Pepsi Max

I just saw a pretty good commercial for Pepsi Max. It starts with Haddaway's "What is Love" playing in the background, while showing scenes of people whose head is sagging from exhaustion (seemingly in time to the music). Then these same people are seen drinking Pepsi Max, and bobbing their heads side to side like the SNL skit and movie "A Night at the Roxbury". Pretty good. But it gets better. the last scene is two women bobbing their heads in a dry cleaners, and Chris Kattan walks between them and snaps "Will you stop that?". Perfect.

College Football 9/13/08

Quite a good weekend. USC beats Ohio State decisively and BYU wipes out UCLA humiliatingly. Doesn't get much better. #2 Georgia barely beats the other USC, South Carolina, so Southern California strengthens its position on the #1 ranking also. Now we just need to have one of the Trojan players start making a case for the Heisman trophy.

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?