Ryan Benbow's Blog

Indecisijigs

June 7, 2020
by Ryan

Let me start this entry by acknowledging that this is my second blog post of the weekend. Ever since I created this blog two months ago, I’ve tried to post on here at least once a week, although I am not willing to actually commit to that frequency. Recently, I went a whole two weeks without posting, so I thought I would make up for it here by offering a 2 for 1 weekend – two blog entries for the price of one! Yes, that statement is technically correct, since reading this blog is free, and since 2 x 0 = 0.

Now that I have that out of the way, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about something that has been on my mind for a long time that I would like for us to eradicate – the indecisijig. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, an indecisijig is the inadvertent dance two people sometimes perform when approaching each other. This occurs when both people try to sidestep the other to avoid a collision, yet end up moving in the same direction at the same time. Both of them might even react to this by simultaneously moving the other direction as well. This can lead to an awkward moment as they briefly try to figure out how to walk past each other. Personally, I find these annoying, and I thought I would use my platform here to try to put a stop to them.

TV Shows

“I Could Have Done Better”

June 6, 2020June 7, 2020
by Ryan

Over the past couple weeks, while societal tension and unrest have dominated the news during our coronavirus pandemic, graduation season has come and gone for most communities here in Indiana. Of course, graduations have looked different this year, as all the ceremonies I know about have either taken place virtually or been postponed. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to honor the graduates of this strange year by offering a graduation speech of my own. After all, I have a blog now, so I can do this.

So, let’s be honest. Unless you have given a graduation speech yourself (which I haven’t), how many of us who have graduated remember anything from the speeches? Mainly what I remember is being in extremely hot and crowded gyms for both my high school and college graduations, and how they both took forever to read through the list of names, but I don’t really remember much from any of the speeches. We may have heard some excerpts from “Oh, the places you’ll go!” by Dr. Seuss, or how this isn’t just the end, but a beginning of a new chapter. But for some reason, the graduation speech I do remember the most comes from a TV show. Because of course it does.

Current Events

My Thoughts on This Week

May 30, 2020
by Ryan

I was working on another blog post on this site but current events have shifted my focus to another topic which I will address here. The majority of my posts are more likely to be frivolous in the grand scheme of things — sports, TV shows, math nerdery, etc. However, occasionally I may feel compelled to post some serious thoughts on certain topics. After all, I have a blog now, and the current events of this week have led me to post my thoughts here.

2020 has certainly been quite the year in the news. This week, we have seen a black man senselessly die at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota. This has led to nationwide unrest, increased racial tension, protests, and rioting in several cities, including here in my city of Indianapolis. Back in Minnesota, we have seen the officer responsible for this man’s death arrested and charged with murder, although we have also seen a CNN reporter arrested on live national TV while reporting the news. Bizarre times indeed. With everything taking place and with all the unrest, it is more abundantly clear that this world is broken.

TV Shows

The Big Bang Theory Season 13

May 16, 2020
by Ryan

On the one-year anniversary of the series finale of The Big Bang Theory, we explore what one more season of the iconic TV show could have looked like.

If you followed the show like I did, you may recall that the series said its final goodbyes one year ago today – Thursday, May 16, 2019 – after twelve successful and entertaining seasons. Those of you who know me well have probably figured that I would drop in several TV references on this blog to a certain core group of my favorite shows. I have already included several references on here to The Simpsons and The Office, and now The Big Bang Theory makes this list as well.

Better Than Facebook

Days of the Week

May 8, 2020
by Ryan

A few months ago, I was talking with a co-worker in the office (back when we were actually working in the office), and it somehow came up in conversation that another person’s date of birth was September 6, 1995. My immediate reaction, without even thinking, was to muse out loud, “Huh, a Wednesday.” She looked at me rather strangely and asked, “Are you serious?” A quick google search confirmed that September 6, 1995 was indeed a Wednesday. Her next question to me was, “How did you know that?”

I get asked that question every so often, but I never know how to respond. I answered her the same way I answer every other time. “Um, it’s just something I can do. I can tell you the day of the week for any date. Within reason.” I never know how to explain it though. This invariably leads to further questions, quizzing me on the day of the week for other dates as well. She asked me her birthdate, November 12, 1996, and after a few seconds, I told her it was a Tuesday. Correct.

Better Than Facebook

My Coronavirus Post

May 4, 2020
by Ryan

I said I wasn’t going to do it. We all got tired of hearing about coronavirus a long time ago, so I decided from the very beginning that I wasn’t going to pile on by dedicating an entire post this topic. Yes, our current pandemic did help inspire me to start this blog in the first place. Yes, I have posted a couple of song parodies with an overall theme resulting from our current coronavirus culture. But I have told myself this entire time that since everyone, including me, is beyond tired of hearing about coronavirus, I would absolutely not do a post about coronavirus.

With that said, here is my post about coronavirus.

Song Parodies

“Westside”

April 22, 2020
by Ryan

Last Wednesday, I posted my first song parody, “Where’s the Toilet Paper Gone?” Today, here’s my second (and perhaps final) song parody. Perhaps I’ll think of more to put on here, but no guarantees. This one came to me after listening to the 2018 pop hit Eastside on the radio.

The same caveats apply to this song parody as on the first one. There’s no music video of the parody song here – just the lyrics. Perhaps there will be a music video to this later on, performed by someone much more qualified than myself, but no promises there either. Dibs on the rights to it though. In the meantime, the lyric video to the original song is at the bottom, in case you need a frame of reference.

TV Shows

The Office Basketball Game

April 19, 2020
by Ryan

April 19, 2005. Scranton, Pennsylvania. One of the most legendary basketball games in history took place fifteen years ago today. No, it wasn’t an NBA game, or college, or high school, or even a real-life game. I am, of course, referring to the Season 1 episode of The Office titled Basketball.

To commemorate the 15-year anniversary of the date this episode aired, I wanted to take a look back on this game between Dunder Mifflin Sales and Dunder Mifflin Warehouse in one of the classic episodes of one of the best TV sitcoms of all time. If you’re like me and you enjoy both basketball and The Office, this is definitely for you. Even if you enjoy only one or the other, you should hopefully get some entertainment out of this as well. Since this weekend would have normally been the start of the NBA playoffs, we all need a little basketball to help tide us over until it comes back.

Song Parodies

“Where’s the Toilet Paper Gone?”

April 15, 2020April 18, 2020
by Ryan

In our current era of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the most bewildering things in our America culture has been the sudden shortage of toilet paper in stores. With that in mind, a friend recently suggested to me that we had to have a parody song of Paula Cole’s 1996 hit, “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” titled, “Where’s the Toilet Paper Gone?” I took that idea and ran with it.

Better Than Facebook

Easter

April 12, 2020
by Ryan

Happy Easter! Welcome to my second blog post! Now I’m an old pro at this thing. I’m still working on a few ideas for some future posts, but since today is Easter, I’m dedicating this one to Easter.

This year, Easter might have a different feel to it, due to our current social distancing guidelines. If you are used to attending Easter church services, I’m guessing that’s not happening for you this year, at least not in the traditional sense. Other events may be cancelled as well, like family gatherings or Easter egg hunts. You may have questions on your mind, like how you are going to celebrate this Easter and how this year will compare to previous years. I’m sure we all have other questions in our minds as well, like when we can live our lives normally again and how much toilet paper we have left. But a big question I know is on everyone’s mind is this: Why does the date of Easter fluctuate so much from year to year?