Karazhan-again

I made another run into Kara tonight. We were jamming. I was working with yet another different main tank though. One of the hardest jobs for an off tank (as I usually am) is to coordinate their pulls with the main tank, coordinate aggro with the main tank, etc. So I have to try and figure out the habits and style of the main tanks as quickly as possible. It can be a steep learning curve. Thankfully most of the time I'm running with well-equipped and experienced guild members, so rarely does the process result in a wipe.

I'm curious though....do the larger more established guilds run two tank teams? I know I would be much more effective if I was constantly working with the same main tank all the time.

North Korea

This is widespread speculation that Kim Jong-Il, the dictator of North Korea, has suffered a stroke. If true, who knows what could happen. His family has spent the last 60 years building a cult of personality and eliminating any possible rivals. It also seems pretty clear that his sons have little chance of successfully taking over like on the death of their father he did.

All bets are off. North Korea could unify with the south, go democratic and remain independent, or be taken over by a military junta aligned with Putin.

The Chinese are probably going to want some say in North Korea's future. This could blow up in the new president's face.

Fantasy Football Week 1

I'm in six leagues this year, two for cash. Three of them are Yahoo, and the other three ESPN. I went 6-0 this week. I had Nate Burleson in several leagues as a sleeper. So what happens? He has a big game, then gets hurt and is out the rest of the season. Oh well, I dropped him and picked up Michael Jenkins to replace him.

Sunday Night Football

Please NBC, please....remove Keith Olberman from Sunday Night Football. I don't know if my stomach will be able to take it if you don't. In fact, your whole studio crew sucks. I mean, I like Bob Costas, but he's hardly a football guy. Jim Lampley? Why the hell does he stil have a job? Dan Patrick would be OK with someone to carry him. Why do you have the football guys isolated over in the corner?

(Un) Reliable Sources

CNN's Reliable Sources spent the first half of its show today talking about Gov. Palin and the media coverage of her. They had three openly hostile reporters (including Sally Quinn who attacked Gov. Palin's motherhood in a national column) and one who was neutral. The stunning thing was not the fact that they continued to attack Palin and defend themselves, but in the utter clueless way they dismissed the public's anger over, and the blatent sexism and hypocrisy of, the coverage.

Update 9/6/08

Well, it's been several days....sorry things are a little complicated right now.

College Football:

Somewhat interesting so far. Big game next week...USC V Ohio State. That should go along way to deciding who will play in the championship game. Notre Dame managed a win.

Pro Football:

I'm in six fantasy leagues......I'm going to be a busy man on Sundays...don't bother me.

Politics:

The attacks on Gov. Palin: I expected it from the Leftwing wackos and Kossacks....they simply can't help themselves. The fact that the media has so transparently gone into the tank for the Democrats and savaged her this way does surprise me. We may actually be seeing the beginning of the end for traditional media. The political elite and media elite are seriously underestimating her appeal to flyover country.

The election: By all predictors, the Democrats should be winning in a walkover this year. The fact that Sen. Obama doesn't even have the lead that Dukakis or Kerry had at this point is frankly stunning, and the fact that no one is talking about it about it frankly damning. The Democrats are in real danger of losing this election. Personally I think that is a good thing for the country. But I am really frightened about how the Left is going to react. There might be riots.....

WoW:

I spent about five thousand gold the past couple of days upgrading my equipment. Much of it went for a shiny new sword with a Mongoose enchantment on it. I also bought a new cloak, built a new belt, put a bunch of stamina gems and enchants on my gear and I put a new chest piece on (but it's still nowhere near what I need.)

Ye Shall Know Them By Their Words

Sen. Obama:

"...I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."


Gov. Palin:

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that, as parents, we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support."

The Sound Of Silence.......

Where is Sen. Obama? Why is he allowing his supporters on the left to attack Gov. Palin and her family this way?

If you don't read the internet much, perhaps you've managed to miss it. (good for you) As soon as Gov. Palin was announced, the left wing smear machine went into overdrive. It began with a relatively mild assertion that Gov. Palin got married while pregnant. Really? The left is going to attack someone for premarital sex?

The next attack hits eleven on the slime meter. It seems that Trig isn't Sarah's son at all, it her daughter's, and even worse, the grandchild is a product of incest! (I've seen two different stories, one that it was her husband, and one that it was Track her other son) Somehow Gov. Palin faked her pregnancy and hid her daughter's, all the while pissing off the media and political establishment, yet nothing ever leaked out until she gets picked for V.P.. Kos and Andrew Sullivan were all over this atrocity.

Now comes word that Gov. Palin's daughter is pregnant, she's keeping the baby and is engaged to get married. The Left is attempting to use this to attack Gov. Palin.

Sen. Obama must immediately call a press conference, condemn the abhorrent attacks on Gov. Palin and her family, declare her family off limits, and congratulate her daughter on her engagement and pregnancy.

Don't hold your breath waiting, the hypocrisy and lack of class on the left knows no bounds.

Update 12:37 9/1/08: It seems the senator has done the right thing:

Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown reports: At a press avail in Monroe, Mich., Barack Obama on Palin: "Back off these kinds of stories." "I have said before and I will repeat again: People's families are off limits," Obama said. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18 and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics."On charges that his campaign has stoked the story via liberal blogs:
"I am offended by that statement. There is no evidence at all that any of this involved us," he said. "Our people were not involved in any way in this, and they will not be. And if I thought there was somebody in my campaign who was involved in something like that, they would be fired."

You Dummies Just Don't Get It

I've been watching the Sunday Morning talk shows. It's all the same thing. Palin has no experience, she has no foriegn policy experience.

We. Don't. Care.

It's not about experience. It's about character, judgement, conviction and (political) courage.

And I'll take Palin over Obama or Biden on those grounds any day.

Americans aren't stupid. (well most of them anyway)

Palin's biggest liability with the political class is her biggest asset with the American people. She isn't a member of the political class, isn't afraid of the political class, and is willing to confront the political class.

I'm telling you, this won't be close.

An Eventful Night In Azeroth

Well we were scheduled to do Gruul's again tonight, but because of the holiday weekend we couldn't get enough toons to try it. So while I was grinding out some dailies, I was asked to tank a run through normal Shadow Labyrinth. I said sure, I'm always up for instances.

The group was me and four other members of my guild. Turned out they were starting a Karazhan key frag run, that I just happened to need also. We jammed through normal Shadow Labyrinth pretty quick and easy. I finally figured out how to tank the bosses for this instance. (my guild is really patient with me, and I've learned so much in the past two or three weeks) Then we moved on to the Steam Vaults, but didn't kill any of the bosses, just got the key frag. Next up was the Arcatraz, a floating prison in the Netherstorm. This was my first time here. Again we just did the minimum to get the key frag, but we did it twice this time because one of the guys had two toons that needed it. By now it was getting late eastern time, but we moved on to the Caverns of Time. First we did the Durnholde instance. I really don't know why, unless you have to complete it first before you can do the Black Morass instance. We had some awful lag spikes right near the end of Durnholde, and we came close to failing. Finally we moved on to the Black Morass to talk to Medivh and get the key to Karazhan. This was an interesting and rather involved fight. From comments the other guys made this used to be quite hard, but it was a piece of cake for us. I was wondering if one day Karazhan or Gruul's Lair will seem this easy.

So I got my Kara key (and a Caverns of Time key) and saw a lot of WoW I'd never seen before. All in all, I'm actually pretty glad Gruul's was cancelled.

USC VS Virginia

1st Quarter 7:00 - This looks like USC scrimmaging against a high school team so far. The USC defense is completely dominating and intimidating Virginia's offense, and the USC offense is moving at will.

Update: 52-7 USC. Sanchez looked pretty good. Bring on Ohio State in two weeks!

Is McCain A Toaster?

This is actually kind of funny.....

Short Answer? - Yes!

OK..The Leftwing wackos and Kossacks have already been frothing at the mouth. It's very amusing to see them questioning the experience of a candidate for national office. Not only did the Democratic Party lose its sense of humor, they have lost their ability to sense hypocrisy.

But Gov. palin has been attacked form the right also. David Frum is typical: "If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?"

In a word, yes. I am tired of politics dominated by a professional political class. I want people who have actually done things, run businesses, met a payroll, paid taxes and yes served on the PTA. I want real people involved. Let's look at what she has done:

1) Cut spending, both as mayor and governor.
2) Cut taxes, both as mayor and governor.
3) Made real reforms, and attacked corruption, both as mayor and governor.
4) Been willing to defy and oppose the party machine.
5) Defeated the immediately prior Republican and Democratic governor in her election to governor.

On my high school list someone came on and praised Sen. Obama. I asked them: What has Obama accomplished besides managing to get electedto the Illinois Senate, U.S. Senate and then nominated for president. The only answer they came up with is that he got into Harvard as a Black man from a single parent family. WtH? First of all, he is as much White as Black. More really, he was raised primarily by his White grandparents (not a single mother) in Hawaii where race is much less of a concern than most places. Second, as stated, he was not raised by a single mother. His mother remarried quite quickly, and for most of his life he was actually raised by his grandparents. Lastly, surely he will proudly admit that he got into Harvard through Affirmative Action (AA), given his views on AA and his statements about Justice Thomas? So how tough was that? What did he do at Harvard?

He has not stayed in a job longer than four years, has no legislative record to speak of (and what he does have is known to have been drafted by his Chicago mentor and given to him), was given the nickname "Mr. Present" for his perfiormance in the Illinois Senate, has been constantly running for office since entering politics and submerged himself with the Chicago and National Democratic Political machines.

The only thing he has done is read speeches off a teleprompter well.

I'll put Gov. Palin's experience against Sen. Obama's anytime, anywhere.

Going, Going ....Gone

I've been talking up Gov. Polin for months now, telling all my friends she would be the perfect VP pick. I just didn't think McCain had the political courage to pick her.

I was not happy about McCain as the nominee, and only planned to vote for him in order to vote against Obama. However, after watching his performance at the Saddleback forum and now his pick for VP.....I'm actually beginning to become enthusiastic.

In my opinion, this pick was a homerun.......

Stanford VS Oregon State

Woo Hoo college football at last. I managed to catch the last 9 minutes of this game. Pretty exciting. Too bad Catchings had to blow Oregon State's real chance to tie it up by trying to grandstand on the 1 yard line.

What Next?

OK...For some reason it has become acceptable to state that people have a "right" to health care. I don't know where it came from. The Founders would have found it inconceivable. Is there some new penumbra I've missed? Or are they using the "evolving social standards" excuse? (which by the way, the Constiution was specifically designed to counter)

So what is next? I guarantee you if they win (and it looks like they will) on health care, they'll find some new "right" to demand that government provide.

I will actually make a prediction on the next "right". Internet access. Remember you read it here first.

It Was A Joke Son, I Say A Joke......

Ok, if I hear one more Democrat attack McCain by saying he believes you have to have five million dollars to be rich, I'm going to puke. Anyone who saw the Saddleback forum knows he was making a joke. McCain even predicted at the time that the Democrats would act this way. I just don't get it, how can anyone respect people who would take what was obviously a joke and attempt to convince people that this is McCain's real opinion?

If I was McCain, I would immediately make a commercial with the original comment from the Saddleback forum (including the prediction about how the Democrats would behave), a quote from an Obama campaign ad attacking Mccain for the $5 million comment, and then a voice asking something like" If he's willing to lie about this, what else is he willing to lie about?"

If I was a late night talk show host I'd be asking "when did the Democratic Party lose its sense of humor?"

The O and Joe Show

So, Obama picks Joe Biden. Two senators, one who's been around for thirty years. That sounds like change to me. (not) I don't have a real problem with Biden, he's a pretty typical Democrat, a little better on national security than most. However, he's made some statements that the Republicans will be featuring in commercials for sure.

My biggest concern is the fact that Biden has had two brain aneurysms. Surely he's got some increased risk for another one?

Crazy For Karazhan Day 2

We started day 2 back in the curator's room. We cleared trash through the library and into Aran's room. Some sloppy pulls with some adds. I had some trouble picking up aggro. I died a couple of times.

Finally we made it to the Shade of Aran. We took him down easy. I got a Shermanar Great Ring, it was an upgrade over WindTrader's Band. The main tank was a little more aggressive clearing the trash mobs between bosses than I was used to, and I had trouble picking up aggro on some of my offtanking assignments.

Next was the Chess Event, where we (surprise) play chess. This is usually a walk over, we've only lost once out of all the times I've been in here.

Next we moved on to Prince Malchezaar. I always die in this fight. It's just what happens to melee fighters if they aren't the main tank. I've never seen one survive the whole fight. My current weapon was dropped by this guy, the Decapitator. Tonight I got another axe from him, this time a two handed axe to use when I'm not tanking. It's called Gorehowl.

Then we moved on to Netherspite, or the "Beam Dragon" This is my favorite fight in Karazhan. Easy as pie as usual. The hardest part of this fight is running back and finding your beam location.

Next was Terestian Illhoof. I have an interesting assignment in this fight. The boss has an imp companion, Kil'rek. I tank him the whole fight, and usually kill him two or three times, because he respawns about 45 seconds after he dies. The toughest part for me is targeting him and getting aggro when he respawns. Another one shot. We switched out Mystii for Lager again for this fight.

Unfortunately, we moved on to the Maiden of Virtue. I hate this fight, especially when they decide to make me main tank it. We wiped three times. Then they had me and the other tank tank it together, and it went pretty smoothly. To be honest, I don't think the wipes were all my fault, but I'm sure I contributed to them. I got Iron Gauntlets of the Maiden, which may turn out not to be an upgrade for me, but I was the only one on the raid who could wear plate.

Lastly we moved on to Nightbane. It was getting late, so we decided to only give it one try. We got him down to 40% and then we wiped. I maight have had something to do with this. Apparently I somehow grabbed aggro away from the tank. I tried to give it back, but we wiped. To be honest, a lot of times we skip this fight altogether.

From what I understand, our guild fights the bosses in a different order than many guilds, and we use a few strategies that are uncommon, but things usually go very smoothly. We wiped four times tonight, which is unusual for us, but considering we fought six bosses, not all that bad. Skuud got a lot of good drops tonight, and I got a couple of good ones.

The same crew as last night except Awlbiste missed the raid, and Wickum, a Night Elf Druid (surprise) took her place.

Crazy for Karazhan

I got lucky tonight when some people who signed up for Karazhan didn't show. (I was on the standby list because I got to go last week.)

Everyone in the group was pretty experienced, but a lot were on alts, so they were taking on roles they don't normally do. We took out Attumen the Huntsman first. It was pretty cake, until this idiot warrior (me) pulled a group of elites near the blacksmith after the boss fight. We wiped because I had a total brainfart. Everyone was pretty cool about it though.

Then we headed upstairs to take out Moroes. Again this went well, if not actually textbook. We pulled adds on a couple of occassions but picked them up pretty easily.

Next we moved on to the Opera Event. It was Oz this time, a first for me. I got to kite Tinhead around, then help kill The Crone. The cool thing about that fight was when the Crone cast cyclone on me and I got bounced around up in the air for about 20 seconds.

After this fight we ran back out, and went around to the back to take on The Curator. We ended up pulling the boss early, but recovered nicely and got him down first try.

All in all a great group. The only wipe was due to my stupidity.
Group:
Amaraa - a Night Elf Druid (Main Tank)
Arienna - a Night Elf Hunter
Awlbiste - a Night Elf Druid
Fyra - a Night Elf Druid
Gahrie (me) - a Human Warrior (Off Tank)
Mangler - a Dwarf Hunter
Moonsfire - a Draenei Shaman
Mystii - a Draenei Mage
Skudd - a Gnome Rogue
Ydnareno - a Night Elf Priest
Lager - a Gnome Warlock was switched in for the Attumen fight, I believe in hopes of getting a drop.

Here's hoping the second half goes as well tomorrow night.

A Visit To Gruul's

The guild raided Gruul's Lair tonight. We were a little tank and healer heavy. Still it was nice to have 25 players turn out. We never did manage to kill him, but we came close....a few unlucky cave-ins hurt. We had him down to 9% at our last wipe. Friday we are supposed to go to Serpentshrine Cavern and take on Lurker, but I don't know if I will be able to make it...I think I have a fantasy football draft at that time.

Stupid Commecials # 1,056,456

J.C. Penny has got a commecial on currently for back to school clothes. Someone thought it would be a smart idea to use music and scenes from Breakfast Club. Stupid idea. Those of us who remember the movie resent the exploitation, and those who the ad was aimed at have never seen the movie.

How I Met Your Mother

OK, I flip on the TV and this show is on. Now I sometimes watch this show simply because Alyson Hannigan is on it. She's hot. Now apparently one of the current storylines is that she's constantly horny, but not getting any. OMG. This should be illegal. I'd go with her to bandcamp anytime. By the way, I love her as a brunette. Of course I loved her as a redhead also.

Lame Lame Lame

Oh you lefties slay me. McCain cleans your guys clock, so now you all come scuttling out of the wood work to accuse McCain of cheating at the forum and lying about his prison camp story. Lame.

By the way, it's Obama who lied about the Born Alive bills in the Illinois Senate, and his only example for his bravery in "crossing the aisle", he actually punked out.

Please Allow Myself To Introduce....Myself

For anyone who happens to play WoW that may come by, my main account is on the Realm Draenor, and my main toon is a level 70 human protection warrior named Gahrie. I'm currently leveling a nightelf hunter named Shoan, and a human warlock named Kirbdawg.

My guild, Mythos, is pretty cool...I've gone from being a complete noob to someone who can at least act like he knows what he is doing. My main role is to punch the big guy in the nose, and then stand there and get hit while everyone else kills him. It's called tanking, and I'm referred to as a tank. (or more accurately at the moment as the offtank or second tank in bigger raids) I have leveled out blacksmithing, mining, first aid, fishing and cooking (yes I said fishing and cooking for you non-WoWers) I'm hoping when WotLK (next expansion) comes out the levels will go up.

Throw Me A Frickin' Bone Here....

Someone needs to put a warning label on bottles of concentrated grape juice!

I'm just sayin'....

Intervention

Hello everybody, my name is Gary and I'm addicted to WoW. (cue everyone responding "Hello Gary") The problem is, I can't use the next line, I'm still in the throes of my addiction. (If you have no idea that WoW means World of Warcraft, you're still safe.)

I started on the small stuff, like Age of Empires and Civilization. I soon moved on to Diablo. But soon I needed a bigger score. I moved on to the hard stuff, City of Heroes. I began to get my friends addicted. But I was still in control. I could handle the stuff. Then I fell into the abyss. World of Warcraft. I'd heard about this one, but stayed away from it. Then one day I heard a siren song. Just get a trial account, try it out. The next day I was at BestBuy buying a WoW battlechest. Soon I was playing the game for 12 hours at a time. (seriously...I'm a school teacher and single...which means no life and lots of free time during the summer)

Last night I was chastised by a good friend, who pointed out (among other things) that I have been neglecting this blog. So, I'm going to try and do better.

College football is coming up, and I absolutely love that sport, especially when USC is supposed to have a good year, and they are this year) Expect at least a weekly report about collge football. (end the BCS!)

It's an election year for goodness sake! Expect some political posts. I can't get excited about McCain. He's too liberal for me. However I will support him as the alternative to Obama. Seriously what exactly has Obama ever done but give a good speech from teleprompters? More to follow.

You can expect some posts about WoW for that matter.

So...I'm back, and I'll try to do better. (battle: puff pastery on Iron Chef?!? What the hell?)

Happy Birthday to Me.....

Woo freaking hoo....

43 today. I wake up, turn on Mike and Mike, and they are wishing Dick Vitale happy birthday. A little later, I switch to CNN and they are wishing one of their financial analysts happy birthday. That's a little weird...

Gave myself a sort of birthday present and paid off my car loan early. The girl on the phone noticed and wished me a happy birthday.

Oh well, another year older....

Ironic?

They just had Jerry West award the Western Conference Championship trophy to Mitch Kupchak of the Lakers. Excuse me? Given all the talk that the fix was in when West traded Paul Gosol to the Lakers was this really a good idea?

Public Service Announcement

If you ever hear that I am going to the same baseball game you are going to, sell your tickets. The last four baseball games I have attended (2 Angels, 2 Dodgers) have ended in 1-0 scores.

Last night was a real scorefest. The Angels won 1-0 on a walkoff walk on four straight pitches in the bottom of the 12th.

Plus I got the pleasure of sitting next to a bunch of drunken frat boys and their dates.

The seats were cool otherwise though....3rd base side, field level between the foul pole and the bullpens, close to the bullpens. Kenny Rogers was pitching for Detroit, and I got some good heckles in as he was warming up in the bullpen and walking out at the start of the game.: "Hey Kenny, you pitch like a singer", "hey where's Dolly?". " you better sing good tonigght, I paid good money for the seats", "freebird!", "C'mon Kenny, just one song".

O'Reilly Losing It (profanity)

The Empire Strike Barack

TBL? Update 4/21/08

Well I weighed in today. My team leader read off the numbers. According to her I lost 9 pounds this week. Not bad, remember, I haven't started any type of exercise yet...it's all just a change in diet so far.

Am I The Only One Thinking This?

Utah is known as the beehive state. New Orleans is the home of jazz music. The NBA franchise in Utah is known as the Jazz, the NBA franchise in New Orleans is known as the Hornets. Shouldn't somebody arrange a swap in team names?

There is precedent.

When the Art Model wanted to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, the NFL worked out a deal where he essentially traded the Browns to the NFL for an expansion team and the Browns' then roster and organization. The name, uniform, records, legacy of the Browns stayed in Cleveland even though everything else went to Baltimore, and a new Browns team was formed.

Refilling Oil Fields Pt 3

Another article musing about the possibility that the Earth is constantly producing oil deep beneath the surface. It mainly talks about a new field found off the coast of Brazil. Every since people started moaning that oil was running out new oil fields have started popping up all over the place.

Being Sick Sucks.....

About halfway through work today, I started to get a painfull cough and my chest tightened up. By the time I got home I was feeling miserable. Just in time for the fracking weekend. My throat is raw, my upper chest congested and I am painfully coughing up bloody sputum. I hope it burns out fast, we're giving the state standardized test all next week, and I really need to be there.

Global Warming Redux

Global Warming

The global warming doomsayers have been telling us for years that one sign of global warming was the increasingly bad hurricane seasons. It's a central point in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

Well, the scientist Gore and others have been depending on has just released a new study. Those that are talking about this study are concentrating on the idea that this new study might suggest that hurricanes are not linked to global warming. Which is true. What they are overlooking or ignoring is that Emanuel also states at the same time that his new study might equally suggest that the climate models that global warming activists rely on do not accurately reflect real world realities. The key quote from Emanuel:

"The models are telling us something quite different from what nature seems to be telling us. There are various interpretations possible, e.g. a) The big increase in hurricane power over the past 30 years or so may not have much to do with global warming, or b) The models are simply not faithfully reproducing what nature is doing. Hard to know which to believe yet."

Surely the interpretation that the climate models that underlay the theory of global warming don't work is much more newsworthy than the interpretation that hurricanes aren't linked to global warming? Why then is the first interpretation receiving so much coverage, and the second is being, as far as I can tell, completely ignored? According to Emanuel himself the two are equally likely.

At the very least, Emanuel's new study clearly shows that climate science is not a settled issue. Which is what we skeptics have been claiming all along.

TBL? Update 4/13/08

Another good week. My clothes are definitely getting looser. Still no weight, but that may change this week.

I cheated a little on Friday night, I went out with some friends and had three glasses of beer. Then I cheated a little tonight and had a Coke with dinner.

But I'm not putting any pressure on myself to be perfect, so it's all good...no guilt.

I may be having a strange aallergic reaction to the generic Crystal Light though..so I'm going to stick to straight water for a day or two to see.

TBL? Update 4/5/08

I went the whole week without soda...in fact without sugar. I had some caffiene headaches, but nothing I haven't had to deal with before. Diet food like Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine still tastes like cardboard to me....I may simply go on Atkins again.

Thursday night we worked at McDonald's for three hours to raise money for my school. I spent three hours in front of the fryers. I can't believe I used to do that stuff for a living once. When I got home that night I drank 4 quarts of generic Crystal Light.

The lady at the DO never got back to me about weighing in...so who knows. My clothes continue to get looser though.

I Am The Champion!

I just won the IrishTrojan's NIT pool for the second year in a row. I came in second two years ago. Go me.

The Biggest Loser?

Well, I was nagged into joining a weight loss competition out at work. The big problem? They can't weigh me. The scales only go up to 350, and I peg it there. Someone from the district is supposed to call me this week to let me know where to go to get weighed.

I had already decided to try and lose 6 inches by the end of the school year. At one point last year I was at 68 inches, right now I am at 66, I want to get to 60 by the time school is out. So even if I end up not being in the competition, I have my own goal to meet.

The big thing, that will make a big difference, is cutting out soda. It's tough for me, and that's where my empty calories are. I can drink 4 liters of Mountain Dew in a day, easy. I figure I can drop at least 1,500 to 2,000 calories a day just by finally not drinking soda. It's been two days so far...so far so good.

To be honest, I really don't know how I got to be this big. Pyschologically I don't think of myself as this big. Two inches here, two inches there, and the next thing you know you can only buy clothes at the big guys store.

Well, Mom and dad have both lost a lot of weight in their 50's and 60's so it can be done.

One day I hope to be able to say I'm half the man I used to be.

The Master Of My Domain....(or at least the N.I.T.)

http://blog.brendanloy.com/2008/03/defending-champ.html

Clinically Wild Alaska

I have been watching a lot of the Animal Planet channel lately. There's one show called Clinically Wild Alaska. There is something about the female vet on that show, especially her eyes that I find incredibly attractive.

Am I alone here?

Update: Her name is actually Dr. Shannon Kesting

Valentine's Day For Men

Technically, Valentine's Day is supposed to be for men and women, but for a myriad of reasons has devolved into "treat women ronmantically day". So, in order to restore balance to the universe, there is a proposal to make March 14 a companion holiday for men.

Generic Blog topic #2,090,897,456,001

What are the ten greatest songs that were better as covers than the version sung by the person who wrote them?

To keep the list kosher, we'll confine the list of possible songs to those written by people who have had at least one song sung by them make it to the top ten. The song also must have been released in some form by the writer as well as been sung by someone else.

The first two people that come to my mind immediately are Carole King and Bob Dylan. I'm not a big fan of either of their voices, but they both wrote some great songs.

Behavioral Skills and Expectations

Here is an argument I am participating in on an education blog called joannejacobs.com. The beginning quote is from someone on the otherside of the argument. The discussion began with a post about disruptive students filming "out of control" teachers on their cellphones and posting them on youtube.

"I have a big problem believing that teachers who know how to teach reading and arithmetic can’t figure out how to teach behavioral skills and expectations."


Really? Why?
When did it become the role of teachers to teach behavioral skills and expectations instead of parents? Not too long ago, it was expected that students would already have behavioral skills and expectations before they entered school, and the results were rewarded and punished at home.
We used to teach behavioral skills and enforce expectations by having concrete consequences, and enforcing them uniformly and immediately. This enforcement included corporal punishment, public embarassment, and meaningful expulsion.
Then the 1960's came along and brought us the self-esteem movement and dangerous kooks like Dr. Spock.
Every animal on the planet that raises and teaches it's young uses negative reinforcement to do so. There's a reason for that...it works. We now have a society in which not only can't educators use corporal punishment, but parents are afraid to do so also, for fear of being reported for abuse. The second most effective form of negative reinforcement, shame, is also out of bounds. I have parents who have actually filed complaints on me for embarassing or shaming their child. When I explain to them their child's behavior deserved shame and embarassment they look at me like I am crazy. Shame and embarrsment have also gotten much less effective as popular culture has glorified and celebrated behavior that was once deemed shameful. There literally is no sense of guilt anymore...maybe a little chagrin at getting caught. The most popular kids at school aren't the athletes or cheerleaders, they are the thugs. The ruder and more out of control you behave, the more popular you are. Academic success and good behavior is ridiculed (school boy, acting white). Politeness is seen as weakness.
There are problems with positive reinforcement also. Praise has been completely devalued, because these students have been receiving false praise for poor performance and effort for years. Rewards are ineffective because the students feel entitled to them regardless of performance or behavior. In my experience positive reinforcement doesn't motivate those who don't earn it to try harder, it motivates them to belittle and deride positive reinforcers. As for the students who earn positive reinforcement, they tend to be the students who are going to behave and succeed anyway.
Children are not civilized beings who can be reasoned with. You cannot get children to behave by explaining to them that it is the right thing to do. Children are barbarians. They must be civilized. How do you civilize barbarians? By making the price of barbarity too high to pay, and civilization a more attractive alternative. We are refusing to punish barbarity, and instead glorify it in our popular culture.
So what are we left with? Calling home? About half of the time, the parents side with the students indiscriminately. Much of the rest of the time, the parents have no control over their kids. (This year I have had literally half a dozen parents ask me how to get their child committed to Juvenile Hall) A significant number of parents are simply unreachable. Time outs, detentions? My students either ignore them or simply see them as the cost of doing business. Suspensions? 50% of my referrals to the admin are ignored. When students are eventually suspended, they stay home for a couple of days and watch TV and play video games. (I have students who if they were literate enough would be taunting me with "go ahead and throw me in the briar patch") Expulsions? The district simply refuses to expel students. If they do, they immediately suspend the expulsion, and move the student to a different school instead. I currently have a student who has been expelled twice already this year. (once by a different district with a much better reputation who actually enforced their expulsion)
So, I have 5 classes with 35 students that I see for one hour a day, five days a week. At least half of them see no value in an education and expect (and fell entitled) for society to provide for them. They have no sense of shame or guilt, and no fear of corporal punishment. They know the worst thing that will happen to them is that eventually they will get a couple of days vacation at home.
For the sake of arguement, let's grant that I am responsible for teaching them behavioral skills and expectations? How am I supposed to do that? And if I do try to do that, when am I supposed to teach them the subject matter material?

What the @#&*% Is Going On With TV? Pt. 2

Did I really just see Ana Marie Cox on CNN's reliable sources on a panel discussing journalistic ethics?

Does no one have a sense of irony?

Bill Murray Is America's Greatest Living Actor

One of the HD channels was running a mini movie marathon tonight, and I suddenly realized just how many great movies Bill Murray has starred in.

Most people start with Caddyshack, but don't over look The Rutles (Spinal Tap before there was a Spinal Tap) done by a Monty Python/SNL hybrid cast. Next comes Meatballs, a pretty decent summercamp movie. Compare it to the modern versions, say the American Pie version. Which would you rather watch with your kids? Notable also because this is the beginning of the Ivan Reitman/Bill Murray partnership that is going to work so well together in the future (Stripes, Ghostbusters).

He follows this up with Where The Buffalo Roam (he plays Hunter S. Thompson) This movie doesn't get the respect it deserves. Should be a cult classic.

Next comes the part that broke him wide open...Caddyshack. A great role in a great movie. Sadly, younger audiences don't seem to get it...but how many thousands of boys have memorized his "on the green" monologue? This begins his partnership with Harold Ramis (Stripes, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day).

Stripes quickly follows, another comedy classic. The definitive military comedy for at least two generations.

He has a supporting role in Tootsie, which was very popular at the time. But in 1984 along comes Ghostbusters. If you weren't around at the time, it's hard to imagine the impact this film had. The theme song was a hit, the movie was a hit and it was just good, clean fun.

He has a small, but classic role in Little Shop of Horrors as a masochistic dental patient.

Next is one of his best, in my opinion an all time classic, Scrooged. This is my favorite Christmas movie of all time, hands down. If you haven't seen it, you are in for a treat.

Ghostbuster II was an obvious attempt to cash in on the success of Ghostbusters. About the only notable thing about it is the fact that the writers, director and major cast all returned for it. Quick Change and What About Bob were funny, but nothing special.

However now we get to a true classic, an all time great. Definitely in my top ten favorite movies. Groundhog Day. Fittingly, I can watch this movie over and over..there is a surprising amount of depth in it.

His work since Groundhog day has been a little uneven, good stuff like Ed Wood and Rushmore, but also commercial roles in Charlie's Angels and the Garfield movies. I'm hoping he decides to take on some more serious roles, perhaps character acting stuff. I'd like to see him do a reverse Leslie Neilsen.

What The %@*# Is Going On With TV?

Let's see last night I saw a commercial for a movie that featured a pearl necklace joke, a prime time sitcom with a thinly veiled blowjob joke and just now on Fox News an anchor used the phrase "piss off".

How far we have come from the days when Lucy and Ricky shared separate beds, and they couldn't use the word "pregnant".

Why all the Favregasms?

Brett Favre retired. Finally. Why is everyone acting like the world came to an end? Why are people calling him the greatest of all time? That's simply ridiculous!

Yes he has lots of numbers. He played a long time in an era and a scheme that allowed him to. He's the Bill Ripkin of football, not the Babe Ruth. Most of those records he broke were held by Dan Marino, another quarterback who played a long time in a scheme that allowed him to throw a lot.

Is he better than Elway, Bradshaw, Montana, Young or Staubach? Seriously? Among current players is he better than Peyton Manning or Tom Brady?

Supposedly (I don't know him) he's a great guy and a great teammate. OK. Fine. But one of the greatest?

Favre was a good player, not a great player. Let's give him his Hall of Fame membership and stop the deification.

Sudden Revelation About Education

I was involved in a discussion about Math on an education website. One of the commenters wrote the following:


Every lesson was memorizing and practicing a new algorithm. I had the right
answer every time, but I can’t tell you the underlying purpose for even one.There needs to be some balance between memorization and understanding.

This is my response:

Here is the basis of the problem for almost every problem with modern education.
Modern education is based on curriculum written by education professionals, that is people who have been trained and educated in understanding underlying purposes and principles.
What most of them fail to understand, or have forgotten, is that the vast majority of people will never need, and do not desire, to understand the underlying purposes and principles. They just need to be able to get the right answer.

Elementary, Middle and High school students only need to learn how to get the right answers and memorize the basic facts. For something like 75% of the people, that is all they will ever need.

People who need to understand the underlying purposes and principles can go to college to learn them.

Anybody Got An Answer?

How come nobody has ever made a good movie about the War of 1812?

There are some great plotlines:

Dolley Madison saving the contents of the White House as the British invade and burn down our capital

Francis Scott Key writing the Star Spangled Banner

The naval battles of the Great Lakes

The Indian fighting in the mid west

Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans

The U.S.S. Constitution and the naval battles on the Atlantic

Superbowl XLII (live blog)

3:20 P.M.- A fairly decent performance of the national anthem. Nothing new in the commercials except a Prison Break commercial.
3:24 - Jason Taylor gets the Walter Payton award for community service. Steve Walsh's family and some of his players participate in the coing toss...Lott (fight on) tosses the coin. Giants win and will receive. More Fox and NFL commercials.
3:28 - Interview with Ted Bruschi. (it's his 5th Superbowl) Ford commercial, Fox Promo.
3:30 - Kick off!...into the endzone..Giants bring it out past the twenty. First play hand off left for a three yard gain.
3:33 - 3rd and 6...Manning to Burriss, first down. (nice blitz pick up by the running back) First down, play action pass to the fullback in the flat.
3:35 - another 3rd and 6...first down to Steve Smith (fight on). Pretty funny Audi commercial with a Godfather homage.
3:39 - 3rd and inches. First down carry and more. This is a nice drive so far. The Giants are moving the ball and the clock..the best defese there is against Brady. Manning's first incomplete, a dropped ball.
3:42 - 3rd and 7......another first down throw to Steve Smith. (fight on) First down throw into the end zone to Burriss. Nice defense.
3:44 - 3rd and 10 inside the red zone. Complete to Smith (fight on) short of the first down.
3:45 - Tynes hits a 32 yd field goal...3-0 Giants. 9:59 opening drive. Pretty good Pepsi Max commercial with a A Night at the Roxbury homage.
3:47 - Kick off to the end zone, Maroney brings it out past the 40.
3:50 - First Patriots play a fake reverse into a screen, ball dropped and Brady nearly got sacked. Second play a nine yd run. 3rd down run for a first down.
3:52 - A first down pass, incomplete. 2nd down a completion to Stallworth. 3rd and 3 a first down by Welker.
3:56 - Inside the Giants red zone. First down incomplete pass. 2nd down dropped ball by Faulk. 3rd and 10......pass interference in the end zone. First down on the one. Maroney to the left, stopped on the last play of the 1st Quarter.

End of the First Quarter - Giants 3-0

3:59 - A pretty good Bridgestone commercial. Fox put some effort into their cross promotional commercials this year.
4:01 - Maroney to the right for a touchdown on the first play of the quarter. Patriots 7-3.
4:04 - Great Go Daddy.Com commercial.
4:04: Patriots kick off out of bounds..Giants start on the 40.
4:06 - A good Fed Ex commercial. A good Tide commercial.
4:09 - 3rd and 7......nice blitz pick up...bomb to Toomer for 38 yards....inside the red zone
4:11 - delay of game.
4:13 - 3rd and 6........ tipped by Smith (fight on) and intercepted by Hobbs. Great Budweiser commercial. Morton Downey Jr as IronMan?
4:16 - 3rd and 1 for the Patriots. Maroney stuffed in the backfield. First punt. Caught at the 19, brought out to the 37.
4:19 - OK Toyota commercial. A commercial for a movie called Leatherheads...looks amusing.
4:20 - Manning sacked on first down.
4:21 - fumble on the hand off. Giants keep the ball. (it's pretty clear that Bradshaw steals it back in the pile)
4:22 - Manning throws the ball into the ground on a failed screen. Punt to the 15..returned by Welker.
4:26 - Brady sacked on 2nd and 9.
4:27 - 3rd and 17.......Brady sacked again. Great defensive series by the Giants. Giants get great field position.
4:31 - nice 2nd down run by Bradshaw.
4:33 - Nice 2nd down run by Jacobs.
4:34 - 3rd and 4....Manning fumbles...Smith recovers for a first down, flag down. Illegal bat. 10 yd penalty.
4:37 - 3rd and 18. Incomplete, nearly intercepted.
4:38 - Great Planters commercial.
4:40 - Giants punt.......fair catch at the 11. 1:47 left in the half, Patriots have all three time outs.
4:42 - a Doritos commercial I'm ashamed to say I laughed at.
4:43 - Patriots attempt a bomb, Brady gets hit as he throws, incomplete. Maroney stopped in the backfield on 2nd. Giants call time out with 1:35 to go.
4:44 - 3rd and 13 from inside their 10.......screen to Stallworth for a first down.
4:45 - Another try for a bomb, Brady hit again, incomplete.
4:46 - a run for a first, 10 yd holding call, 2nd and 12 with :59 left.....Patriots time out.
4:48 - 2nd and 12.......another screen to the left, 3rd and 4.......throw to Faulk for the first. Patriots second time out, 28 seconds left
4:50 - long throw to Moss, his first catch.
4:50- ball knocked from Brady's hand...Giants recober...:10 left. Giants got good pressure on Brady in the first half.
4:52 - Moss on the field on defense for the Patriots. Patriots third time out.
4:53 - Hail Mary into the end zone..incomplete.

Halftime Patiots 7-3

5:16 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did a good job with the halftime show.

5:25 - second half kick off. Patriots start from the 21. First down pass to Welker for 15 yards

5:26 - nice first down run by Maroney for 7 yards.

5:27 - 3rd and 3......dump to Faulk for the first. Brady takes another hit.

5:28 - Maroney stopped in the backfield

5:29 - 3rd and 5....stopped short......Giants force a punt.

5:32 - Anyone else think the sales genie ads are faintly racist? They're certainly not PC.

5:34 - Patriots challenging ...Giants may have had twelve men on the field for the punt....it would give the Patriots a first down.

5:36 - another good Bridgestone ad. CareerBuilder.com has had a couple of good ads.

5:37 - Patriots win the challenge.

5:39 - another screen. The Patriots are throwing a lot of them. Giants are handling them well.

5:40 - 3rd and 13...the defender gave the patriots the first down during the tackle.

5:41 - Brady now has the record for most completions all time in the Superbowl.

5:42 - 3rd and 7......Sack by Strahan.

5:43 - 4th and 14 ...Patriots go for it, Patriots incomplete in the end zone. Moss still only has one catch. Giants take over on downs.

5:46 - looks like Faulk pulled up lame on that 4th down play for the Patriots.

5:49 - Manning throws a long bomb to Burriss...he was triple covered at the end....

5:50 - 3rd and 6.......dropped by Burriss. Punt. Patriots take over at the 10.

5:54 - false start...1st and 15 from the 5 for the Patriots.

5:55 - Brady nearly sacked in the end zone. The Giants are living in the Patriot's backfield. Brady throws to Welker for a first down on second down. Welker is huge for the Patriots so far.

5:57 - Welker across the middle again for 19 yards.

5:59 - Another false start. 2nd and 15......Brady deep for Moss but way off target.

6:00 - 3rd and 15........another screen, talked short

End of Third Quarter Patriots 7-3

6:04 - Punt into the end zone. Giants will start from the 20.

6:07 - nice catch and run by Boss for 45 yards.

6:09 - 3rd and 4....first down for Smith (fight on) at the 12. Giants inside the red zone....nice first down run by Bradshaw.

6:11 - TD pass to Tyree over the middle. Giants 10-7 after an 80 yard drive.

6:12 - an OK Coke commercial with Carville and Frist. It would have been better with Rove or Buchanan.....

6:14 - Giants kick off......Maroney with a good return, but a holding call kills it.....

6:16 - Patriots start from their 11..1st and 10......Throw to Moss for a first down and his second catch....

6:18 - another screen..the Giants stop it for three..Brady overthrows Moss on second down

6:19 - 3rd and 7...... incomplete.. Brady under pressure and should have been sacked

6:20 - Giants take over on their 29 with 9:20 left...that decision by the Patriots to go for it on that fourth down instead of kicking a field goal starts to loom large...

6:23 - Manning spins out of a sack...and then overthrows a wide open Burriss in the flat...

6:24 - 3rd and 9... completion to Toomer 1 yd short of a first...Giants punt

6:26 - Patriots take over on their 20....Giants take only a little over 1 minute off the clock...not a good possession.

6:29 - Moss gets his third catchon a short completion

6:30 - 9 yard run by Maroney, another catch for Welker across the middle, his 10th. The Giants defense has to be getting tired. Patriots are making a methodical drive...

6:32 - Welker across the middle again! Nice run after catch

6:33 - Moss catches across the middle short. Patriots are in the red zone.

6:34 - Faulk a catch and run across the middle for 12...the Patriots have found a weakness and are exploiting it...

6:35 - Patriots have a first and goal at the 7 with 3:12 left...

6:36 - Brady overthrows an open Moss in the end zone..

6:37 - Brady misses Welker across the middle...3rd and goal from the 7 coming up

6:39 - Brady to Moss for a TD. Patriots 14-10 with 2:42 left.

6:41 - Giants will start from their 17.

6:44 - 2 minute warning. The Giants have a 3rd and 10.

6:47 - 4th and inches...Giants are going for it....Jacobs gets the first...1:28 left

6:49 - Manning scrambles for 5..ground causes a fumble..Manning recovers..Giants take their first time out.

6:51 - 3rd and 5.......Manning escapes a sack and makes a long completion to Tyree at the Patriot 24 with :59 left. Giants time out..1 left

6:53 - Manning tackled for a 1 yd loss...Patriots are blitzing on every down and getting pressure..

6:54 - dropped by Tyree..could have been intercepted...a wounded duck of a throw..

6:55 - 3rd and 11... throw to Steve Smith (fight on) first down and out of bounds...inside the red zone

6:56 - TD throw to a wide open Burriss with 35 seconds left...Giants up 17-14. Manning has played a hell of a game. If the Giants hold on, he's the MVP.

6:58 - Patriots start from their 25 with :29 and 3 time outs.. a filed goal ties

6:59 - Brady throws a bomb...could have been intercepted, no receiver close

7:00 - Brady sacked hard! Patriots time out :19 left, 3rd and 20.....

7:01 - Brady long to Moss...he's doubled covered...Moss beat the defenders but had to wait for the ball...Patriots time out.....The only thing I hate about this is how happy the 1972 Dolphins will be.

7:03 - 4th and 20........Brady long to Moss again...broken up...Giants take over with 1 sec left...congratulations Giants.....I called the result; came close on the margin; blew the score. (I picked Giants 35-31.)

7:06 - Belichick shows his ass....

7:28 - Manning got the MVP like he deserved. A great game, both teams played well...

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

In a bit of ironic justice, she came back to LA to die. Why couldn't you have taken Al Davis with you?

If there is any justice in the world, Steve Rosenbloom will get the team....but don't hold your breath.

Update 4/20/08 8:10 P.M.: The woman left the team to her children. At least one of them was a Rosenbloom.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho........

....It's back to work I go........

I go back to work tomorrow after two weeks off. This is a screwy trimester. We go one week, then we're off for four weeks, then back for four weeks, then off for two weeks, then back.......

I'm of mixed minds right now. I can't wait to see most of the kids again, and I'm teaching fun stuff in both grade levels. ( The Constitution in 8th grade and Feudal Japan in 7th grade) It will also be good to see my colleagues again.

On the other hand, there are my problem children. I have never had so many kids at one time that have stopped even pretending that school is important. I've got dozens of kids who can't even be bothered to cheat. I found myself hoping this morning that some of my least favorite students will have moved away during the break..... which is sad.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm.....

Article 1:

"There is no tally of the number of illegal immigrants who have already left the United States, many of whom simply head south over the border with their belongings packed into a car during the annual Christmas exodus, or board scheduled flights for other destinations.
Mexican consular sources in Phoenix say they are seeing a spike in the number of immigrants applying for Mexican citizenship for their U.S.-born children, which will allow them to enroll in schools in Mexico.
They are also seeing a rise in requests for papers enabling families to carry household belongings back to Mexico, free of import duties."

1) It's interesting that Mexican officials consider Mexican illegal immigrants in the U.S. returning to Mexico, to be immigrants to Mexico.

2) It's also interesting to note that the U.S.-born children of Mexican citizens need to apply for citizenship to attend Mexican schools.

Article 2:

"Every day along the 1,952-mile border, children from Mexico cross into the United States and attend public schools. No one keeps statistics on how many.
Citizenship isn't the issue for school officials; district residency is.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled illegal immigrants have a right to an education, so schools don't ask about immigration status. But citizens and illegal immigrants alike can't falsely claim residency in a school district. "

"Calexico's rapid growth outstripped school resources, resulting in overcrowding and prompting demands that Mexican interlopers be ousted. Taxpayers complained their children were bused across town because neighborhood schools were full, even after Calexico voters approved a $30 million construction measure in 2004. Portable classrooms proliferated. "


1) I wonder what would happen if children from the United States crossed the border into Mexico and tried to attend school there?

2) Calexico is currently facing the same problems that the rest of California began to face 10 to 15 years ago. Looks to me like Calexico has handled it better.

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2008! I hope it's a great year for everyone.

Vote Fred!

Wild, Wild, West

The picture above was taken from just outside my back door at 7:00 A.M. this morning. It's a coyote sitting under a tree and howling at the neighborhood dogs.

Patriots V Giants 12/29/07

I really didn't think it would happen. I didn't think it could happen. But it did. I discovered something worse than Tony Kornheiser doing color commentary on NFL football. It's Bryant Gumbel doing play by play for NFL football.


Update 8:30 P.M. 12/29/07: Well that turned out to be a pretty good game. Patriots stayed undefeated, Randy and Tom got their records and the Giants played stand up ball and kept their starters in the whole game. The NFL definitely made the right move by allowing NBC and CBS to show the game. The NFL Network also scored some good points with their TV ads showing up the cable companies unwillingness to carry the NFL Network. (of course a lot of that has to do with the rates the NFL Network wants to charge)

Aliens V Predator ....Again....

Well they've made another Aliens V Predator movie...that should make my brother happy at least!

Benazir Bhutto

Sadly, her death was entirely predictable.

I was attending USC when Indira Gandhi was assassinated in nearby India. Like Bhutto, Gandhi rose to power as a member of a powerful political family, and served multiple terms as Prime Minister of her country. I had a Sikh and an Indian Muslim as two of my roommates at the time. When I got back to my apartment that night they were throwing a party and had invited all of their friends over. They were literally giddy with happiness.

I could only contrast their reaction to the weay the American people reacted when JFK was assassinated. There were no Protestants in the streets celebrating, the Republican Party did not rejoice. We were all stunned, sickened and saddened.

All in all, it was a pretty graphic demonstration for me of just how different cultures could be, and put the final nail in the coffin of multiculturalism as far as I was concerned. ( I was a Political Science/Internation Relations double major at the time)

There will be plenty of violence and celebrating in Pakistan in the week to come. Hopefully things won't get too destabilized.

Geico Commercial

Recently Joan Rivers has been getting some bad press because of the plastic surgery she has had done.

However this lady hasn't lasted as long in the business as she has for nothing. She captialized on the bad press, and turned it around by playing up the plastic surgery in a Geico Commercial. Good for her.

Tombstone

I just got through watching the last 25 minutes of Tombstone again. In my opinion, it's a pretty good version of the Wyatt Earp story, infinitely better than the Costner version, Wyatt Earp, that came out a year later.

I am generally not much of a Val Kilmer fan. I couldn't really tell you why...I've just never liked him much. However, his portrayal of Doc Holiday is masterful. He definitely deserved an Oscar nomination. I mean, just look at the nominations that year:

TOMMY LEE JONES in "The Fugitive", Leonardo DiCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?", Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List", John Malkovich
in "In the Line of Fire", Pete Postlethwaite in "In the Name of the Father"

Out of that list the only one I would place above him is Fiennes, and the only one to equal Kilmer would be Malkovich. Di Caprio? Tommy Lee Jones? That's just embarassing that there were nominated for those performances. (of course Di Caprio got the nomination via the patented "play a retard" route.) Then For Tommy Lee Jones to win it? For a second rate movie adaptation of a TV series? A crime.

Kilmer's Holiday is one of my favorite all time performances. I'm not a big movie quote geek, but I use some of his lines all the time....especially "I'll be your huckleberry". (nobody seems to get it however.....am I the only one who ever saw this movie?)

60 Minutes / Gays in the Military

I was flipping through the channels and watched a minute or so of 60 Minutes. They were doing a story on gays in the military. Two things:

1) I guess many gays refer to the younger generation as the Will & Grace generation. As in, they grew up watching gays in the media, as on Will & Grace, and so gays aren't frightening or foriegn to them. I can live with that.

2) One of the arguements Lesly Stahl tried to use was that the British military began allowing gays to serve openly in the 90's, and it hadn't affected their military effectiveness. Excuse me? The current British military couldn't even fight the Falklands Islands War today if it had to. It certainly couldn't defend their sea lanes or the British Isles from attack. Not too long ago we had the sad spectacle of British sailors wetting their pants instead of resisting the Iranians in the Gulf. Now I'm not trying to blame this on gays in the military, (the blame lies squarely with the Labor Party and it's neglect and even abuse of military budgets) but to argue that the British military is as effective today as it was in the 1980's is patently absurd.

That being said, I really have no beef with homosexuals. I do thing homosexuality is deviant, and should not be promoted as a healthy lifestyle, but as the Christians would say: hate the sin, love the sinner. I have friends, colleagues and family who are gay, and it honestly has no effect on my relationships with them. In fact some of them were apprehensive, given my personal politics, and how open I am about them. They expected me to get all Rev. Phelps with them. I've had to actually explain to them that I don't have to liker everything about a person to like them as a person, and that I'm sure there are things about me that other people don't like.

I don't think it is a good thing to have gays serve openly in the military, but I am open to the idea, as they young men on 60 Minutes suggested tonight, that times and mores are changing and that it won't cause problems with the current generation.

Journeyman 12/16/07

I was really of mixed minds about this show in the beginning. I was really geeking on the time travel, (even though it was in the People's Republic of San Francisco) but the whole family/soap opera angst thing was turning me off. I do like the way the brother finally came around though in the last couple of episodes. (him meeting up with Oliva was a nice touch) I don't trust the brother's girlfriend though. I think she's going to turn out to be a bad guy....a government agent working for an agency investigating/controlling the time travellers....like the fake FBI guy who was killed.

Unfortunately there are rumors that the series will not be brought back after the writer's strike.

Life 12/16/07

I really like this show. I like the main characters and their interplay, I like Arkin's character...in fact there's no casting choices I have a problem with. I was having a problem with the pacing though...the first five or so episodes were slow development...and then it seemed really rushed in the last couple of episodes. Then we come to the last three minutes of the last episode. I guess it was an OK plot twist to have the murderer adopt the daughter of the family he slaughtered, but it was way too fomulaic to have the arch villian kidnap her as the cliff hanger. We'll have to see how it develops though....

Heroes 12/16/07

OK...just to catch up.

I'm not as thrilled with this series as I was the first one. The motivations of the Adam/Kensai character for instance. Come on..would you really hold a grudge for 400 years? And what's with the magical blood? Do you also get the healing power with the transfusion? And if not why not...How about a bone marrow transplant...would that grant you the power? And If I had someone with that type of blood, I'd have them in an artificial coma and I'd be using them as a blood factory. After all, we are talking about immortality and the power to bring the dead back to life here!

Hiatus/ Christmas Thoughts

Sorry for the hiatus. It's just been one of those periods where I've pretty much said everything I wanted to say on other people's blogs. I guess I need to start blogging more about what I am writing on other blogs.

I've been involved in some Second Amendment discussions, some presidential campaign discussions, the abortion debate etc.

Then again, this isn't my favorite time of the year. I hate what has happened to Christmas.

Now remember, I am not a Christian. I am a deist. But I am utterly opposed to taking the religion out of Christmas.

Turning Christmas into a secular holiday has just turned it into a celebration of conspicious consumption and greed. Now don't get me wrong, I'm firmly in favor of capitalism. However capitalism is an economic system, not a moral one. We need public morality, now more than ever.

So it's really hard for me not to be a Scrooge at Christmas. At heart I really am a generous person, but don't tell me it's my obligation to be generous. I really hate obligations. (It's a big reason I'm not married)

And I try real hard not to bum out people who really are into Christmas.

Take the staff Christmas party out at work. I never go. My colleagues and friends are always trying to get me to go, but I just can't seem to convince them that I would be a real drag, and that I want everyone else to be able to enjoy the night.

So, Merry Christmas.

Schadenfreude

For the first time in my life I truly understand the emotional meaning of schadenfreude. O.J. Simpson held over for trial in Nevada, facing life in prison; and Barry Bonds finally indicted, facing thirty years (although most people concede it will only be a couple of years at most).

I'm not exactly happy, but I sure am smug.

Veteran's Day

Today was Veteran's Day. Thank you to all the veterans out there.

What some of you may not know, is that originally today's holiday was called Armistice Day. It marked the official end of combat in World War I. Because communication was so much less sophisticated back then, they had to set a time in the future to cease hostilities to ensure that everyone got the word. So the ceasefire was set for the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It was changed to Veteran's Day to celebrate all of our veterans in 1952.

It's still celebrated as Armistice Day in France and Belgium.

It's a completely different holiday in other parts of Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. It's St. Martin's Day, and celebrates a Catholic saint. (fittingly enough, he was once a Roman soldier)

In most of the Commonwealth (Including the UK, Canada and Australia) it's celebrated as Rememberance Day.

College Football 11/27/07

Crap. Unbelievably, it looks like USC is now playing for a shot at the Holiday Bowl. To be honest, this loss is easier to bear. It's on the road to a top 5 team. Oregon now have a legit chance at the BCS game if they win out.

In other news, Boston College needed last minute Flutie-like heroics to break the #2 jinx this week and beat Virginia Tech. Tennessee made a dramatic second half comeback over the other USC, South Carolina. The Cinderella season of South Florida has come crashing down with two consecutive conference defeats.

1) Ohio State - won (undefeated)
2) Boston College - won (undefeated)
3) LSU - bye
4) Oklahoma - bye
5) Oregon - won
So for the first time in over a month, no top 5 team lost. Of course two of them had byes this week.
6) West Virginia - won
7) ASU - won (undefeated)
8) Virginia Tech - lost to #2
9) Southern California - lost to #5
9) Florida - lost to #20
So, three losses in the top ten, all three to ranked teams, two to top 5 teams. That's a normal week of college football finally.
11) South Florida - lost to unranked
12) Kansas - won (undefeated)
13) Missouri - won
14) Kentucky - lost to unranked
15) South Carolina - lost to unranked
16) Hawaii - won (undefeated)
17) Texas - won
18) California - lost to #7
19) Michigan - won
20) Georgia - won
21) Virginia - lost to unranked
22) Alabama - bye
23) Auburn - won
24) Penn State - lost to #1
25) Rutgers - lost to #6

More Fire Pics From Yesterday

Scenes From My Backyard 10/22/07

The Winds Keep A Blowin'.......

The wind has been blowing pretty hard here the past couple of days. My neighbor came and knocked on my door this afternoon to let me know my tree had fallen on my car. I probably would have never noticed until tonight when I went out to put my trashcans on the curb. My brother and I just spent the last couple of hours cutting it up and moving it off my car.

College Football 10/20/07

Well a relatively calm week for this year, but




1) Ohio State - won (undefeated)
2) South Florida - lost to unranked
3) Boston College - bye (undefeated)
4) Oklahoma -won
5) LSU - won
So #2 goes down again........
6) South Carolina - lost to unranked
7) Oregon - won
8) Kentucky - lost to #14
9) West Virginia - won
10) California - lost to unranked
So four losses among nine teams that played in the top ten, three to unranked teams.
11) Virginia Tech - bye
12) Arizona State - bye (undefeated)
13) Southern California - won
14) Florida - won
15T) Missouri - won
15T) Kansas - won (undefeated)
17) Hawaii - bye (undefeated)
18) Auburn - lost to #5
19) Texas - won
20) Tennesse - lost to unranked
21) Georgia - bye
22) Texas Tech - lost to #15
23) Cinncinati - lost to unranked
24) Michigan - win
25) Kansas State - lost to unranked
So in a week with five byes in the top twenty-five, there were nine losses, six to unranked teams. And again, this was a calm week.

College Football 10/18/07

It just keeps going!

#2 USF just lost to unranked Rutgers.....

College Football 10/13/07

Wow. It happened again. #17 Kentucky just beat #1 LSU in triple overtime. What a college football season. USF now has a real shot at making the BCS title game this year.

In other news, USC looked mediocre again. They've really been hit hard by injuries. But they are back in the BCS hunt if they can win out.....Cal will probably be ranked #1 now.

Update 7:18 PM: Cal is losing 31-21 to Oregon State with less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter. It looks like both #1 and #2 lose today.

Update 7:21 PM: It's not over yet! Cal just scored on a 64 yard pass play with 2:31 to go; 31-28.

Update 7:40 PM: It's over, Cal loses....what a season!

Update 11:00 PM:
1) LSU - loss to #17
2) Cal - loss to unranked
3) Ohio State - win (undefeated)
4) Boston College - win (undefeated)
5) South Florida - win (undefeated)
Two losses in the top five, one to an unranked team. Of the top ten teams before play began three weeks ago, only Ohio State hasn't lost since.
6) Oklahoma - win
7) South Carolina - win
8) West Virginia - bye
9) Oregon - win
10) USC - win
11) Missouri - loss to #6
12) Virginia Tech - win
13) Florida - Bye
14) ASU - win (undefeated)
15) Cincinnati - loss to unranked
16) Hawaii - win (Undefeated)
17) Kentucky - win
18) Illinois - loss to unranked
19) Wisconsin - loss to unranked
20) Kansas - win (undefeated)
21) Florida State - loss to unranked
22) Auburn - win
23) Texas - win
24) Georgia - win
25) Tennesse - win
That's seven losses in the top twenty-five, (among 23 teams that played) five to unranked teams. There are six undefeated teams in the top twenty-five. South Florida has a legitemate chance to play in the BCS championship game. That said; Ohio State, South Florida, Boston College, Arizona State, Hawaii and Kansas all have games they might lose. It would not be surprising to see two one loss teams in the BCS game this year.

Does God Play Poker?

I'm watching the World Series of Poker fnal table. The chip leader has just called an all in. The girl friend of one player is calling on God and Jesus to help her man, and the chip leader is asking Jesus to help him win.

Excuse me?

When did gambling become a religious activity?

I can remember when playing poker would have been considered sinful. Now they're holding prayer meetings around the table.

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad turns 62 today....and he's been semi-retired for a while now, but today he begins collecting Social Security. He quit smoking, got into pretty good shape, and is about to run a 5 K race. Looks like he's got years of retirement ahead of him to enjoy his grandkids. Happy birthday dad, and thanks for providing an interesting childhood for me, and giving me a love of history.

Update 11:30 10/13/07: Dad came in fourth in his age group, running 12 minute miles, which is pretty damn good for your first 5K at age 62.

ugggghhhhhhh

Still sick. Working sucks. waaaaaaah.

Heroes 10/8/07

What the hell?

First Sulu and now Uhura?

College Football 10/6/07

Well another crazy day in college football. First of I have to say that the last touchdown that Stanford scored today should have been called back. The Stanford receiver clearly pushed off. That said, Stanford deserved to win today as much as USC did. Unbelievable performance by their young quarterback. Secondly, LSU's coach showed major league balls in his play calling tonight, and LSU earned their win. I'm really of mixed minds about Notre Dame's win. On one hand, they beat UCLA. On the other hand, it would have been great to see them go 0-12.

Top Twenty Five

1) LSU - win (narrowly) (Undefeated 6-0)
2) USC - loss (unranked team)
3) California - bye (Undefeated 5-0)
4) Ohio state - win (Undefeated 6-0)
5) Wisconsin - loss (unranked team)
So Two losses in the top five, both to unranked teams. This comes after last week with three losses in the top 5, two to unranked teams. In fact, of the top 10 teams before play started last week, only LSU, Cal and Ohio State haven't lost a game.
6) South Florida - win (does South Florida crack the top 5? They've earned it) (Undefeated 5-0)
7) Boston College - win (Undefeated 6-0)
8) Kentucky - loss to #11
9) Florida - loss to #1
10) Oklahoma - win
Four losses in the top ten, two to unranked team, one to #1, one to #11.
11) South Carolina - win
12) Georgia - loss to unranked team
13) West Virginia - won
14) Oregon - bye
15) Virginia Tech -won
16) Hawaii - currently winning (Undefeated 5-0)
17) Missouri - won (Undefeated 5-0)
18) Arizona State - won (Undefeated 6-0)
19) Texas - lost to #10
20) Cincinnati - won (Undefeated 6-0)
21) Rutgers - lost to #20
22) Clemson - lost to #15
23) Purdue - lost to #4
24) Kansas State - lost to unranked team
25) Nebraska - lost to #17
So eleven losses of the 23 teams in the top 25 playing this week. That's after 9 losses among 24 playing last week. At least most of the losses this week were to other ranked teams.

Go Away!

Leave me alone...I'm sick......