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As a man of my word, I had to deliver what was promised. Coming Wednesday to birtmc dot com: DOES ANYONE IN SYRACUSE KNOW HOW TO MAKE A GOOD GARLIC PARM WING?!?! — Matt Birt (@BirtMC) September 22, 2017 This idea has actually been in my drafts folder for a couple weeks now, but I needed to have a recent example to discuss rather than weeks-old recollections. --- The lead up --- It all started in July. Me and some of my coworkers decided to take a long lunch and try a few wing places around town over the course of the coming weeks. We would each order a different flavor wing, distribute them amongst ourselves, and rate and compare them. I even made up a Google Sheet for the occasion and named it Band on the Run. Shame on you if you don’t understand why. Our first place was J. Ryan’s. On the whole, the wings were adequate, but here’s my description of the garlic parm wings: Where's the sauce? There was none. And the lack of sauce killed the possibil...

What a wacky lunch break, huh? I heated up my Rice-a-Roni and got all amped to see the streets of Syracuse get darker than some Nirvana lyrics and what happened? It was like Kurt Cobain was 86ed for Katrina and the Waves at the last minute. Total letdown. Cloudy and way too sunny in Syracuse I hear the folks in Carbondale , Illinois had a rockin’ time. And in Nashville , where they never need an excuse to keep rockin’ but they found one today. But up in the 315 (sidebar – there’s a store here called 3fifteen , which is awkward because it’s never called three-fifteen, but three-one-five) it was a ho-hum show that ultimately wasn’t much more than an excuse for a little fresh air. Now, the next total eclipse in the U.S. will only take seven years to arrive, according to the nerds who think that kind of math is fun. And when it does, it’s going to blow the pants off 2017’s mega letdown. Dallas, Indianapolis, Dayton, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Montreal will all be in the path ...

I didn't really know what to write about for my first contribution to this site. My initial idea was a post titled "Welcome to Wednesday." My lead started like this: Today is Wednesday. It is not Tuesday. It is not Hump Day. It is not #WhabammWednesday (although maybe it should be). Even though it is just Wednesday, let's rewind to take a look at what this week   And that's where I stopped. It didn't feel natural or original. It was obvious I was forcing something and I didn't want to start with weak content. So instead I'll talk about what's been going on inside my head lately, and possibly give you a peek at things to come. --- BACKGROUND --- Looking back on my college days, I believe my four years at Ohio University provided me with some of the best creative ideas I think I've ever had. Twitter -- which I had laughed off in high school because it seemed so stupid -- was forced upon me in my first semester and I never looked back...