's totally free. No fees for anything. The park is open 24/7, every day of the year, but Saturday is the best day to go. Pretty much every Saturday there's a guided tour of some sort. And yeah, the tours are free, too. Some require reservations, others don't.

If you're not into planning or reservations, you can just show up and walk the boardwalk loop, which is a (roughly) two-mile loop comprised of a raised boardwalk through the swamp that starts and ends at the Visitor's Center. It's great for families, as the boardwalk keeps the children focused on going one direction, rather than wandering off.

During famously hot days in Columbia, you can go on a paddling trip from one part of the Congaree river to another through the National Park. Toss a cooler in the canoe and you've got yourself a whole day on the river. If you're in a Boy Scout troop in Columbia, this is a must do.

If you want to see what South Carolina looked like a couple hundred years ago, go check it out. It's like stepping into a time machine. It's free and it's closer than you think.