Meeting People Is Easy...

So, every week I do this whole intro thing, in which I say a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter. And really it's mostly just filler.

I mean, if there are new panelists, it makes sense to introduce them, because, you know, maybe you're not as familiar with their work as you are with that of the MPIE regulars. But when it's just the All-Star cast, I think that work's already been done several times over.

Anyways, as you will see, this week's panel is...
1. Neena
2. Tiny350z
3. Marc
4. Vern
5. Lori
6. John Woods
7. Grumpy
8. Steve
9. Ladi Izz
10. laclips
11. Doug
12. Nate
13. Matt
14. Sean
15. Noah
16. Hey, what's up?

Once it gets up over like 14, I feel like I should split it into two different photoshops. But when I was doing this at 1AM last night, I didn't quite have the good judgment or the foresight to realize that. Actually, I didn't even realize until just now that there were 16 people on this week's panel.

Clearly I'm well aware of life...

In any case, I've written my filler, introduced the panel, and made jokes at my own expense, which means now you should just read the actual questions and answers.

I dare you to salvage more than 10% of your brain cells by the time you're done.

Oh yeah, and Lori sent me this video that goes with her Favorite Song of the Moment...


And...GO!

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Now, just for the hell of it, since I got my hands on some pictures from the Steelers workouts...


Ziggy Hood is all business.


"You see, Bruce. That's how you take down a motherf*#@er."


As usual, Jeff Reed took this shit real seriously...where did he even find a construction helmet? ...let's hope in Ben's locker. HEYO!


Pictures of everybody wearing helmets except Ben.

And finally...

GO PENS!!

See you at Foley's for Game 7!

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Meeting People Is Easy...

The wait is over
The photoshop is done
I'm somewhat exhausted
But the battle's been won

Ok, you know you something's really gone awry when you start writing bad poetry to introduce Meeting People Is Easy.

Shameful.

That'll teach me NOT to write down the first thing that pops into my head.

Anyways, after a somewhat extended respite, the great MPIE has made a triumphant return. And with it, comes several new panelists with whom you may or may not already be familiar.

They are (in order of appearance)...

1. DrinkYourMilkshake ~ The man responsible for Behind The Steel Curtain's Daily Six Pack, the brain trust behind yesterday's emotionally disturbing photoshop of AQ Shipley and Kraig Urbik spooning, and an all around exemplary individual. Oh yeah, and I heard he did a mean rendition of Beastie Boys at karaoke last night. Send video if you have it. Follow this crazy asshole on Twitter, here.

2. laclips ~ The illustrious editor of This Is Getting Old, a big time Pens, Pirates and Penn State fan, and a fellow music lover. Anyone who has the foresight to use the Pearl Jam dude as their avatar is +1 in my book. Follow this pinball wizard on Twitter, here.

3. Kristin ~ The editor of KB Toys With..., a rabid Eagles fan, and yet, miraculously, also my girlfriend. She may have an unhealthy obsession with Brian Westbrook, but I take solace in the fact that I'm a solid eight inches taller than that joke (ok, like four...but who's counting?). And hey, at least she's not a Ravens fan. Plus, she's insanely cute and consistently makes me laugh. So I'm willing to overlook her misguided fandom...Follow the yin to my yang on Twitter, here.

In addition to our MPIE rooks, you'll also read comedic stylings from the likes of...

The inimitable - John Woods
My go-to political commentator - Grumpy
The Octomom's #1 hater - Tiny350Z
My brother in the bonds of old school Metallica love - Steve
The soon to be half marathon king - Marc
You may also know him as Maticulous - Matt
Possibly MPIE's greatest supporter (or perhaps apologist) - Noah
Apparently he's kind of a big deal in Taiwan - Sean
I think he might be a Pens fan but I can't be sure - Tecmo
And, of course, my dumb ass

So, I believe all that's left is for you to read this week's panel's answers to this week's burning questions.

Which I urge you to do...now.

And enjoy!

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I have to admit, I can't really count this post among my better work...

Whatever, wake me up when it's time for happy hour...I'll meet you all at the bar.

Oh yeah, and this stays...

GO PENS!

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Meeting People Is Easy...

# of panelists = 17
Size of MPIE photoshop file = 36 MB
Hours spent photoshopping = Eat me
Reading this week's responses = PRICELESS

My Mom always told me, if you're going to do something, don't half ass it. I really took that to heart. And since I apply the same rules to blogging as I do to life, you'll see I've really dedicated myself to providing a fine MPIE this week.

17 panelists isn't a record, but it's pretty close. In hindsight, I probably should've broken this into two different images. But then again, in hindsight I am also lazy.

This week we've got many familiar faces and one noob. This week's rookie is KT, aka KDudders. What can I really say about Katie that her avatar doesn't already say for itself? If that thing is any indication of what she's like in real life, suffice it to say Katie doesn't eff around.

Joining her this week, the rest of your panel looks like this...

1. John Woods ~ High up on the ballot for the MPIE Hall of Fame...

2. Tiny350z ~ Sleeps with a cat as a blanket...

3. Pat ~ If the Pirates keep this up, methinks he may explode with excitement. Either way, don't sweat Doumit's injury too much...

4. Vern ~ Don Banks = drama queen...

5. Brett ~ Has semi-recently branched out to Twitterwebs...

6. Joey Porter's Pit Bulls ~ Has emerged from his slumber to offer thoughts on the draft...

7. Neena ~ No one talk to her this morning.../pens fail

8. Ladi Izz ~ Our long lost friend returneth!

9. Sheena Beaston ~ Be sure to send her your submissions for "Best Song to Punch Someone in the Face To"

10. Steve Braband ~ Great minds think alike :)

11. Doug ~ CafePress is fired!

12. Tec ~ Here's to hoping the Madden curse is OVER...

13. Nate ~ Slick new Yahoo-esque avatar this week...

14. Noah ~ This week's 11th hour addition...

15. Grumpy ~ This picture will never get old...

16. Me ~ Nothing to see here...

I'd write something witty and/or clever here, but frankly, I've already wasted enough of your and my valuable time. Besides, you know how this works by now. Do it...

Click to enlarge...

Your comments go here...

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Mid-Afternoon Grabassing and Such...

From time to time, people ask me to mention things that you all might be interested in here on these internets. And farbeit from me not to indulge a few, perhaps you might wanna know about...

1. Rinkotology
Our fine friends over at The Pensblog have come up with a way to combine a playoff bracket contest with philanthropy and have dubbed it, "Rinkotology." The basic idea is you fill out your NHL playoff bracket, which then gets entered to win some type of prize (read: probably a "date" with Pensblog Charlie), and at the same time, you hopefully donate to the Mario Lemieux foundation. The donation, of course, is optional. But if you enter and don't donate, frankly, you're kind of a dick. This is a great cause and undoubtedly any little bit helps. The Pensblog Staff have set the fund raising goal at $10,066. So do your part. Enter to win. Donate to make yourself temporarily feel like a better human being. Then have yourself a Merry Little playoffs. Or something...

2. The Bet
By now, most of you are acquainted with our buddy, Steve Braband. If not, do your homework. Anyways, Steve's girlfriend Ashley is from Philly. And being that the Pens play the Flyers in the 1st round of the NHL playoffs (starting tomorrow...so move your ass on this one and Rinkotology), Steve and Ashley are looking for ideas as to fun bets they can make with each other. I'm currently spitballing some ideas of my own, but if you think you're creative and can help these two fuel their domestic rivalry, by all means, hit Steve in the comments section of this post. I feel the need to note, however - Steve, you do realize that if Ashley wins, you win. And if you win, you may actually lose. I think you know what I'm referring to...

3. March Madness
Unbeknownst to probably some of you who have never emailed me before, OFTOT had a little March Madness bracket challenge going on during last month's tournament. Who effing didn't, right? Anyways, I'm a dick for not announcing this sooner (among other reasons), but Nate was our big winner, followed closely by Doug as the runner up and Shawn P., who rounded out the top 3. Congrats to these three for correctly identifying (guessing) enough winners to capture this year's top spots. And as the prize was bragging rights, Nate has full license to gloat in the comments here in any way he sees fit. Some prize, huh? Like he couldn't do that in the comments of any other post...anyways...

4. The Maticulous Blog
I'm pretty sure that's not the official name, but Matt has indeed joined the rest of the known universe and launched his own blog, which can be found here. Matt is the effing man. There's really no other way to put it. If you don't check this out, you're doing yourself a great disservice. Plus, next time he spins at Huckleberry, get your ass to 588 Grand St. in Brooklyn. I cannot stress this imperative enough.

Now, speaking of music, today's selection is Minus The Bear - "Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse"...don't let the ridiculous title fool you, this is a solid tune...


And last but not least...

FAIL.

Bravo, Philadelphia Inquirer online (yes, I realize it's an Associated Press article). Two thumbs up for getting one of the highest paid linebackers in the NFL's name wrong. Plus, I see you've filed it under High School Sports. Good work on that.

What would Andy Reid do?

Go Eagles.

PS - Headline of the day will come tomorrow with probably a shit ton of links. I'm so far behind it's unbelievable. If you've got any, feel free to send 'em over. Especially if they're about Brady Quinn...

/done

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Meeting People Is Easy...

I was going to post this last night, but when there's a game on that's in six overtimes, you can't really be writing things on the internet. Sidebar: I'm a well known Syracuse hater, but I'm an even more well known UConn hater. So well done, you orange assholes. Good luck against West Virginia...Pitt fail blog.

Anyways, Friday is pretty awesome. I don't know about you all, but I'm pretty fired up that we've made it through another week without me writing about some Steeler being photographed with his dick out.

Some people on this week's panel wanted me to share some links with you. I've inserted those where applicable.

That's what she said.

Anyways, all rise for this week's honorable panel...Presiding this week are...

1. Dan Gigler
2. Tiny350z
3. Marc
4. Vern ~ Sick beret on this guy, though.
5. Steve
6. Jon
7. bigTC
8. Noah
9. Doug ~ Will make a Photoshop pro out of me if it kills him.
10. Ben ~ I actually love this song. Biz Markie for life!
11. John Woods
12. Neena
13. Grumpy
14. Keith
15. Nate
16. Matt ~ He's 100% right about this song. Awful.
17. Domski ~ Check it out, the FAIL Blog finally got him.
18. Some Douche ~ Frankly, I'm sick of this guy's shit. He will be getting banned from this site later.

As you can see, we have one new face on the panel this week. That'd be my man, Grumpy - proprietor of the blog, Grumpy Old Dog. You've probably seen me link to it a couple of times this week. If you haven't already, I'd strongly suggest you check it out. It's a real Solid (with a capital "S" apparently) read.

Anyways, I'm still more or less comatose, so why don't you just move right on to the grids. Yes, gridS. I'm incapable of excluding anyone, so in an attempt to contain the size of these beasts, I split the grid in two this week. I was feeling kind of crazy.

That's how I do's it.

And........go.

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I'm just gonna go inject myself with adrenaline now. Coffee is for pussies.

I'll be right back.

Talk amongst yourselves.

I'll give you a topic - If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself? (see 0:42)

I know I would (if I wasn't a vegetarian, of course).

Meeting People Is Easy...

Yes folks, it's back! After a short two week hiatus, it is my pleasure to bring y'all the official first offseason edition of Meeting People Is Easy!

It may not be Steelers related, but I'm kind of hoping that this thing'll help get us through the coming months of impending doom. Hopefully we'll even get some more new peeps involved, like we did this week.

Anyways, keepin' it real in this milestone MPIE are your panelists, including...

1. Neena ~ Big fan of CAKE.

2. John Woods ~ Thank you for the night terrors, J-Dub. Furries are no joke.

3. Tiny350z ~ Apparently has a friend in the Russian Federation...


4. big TC ~ This was a very solid performance for TC. I think he's made great strides since his first appearance in MPIE. I see a lot of promise in this up and comer.

5. Doug ~ I banished Doug to Canada last night because he doesn't like thin mint cookies. If you don't like thin mints, America has no place for you.

6. Keith ~ Pulling out the U2 so Nate doesn't have to. Teamwork at it's finest.

7. Shawn K ~ Wait, the experts don't know shit? You mean you don't agree that the Browns are going to the Super Bowl next year? Consider my mind blown.

8. Jon ~ My Twitter buddy and the smooth operator behind Doubledumbassonyou.com.

9. Noah ~ I'm not sure I would want to see Steely McBeam naked with a pitchfork. Unless by Steely McBeam you mean Megan Fox (semi-NSFW).

10. Nate ~ He asked me to answer question #4 for him. My answer? "Wannabe" - Spice Girls. It's probably true, too.

11. Steve ~ The man, the myth, the legend of the ESPN Sports Center Live commercials and proprietor of Steve Is Alive. Also needs to stop touching himself during Pens games.

12. Colin Farrel ~ Oh wait, no. That's just me and my dashing good looks.

And now that you know who you're dealing with, it's time that you enjoy our musings.

You know how this works.

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MPIE is a hell of a drug.

See y'all for this afternoon's twilight "welcome to the weekend" post.

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