Tom's Random Thoughts

Brees Record

2011-12-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Drew Brees for setting the passing record. In a way, I consider this more significant than Dan Marino setting the record. When Marino played, there were a lot of more run orientated defenses, which made the passing game a bit easier.
But, with Brees and defenses geared towards defending the pass, he surpassed the record.
An interesting article about the Falcons upset that Brees went for the record:
http://tracking.si.com/2011/12/27/some-falcons-players-upset-drew-brees-went-for-the-record-last-night/
There is a thought that comes to mind: Defend better. You can be upset as you want, but that doesn't get you anywhere in the NFL. Don't blame Drew Brees, don't blame Sean Payton. Look in the mirror and say: Did I put 100% effort in trying to stop my assigned player from catching the ball? Did I put 100% effort in trying to get by the offensive lineman in order to make Drew Brees force throws? If the answer is yes and he still beat you, say "Kudo's to you Drew and the Saints, you outplayed us this week."

Entitlement

2011-09-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

I have a new plan in life. This is based on all the posts I've been seeing on Google+ and Facebook along with the news stories.

My new plan:
I am going to go out and buy a $1,000,000 house. I don't know how I will be able to afford it, but I think I can sweet talk my way into the loan.

I am then going to go back to school, take a $120,000 student loan to pay for it. Harvard and Yale are looking pretty good now. I'm not sure what I'm going to study yet, maybe Liberal Arts.

Then I plan on buying a nice Chrysler 300 (looks pretty sweet). Of course, this will be a loan also.

My reasoning will be this:

The government bailed out the banks so they should bail me out for a loan I clearly could not afford.

The government bailed out Chrysler, so I should not have to repay the loan that I took out for a car I clearly could not afford.

The government can forgive all student debt, so I should not have to pay back that loan.

That's OK though, because the next goal I will have is to go to all these "Occupy (insert city name here)" protests and just complain about how my life sucks and it's the governments fault.

Of course, I won't offer solutions on how to fix anything. I just want the government to pay off my house loan and my student loan. After all, I am entitled to it, aren't I?????

FOOOOOTTTTBAAAAAALLLLLL

2011-09-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

10 Things learned from opening week games:

1) 7 turnovers, Pittsburgh? Maybe you are overrated.

2) Cam Newton, much to my surprise, is for real. 422 yards PASSING? Yikes.

3) Tony Romo still can't handle big game decisions. Classic choke artist.

4) Indy - You really need Manning back.

5) Detroit is looking good early.

6) Even though the Bears won, I still don't like Cover 2 schemes. Too many holes.

7) San Diego, have you not learned from your past mistakes? Your special teams ain't so special.

8) I should never play FFL.

9) Julio Jones is good....really good.

10) Is KC really that bad, got spanked by Buffalo....Buffalo??????

iPad Short Review

2010-11-16T06:09:00.001-08:00

I received my iPad (courtesy of winning a contest) yesterday.

Here is a mini-review so far, pre-IOS 4.2.

Design - The design of it is nice, very sleek. However, it is a heavier than I thought it would be. At 1.5 pnds, it's light enough to be portable, but heavy enough to be uncomfortable when reading in bed.

Screen - The screen is wonderful at 1024x768. Vibrant colors. Only upgrade would be to make it full 1080P, an upgrade from the current 720P.

OS - OK, here is the disappointment: For many years, Apple touted it's OS as being one of the first multi-tasking operating systems for personal computers. Yet, when they designed the iPad, they made it a single processing system? That doesn't make sense. Why? To test fully, I started playing a song and then tried to go to browsing. The song immediately stopped. Why would Apple do this? If Apple would like this to be used more widely by businesses, give it the power.

iTunes - Another complaint: if I'm not purchasing anything, why do I need to supply a credit card to iTunes store? With identity theft running rampant, what guarantees do I have that Apple will protect my information?

Apps - Still exploring. I did download the Nook app and got some free books. Will see how the eReader portion works.

There is still a lot left to explore, but my first impression was nice look and feel, bad implementation of software. Reminds me of Windows 3.1. Sorry Steve Jobs and Apple, I expected more from you.

NFL Helmet to Helmet hits

2010-10-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, there are blatant helmet to helmet hits by defenders, but when do you stop protecting receivers. Smart QB's are now making throws in order to get pass interference calls (Manning, Brees).

Currently, it's a natural reaction for receivers/running backs etc. to lower their head when running with the ball. And it's a natural reaction for tacklers to lower their head when tackling.

So now, either a tackler will have to eat dirt and miss the tackle, or they hit in the knees.

A rule will come out to say: too many leg shots.

If a defender intercepts a ball, and a receiver does helmet to helmet, does the receiver get penalized? Or, if someone fumbles and leads in with a helmet, does that get penalized? Where does it stop?

Welcome to Arena Football......

FOOTBALL!!!

2010-09-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

I only come active during football season.

So, let's see:

College: UCLA, are you kidding me?!?!?! Stomping of Texas in Austin...Wow.

Arkansas is on the verge of getting over that hump and beating Alabama.

So, does Boise State have the door open to get in the National Championship Game if they stay undefeated? Playing in Glendale is like playing at home for them.

4 undefeated PAC-10 teams, 6 undefeated Big 10 teams. Wow!

NFL - Not sure what's going on. Lot's of to the wire games.

Cards should have lost. You can't win with that many penalties and turnovers game in and game out.

NO should have won. Come on, a missed chip shot?

Bears Packers tonight. The question I have is which Bears offence and which Bears defense will show up? History has proven that the Bears suck on Monday night (18-32). So, we'll see.

FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super Conferences for College

2010-06-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

Colorado is heading to the Pac 10. Nebraska to the Big 10.

Texas and Texas A&M may also go to the Big 10.

Oklahoma may go to the SEC.

If some of these conferences become "Super Conferences", then would it eliminate the barking for a a college playoff system?

If the super conferences now hold a conference championship. The BCS reworks the bowl games, we have a national champion.

Ah, but therein lies the quandary: which super conference is strongest?

The addition of Nebraska and Texas the Big 10, it gains in credibility.

The SEC becomes highly dominate with the Sooners.

However, the PAC 10 would be the losing conference in here. USC will lose ranking in the next 2 years, so they need a kick. Colorado is not their first choice, but helps.

It will be interesting to see what happens in 2012.

Border

2010-04-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Every time I see the arguments about the new Arizona law, I go back to the Jack Nicholson speech in A Few Good Men. Then I go back to Ronald Reagan's speech on "Tear down this wall". The truth is: there is a problem, the US government ignores it, and Arizona took action.

Yes, Mexico is not Guantanamo nor is it Russia. However, it has been an issue for many years for the border states. Post your suggestion on securing the border.

What gets me is this: Healthcare was a problem, Obama does a knee jerk reaction to try and fix it. Arizona has a problem, does a knee jerk reaction to fix it. Obama now is mad at Arizona.

SuperBowl

2010-01-25T08:13:00.001-08:00

Yes, I said it: Now the teams are set.
Great games yesterday. Some say the Vikings lost it, but I say the Saints won it. Their defense, while it had it's holes and gave up over 400 yards to the Vikings, did what it did best: caused turnovers. How could 4 different Vikings cough it up?
Will Brett end the same way he did the first time: on an interception?

Hard to say on the Superbowl winner. Sean Peyton will make Manning hurt, and hurt bad. You saw what his defense did to Farve.

Will be a fun one to watch!

Vikings-Cowboys

2010-01-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

Keith Brooking: Get out of your high chair, take the pacifier out and stop whining. Hmm, 34-14 when the game was well out of hand...oh, yes, that was the Cowboys the week before.

Brett Farve choice to throw the TD was there because it was his only option. I'm sure they just wanted a first down and then just kneel down, but that wasn't there.

Look at the stats: The Cowboys offense was not anemic as the score shows. They were in the Vikings part of the field early and often.

The Cowboys have an explosive offense. They were held in check, but in the 4th quarter after giving everything you got, anything can happen.

Throwing the TD secured victory.

It's the NFL. Deal with it.

Pro Football Power Rankings

2009-10-26T08:23:00.001-07:00

Wow....last weeks games were revealing. This brings me to the first power ranking for the 2009 year:

1) Indianapolis - Peyton Manning has become a surgeon. He is threading in passes to receivers.

2) Pittsburgh - Stunning victory in Green Bay, again, won by the Defense.

2) New Orleans - 21 pt deficit against the Dolphins? Really? I would like to drop them lower, but no other team has stepped up.

4) Denver - I hate to take an undefeated team an put them this low, but still not convinced.

5) New England - Please, big victories against scrubs. meh.

6) Vikings - Farve keeps injecting himself in the history books: for interceptions.

7) Cincinnati - Yes, they are reality stars, but Benson put his reality on the Bears

8) Arizona - Questionable - but, wow, what a game from the defense. Stepping it up against Manning. OK, they got throttled against Indy, but on national TV again and the East coast, they played like the team that got them to the SuperBowl.

After that, even with the Cards, teams are just average. I consider Indy right now in the Tiger Woods category. They will win the SuperBowl this year.

Feeling sick....

2009-09-04T08:19:00.001-07:00

I could be doing very simplistic math here, so someone explain where it's wrong:
There is about 370M people living in the US.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65.5% of the people living in the US are employable.
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=LNS11300000
That's about 242M people.
Unemployment is 9.7%.
That leaves 219M people
The stimulus package was $50B, which I assumed is paid by our taxes, which the working class will be taking a big chunk of.
So, each working person is required to pay about $228 above what he/she is paying taxes for now. And that is just for this stimulus package.
Oh, and by the way, according to the website from above, since 1999, that number has been shrinking. It's no wonder why everyone is concerned about Social Security.

Majors....disappointment????

2009-08-17T08:25:00.001-07:00

Tiger said it best earlier this year: Earlier in his career, he either blew out the field or got blown out. Now, he sets himself up to finish in the top 10 in all the majors.
Well, he certainly did that yesterday.
Tiger played conservatively both on Saturday and Sunday, not firing at the flags. According to his statement, he set himself to finish in the top 10.
The question I have is this: Did Tiger not consider Yang a strong enough threat that he played that conservative? He saw Paddy fall down the leaderboard, so did he figure that Yang was going to do the same? Tiger looked out of sorts on the greens all day, leaving every putt short.

This years majors will not be remembered by those who won but those who lost:
Masters - Kenny Perry...nope, Angel Cabrera
US Open - David Duval, Phil Mickelson...nope, Lucas Glover
British Open - Tom Watson...nope, Stewart Cink
PGA - Tiger Woods...nope, Y.E. Yang

STOP THE HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL NOW!!!

2009-07-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Call your congressmen and URGE them to say no to this bill. If they are in support of it, their aides have given them the highlights and not the details.
From page 426: "(E) An explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title."

What this means is that a doctor MUST inform the patient essentially how to kill themselves. Not only that, but every 5 years, according to page 425.

This goes against the Hippocratic oath that doctors take:
"I will keep them from harm and injustice.
I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect."

Papago Park Golf Review

2009-06-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

I played this course yesterday (5/31/09) and was very impressed with the layout. This is a fabulous layout, unlike most of the other courses in the Phoenix area.
The first hole is a nice dogleg with a narrow fairway landing area for the tee shot. It has a nice approach to the first hole, that is guarded by bunkers and water in the back.
The second is a straight away, uphill par 4.
The third is a challenging par 4 that could be a blind shot into the green with a wrong placement on the drive (right side of fairway).
The fourth is a decent length par 3 that could play hard into the wind.
(more later)
The only bad part of the day was the time. I went in late afternoon expecting the duffers to be off the course so I could get a quick round in. 4 1/2 hours later, I found that the duffers, a group of 4 men, had a 4 hole differential between them and the group in front. Spray and play.
I don't mind duffers, the only way to get better is to play. However, I do no like inconsiderate duffers. The one's that when there is a 2-some behind, doesn't let them play through. Or the one's that notice they are holding up 5 groups, don't attempt to play faster.
Also, no rangers on the course does not help. Yes, this is a muni. However, in heat conditions, they should have rangers to help speed things along in order to keep pace.

Wow, 5 months since last post

2009-05-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

Lot's of time has gone by...maybe it's because I'm too much on Facebook.

Phoenix has decided to skip spring and go directly to summer...do not pass go, go directly to air conditioning.
OK, we really did skip spring. It came early, like in January. We had a couple days in the upper 80's since then and then went from there right to the 100 degree heat. If this keeps up, we'll break the record of days in a row over 100.
Still, that won't stop me from golfing. Went yesterday after 6 week hiatus and shot a 77 from the back tees. Really shocked me because I only had 4 really bad shots for the whole round. The greens were pretty bad, with a lot of dirt spots, thus my putting was OK. Kind of bad when you have a 6 foot putt with only 2 inches of break, hits the dirt spot and then does a right had turn to make it 8 inches of break. Even with that, no 3 putts.
On all 3 of the par 5's, I was pin high on the second shot. 2 of those were only about 525 from the tips, but the 3rd was 575. Shocked me since I was 280 away on the second shot and just smoked a 3 wood. My 3rd shot into the green, played a lob wedge with a lot of spin in order to have it bank off a small hill behind the pin. Hit the ball perfectly right at the pin. Well, too much at the pin: it hit the top of the flagstick and bounced 20 feet away. Guess I had too much spin.

The par 3's, usually my nemesis, was actually the good part of my game. The first, a short 152, hit a 9 iron to about 12 feet. The second, a 218 yard, hit a hybrid to about 25 feet. The third, 205, was one of my 4 bad shots. Hit a 4 iron just a bit to the right, pin high, but wrong direction. The 4th par 3, a 185 into a slight wind, hit a beautiful slight draw 5 iron that ended up about 10 feet from the pin.
On normal greens, 2 of those would have been birdies. Oh well.
Driving average was about 270, with shortest being 260 and longest 295.
Hit 10 out of 14 fairways in reg. 2 of them were off by 1 foot each. The others was off by about 10 yards. Was playing for a slight fade and hit it straight. Ooop. On both of those hit great recoveries onto the green to save greens in reg.
Hit 10 out of 18 greens in reg.

Other notes from people who have asked:
Yes, Phoenix is a dessert, but not like the Sahara. We are a rocky one.
When it rains 1 inch, the roads are flooded. Back in Chicago in end of April, it rained a couple of inches and there was no prob, other than the rivers flooding. But that was because of the wet winter.
I really don't miss the cold rainy days in Chicago.
Chicago still has the best food around. Phoenix has a couple passable eats, but Chicago has them all around.
I played and dealt a Texas Hold 'Em tourney on Saturday. In a lot of ways, I like dealing better. I am more observant when I deal on people faces and reactions. A woman won the tourney by doing her job correctly: she was chip leader and bullied all the guys around. She also had a cold stare that she jokingly stated was because she didn't have her glasses on. In all honesty, she was getting great cards all night: either high suited cards or high pairs. Her big loss hand was a pair of aces losing to 2 pair. She won the last hand pulling out a small straight versus 2 pair.

BCS Playoffs

2008-12-27T07:21:00.000-08:00

OK, does college football need a playoff? I'm not sure anymore. Even the current bowl structures are a farce.
1) How do you determine the number 1 team when the top 6 teams have been inactive for a month? If there is a playoff, it should be a 3 week playoff with the winner playing the first week of January, in tune with the current bowl schedule.
2) How do you determine the number 1 team when bowl games are set towards favoritism? Point in case: The Rose Bowl is traditionally the Big 10 vs the Pac 10. So, this year we have USC vs Penn State.
3) How do you determine the number 1 team when ESPN is in charge? Let's face it, one of the reasons that college is so exciting is because it's free TV. Now putting it on cable, forget it. There are many who don't have cable, so viewership will be lost. The athletes don't get paid for playing so why does the public have to pay???

There is no need for a playoff. These are STUDENT-athletes. There is not enough stress on the student part. That is why I give props to Myron Rolle for keeping in mind that he is a student first and athlete second.

BCS???

2008-12-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

The BCS got a couple right:

Championship - Oklahoma versus Florida - Yes, there are arguements that Texas should be there. But, I think this will be an outstanding game

Fiesta - Texas vs Ohio State - Really??? The number 3 team in the country not playing the number 4 team? What happened here? Oh, Big 12 against SEC for he top 4 spots, can't happen. Ohio State has to stop getting their butts kicked on national tv.

Rose - USC vs Penn State - Classic!! Will be a fun game, although USC will run all over Penn State.

Sugar - Utah vs Bama - Might as well be a home game for Bama, in an SEC stadium.

Cotton - TT vs Ole Miss - Will be a great shootout.

Big 12 Tie-down??

2008-11-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it's not a showdown.
Recap:
Oklahoma lost on the road barely lost to Texas.
Texas lost on the road barely lost to Texas Tech.
Texas Tech on the road gets whooped by Oklahoma.
All things being fair, who gets the title? Since this is a judgmental game based on perceived talent, my vote goes to Oklahoma. But, they have to beat Okey State on the road. Hmm, get the picture.

JoPa did his team justice by crushing Michigan State. So, Penn State gets the Rose Bowl. Florida looks too good. Alabama is wavering. LSU was highly overrated all season.

Who is going to the BCS Championship??? At this point, my vote would be Oklahoma versus Florida. I think Florida will beat Alabama the last game and I think Oklahoma will win out the Big 12.

I think the Rose Bowl will have Penn State versus USC with USC running away with it.

Football updates?

2008-11-17T10:16:00.001-08:00

Sorry, no good updates this week, didn't get a chance to watch this weekend.

Here is what I do know:
Florida is looking good. BCS Game: yes. Championship:????

Cards are looking good. Some letdowns when they go to prevent, but otherwise, not too bad.

Bears sucked this week. Thanks Lovie!

A tie??? Against the Bengals??? Ouch Philly....

Bama vs LSU

2008-11-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, could college football get any better than this year? First, it was Texas Tech winning in the last seconds over Texas, then it was Bama winning in the OT versus LSU to retain the number 1 position.

Great games, although TT vs Texas was better. Bama looked a little sloppy, especially with an easy kick that was blocked and could have sealed the victory.

Texas Tech ran over, literally, Oklahoma State as Michael Crabtree puts himself into Heisman contention. While he doesn't have the numbers that he had his freshman year, he is producing more TD's per catch. That's got to account for something.

Graham Harrell may be another candidate: 169 QB rating that has only increased year over year.

Texas Tech has to still get by Oklahoma and Baylor and Bama has Miss State, Auburn and Florida.

Each has their own strength of schedule arguements, but as long as each stay unbeaten, look to see them playing January 8th...

Texas Tech Red Raiders!

2008-11-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, this game was the best college game I've ever seen. Forget Boise State vs Oklahoma, this one was better. Boise State and OK had no defense. Texas did not have too much defense showing either, allowing the Raiders to pile up over 400 yards in the air. Yet, they held their ground when they needed to.
Coming down to the last 1:30 in the game, Harrell controlled the offense and sent a pass sailing to Crabtree with 8 seconds left on the clock. Crabtree could have stepped out of bounds to stop the clock. But, I'm guessing that his thoughts were this: They have an inexperienced walk on kicker and a kicker who could smack it deep but not accurate. So, instead of relying on those 2 factors, he stood up, made 2 defenders miss him and walked into the end zone. Yet there was still 1 tick left on the clock while the Raiders faithful stormed the field. 2 unsportsman like conduct penlaties later, Texas Tech was kicking from their own 7 1/2 yard line.
TT hit a squib kick and after 2 laterals, they recovered a fumble. Instead of going for glory and scoring another touchdown, they went down to the ground to avoid the chance for a fumble.
This was a great game with a great finish! Colt McCoy did a great job to get Texas back in the game, but TT was a bit too much tonight.
So, who will be number 1???

Week 4

2008-09-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week:
USC getting thumped. Ouch. No longer number 1. So, which one: OU or Bama as number 1??
Florida and Tim Tebow losing. Thing about Tebow, vowing to not have another game lost if he can help it. Wow.
Northwestern is atop the Big 10 standings!! Vandy leading the SEC????

But, wait, that's just college!!!
Dallas stopped by Washington. Campbell looks really good.
Farve tossing 6 TD's...poor AZ. Plus, Mr. Anquan "I'm Unhappy because I got a huge signing bonus and spent it and want more money even though I'm under contract" Boldin left the game with an injury.
Da Bears??? Looks like Sunday nights are the only time they can win.
KC beating, no thumping, Denver???
It's way too early to be Halloween...

Week 3 Football

2008-09-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

Week 3 had some decent games, and some not so decent:
The Bears blew it again, losing to Tampa Bay.
The Pats lost to the season breaking Dolphins. Didn't a bad Dolphins team beat the Bears in 85???
Big Ben was pummeled into the ground 8 times by Phili. Ben, it helps if you throw the ball once in a while.
Brett took it hard on the chin, OK, ankle, but his streak will remain in tact.
Reggie Bush is starting to come around in the league. Albeit for a loss, he is now a playmaker.

AGT

2008-09-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

OK, I hate to admit it, but I like the talent in this show. No, not the Hoff, because he is talentless, but the performers. Last nights top 10 revealed who the top 4 really are. Yes, 4. Not 5. Sorry, to use the Hoff's analogy, only 4 stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park:
Eli Mattson - The most pure talent on the stage. 45 minutes would be too short of a show for him.
Nuttin But Stringz - Pure talent, pure emotion.
Neil E Boyd - Wow. I do not like opera, but would see him perform.
Queen Emily - Aretha who??? This woman has a voice, and stage presence to perform.

Now the others:
Jessica Price, Donald Braswell - Good talent, but not strong enough stage presence. They are scared up there.

Paul Salos and Joseph Hall - There was only 1 original and you guys are not doing them justice. They both have charisma, but that's it. They do not have the singing talent to get away with it. Joseph does not have the range, as proved last night.

OK, now time to get blasted: Kaitlyn and The Wright Kids. Talent for their age, yes. Talent to win the competition, no. Sorry, no. Both of them butchered the Jackson 5 songs. If Price and Braswell are scared, these kids are terrified.

So, at the top I listed the top 4. That is the order I would pick them in. I would see any one of their shows.

Good games, Blown games

2008-09-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

The good ones: Georgia should have lost. How could they have been rated #1 in pre-season polls?
USC is clearly the best team in college football this year. They handily beat 2 decent opponents. Their defense swarms, their offense clicks. They are the total package. The way they are playing, they could really beat a few pro teams.
ASU losing to UNLV??? And still ranked in top 25??? Because of Dennis Erikson? They blew the game, should have won easily. Erikson was worried before the game as well he should have been.
Sunday didn't get any better. The Bears had the lead and man handled the Panthers. For them to turn around and lose was pathetic.
Brett who??? Aaron Rodgers is the man!!!
DMcFad is the man in Oakland.
Indy almost started out 0-2.
But San Diego is starting out 0-2. Fantastic game, fantastic finish in mile high.
Seattle needs a bit more coffee losing to the 49ers.
The Cards defense is coming along just nicely. They rocked the Fins.
Tennessee is the real deal. Jeff Fisher is taking his defense very seriously. OK, the offense needs a little work, but to only give up 7 pts to the high potential offense of the Bengals says a lot.
Pittsburgh went into the Dawg Pound and struggled. Not because of the Browns but because of the weather: Wind (60 mph) and rain. Bad shoulder, no INT's. Man of Steel...

Week 1 - OUCH!!!

2008-09-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

OK, the week is not over yet. But still, OUCH!!!
Brady - possibly out for the year with torn ACL.

VY – Torn MCL

Dallas Clark - Knee

LT –Stubbed toe (wuss)

Others – How about Da Bears making up for the Super Bowl drubbing. Well, I guess for Kyle Orton it seemed like a home game. Matt Forte - First Bears starting rookie RB since Sweetness. First rookie RB for the Bears to gain over 100 yards in his first start.

What happened to SD??? Down, come back, then lose?

Bills dominated the Seahawks.

Ravens – Joe Flacco for real??? Ocho Cinco now just Ocho – held to 1 grab for the Ocho time of his career.

Atlanta – Matt Ryan for real??? Or, was Michael Burner Turner that good.

And last but not least, the Cards winning. With them playing the Fins next week, could they go 2-0???

OK, for the not so unusual:

McNabb passing like Brady or Manning – wow – 361 yards.

Boys – Is it too early to say Super Bowl???

Farve – money well spent for the Jets – they are going to fill up that new stadium pretty quick.

Steelers – Hmm, with NE out, could they be the other contenders???

2 more games tonight, including AP and the debut of Darren McFadden. With the rookies Flacco, Ryan and Forte performing so well, can McFadden be next!

IT’S FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stormy

2008-08-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a storm last night! It started out with a nice light show at about 7:30. At 8:50, the winds picked up and the rain/hail started.
This lasted for about 25 minutes, which is about the average. But, then, there was a calm. A bit of lightning, but nothing ominous.
Then it hit. Wind, rain, lightning, and thunder. It was so bad, I couldn't see any light from the light posts 50 feet away. I looked at our cactus and became very afraid for it. It was swaying with a 8 inch swagger, the most it's ever done.
This lasted for about an hour and a half.
This morning, I went out and saw the damage: whole trees uprooted everywhere. Branches scattered around, tumbleweeds filling the drains.
In the 3 1/2 years down here, probably the worst storm we've had. And there's more to come....

The Olympics

2008-08-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps proved himself to be the greatest Olympian of all time. Period. I'm sick of the arguments: The LZR suits, only 10 lane pool. Doesn't matter. The field is equal: everyone had to go through 10 lanes and everyone could wear the LZR suits. Playing field even.
So, Mark Spitz didn't have goggles. Why does that take away from anything Michael Phelps did? I would argue that the training regimen that Phelps went through was much more intense. I would also argue that the competition is much more intense than it was back in 1972.
14 gold medals says it all. Michael Phelps did not let talking become part of his goal, he let his actions speak. And they didn't speak, they screamed.
Congrats to Michael Phelps and his relay team!

Roster

2008-07-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

The Roster
Kato - Tom, Kim, Mom Kato, Pat Gleeson, Marge Slawek, Becky Salazar
Redden - Jack, Kris, Kel, Katie, Stacey Swider
Swanson - Bob, Geri, Kirstin + Brian Basso, Tara, Rob
Campbell - Jean, Liz, Meredith + Aaron Britton
Fillipone - Joan, Christine + Joe Kovacs
Hogan - George, Georgianna Ross
Zlotkowski Jessica + Dan
Howard – Frank, Tori, Siobhan + Tony, Frank Jr., Shannon
Iveracic – Pinky, Katelyn, John
Beaman – Barbara + Susan
Ryans – Dennis, Matt, Katherine, Tim

Update from football post, 2007 season

2008-03-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the old post:
Let's see what we got here (My early picks in parenthesis):
Oakland - Jamarcus Russell QB - (Brady Quinn QB)
Detroit - Calvin Johnson WR (Troy Smith QB)
Cleveland - Joe Thomas OT - (Mike Hart RB)
Tampa Bay - Gaines Adams DE (Dwayne Jarrett WR)
Arizona - Levi Brown OT (Josh Gattis FS)
Washington - LaRon Landry FS (Chase Holbrook QB)

And performance by all:
Russell - Really didn't play due to injury.
Quinn - Derek Anderson??? Wow... who needs Quinn?
Calvin Johnson - Decent season 756 yards, avg 15.8 per catch.
Troy Smith - 4 games, 52.6% completion, 79.5 rating. Not good....
Joe Thomas - Derek Anderson got a hefty raise, didn't he???
Gaines Adams - Stud - started all 16 games, 38 tackles, 6 sacks.
Dwayne Jarrett - non factor. 73 yards, 12.2 per touch.
Levi Brown - The Cards sucked, but not because of Brown.
Josh Gattis - Non factor
Laron Landry - started, stud - 95 tackles

Updates, updates, updates

2008-03-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

Long time, no blog....here are some updates:
The yard is almost complete. Shoveled another 10 tons of rock to fill in the dirt area.
The putting green is finally in!!
And the bricked in patio is in.
The next 2 projects are the pool resurfacing. Methinks the plaster has been acid washed at least 2 times.
And after that the side of the yard and figuring out what to do with it. Not sure yet, but it may end up being a small garden.
As far as everything else, not much....

Da Bears

2007-11-26T06:36:00.000-08:00

It's that time again for the Bill Swerski's Superfans Talk Show. Today's topic: Hester versus Ditka.
First Hesters Stats:
League
Most touchdowns returns in a season (six) - 2006 season
Most touchdowns kick and punt returns in a season (five) - 2006 season
Most touchdown returns as a rookie (six) - 2006 season
Most touchdown returns in one game (two)** - Against St. Louis on December 11, 2006 and Denver Broncos on November 25, 2007
Franchise
Most regular season kick and punt returns (10)
Most kickoff return yards in a game (225 yards) - Against St. Louis on December 11, 2006
Most punt return yards in a game (152 yards) - Against Arizona on October 16, 2006
Most punt return yards in a season (518 yards) - 2006 season
Longest play (108 yards)* - Against New York Giants on November 12, 2006

And here's da Coach
Career Stats
Receptions
427
Receiving Yards
5,812
Touchdowns
43

Now, you may argue that Ditka doesn't hold any Bears records. But, he is still known as Iron Mike.

So, instead of going head to head, let's put Ditka and Hester versus the Pat's. It would still be Ditka/Hester 120 Pat's 3.

Football!!!

2007-11-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, fantastic game last night!!! Mizzou vs Kansas.
Both have the same style offense, but the difference was in the defense. Mizzou's all-out blitzing, one-on-one coverage stifled the Jayhawks. If they would have kept that D throughout the 4th quarter, the game would have been a blowout. They switched to a zone defense, which really benefits the 2-minute drill offense of Kansas.
And Bama-LSU. No one wants to be in the BCS Championship game this year. Everyone is losing when they shouldn't be.
The only perfect team - Hawaii. And they are doing this with Brennan sitting out 3 games. If Hawaii wins next week and wins it's bowl game handily, the question of the BCS comes under fire again.
Onto the pros - the battle of the once beatens occurs next week. If I were to pick the winner - the Packers vs Cowboys, I would have to go with the Pack. The Boys did not look good against the hapless Jets. The Pack dismantled the Lions, a division rivalry game. You can say what you want about the NFC Central, but when these teams play each other, it's a battle, not a game. It's the midwest attitude. Look at the Big 10. Years ago, when it came to the Rose Bowl game, the Big 10 teams playing in it were worn out from beating up on each other. It's the same as the Central Divison, each of the teams are worn out from these games because it is beating up on each other.
This is an exciting year for football!!! Will college hoops be the same????

Football

2007-10-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

Some random thoughts:
1) Ricky Williams is requesting reinstatement into the NFL. An interesting thought: If Ricky Williams fails a drug test, can he claim HIPPA laws to not make the results public? For that matter, can any athelete claim HIPPA privacy laws if teams inquire about past injuries?
2) What's up with college football? All the top teams falling? No one wants to be number 2?
3) What's up with the Heisman race? Leading is Matt Ryan from BC. Sorry, Tebow, with 2 losses, can't really be Heisman candidate. Mike Hart, 2 losses? Nope, you're out. Andre Woodson? 2 Losses, your out. Beat LSU one week and lose to Florida the next? Colt Brennan - Missed one game (like it mattered, 66-10 win anyway). But with 10 INT's, hard to consider.
Why aren't any Ohio State players there? Or Rudy Carpenter from ASU?
4) What's with the NFL forgetting about the New England taping scandal? Yes, the Pats are the team to beat this year. But, Miami scored 21 against them, so they are beatable. Looks like the AFC is going to win yet another SuperBowl.

Congrats Padraig!!!

2007-07-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

An Irishman finally broke through!! The announcers are either ticked or ignorant. I like to think ignorant is best. Why??? They can't pronounce his name correctly.
Hey, Sergio, great 3 rounds. BTW - waiting 15 minutes between shots is common in major championships, especially when there is trouble left, right and in the middle. With that waggle of yours, you've never heard someone say: Just hit the ball already!!!.
Tiger, nice try. Next time, get some sleep. 1-1-2-2-12 still isn't bad. The golf course didn't kick your butt in, bad shots did. You control your destiny in golf. Maybe the course was a bit too green, not used to it for The Open course.
And congrats to Olgilvie, winner of the tournament for those who couldn't make it overseas.

Yikes

2007-06-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

Been a while since the last post...tried doing a few between, but blogger crashed. Too lazy to post again.
So, summer is finally here - 110 today!! And, June 14 - it's the first day we're turning on the AC!! Our neighbors think we're nuts waiting this long, but it hasn't been too bad.
Not much going on - work, golf, golf, golf....
Had my worst round in over 2 years - 93 last Sunday. Come to think of it, a 93 was average for me 4 years ago. So, this being my worst, in comparison, isn't that bad. But, it was early (up at 4:10) and I finally woke up on the 17th hole. Hit a 360 yd drive then followed up with a 310 yd drive.
Oh, and got a new driver - a Krank Red Hot Chili Pepper!! It's been getting me an average of 10 yards more, but then I figured out the key to it on the 17th hole and now know how to Krank it! I get a free lesson for it, which I plan on taking soon.
I'll try to update more often....

Draft

2007-04-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

Well, from my early, early post Dec 18, I was incorrect on my assumptions...
Let's see what we got here (My early picks in parenthesis):
Oakland - Jamarcus Russell QB - (Brady Quinn QB) Great choice. I had Brady Quinn, who went number 22 to Cleveland. Great picks for both.
Detroit - Calvin Johnson WR (Troy Smith QB) - Great, but who's going to throw to him? They did take Drew Stanton from Michagan State in the 2nd round, but it's going to be a year before he gets acclimated to getting hit all the time.
Cleveland - Joe Thomas OT - (Mike Hart RB) Well, Cleveland did the right thing: 2 first round picks. The good thing is they got a stud to block for Quinn.
Tampa Bay - Gaines Adams DE (Dwayne Jarrett WR) - I forgot, Gruden doesn't care about offense, unless it's 12 QB's. Adams is a great choice, but they really need a stud at WR position.
Arizona - Levi Brown OT (Josh Gattis FS) - Protect that speeding QB. Not speedy, but caught speeding 3 times on camera. Nice....
Washington - LaRon Landry FS (Chase Holbrook QB) - Really? With the rest of the defense sucking, they think Landry would help?

I was totally wrong. Where did my picks end up????
Brady Quinn - Cleveland, 1st Round 22nd.
Troy Smith - Baltimore, 5th Round 174th - That bowl game killed his chances for an early pick.
Mike Hart - Didn't come out. Good choice, stay in school
Dwayne Jarrett - 2nd round, 45th.
Chase Holbrook - Didn't come out. Good choice, stay in school
Josh Gattis - Jacksonville. 5th Round, 150th

Welcome to the next recession

2007-04-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

We are in the midst of the next big recession. You may not have noticed it, but it's slowly happening.
Why:
1) The US housing prices has fallen for the first time on record since they started keeping them since 1968. The analysis thinks that it is the first time since the Great Depression that home prices has fallen.
2) The roller coaster market: It has been a true roller coaster ride the last few months. Nobody knows what will happen.
3) The electronics industry is declining. When times are good, the electronics market is good, when times are bad, it is bad. (ex: Samsung down 15%)
4) McDonalds up: when times are bad, comfort foods go up. (up 8.2%)
5) Gas: With the Iran controversy, consumers will be less inclined to travel.

How bad will this recession be? Time will only tell....

Masters

2007-04-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so now everyone is proclaiming Zach Johnson to be the winners of all things to come. Let's go back into the recent past remember when the press crowned Todd Johnson and Ben Curtis the next big winners on tour.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Zach. He earned it. He played golf the way he knew he could and should: lay ups on the par 5's, and still getting birdies even though he knew Tiger was chasing. In fact, I don't really think he cared that Tiger was chasing.
ESPN had an article saying this was bad for golf. I don't know why someone could say that. In fact, I say it was great for golf: Zach Johnson, 5'11", from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, made his way up through both the baby tours through the mini's through the minors to the pro's. Has won over $8M dollars through his career. So, why is this bad?
He has a 274 yard average driving distances. Ranked 162 on tour.
He has a 73% Accuracy, ranked 6th.
Putting Average is 1.757, ranked 18th.
So, drive for show, putt for dough. That is exactly how golf should be played. He didn't do anything fancy for the Masters, he played solid golf. He showed the world you don't have to bomb the ball in order to win. Tim Clark almost accomplished that last year.
He proved to the world why golf is the greatest sport in the world. You don't have to be 6'2", hit the ball 350 yards to win. You can be an average Joe, or Zach in this case, and still have a chance to win. Let's see the average Joe do that in football or basketball.
On to another topic, why Tiger lost. No confidence in his drive. He pulled and yanked his 3 wood off the tee, one of his most steady clubs. Tiger hit 55% of fairways in regulation, and 59% of greens. On most of the shots, when he missed the fairway, he missed the green.
Still, the most amazing part: Tiger did not play well and still tied for 2nd place. Phil doesn't play well, ties for 24th. Goosen played amazing and ties with Tiger. Els plays bad, misses cut. Vijay played normal and ties for 13th.
So, on Tigers worst tournaments, he ties for 2nd. That is why he is the best out there: even on his worst days, he's more consistent than everyone else. Other golfers are streaky. Tiger's drive to be the best doesn't allow him to be streaky.
So, will Zach win another major? Only time will tell. I hope he does, because he is generally a nice guy. But, the press needs to stop labeling every winner of a major the next Tiger.

Illinois roads safer????

2007-03-29T10:24:00.002-07:00

Tough reading below, I know, but this is ridiculous. In summary, Illinois, by fear of another protest, is going to give ILlegal immagrants a drivers license. They claim it will make the roads safer.
Hmm, let's see, you're here illegally in this country, but you're legally allowed to drive. I'm sorry, where does this not make sense?

I think the smart Illinois politicians think that the IL in illegal is the abbreviation for the state.

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois would become one of only a handful of states in the nation to authorize illegal immigrants to drive legally on their roads under legislation the Illinois House passed Wednesday to create a special driver's permit for undocumented residents.
The 60-54 vote was an important victory for immigrant advocates, who have focused their energy this spring on several measures before the General Assembly."Today we make history," said Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago), the sponsor.
"The roads in Illinois will be a safer place, and immigrants can drive to church, to work, and take their children to school legally and without fear.
"The controversial proposal for a driver's certificate for immigrants, which proponents say would encourage many of the state's estimated 400,000 undocumented immigrants to get proper training and automobile insurance, still faces more tests before becoming law.
The House passed the measure with the bare minimum number of votes. The bill now goes to the Senate, where a committee approved a similar measure earlier this year, and supporters believe they can muster enough votes to win approval.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has pledged to sign the bill.
In the wake of last year's immigrants-rights marches, which drew hundreds of thousands to the streets of downtown Chicago, organizers have tried to channel that energy into political action. Last week thousands of people arrived in Springfield, filling the Capitol's rotunda with a chanting, flag-waving demonstration.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights estimates that 250,000 uninsured illegal immigrants are on Illinois roads. Advocates believe as many as half of them would apply for the driving certificates.
Opponents had harsh words about that prospect during Wednesday's debate.
"Why are you talking about a driving privilege for folks who can't register to vote?" asked Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Greenville). "Let's just knock down the borders and give everybody a certificate and say, 'Hey, thanks for being here. You're now a great American. It doesn't matter by the means you got here, but you get all the rank and privileges all our ancestors paid dearly for.'"
Seven states -- Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington -- give out driver's licenses without demanding proof that people are in the country legally, according to Jim Reed of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Tennessee created a special class of driver's permit for undocumented immigrants in 2004, but suspended the program after unearthing problems with identity theft and fraud. In March 2006, Tennessee created a new program requiring applicants to prove a "legal presence," such as a work visa or student visa. Now lawmakers are retooling the program again.
In what may be the closest program to what Illinois envisions, Utah issues "driver privilege cards" instead of regular licenses for undocumented residents. Officials said the program increased the number of insured motorists. Illinois insurance regulators expect the same type of increase.California has debated a similar measure since the 1990s.Proponents say providing a legal avenue for undocumented immigrants to drive would not only make drivers already on the road safer but also would give immigrants better access to jobs and services.
Opponents believe driver's certificates could make it easier for terrorists to make their way in society and would tacitly condone illegal immigration.
Acevedo said the bill is "not about helping undocumented immigrants legitimize themselves." He said it would reduce the black-market sale of fraudulent licenses and insurance.The certificates could only be used for driving and obtaining insurance and could not be used as any form of identification, including boarding planes.
Applicants would have to provide a photo ID, birth records, proof of residence and proof of car insurance within 30 days. They would be photographed and fingerprinted, which has raised concerns about whether authorities could use that information for deportation.
"I think that is always a possibility, but I don't think as a practical matter that will happen," said Lawrence Benito, associate director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Al Garza, national executive director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a border security advocacy group, said in an interview that undocumented immigrants do "not deserve" driver's certificates."
"They are here illegally; they broke the laws. They don't deserve to drive," said Garza, who lives in Arizona. "How in the world can we expect our laws to be enforced across the board if we keep handing out freebies? This is a freebie."
Illinois House opponents feared the bill would cause more problems than it is worth.Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville) said he understands that people won't be able to use the certificates as identification to board a plane, but he questioned whether they would weaken protections against future terrorist attacks."
[Sept. 11, 2001] is still very fresh in my mind," Black said.
Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) said 3,000 people in his legislative district alone are driving illegally without insurance.
"The roads in Illinois aren't as safe as they could be," he said. "In my opinion this bill does not add to the problem. It takes steps to correct the problem."
Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) said Democrats discussing the proposal view the bill as a positive "public safety issue."
Acevedo, a Chicago police officer, encouraged legislators to remember the struggles of their ancestors who settled in this country, recalling a phrase his grandmother used: "Nunca olvidas," or, "Never forget."
"I ask you today, don't forget where you come from. It's from the families of immigrants," Acevedo said. "This country was built on the blood, sweat and tears of immigrants who came to this country looking for opportunity."

AZ Aloha Fest

2007-03-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

We celebrated St. Patrick's day by attending the AZ Alohafest in downtown Phoenix. This is a 2 day festival which brings in entertainment, grinds, and vendors from across the southwest. We went 2 years ago (last year, I was on a flight to Singapore) and it was very nice. This year was unbelievably packed. It was almost to a point where you could barely walk. Being one of the largest festivals in the southwest for Polynesians, there were people from Vegas, SoCal, Tuscon, and NM in attendance.
The 2 biggest performances were put on by Samoan entertainers. And, they had the largest audience also. I give them a lot of credit: they mentioned that they went to Samoa to learn some new things and noticed that a lot of the Samoan's are now doing Hip Hop. So, what they've done with their routines is to work in the music to the traditional dancing. And, it works. It was the most lively, energetic performances I've seen.
At night, we went to a concert performed by Kon Tiki, Sistah Robi, Sean Na'au'ao, and Figi. Both Kon Tiki and Figi are more Jawaiian and Robi and Sean are traditional Hawaiian. The crowd there was more into Jawaiian, but very respectful of traditional. The most surprising song of the night was Leather and Lace by Robi and Figi with Sean playing guitar.
Although the concert was very lively, I still am not a big fan of Jawaiian. Hawaiian's have their own music. Yes, the islands are adoptive of all styles of music (including hip-hop) but I still am a very big fan of the traditional style of music.
Maybe I'm just getting old...

NFL Free Agency

2007-03-05T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm confused....
1) Texans pay a lot for Ahman Green? What? Someone who has missed almost as many games as he's played in for the last 2 years?
2) Bucs sign Garcia and trade for Plummer. Plummer is retiring. But Chris Simms should be worried.
3) Speaking of worried, Donovan McNabb should be. Early rumors was that he was going to be traded to Detroit. Then Feeley signed and then traded away Garcia. So, should he be worried?
4) Lot's of offensive linemen in this free agency move, with Buffalo picking up 2 tackles. I guess they want to keep Losman happy.

Hawaii

2007-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Hawaii for our 15th Anniversary. It was, as always, beautiful there. We first went to Maui and stayed at Ka'anapali Beach Hotel. Of course, the staff was friendly and accomodating. We did go to mass twice there at Maria Lanikila church, once for Ash Wednesday and the other for regular Sunday services. Ash Wednesday, the church was packed, barely standing room only. There were people looking in the windows to attend the service.
Sunday had a Samoan choir singing, and it was beautiful.
It was very windy our stay there, and me, like the dedicated golfer I am, decided to play 2 times, Ka'anapali South and the Kapalua Bay course. When you see a flag stick at a 45 degree angle, it's not a good sign. The Ka'anapali South has been redone in the past few years by Billy Casper and he did a fantastic job. The greens and the course were in great shape.
Kapalua Bay was a bit windier, and that's an understatement. I blasted a drive that went 200 yards. I also hit a pitching wedge 190 yards. It's kind of bad when the wind affects your putts.
Maui is much more crowded than it has been in the past and traffic shows it. There also is a housing spurt with minimum prices starting at about $750,000. Because of this, hotel prices and golf prices are going up. This is not good for the Hawaiian economy where there has not been a significant increase in salaries to match the pricing.
We then went to Kauai and saw much of the same with housing and traffic. It's great for the economy to have more people there, but not good that the housing prices are going up.
I played the Prince Course and Pua Kea. I had to play the Prince course because it is one of the featured courses on TW07 golf for the XBox 360. I took pictures of every hole to compare, will be posting them soon. We then went to Hanalei and explored the small town there. Sorry, but to me, Kauai seems to be becoming more haole. When asked my name, I told them with the correct pronunciation and they did not understand so I had to spell it out. Sad...
Pua Kea was in decent shape, however, a recent fungus spread have ruined the greens a bit. Still, a fun course and very playable.
We went to Poipu to explore a little bit and found that it has recovered from Hurricane Iniki. Yes, it's been 15 years, but this is Hawaii. At 10 years, there was still a lot of damage. Unfortunately, Coco Palms resort is still in disarray and looking to be sold as condos.
We did get to meet up with the cuz's, which was night. Sorry, Mike, for keeping you up too late!

Bad (fake) news...

2007-02-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

In a move that was upheld by the courts today, all professional, college, high school and kids program sports teams that have an animal as part of their name must abandon it. With the success of the Native American nation suing the college athletic programs for having Native American mascots, PETA has stepped forward.
"It's a disgrace to have an animal portrayed like that", claimed Pamela Anderson as she walked out of the court room. "This is a good day for all animals."
Because of this ruling, 15 NFL teams, 8 NBA teams, and 8 NHL teams will have to change their names.
In a press conference by Mayor Richard Daley, he stated, "I can't believe this, I just can't. I mean, how can they do this? Because of this ruling, I declare there will be only one sports team for Chicago, and that will be the Chicago White Sox. Up for sale are the teams and stadiums for the Bulls, Bears and Cubs. The Blackhawks don't count because they stink anyway."

In other news, it was found that Pamela Anderson Inc now holds stocks in all major t-shirt printing and paper printing companies.

(Real stuff) - The Fighting Illini has lost their battle to keep Chief Illiniwek.
See news story: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=2881195

Strange and Fake News items....

2007-02-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

These are not neccessarily my own fake news items, but ramblings and rumblings heard in the last few days...

The CSI team currently at Anna Nicole Smith residence in the Bahamas. After turning on special light that illuminates semen, the house could be seen from space.
In another strange move, TrimSpa is going after Rosie O'Donnell for their new spokesperson.
The Police World Tour is being renamed to the UltimateArrogance Tour. Also invited are: Kyle Maclachlan, David Caruso, Mandy Pitankin, Gary SInise, Bono, Barbara Streisand, Prince, Billy Joel, and Celine Dion. Donald Trump will produce and Rosie O'Donnell will be an opening comedy act. David Caruso will be putting his sunglasses on and off during the show and Kyle Maclachlan will just stare out into space.
CBS has decided to cancel their lineup and go with Survivor 24/7 since most of their lineup will be on the UA tour.
The UA tour will be sponsored by United Airlines. Not only will they get the crew to their destination relatively on time, they want to make sure thier employees have no pension or anything to look forward to.

The good, the bad, the ugly

2007-02-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

The NFC is on a losing streak. They cannot win the big game. The last one to win was Dungy's team, well former team, the Tampa Bay Buc's. Let's recap this last game:
The Good: Deven Hester runback for the opening kickoff. The most exciting play of the game for the Bears.
The Bad: Too many of them to point out, but let's focus on one: The Defense. Why? Brian Urlacher was right for yelling at the sidelines in the third quarter: the Bears did not play thier style of defense the whole game. They played a prevent defense which allowed for long runs and short passing gains. Manning was sacked only one time. So, let's get on former SuperBowl winner Ron Rivera for playing wuss-ball. This is NOT the way the '85 team would have done it.
The Ugly: Rex. I don't care what Lovie says, the numbers speak for themself: 3 fumbled snaps, 2 interceptions, one for a touchdown. Lovie, of course, will focus on the other numbers: 20-28, 165 yards passing. 5 of those passes were for 3 yards or less.

The breakdown: The offense needed to run more, it was raining. The defense needed to blitz more, get Manning out of his element.

Kudo's to the Colts: They adjusted to the first play of the game and squib kicked every kickoff, not letting Hester get to it. They adjusted to the rain and threw a blocker on Urlacher every run play. The defense opened it's eyes wide and started licking their chops every time Grossman went back to pass.

No, the Colts defense wasn't better than the Bears. The Bears offense was horrific, or, par for the course the way they played the last 6 games.

Last comment: Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes should have gotten the MVP. 40 carries, 200 rushing yards between them. Sorry, Peyton, it's not that youi didn't earn it, but those guys are the ones who powered the offense to win the game.

Da (lack of) Respect

2007-01-29T08:47:00.000-08:00

Ah, Denny Green....I'm sure everyone remembers his tirade after the Cards almost beat da Bears. Well, I'm changing my mind about da Bears chance of winning the SuperBowl. It's gone from a chance to slim to none.
Why?
The media is calling the location South Florida. Miami. Where did the Bears attain it's first loss? Where was the 85 Bears only loss?
Ah, but you say Rex is a Florida dude: Rex record against Miami Hurricanes: 0-2.
So, this is not the place to be for the SuperBowl for da Bears. If it was in NO, it would be fine.....

Going bald...

2007-01-22T08:20:00.000-08:00

...not genetically, but because the Bears won. I am waiting til Feb 3 to cut the hair, since it is being donated to charity. And, yes, it will be razor cut bald.
But, 2 things come out of the Bears winning: 1) is the kind donation to charity 2) My father-in-law and I won $80-$90. Back in August, we put $10 on the Bears to get to the Superbowl. I think the odds were either 8-1 or 9-1.

Let's look at the matchup:
QB - Manning (rating 101) vs Grossman (73.9) - ummm, Indy
RB - Addai/Rhodes (1722 yds) vs Jones/Benson (1857 yds) - Bears
WR - Harrison (14.4 avg) vs Muhammad (14.4 avg) - Indy
WR - Wayne(15.2) vs Berrian (15.2) - Indy
TE - Utecht (10.2) vs Clark (13.9) - Bears
K - Vinatieri vs Gould - Bears (Outdoor kicker)
P - Smith vs Maynard - Bears
Defense - Indy vs Bears - Bears
Special Teams - Indy vs Bears - Bears

So, on paper and in Vegas, the Colts have the better team. But, if you look at the factors that turn around a game, namely fumbles, INT's and Special Teams, the Bears have the edge. Just ask Denny Green or Reggie Bush.

Hair update

2007-01-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 2 days before the fate of my hair. The Bears have the matchup of the season between the number 1 and number 2 seated teams against the New Orleans Saints lead by Drew, Duece, Reggie, Horn and Colston. The Saints have to come into town against maybe a sub-30 degree day, which will make things tough for this indoor stadium team. Add to that the possibility for snow, and the southern players may have some issues.
But, I still stand by my prediction that the Bears will not get into the big game. (Can't say the SB word, they may come after me!!) [Can't say who they is because they are watching!]
But all the pressure is off the Bears. The focus is on the Indy/Pats game. Brady vs Manning. This time, the tables are turned. The Pat's aren't favored and they are playing in Indy. The D of the Colts stepped up last week, will they again this week?

Ramblings

2007-01-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Again, some randomness:
Boise State Number 1? Why not? Well, some may argue strength of schedule, but I say they are undefeated and have beaten some good teams to get there. So, why not.
Bears Super Bowl. HA!!! My hair is safe. (see previous posts)
The US government would have done things different with Saddams execution???? Right, keep him in jail for 20 years on tax payers money at a cost of over $10M a year.
Some New Years wishes:
We need to start thinking neighborhoods instead of master planned communities.
I wish this year people would start using turn signals.
I hope more countries adopt Japan's no war resolution.
AND
Happy New Year!!! Hope everyone enjoys a healthy and happy New Year!

Early draft picks...

2006-12-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

EDIT (1/3/06): Yes, it's still early, and records may still change. But, here are my early NFL draft predicitons, or what should happen:
Oakland - Brady Quinn (QB) - Oakland is hurting for a QB, and I think Quinn is better than Smith.
Detroit - Troy Smith(QB) - They have no choice.
Cleveland - Mike Hart (RB) - Tough, physical RB.
Tampa Bay - Dwayne Jarrett (WR) - Galloway is their top receiver. That should say enough. Plus, with the way he performed in the Rose Bowl, his stock went up.
Washington - Chase Holbrook (QB) - 155 QB Rating.
Arizona - Josh Gattis (FS) - Good, powerful FS.
So, in 5 months, we'll see what happens.

Cholesterol down!!!

2006-12-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

For the first time in 10 years and first time since taking cholesterol tests, mine is finally under 200!!!! I did a test in January and it was around 220. Took it again right after Thanksgiving and it was at 189!!!
So, what did I do to get there? Over the next couple of writings, I will put down what I've done. Now that I've hit the under 200 barrier, the next goal is under 150.

Bearz...

2006-12-12T07:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, they looked good yesterday. Yes, they are 11-2. Yes, they have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But, I make this statement: If the Bears get to the SuperBowl, I will shave my head.
Yes, it's true. No one reads this anyway. So, I can make this promise. But, even so, without Dennis Hester and the Defense, the Bears have Rex.
Right now, the best teams in the NFL are New Orleans and San Diego. In fact, that is my prediction for the SuperBowl matchup.
Peyton Manning is going to be another Dan Marino.
Seattle is trying to figure out its offense.
And New England is hanging around.
But, LT and DB are the one's ruling the league right now.
So, from pony tail to bald...Let's see if the Bears can pull it off.

Random ramblings

2006-12-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

Who likes the college football BCS system? No one. Time for playoff style settings: 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. But even that is flawed. Boise St. just convincingly beat Nebraska to end up 12-0 and is the only other undefeated team in the nation and ranked 9th? Come on....
Abdullah al-Muhajir is complaining he's tortured. So, planning the deaths of thousands of people is not torture? Thankfully, he was caught before implementation.
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii....no, not Michelle, but Wi from Nintendo. Hey, you want your kids to get exercise while playing video games, get them one.
Speaking of Michelle Wie, she's doing the right thing: If she keeps getting invited, keep playing. Once she turns down invites, they'll stop coming. And, tournament sponsors are doing the right thing: they are inviting her, giving locals a chance to see her.
Speaking of Michelle Wie in tournaments, how come good old Martha Burk hasn't raised her head yet?
And speaking of Womens Rights, Hilary is going to run for president.
And speaking of Rights, Barack Obama is in the wings awaiting to announce he's going to run.
Looks like the Dem's are going to shoot themselves in the foot with too many candidates.
President John McCain....hmmm.....

2006-10-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts....

Barack in 2008???? Why not? Good choice for president.

Global Warming? From Chicago Tribune: This year's meteorological autumn season is proving unusually cool. In the 104 years since 1902, only four other Sept. 1 through Oct. 18 periods have been chillier than this year's 55.9 (degrees)--the most recent in 1993.

Favorite website: www.snopes.com People don't use it often enough before forwarding on hoax emails.

Xbox dead. Yes, it died last week. Hmm, any corellation between it going belly up and me getting work done around the house???

New Job - Started about 3 weeks ago, having fun. Drive is much better even though same distance from old job.

Google is the new Microsoft/Computer Associates/Oracle - If you can't beat it, buy it. Well, Google didn't really make anything to beat, they just bought.

Weather in Phoenix is cooler. Kind of nice now. Flip side is the snowbirds start coming and golf prices skyrocket.

New fav groups -Evanescence and Accidental Harmony. What a contrast....

Term I'm coining and copywriting - Conversational ADD - remember you heard it hear first.

It's that time of year again!!!! FOOTBALL!!!!!

2006-09-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

How about them Bears?? A shutout of the Packers at Lambeau????
And them Cards in the new stadium???
A small recap:

3 shutouts: Bears vs Packers, Batimore vs TB, and SD vs Oakland. Wow.
Chad Pennington coming back and throwing good
Donovan McNabb guiding the TO'less offense to victory
Buffalo losing by a safety. JP - learn to throw the ball away, especially if your in the end zone.
Cincinatti not winning by passing?
Shaun Alexander suffering the Madden curse.
Reggie Bush making a nice impact.
Kellen Winslow coming back and doing good.

I'm excited about football this year, as I am every year. Especially when the Bears shut out the Packers in Green Bay!!!

Oops, sorry

2006-09-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

...long time between posts. So I'll do quickie:
1) Chi-town - was back for unfortuante circumstances. It rained every day we were there. And it was cold. Nice, typical Chicago August.
2) Wicked - went to go see it this past weekend, was pretty good. They did a good job of tying everything together and adding a bit of humor.
3) Lot's of stuff to do on house in next few weeks, will be very busy.
4) Who can stop a charging Tiger? Well, that's the problem: No one can as of late. Stewart Cink, who proved himself to be a good captains pick, tried. Vijay tried. But no one is succeeding. Tiger came from 3 back to win by 2 by playing the golf course, not Vijay. He knew where he had to take advantage of the course and executed. That is why he wins, by not playing the players but playing the course.
5) My golf game is continually improving only to be hampered now by the winter Phoenix prices. I'm bummed. Saturday, I shot a 39 on the front nine with a mistakes on one hole, which accounted for 3 strokes. I've changed my grip on the drive to be a strong grip which is allowing me to get it in the fairway more often. Now, it's back to the weight room to build up the strength. Since I've lost a bit of weight (20 pnds) since January, my distance has gone down a bit on my drives. However, my long irons has really improved. So, if I get the strength back on the drives, I'll be going back to the short irons.

BP

2006-08-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Double post today, because this topic deserves it's own.
Oil companies are the biggest liars in the world. How dare they sit in front of congress and testify and justify the large profits, claiming to be reinvesting it. With the Alaskan pipeline bust, they now need to go in front of a judge and confess that they lied to congress, lied to the people and cheated everyone out of billions of dollars.
What is worse: They were warned about this issue and did nothing about it.
And what happens because of this: Oil prices will go up.
If BP does not go in front of a judge, it proves that not only the oil companies are corrupt, but also Congress.
GEORGE W. BUSH - Wake up!!! Stop defending these companies!!!! Take the investments out of these companies and put them in alternative fuel research!!!! NOW!!!!!

Solving the world problems...

2006-08-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

I was asked today: So, what are you doing, solving the world problems? And I said: Why yes I am.
1) The wars around the world. Most of these are border wars. My solution: Swap countries. What does this mean? Take one of the warring border countries and move them across the world to a similar climate. Carve out pieces of the world where you have similar religious tollerance and issues will decrease.
2) Hunger: It's the old statement: Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. We have to stop handing out food and start teaching countries how to cultivate their own. If they don't have the equipment to grow their own food, give them that.
3) Global warming: I used to live a few miles from O'Hare airport. There is always a murmer and consistent hum that comes from the airport with the planes constantly running their engines. When they grounded the planes after 9/11, the noise disappeared. It was eerily quiet. But, another great side affect was that the air started getting better. Nature knows how to heal itself. So, either 3 days every quarter, or 5 days twice a year, ground planes around the world for a Nature Holiday. The exceptions, of course, will be for medical emergencies.

I've think I've tackled the big issues. Now onto the most pressing issues like how do I get from 6 remotes down to 1.

Unreal

2006-08-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about Tiger Woods 2 win in a row shooting 4 66's to win the Buick.
No, I'm not talking about shooting a 37 front nine with a guy from the Gateway Tour while he shot a 35.
And, no I'm not talking about Sherry Steinhauer winning her 3rd Womens British Open.
I'm talking about Takeru Kobayashi winning the Brat eating contest in Sheboygan, WI this past weekend. He downed 58 Johnsonville Brats. That equates to 16,820 calories and 1,450 grams of fat. I'm surprised he hasn't needed paddles yet to jump start his heart.

Viva Las Crowded???

2006-08-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

The nice part about Vegas: It's constantly changing.
The bad part about Vegas: It's constantly changing.
I think this was my 8th trip to Vegas. Had a great time even though I lost 2 bills. We unfortunately went at one of the busiest times in Vegas: The WSOP largest purse to date event was going on along with the World Shoe and Accessory coonvention with over 10,000 participants. We stayed at the Monte Carlo. The room was nice, the pool too crowded. I guess they figure if they make the pool area small enough, you'll want to go back inside and gamble.
We did catch the V show at the Aladdin. Nice show, very entertaining, but I felt it was a lot like America's Got Talent without David Hasselhoff present (thankfully). I guess the good part is that is a Variety show and lived up to that promise. One of the best acts was a juggler who played the xylophone by dropping balls on to the keys. It was amazing!
Vegas is trying to go back to the image of Sin City, but I'm unsure why. There are so many children walking around the city, it really doesn't make sense.
We took this opportunity to drive to Vegas (5 hour drive time). We also took the opportunity to park the car and leave it there for our stay. You do not want to drive in Vegas, it's impossible. We walked from the fashion mall to the Paris hotel faster than it took the bus to get down the street. And we had to get through the crowds, cut through TI, and cross the street.
The slots in all the hotels have gone to paper payouts. Vegas has lost part of its' charm by doing this. No hearing the coins hit the metal container.
But, on the other hand, it makes it easier to bring back penny slots. One of the funniest and most social machines is the huge Wheel of Fortune machine. You have 8 people playing their own slot video and when it hits the Spin the Wheel, the giant wheel in the middle spins. One of the reasons it is the most social is because you can sit 2 people per machine. That is really surprising because it means one less gambler on the floor.
Another disappointment was the disappearance of cheap food. Like magic, every thing has switched to swank and expensive.
So, bring your money to Vegas for gambling and food, don't drive, get to the pool early, and be ready to party on!!!

Amazing...

2006-07-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Well, a few things.
1) It's hotter than Hades in Phoenix. Yet, through it all, I'm golfing. The heat hasn't been all that bad as long as you keep hydrated. It just means we're getting a lot of work done inside the house.
2) More guests arrive Tuesday for a bit. Hopefully, they packed a lot of bathing suits. The pool will be a very popular place.
3) Tiger's dominance continues. Yes, he missed the cut at the US Open, but consider what he went through: His caddies wedding with a trip down under and his father's death. This is the same father who put a golf club in his hand at the age of 2. This is the same father who nurtured his career and dominance to where it is now. So, to say that his father's passing did not affect him at the US Open is ludacris. Even for Tiger to say it did not means he's lying to himself. But, to come out in the Open Championship (Brittish Open), use the driver 1 time, hit multiple pin-point accurate shots from over 200 yards out is complete dominance of a golf course. Unreal.
4) Did I mention it's hot?

Amazing...

2006-07-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, a few things.
1) It's hotter than Hades in Phoenix. Yet, through it all, I'm golfing. The heat hasn't been all that bad as long as you keep hydrated. It just means we're getting a lot of work done inside the house.
2) More guests arrive Tuesday for a bit. Hopefully, they packed a lot of bathing suits. The pool will be a very popular place.
3) Tiger's dominance continues. Yes, he missed the cut at the US Open, but consider what he went through: His caddies wedding with a trip down under and his father's death. This is the same father who put a golf club in his hand at the age of 2. This is the same father who nurtured his career and dominance to where it is now. So, to say that his father's passing did not affect him at the US Open is ludacris. Even for Tiger to say it did not means he's lying to himself.
But, to come out in the Open Championship (Brittish Open), use the driver 1 time, hit multiple pin-point accurate shots from over 200 yards out is complete dominance of a golf course. Unreal.
4) Did I mention it's hot?

US Women's Open

2006-07-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

Phenomenal! Unreal!! Great for women's golf!!! The set up was ridiculously hard. Why? The weather was ridiculously bad. Congrats to Annika, who's only mistake was a drop in the water from 127 yds out in the 4th round.
Also, congrats to Michelle Wie who is consitently proving herself worthy of the LPGA. Carol Bivens, give her early exemption next year.
Oh, there was a men's tournament scheduled, but again, no one cared. All except JB Holmes. Why? There isn't any spark.
There is too much money in men's golf. JB Holmes can now take the rest of the year off. It will take Annika 3 more first place finishes to reach what he made for one tournament. That's sad. Especially with the likes of Brittany Lang, Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster... I can go on and on with the women's tour. It's exciting. Carol Bivens needs to talk to these sponsors to start boosting prize money.

Phil the Thrill

2006-06-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Phil has successfully completed his science experiment! Yes, he has been able to travel back to the past!!! Unbelievable, but true, Phil has gone back 4 years into the past.
Why, why, why would you hit a driver off the tee on the 18th hole needing just par to win when you've only hit 2 fairways all day and then push it so far left it hits the corporate tents?
Why wouldn't you hit a 4 iron, that you've been striping 250 yards all day down the middle of the fairway?
Why would you then proceed to hit a shot with a 5% probability of hitting the green when you can punch out, hit the green, 2 putt and then get in a playoff?
What is going through Phil's mind, the person who spent countless hours documenting the course, knowing the stats, and then not knowing your own stats heading into the last hole?
Yes, Phil has done it. He has reverted back to Phil of old.
Welcome back, Phil the Thrill....

Whirlwind week

2006-06-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

We had 2 sets of visitors in last week, sis-in-law and nephew Mon-Fri and friends Fri-Mon. Had lots of fun with nephew, doing some mountain biking and golf. He's 6'3" at the age of 14 1/2. If he takes a few golf lessons, he will really be pounding the ball. He has the demeanor to learn, and the talent to be good, just needs the proper stroke and he'll be really good.

We took a rid to Scotsdale and out to Carrabba's last night with our friends. Really like Carrabba's food, one of the good eats down here. We took the long way back and went through the desert. Saw a cool full moon rising.

As for other stuff: Michelle Wie once again proved she belonged on the LPGA tour by finishing in a tie for 5th in the LPGA Championship . So, for those nay-sayers out there, it's time to shut up.

Trip

2006-06-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

We recently got back from a driving trip to San Francisco through LA, LA land. We stopped off and visited freinds just north of LA. Driving there wasn't so bad, except for when we hit traffic in LA. That stunk. Oh, and I forgot to mention the gas prices. That stunk also.
The drive through CA was not as bad as I imagined it would be. There are a lot of hills and open space which is contrary to what you would expect with just seeing LA.
The drive to San Fran wasn't so bad either. The weather, a bit cold. My favorite saying is: The coldest winter I spent was a summer in San Francisco.
We walked all around SF, down to the wharf and back through Chinatown. The wharf has changed a lot since the last time I was there, getting a little more high scale.
On the drive back to home, we stopped in LA again. We took a little trip to the Reagan Library, which houses the old AirForce 1. It was pretty cool seeing the 737 in a building. The view from the library is absolutely gorgeous. It is a must see if you get to the Los Angeles area.

Racquetball

2006-05-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been 2 years, but I finally picked up the racquet again. I didn't realize how much I missed it. The only downside was starting play at 5:45 AM. A little tired, but that's OK.

Well, more improvements to the house have been done. I guess I haven't updated in a while:
A couple weeks ago, we spread 12 tons of rock throughout the property. There is no more grass in the front!! That was a wee bit of hard labor.
Got a new security screen door for the front and new gate. It's nice now to leave the front door open and have a little air movement through the house.

Next on the agenda is cabinet installs in the utility room. Then rip apart the lawn in the back yard and put in bricks. I'm going to be pretty busy this summer....

Who knew????

2006-05-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

In a conversation today, I was told:
We all have the same final quest... the journey there is what makes the differences.
So I asked: The Journey is in the Lights where you Don't Stop Believing Faithfully through the Frontiers? And because you have to live A Better Life, Better Together? And it's Beyond the Clouds?And When A Man Loves A Women the journey is better. And after death you wonder Who's Crying Now?
So, given all that, life is all about the band Journey. Who knew?

Funny protest

2006-05-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

The Great American Boycott: I dub this as dumb as the boycott of the oil companies by not filling up gas for a day. These illegal immigrants, stress on the word ILLEGAL, believe that if they stop work for a day, the country will fall apart. Hmm, they don't work for a day, they don't get paid. They don't get paid, someone else will gladly do the work for them.
1) they are not union, so they walk out, they don't have a job and the person who fills it for them will get their job.
2) they are in the country ILLEGALLY!!!

I am not a racist, by any means. I am a half breed, no reason to be. But, I am a legally born American. What was the purpose of Ellis Island? Our ancestors came into this country legally by filling out the right paperwork. Many of the people I have worked with had to do the same thing. Do it the right way, how hard is that?

Vincente Fox, is your country that bad that your own native countrymen have to cross through hell to get a decent job?

Sorry, but Teddy Roosevelt did a bad thing by creating welfare. The illegal immigrants claim that they do jobs that Americans don't want to do. No, our government created a program so that Americans don't have to do those jobs. So, I challenge congress to fix that program.

Quips

2006-04-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

A few quips heard today:
1) I was talking to an Italian freind. We were talking about good old Irish and Italian families and the amount of kids parents used to have. He said "Yeah, I made sure that wasn't going to happen after my second kid was born." So I naturally asked "What did you do, whack the postman??"
2) Good tech geek saying: "You're a few pixels short of a digital photo."
3) We sent specs to a guy at work 5 times already. He asked for them again today. We asked if his email system had Alzheimers.
4) Another tech geek quip: "You're a few bits short of a byte."

Immigration

2006-04-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

OK, ok, this is a hot political topic, but here are my views on it:
1) I believe in immigration the right way. There are millions of people that have gone through the proper channels to do it legally, why should we allow immunity based on being in the country illegally?
2) I understand that because of the amount of illegal immigrants in the country, many of the things we have come to enjoy are at a cheaper price. However, there are many things that have risen in cost due to this, namely medical insurance and hospitalization, since hospitals are required by law to accept all ER patients. So, the question is, would you rather keep paying $2,000 to $5,000 a year on insurance or pay $2 more for your meal?

Don't get me wrong, I am not being prejudiced or racist. I am being an tax paying American here. And the fact that my tax dollars go on supporting people who are illegally entering the country and expecting the world handed to them for free kind of bugs me.
Below is an article from David Bresnahan. Here is the link:
http://newswithviews.com/Bresnahan/david6.htm

David M. Bresnahan
April 1, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Dear President Bush:

I'm about to plan a little trip with my family and extended family, and I would like to ask you to assist me. I'm going to walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, and I need to make a few arrangements. I know you can help with this.

I plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws.. I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here.

So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Vicente Fox, that I'm on my way over? Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:
1. Free medical care for my entire family.
2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.
3. All government forms need to be printed in English.
4. I want my kids to be taught by English-speaking teachers.
5. Schools need to include classes on American culture and history.
6. I want my kids to see the American flag flying on the top of the flag pole at their school with the Mexican flag flying lower down.
7. Please plan to feed my kids at school for both breakfast and lunch.
8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy access to government services.
9. I do not plan to have any car insurance, and I won't make any effort to learn local traffic laws.
10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from Pres. Fox to leave me alone, please be sure that all police officers speak English.
11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my house top, put flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals.
12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, and don't enforce any labor laws or tax laws.
13. Please tell all the people in the country to be extremely nice and never say a critical word about me, or about the strain I might place on the economy.

I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for all the people who come to the U.S. from Mexico. I am sure that Pres. Fox won't mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.

However, if he gives you any trouble, just invite him to go quail hunting with your V..P.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

Sincerely,

David M. Bresnahan

Random thoughts...

2006-04-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

When you go to a dentist for cleaning, why do you have to brush your teeth before you go?
If all the worlds a stage and we are merely players, I should be paid more.

OK, now for something completely different....

Watched Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy this past weekend and was severely disappointed. I almost turned it off. I should have turned it off and saved myself 2 hours. I don't think they captured the book at all. How, how, how could they leave out the guide's description of Earth: Mostly Harmless? They breifly explained why you need a towel. Sorry, another poor adaptation of a book into a movie.

And while I'm on it, why would you make another Posiden movie? The worst remake for a movie EVER (read last year's blogs) was done. They really think Kurt Russell (aka: Mike June) could save this movie?

That's all I have time for now. I am putting together a multi-post blog that will cover a completely serious topic on healthy eating and how the food industry has failed the general public.

Long time, no blog

2006-04-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been a month, but very busy month.
I spent a week out in Singapore and Hong Kong: 40 hours of flying and a 56 hour work week, which included a full day of work that was supposed to be a travel day.
Didn't really get to see much of Singapore. One of the funniest things was on the way back from the office in a taxi ride, the taxi driver was telling me about the lady-boys that hang out at Orchard Tower. I made sure I avoided that area like SARS.
Hong Kong is very vertical. Apartments are abundant and very tall. Plus, there are waves of people that move through the street. If you get caught up with them, go with the flow.
Speaking of SARS, I got a feel on how scary it was from the stories they were telling me out there. That was one scary time and I hope the US never has to go through that.

We finally had our cement poured on the side of the house, looks really good. That means I have no excuses to finish the rest of the outside work.

We had our Wisconsin cousins overnight last weekend, went to a nice Italian place a couple miles away from the house, Ruffino's. Good food and good service.

I'm happy Michelle Wie came in third in the first LPGA major. To all those people who says she doesn't belong, it's time now to shut it.

The Masters begins this week, I think I feel a cold coming on...

Cubs/Oscars

2006-03-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

We went to a spring training game this past weekend with a couple of die hard Cubs fans. It was at Hohokam Park and the stadium is nice. The place was packed (of course) and the prices on the food was outrageous. Hmm, $20 for 2 hot dogs, a large water and large drink. Whatever happened to bring the kids to the ball park for nice cheap entertainment.
Not so anymore, thanks to over paid athletes and greedier owners.
Well, off my soapbox...
The game was good, and the Cubs looked good. They are playing good ball in the pre-season, which is the normal get-your-hopes-up style of play. And this was without a couple of key players in the line-up.
Playoff picture for the Cubs? Who knows. I mentioned earlier: First it was the BoSox, then the ChiSox, now it's the Cubbies turn!

On another completely other note, I'm glad gay Hollywood didnt' go totally gay. I went 5 for 6 on my picks last night, I didn't pick some because we missed some categories and I refuse to pick a winner for something like: Best Performance by a writer in a screenplay directed by the choreographers.
I did get the following categories correct:
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Clooney
Best Achievement in Directing - Ang Lee ( I said Speilberg should win, but knew Lee would )
Best Achievement in Makeup - Narnia
Best Achievement in Visual Effects - King Kong
Best Achievement in Cinematography - Geisha

For best picture, I did have some wafflings. There were three films that could have won despite the gay Hollywood: Crash, Munich, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Here's why the others did not win:
Munich: My pick was pointing towards Munich because it's another film by Spielberg about Jewish repression. Well, I guess not repression as much of aggression. Jon Stewart summed it up best: Triology?
Good Night, and Good Luck: Another black and white film in contention? Can't have it win. Plus, if Hollywood isn't gay, they are Scientologists, who operate along the same lines as McCarthy.
Brokeback Mountain: Gay cowboys. Need I say anything more?
Capote: A movie about a gay writer writing his last novel. Should have been under documentary category.

Well, I'll give you some further insight: I haven't seen any one of these films, so what makes me an expert? Nothing. Hollywood is so darn predictable it's not even funny.

Stuff

2006-02-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't updated this with what's been going on around the household for a while, so here goes:
1) Got out golfing 2 times this weekend, Club West and Vistal. Club West was in supurb condition, with the greens playing fantastic. Ended up shooting an 80 there. Had a great finish also with a nice booming drive and a spiffy iron shot into the last hole. Capped it off with an 19 foot curling birdie putt into the center of the cup. Vistal was complete opposite. The fairways were horrible, the greens painted. Yes, that's right, painted green to cover the mud underneath. I do give them credit, it was rolled mud, so it was smooth. I did shoot an 80 there also, surprisingly with much better play than at Club West. It could have been a 75 if the greens were in better shape.
2) After about a 3 month (maybe 4?) delay, we are going to get our cement laid! It'll be on the side of the house. Now the real work for me starts with completing the front yard replacing grass with rock, laying brick in the back for patio, and getting the putting green installed.
3) Work is busy, doing a lot of stuff for Asia. Late night meetings, long days...how am I supposed to get all the home stuff done?
4) Our softball team finally had a winning season! 6-5-3. Yes, 3 ties. Since it goes by time, we had finished the game tied 3 times. Not only a winning season, but we may have set a league record with the most ties.
5) The house is coming along. We've got a lot to do still, but it's moving along nicely.

Winter Olympics

2006-02-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I have never been a fan of the Winter Olympics, and these are giving me no more reason why I should be. NBC's broadcast is all over the board. I have watched a total of about 3 hours of the Olympics and here is my opinion:
1) Because it's on EVERY night, I have caught a bit of the figure skating. I wish there was a way to turn off the announcers. They are brutal and condescending. According to them, no skater(s) should come anywhere close to the top scores. And then they show things in slow motion close up replay, which the judges do not have access to, and point out every single small mistake and state why the judges should not award points for it. These announcers are way to critical and fail to give credit to any skater.
2) The complete opposite happened for the snowboarders. The announcers were very praiseful of the atheletes and mentioned the degree of difficulty that occured with each trick.
3) I have a better appreciation of the bi-athalon now. I think it's pretty cool how these guys are able to shoot at a target the size of a silver dollar 50 meters away with their heart beating at about 160 BPM.
4) Curling....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
5) Come on, admit it: The only reason you watch bobsledding or luge is to see someone crash. You don't care who finishes first.

The difference in announcers between ice skating and snowboarding shows the difference between the people who do them. Ice skating: the uppity, look down on people athletes and the snowboarders: Let's have fun atheletes.

My Olympic watching is complete, unless there's more snowboarding coming up.

Chicago Trip

2006-02-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well, we just got back from our Chicago trip and need a vacation! What a whirlwind tour! It was great to see family and friends again!
I'll be glad when the weekend comes and I'll be able to get some rest, but I'm suspecting it's not going to be too much rest, we have a lot planned for the weekend already.
Many thanks go out to a lot of people: First, to everyone we saw, thanks for taking the time to visit!
To Hotel Lew's: Thanks for the room and board and use of the car!
To Rich S.: Thanks for hosting our poker game...I know, you let me win. BTW - basement looks great!
To my sister: Thanks for hosting the family get together. BTW - nice out-sneaking the sneak.
To Debbie (or should I say Becky): Thanks for letting me play with the marble track. That thing is great to open up a mechanical and creative way of thinking!
and of course to my Mom for letting us quietly celebrate your b-day with a family party. Happy Retirement!!!

Congrats Steelers

2006-02-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

Well, they did it, the Steelers are SuperBowl champs! Of course, not without controversy. The big one being that I missed the whole second half because of a work conference call with Asia.
I would have liked to see the Seahawks win, but I'm glad the Steelers won. I had Big Ben as my FFL QB, Bettis as a RB. And on the other side I had Darrell Jackson and Shaun Alexander. So, either team winning was fine to me.

The Samoan Bowl

2006-01-23T06:14:00.000-08:00

Oops, I mean Super Bowl. It's a battle of defenses with 2 highly rated linebackers in the league: Troy Polamalu and Lofa Tatupu. Both were teamates at USC. Both play an aggressive defensive strategy. Jerome Bettis? Shawn Alexander? Heck, it's going to be more fun watching these two fly around the field.
Look at the stats: Both have 70+ tackles for the season. Both have at least a couple of picks. Both fly around the field like banshee's.
Well, I guess I have to address the other matchups.
QB - Big Ben vs Silent Matt. Physically, they are about the same stature. Roethlisberger has better rating, but not by much. As mentioned in one of the TV ads, the regular season doesn't matter. Both QB's have been stellar in the post season. 21/29 for 275 and 2 TD's, 20/28 for 219 and 2 TD's. Pretty even matchup.
RB - Parker/Bettis vs Alexander. 74 yds vs 132 yds. Pitt relies heavily on it's running game as well as Seattle. But, Seattle was able to pick apart a stingy, bigger Carolina D where Pitt couldn't do the same for a big Denver D. I give the edge to the league MVP.
WR - Too many to match up here. Both QB's fully utilized their receivers. The matchups are virtually even.
Special Teams - Both punters played superb yesterday, pinning the opposing teams close to the goal line. Seattle did have the glitch with SS running back one for a TD. Both Reed and Brown played well. Even matchup here.
Coaching - Cower vs Holmgren. Hmm, both adapted to each team very well. Cower destroyed Indy and Holmgren adjusted after the loss of Alexander. Even.
Intangibles - Steelers vs Seahawks. Steelers have history on their side, but that was ages ago. Most of the players were not born before the last Pittsburgh SuperBowl win. Sorry, history don't matter in this case. Even.
So, if you tally it all together, Seattle has a slight edge at running back. This is going to be a SuperBowl worth watching!! Heck, it may be better than the commercials!

What is wrong with Hollywood?

2006-01-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

Hollywood is turning gay. Gay I tell you. I think they are doing this to fight Bush and his moral majority.
Let's see:
Bareback Mountain, the story of a couple of gay cowboys, wins 4 Gloden Globes: Best Picture, Drama; Best Director for Ang Lee, Best Screenplay for Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana; and Best Original Song, "A Love That Will Never Grow Old."
Felicity Huffman wins a GG as a woman playing a cross dressing man.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman wins as a gay author.
Well, movies are a waste of money anyway. That means more time for my Xbox.

NFL Lost this time...

2006-01-16T06:18:00.000-08:00

A few years back, there was talk in the NBA that the refs were purposely calling fouls against some teams in the playoffs in order for the other team to advance. This accusation occured because the NBA needed to pull in more money by having more popular teams advance.
Well, I'm bringing that accusation now against the NFL. This time it occured not in one game but two games.
The first occured in the Denver-New England game. Champ Bailey ran back an interception 100 yds before a tight end, Ben Watson, caught him at the 1 and knocked the ball through the end zone. The play was ruled Bailey OB at the 1. Replays show that he lost through the end zone, although this one could show it was inconclusive.
However, the 2nd call was clearly made out to favor Indianapolis. This was Troy Polamalu's interception of Manning late in the game. He clearly, again CLEARLY, had control of the ball, which was subsequently knocked out of his arms by his knee when he got up. The referee originally signaled interception but reversed it after the replay.
So, why would you reverse the call? Easy: This would be the second time in a span of less than 5 years where the team with the best record during the regular season did not advance to the championship round. Who was the last team? Pittsburgh.
Again, why is this bad? If you think about it, you have a team that was on the brink of an undefeated season and only 2 losses lose to the lowest seed team in the playoffs. This may make some people wonder about the quality of teams based on schedule.
I have to give a lot of credit to Troy Polamalu. He was sitting on the bench with the rest of the Steelers defense awaiting the decision of the refs. Once it was made, he did not throw a tantrum like most NFL players would have done. He quickly put on his helmut and got back on the field to do his job. That shows a lot of class.
Sorry NFL ref's, Pittsburgh won, you lost. The best team is advancing.

Countdown

2006-01-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

Two big sporting news events are happening today: Reggie Bush will decide if he's going pro and Michelle Wie's debut on the PGA tour as a professional golfer.

The Bush Bowl

This years draft will be stacked heavily. So far, we've got Vince Young , Matt Leinart , LeDale White, AJ Hawk and Marcus Vick (if he gets out of jail).
What will Houston do? They signed Domanick Davis to a 5 year extension in August, which will leave that position in tact. David Carr will be around through 2008 with his contract being picked up by Houston. This may mean that D'Brickashaw Ferguson can be the a number 1 pick.
New Orleans will probably go for Vince Young. With a couple of aging quarterbacks in Aaron Brooks and Todd Bouman, Young looks really good to New Orleans.
Tennessee may look to Matt Leinart to replace a fragile Steve McNair.
And then you got the New York Jets, who I think will go for Reggie Bush, if he goes pro. If not, I think they'll go with LeDale White.
Of course, this is my own opinion. I'm looking at it from the perspective of what makes sense for each team. Houston will have a lot of explaining to do by drafting either Young or Bush and the contract extensions with Carr and Davis. Ferguson will really help the Texans more than Bush or Young.

Wie

She's young, she's talented, she's a she. Michelle Wie is making her professional PGA tour debut today at the Sony Open. Winds are predicted to be about 20-25 MPH which will have a serere affect on everyone's game. The difference is that Michelle may have the home court advantage: those winds are a common occurance for her. The only thing that may stop her from making the cut is her mental state: She just got through mid-terms and she is taking her drivers license test next week. As a teenager, it's more important for you to get your license than make a cut in golf.
My prediction: She misses cut by 5. Sorry, I like Michelle Wie, but I don't think this is a good tournament for her given the outside pressures.

Words to hit GM hard

2006-01-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

I read this statement by Kirk Kerkorian to GM:
Cut wages from the boardroom to the factory floor, chop costs by selling the Saab and Hummer brands, and adopt a sense of urgency to survive.
It is a very interesting statement.
Here are the costs from the wages:
Members of the board of directors receive $200,000 a year paid in cash and stock for their work, plus up to $30,000 for chairing a board committee or being a member of the audit committee.
Chief Executive Rick Wagoner earned a salary of $2.2 million, a bonus and other compensation of about $2.6 million, and stock options for 400,000 shares in 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and former Chief Financial Officer John Devine each earned a salary of $1.55 million, plus a bonus and stock options.
Salaries vary widely for white-collar workers. But highly skilled employees such as those in the engineering and design areas can earn $100,000 or more annually.
Blue-collar workers earn about $27 an hour, or $56,160 a year at 40 hours a week and no overtime.

There are 12 members on the board of directors. 5 of the members chair other committees. Cutting their bonuses in half to $100,000 and taking the perk off of chairing a committee will still not save enough money. The article said that they are burning through $24M a day.

So, if GM follows the same old story that every company does, it will listen to this and execute it. What's wrong with following it? A lot.
Most companies are formed and successful on being innovative. However, once a company is public, innovation is stifled. The company is at the mercy of uninformed stock holders who listens to a 3 paragraph statement in a newspaper article to make decisions.

GM, here is my advice: Trim from the top. Let's say you have 400 VP's getting paid $200,000 a year. And say you have 10,000 workers at $50,000 a year. You can get rid of 200 VP's or 1600 workers, the same workers who actually MAKE your product to sell and make money.

Second part of advice: Start innovating. We are never going back to low cost gasoline. Ever. I actually blame your company for the inflated gasoline prices to begin with. Why? You made a product that got low cost gas mileage and it sold. Now, the OPEC powers that be know that people are willing to buy these Urban Assault Vehicles (tell me, how many Hummers see a dirt road?) and pay extra for the the gas. So, naturally, OPEC raises the price of gas and claim it's because there is a shortage. Tell me that you didn't see that coming? If you didn't, it's time to get rid of ALL the board members, executives, and start from the beginning.
So, what does this have to do with start innovating? You started this gas crisis, it's time that you get us out: Start building fuel efficient cars and alternative fuel cars. And start cutting down your time to market on these vehicles.

GM has to be smart and think about the next steps forward. Let's just hope it's not a knee jerk reaction to appease Mr. Kerkorian.

Happy New Year!!

2006-01-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

A happy and healthy New Year to everyone!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2005-12-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know I'm a bit late on wishing everyone a Merry Christmas on the day, but it is the Christmas season, which to me, lasts until January 6th, with the coming of the wise men.

Since we were not back in Chicago for Christmas, we decided that we would volunteer and help a local organization with their efforts to feed the homeless. This is done at Rock Bottom Brewery and is called the Miracle in the Desert. They bus in the homeless from the shelters and give them a meal along with toys, shoes, and clothes for their children. It is an amazing event that feeds over 800 homeless people and help make their Christmas a little more bearable.
Their web site for the event is here:
http://www.rockbottomrestaurantsinc.com/RockBottomWeb/RBI/RBFoundation/MiracleEvents.asp?EventID=6

Because of their work with the community, I will be frequenting this fine establishment more often. Well, maybe frequent it more often because they have great beer also.

A happy and healthy New Year to everyone who passes this site!

TSO

2005-12-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

For you old mainframers out there, this is not what you think. This is Trans Siberian Orchestra. We went to the concert Friday night, and it rocked!
The drive out there was not too fun, rush hour on a Friday night. For those of you who say "It's Phoenix, what traffic?", it gets pretty bad on the highways here. They are not set up properly for the growth, but that is another topic to be discussed later.
The concert was at the Glendale Arena which is next to the new Cardinals stadium. The arena is host to the Phoenix Coyotes. It is similar to the Rosemont Horizon, but you don't have to pay for parking.
TSO opened up the proper way, not rocking and rolling, but announcing that they donated money to local charities from the ticket sales. Being that they tour one time a year during the holiday season, this is a very generous offer by them.
Then they rocked! They opened the set list with none other than Wizard in Winter, the song made famous by the house with all the lights synchronized to that song. They did not disappoint either putting on a spectacular light show of their own.
They then went into the story of the show, which is based on Christmas Eve and other Stories. There was a narrator who went into the story and the songs just were rocking on. A lot of people thought the show ended after that, but they announced they were going into the second half, which were songs from Beethovens Last Night, a soon to be recorded new album, and some miscellaneous other songs. My favorite was a small breakout into the famous Peanuts Christmas Song: Linus and Lucy.
The show lasted about 2 1/2 hours with only one little announcement break. The band members are all very talented and including the highly energetic Anna Phoebe. She is the bands violin player and it is unreal how much energy she has. She was constantly running on the stage! After partying all night in Vegas from their previous stop, I'm surprised she was able to have that much energy for our show.
They mentioned that this was one of the larger stops on their tour, which was about 11,000 people. I think that they fed off the energy of the people for their show.
Another cool thing is for their string section, they use local talent. So, they used the Glendale Strings as backup violins and viola.
I would highly recommend others to check out this concert, it is definately worth it.

Drip, drip, drip....

2005-12-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm digging a hole to China. The last few weeks, I've been ripping out the south side of the yard main drip line. It started because we want to put cement on the side of the house to have a walkway. There was some sprinklers where the cement was going, so I started ripping those out. I got through that and decided to move the drip line hose.
Well, when I got to the hose, I discovered about 8 holes in it. I decided just to rip out the whole hose and replace it.
After about 6 hours of digging yesterday, I discovered that it goes underneath our cement driveway. Instead of trying to replace the hose, I'm going to find the source and cap it off.
It makes no sense how they laid this system out. There is a water line in the back of the house for a hose, so why didn't they just tap into that water line?
The other scary part is that they had a drip line running about 80 feet from the back of the property to one of the bushes up front when they could have just tapped into the drip line 6 inches from the bush.
Now all I have to do is to get a plumber out to tap off the back water line and move the sprinkler control box over.

Holo storage

2005-11-29T07:39:00.000-08:00

Finally, someone is getting smart. Well, I shouldn't say finally. The technology has existed for 40 years. What's funny is that it has existed for 40 years, yet people still used punch cards.
What is it? Holographic storage.
What does that mean? Imagine having The Lord of the Rings (all 3 movies) and Harry Potter (including the latest one) and still have room left over. And this is just on the first generation of devices to be put on the market.
It's a little pricey now ($15,000 for the reader), but that will come down in price next year. The discs are $120 a piece, but that's for 300GB of storage!
It's an evolution for storage, although it's kind of late. It's always been a two-dimensional model for storage, but the technology for 3 dimensional storage has existed for a while, it's just making it affordable is the hard part.
Sony and Toshiba should be very afraid at this point. Especially Sony with the nice black eye for the rootkit fiasco. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD may be dead before it's released.

Embarrassed

2005-11-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true, I'm embarrassed. Not the fact that I shot an 85 at golf yesterday with 6 strokes coming from 3 bunkers, not at the fact that I noticed more gray on my head. No, it's because I actually watched the worst remake ever made: The Poseidon Adventure. I should have known it was going to be bad: Steve Guttenburg of the 17 Police Academy fame, Rutger Hauer of Blind Fury fame, Peter Weller of Robocop fame, Bryan Brown of Cocktail fame, and of course, C. Thomas Howell of Secret Admirer fame.
Well, most of these people had other bigger movies, but this one was pathetic. Steve Guttenburg place a cheating husband, C. Thomas Howell a doctor, Bryan Brown a pathetic old man marrying someone 40 yrs younger, Peter Weller the ships captain, and the most unbelievable character, Rutger Hauer as a bishop.
Here's what I really didn't like: the play on todays' current state of affairs. Instead of a tidal wave rolling over the ship, it is a terorist attack. Gee, let's give the mindless idiots another idea. I remember watching the take off of the Lone Gunman in early 2001 ( I know, I'm one of 3 people who watched that also) where they had an airplane that was being remote controlled. Of course, it was being controlled to crash into nothing but the World Trade Center. http://thewebfairy.com/killtown/lonegunmen.html
I wasted 3 hours last night and I want Hallmark and NBC to repay me. The episode of Medium in 3D better be good.

Radical Deduction

2005-11-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

I've come up with a new trademark, copywrited term: Radical Deduction.
Here's how it works: You take the most radical standpoint that you can take for an argument, figure out other views, then come up with a deduction from the basis of those views.
Here's an example:
There is a case that is being heard in the Pittsburgh courts arguing about Intelligent Design being taught in schools. What this states is that evolution could happen but someone designed it to happen. Sounds a little bit like a political correctness spin on Creationism.
I'm not for or against Intelligent Design, but, if they don't allow it in school, and they already have banned the pledge of allegiance, then they cannot allow any money in the school either. All money bears the statement "In God We Trust". And if that happens, then all money should be banned.
Therefore you have Radical Deduction.

Stuff

2005-11-07T07:01:00.000-08:00

Lot's of stuff going on:

Bought a grill - finally can make steak, chicken, burgers, etc...
Ripping out grass in front of house. Going to put rock down and a small patio.
Getting estimate for some concrete work on side of house. Have to rip out automatic sprinkler system on side of house and in front.
Going to rip out grass in backyard and move some rocks for a place for the grill.
Going to book massage appointments. :)

Can't believe the Bears are in first place. Maybe I'm wrong about them. Nah...They've only played one team with a winning record (Cincinatti) and got crushed by them. They are the best of the worst. Thier real test will come in 2 weeks against the Carolina Panthers. If they win that, then I'll jump on the Bears bandwagon.

Was out golfing this past weekend, first time in about 2 1/2 weeks. Shot a 84, pretty happy with it. If I break it down, 1 bad drive the whole day (cost me 3 strokes), 4 lipped out putts, and bad plays on par 3's (4 strokes). 11 strokes away from getting to even par. Drives were crisp, except for 2. One bad, one sky high but straight. Still happy with it.

A little late...

2005-10-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

...but congrats to the Chicago White Sox for winning the World Series!! In sense of record, it was a dominating performance only losing 1 playoff game. When you look at the games itself, it was far from dominating. The White Sox eeked out wins in all the World Series games, including the last one.
However, I was disappointed in the Fox broadcast. 10 minutes after the final out, they finally showed the runner out at first. This was the most pivotal play in the game with a runner on 2nd advancing and a short, slow hit up the middle. When the play happened, like most of the fans, my jaw dropped and thought he was safe. When the umpire made the call, I still thought he was safe. But, after the replay you could see he was out by about 8 inches. This was a poor decision by Fox to hold off the replay.
And I'm glad it did show the perfect call by the ump. This further justifies the White Sox deserved to win it. Sure, there will be those who say that it was unfair: the dropped third strike, the "hit by pitch", and the dome being opened.
But, it was the White Sox year to win! First, the BoSox, then the ChiSox, next year: THE CUBBIES!!!

What??!!!!

2005-10-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

The world is coming to an end as we know it. Didn't you see the sky was falling yesterday? Of course, I'm talking about the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.
I'm concerned because the White Sox in World Series, the Bears at the top of the division and the Arizona Cardinals won yesterday. Oh, did I forget that Tiger Woods missed another cut this year on the easiest course set up on the tour?
Well, at least the Blackhawks (remember hockey?) are status quo.

Just wrong

2005-10-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

I'm disappointed in golf rules. Everyone talks about keeping to the spirit of the game and the golf rules the way they were written. So much so that they banned a disabled person from getting his PGA card, anyone remember Casey Martin?
Then why does the LPGA rely on TV footage in order to disqualify a person one day later? That is exactly what happened to Michelle Wie this past weekend. Shouldn't Grace Park be disqualified also for accepting the drop Michelle made during the tourney?
It's like officials from the NFL reviewing tape from a game a day later and then saying that a score needs to be taken away from a team.
All this controversy started because of a nimrod reporter from Sports Illustrated named Michael Bamberger who didn't have the courage to approach officials when the incident occured. Instead, this coward approached officials the next day. Since it was "bothering" him so much, why didn't he notify Michelle Wie before she signed her scorecard?
The question I have is this: Did the drop really improve her lie that much that she would not have salvaged par?
She did this as an inadvertant mistake she made, and in the scheme of things, 1 foot or less is not going to make a difference at her level. If the drop improved her lie, then yes it does make a difference.
However, she signed her scorecard without any controversy at the time. Her playing partner signed also stating the score is correct. There was no fault.
TV replays should be banned from golf. Along with Michael Bamberger.

IT boom in a year

2005-10-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

You say what? Yes, there will be an IT boom similar to Y2K proportions. The next big problem: Daylight Savings Time.
Thanks to the government, the IT functions will go through millions of wasted dollars to test out the next government created problem. In their wisdom, without consulting experts, they have decided to change the calendar when Daylight Savings Time will begin and end. This will take place in 2007 when it will start a couple weeks early and end a week later.
Every instrument that uses Daylight Savings Time will have to be modified. What does that mean? Well, most of the code for calculating Daylight Savings Time are embedded into chips. These chips, if not flashable, will have to be replaced. This could mean that traffic lights, elevators and alarm systems may not work properly. If a traffic light has embedded in it sensors and times, it will be off by an hour. If an alarm system is set to activate and deactivate at certain times, it will not work. Even home items such as your TV, VCR, TiVO will have to be upgraded.
Your computer OS (Linux, Windows, Mac's, PocketPC, Palm, etc) will need code updates.
Thank you George W. again. You have taken what you deemed an insignificant change and now businesses are going to waste billions of dollars to clean up your mess.

3rd World Country

2005-10-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

We are well into our way of becoming a 3rd world country. With the continuation of off shoring jobs to India, China and Mexico, we will go to a 2 class society where the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
Profits are up for these offshore companies.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=ag0cZobvuVZg&refer=asia

Thanks to another Bush deficit spending spree, the US is in debt for the next 100 years. What does he care? He is part of the rich getting richer. And he's taking his buddies with him: Cheney and his companies are making billions helping the clean up efforts in Iraq and New Orleans. I'm still not sure why there is no clauses for government positions that would prohibit government officials who have a large share in private or publicly traded companies to have those companies bid for government jobs.

Having Cheney's companies do the cleanup work is no worse than a monopoly, yet no polititian or lawyer is going after him. It would be similar to Governer Arnold passing a law that all California movie theaters have to have at least one Arnold movie playing at all times where Arnold gets residual money from the movie contract.

NHL

2005-09-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to one person, the NHL will make a full recovery this year. No, it's not one of the players, nor is it one of the owners. It is none other than...Martha Burke!! Yet again, Martha has to go sticking her nose into places where it doesn't belong. She is protesting a comercial used by the NHL to promote the upcoming season.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/2005-09-27-nbc-ad_x.htm
Martha, instead of fighting battles like this that don't by your organization anything, why don't you fight the real battles. You are becoming like Jesse Jackson, sticking your nose into places because your name hasn't been on the news in a while. Are you afraid people are going to forget you for attempting a protest at a private country club?
How about this battle: The PGA tour does not have any restrictive clauses about women joining the tour, but the LPGA does. How about the many different female only workout clubs that exist that restrict men from joining. You see, it goes the other way also.

Oprah

2005-09-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

In an unprecedented move, Oprah has decided to rename the Road to Hana to the Road to Harpo. After buying another 63 acres of land to boost her ownership to 165 acres owned, she is going to build the Road to Harpo which will feature stores that sell the Oprah Book of the Month, the Oprah recommended beauty supplies and Oprah's favorite things.
In another unprecedented move, no males will be allowed to go on this road except for Stedman.