Still a bit tired this morning, or maybe the better word is weary - Jenny and I were in a small (22 people) poker tournament last night out in Washington County that lasted until 3 am. We came back to my parents' place and didn't get to bed until 4. Yes, I was in the game until the very end, and ended up tying for 2nd and winning $60. If one was inclined to look at it from a money perspective, we ended up breaking even collectively, when you consider both our entry fees of $20 each and the $19 in beer, girlie beer, and Doritos from the Jefferson Market that we brought to the game.
I played quite unlike I usually play, which is very conservatively. I won several big hands with absolute bluffs, and wasn't really caught bluffing all evening. There were plenty of tight players there who could be scared out of a pot relatively easily, and I just decided to take advantage - that strategy ended up working well. There was a guy there who was getting kind of annoying at the final table, who kept ridiculing people for not playing more hands, but in the end he ended up playing too many hands and finished in fourth. He was a good player and seemed like a nice enough guy otherwise, but definitely not good enough to be telling other people how they should be playing. It's very possible that he was doing it on purpose to try to take people out of their games, and to a certain extent it did work, for a little while at least. Anyway, by 3 am (after about 8 hours of poker), the last three players just wanted it to be over, so we started playing hands we wouldn't normally play. Eventually this led to me being down far enough where I had to go all-in to cover the big blind - $8 by the end of the night. The other guy, Terry, who was a very smart player and hell of a nice guy, went all in the same hand, so when we both lost to Mackey we split 2nd place.
Congrats to Mackey for winning the whole thing, he played very well and was appropriately rewarded for his efforts. Also, many thanks to the Corson family for the kind hospitality; Brian ran a good tournament, and I'm still amazed that he was able to come up with all those chairs. Certainly a fun evening, and somewhat of a turning point for me in terms of playing style. After that game, I don't think I'll ever go back to consistently playing tight; it's just not as much fun to play that way (and yes, poker is about fun for me - I don't view it as an investment vehicle). I need to adapt my play to who's sitting at the table, and I did a good job of doing that last night. IMO, there are lots of players who think about the money they could lose in a hand, but poker is still just a game and money is simply a way to keep score.
One last item - download Google Earth: it's super-cool.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Happy Birthday to Jenny! Stolen License Plates! When Muppets Attack!
On this day in 1977, Jenny was born in Kansas City, MO. And there is nobody more grateful for that event than me (well, maybe her parents). Happy birthday babe! I was thinking of putting a photo of her in this entry, but I did not receive prior authorization for that, so it's probably better for my general well-being if I refrain...
In other news, the front license plate was stolen off my car sometime yesterday. The front plate is the one without registration stickers, so that's somewhat bizarre. But it's also attached - was attached - with regular Phillips-head screws, while you would need a socket set and a bit more time to remove the back plates. The officer to whom I reported the plate stolen enlightened us about the O'Malley administration's creativity with crime statistics - the cop had to come out to the car and inspect the plate mount, to make sure it wasn't possible that the plate just fell off or wasn't attached properly. If an officer determines that the plate could have fallen off, then it's not a theft. How convenient for the mayor! Anyway, whatever happened, it's gone. This will cost me $20 and a trip to the MVA.
Finally, here's an amusing photo for the day - giant uni-browed muppet captures child! I'd be scared too.
In other news, the front license plate was stolen off my car sometime yesterday. The front plate is the one without registration stickers, so that's somewhat bizarre. But it's also attached - was attached - with regular Phillips-head screws, while you would need a socket set and a bit more time to remove the back plates. The officer to whom I reported the plate stolen enlightened us about the O'Malley administration's creativity with crime statistics - the cop had to come out to the car and inspect the plate mount, to make sure it wasn't possible that the plate just fell off or wasn't attached properly. If an officer determines that the plate could have fallen off, then it's not a theft. How convenient for the mayor! Anyway, whatever happened, it's gone. This will cost me $20 and a trip to the MVA.
Finally, here's an amusing photo for the day - giant uni-browed muppet captures child! I'd be scared too.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Famous Comedians are WoW Geeks Too!
Dave Chapelle admits it in a stand-up appearance - he plays World of Warcraft.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Balk This Way
The Orioles have now been called for 8 balks now this season, twice as many as the #2 balking pitching staffs in the league, Toronto and Chicago. I 've seen games in which 2 of those 7 previous balks occured, that ended up helping to decide the outcome of Baltimore losses. Those were both widely viewed as legitimate balk calls by both TV and radio announcers, but not this evening's call. Steve Kline was waiting for his sign, stepped off the pitching rubber, was called for the balk, appeared to be (politely) questioning the parentage of the umpires, and was ejected. HOFer Jim Palmer was on the TV side tonight, and couldn't have been more definitive in dismissing the call as wrong. The balk ended up leading to a Yankees run.
Times like this make me wonder why baseball can't have some kind of replay system. It's a rhetorical question, of course, because the umpires are so involved with the mechanics of the game, if you added instant replay you'd be that much closer to electronically determining the strike zone and calling balls and strikes using a computer. So......why can't baseball have some kind of a replay system?
Now I hear from the announcers that the NYY starter, Carl Pavano, was evidently called for a balk earlier in the game (I wasn't watching until the 5th inning), that helped the O's score a run. So maybe the umpires this season are working on commission, bonuses for every balk call?
That Baltimore has not been playing well lately is a gross understatement. Emblematic of that, the fact that tonight the excellent defensive catcher Sal Fasano had 3 passed balls? It's a strange game, baseball.
Times like this make me wonder why baseball can't have some kind of replay system. It's a rhetorical question, of course, because the umpires are so involved with the mechanics of the game, if you added instant replay you'd be that much closer to electronically determining the strike zone and calling balls and strikes using a computer. So......why can't baseball have some kind of a replay system?
Now I hear from the announcers that the NYY starter, Carl Pavano, was evidently called for a balk earlier in the game (I wasn't watching until the 5th inning), that helped the O's score a run. So maybe the umpires this season are working on commission, bonuses for every balk call?
That Baltimore has not been playing well lately is a gross understatement. Emblematic of that, the fact that tonight the excellent defensive catcher Sal Fasano had 3 passed balls? It's a strange game, baseball.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Game 7
I'm not a big NBA fan by any measure, but I did watch Game 7 of the Finals last night. The NBA playoffs are a universe away from the NBA's regular season, because you get the sneaking suspicion that during the playoffs, the players actually care. Well, the players in this game definitely cared, as The Spurs beat the Pistons in an ugly but intense game. Tim Duncan was awesome. I remember seeing him a few times at Cole Field House when I was in school, leading Wake Forest to victory over the home team. No shame for the Terps, though, WF with Duncan won a lot of games in the mid-90s. Back then, everyone could see that he was good, a future NBA starter. But this good? He's been All-NBA 1st team for 8 seasons! (he's been in the NBA for...8 seasons). Anyway, Tim did everything last night in the second half after a less-than-impressive first half. And the Spurs are champs, not those thugs from Detroit, which is cool.
Unfortunately, I'm operating on 5 hours of sleep (I prefer at least 6) since the Finals games don't tip until around 9:30. What's up with that? And I know they were playing in San Antonio, but what's with Brooks & Dunn singing the National Anthem? Do NBA fans and country music fans really come from the same demographic pool? I wouldn't think so, but what do I know. About Brooks and Dunn, because I know you're all dying to know more about them; after some research this morning, I found out that Ronnie Dunn is the taller blonde one who looks like a country singer, while Kix (Kix?) Brooks looks very unlike a country singer when he's not wearing his black cowboy hat - actually I thought he looked a lot like Mandy Patinkin when I saw him on TV. It's smart of them to go by Brooks & Dunn though - I'm betting they'd sell a lot less records if they were known as Kix & Ronnie.
Unfortunately, I'm operating on 5 hours of sleep (I prefer at least 6) since the Finals games don't tip until around 9:30. What's up with that? And I know they were playing in San Antonio, but what's with Brooks & Dunn singing the National Anthem? Do NBA fans and country music fans really come from the same demographic pool? I wouldn't think so, but what do I know. About Brooks and Dunn, because I know you're all dying to know more about them; after some research this morning, I found out that Ronnie Dunn is the taller blonde one who looks like a country singer, while Kix (Kix?) Brooks looks very unlike a country singer when he's not wearing his black cowboy hat - actually I thought he looked a lot like Mandy Patinkin when I saw him on TV. It's smart of them to go by Brooks & Dunn though - I'm betting they'd sell a lot less records if they were known as Kix & Ronnie.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Maybe Renting Is Better After All
The Supreme Court ruled today that local governments can use eminent domain to condemn and seize private property to give to other private interests, such as developers or industry. If that's true, how can anyone actually own their property? If it's the will of the local government that your property is more valuable to 'the public' (in terms of tax revenue generation for said government) as a strip mall or some shiny new condos, then there's nothing you can do about it but take what they offer you for your home?
OK, for those who haven't followed the link to the Post story yet, quick, guess which Justices were on the side of the local gov't/developers! Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist, etc., the 'Republican' justices who are all about protecting states' rights (except in Florida during an election year)? Wrong! Those 3, plus O'Connor, were the dissenters in the 5-4 vote. The more liberal judges sided with usually-wealthy developers and potentially greedy (not to mention potentially corrupt) local governments. Say what you want about the Court, at least they're not predictable.
Justice O'Coonor summed it up well at the end of her dissenting opinion:
OK, for those who haven't followed the link to the Post story yet, quick, guess which Justices were on the side of the local gov't/developers! Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist, etc., the 'Republican' justices who are all about protecting states' rights (except in Florida during an election year)? Wrong! Those 3, plus O'Connor, were the dissenters in the 5-4 vote. The more liberal judges sided with usually-wealthy developers and potentially greedy (not to mention potentially corrupt) local governments. Say what you want about the Court, at least they're not predictable.
Justice O'Coonor summed it up well at the end of her dissenting opinion:
...the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result. "[T]hat alone is a just government," wrote James Madison, "which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own."
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
21st Century Protesting
It's not easy to protest these days in the U.S. - you're likely to be confined to a protest area that's a quarter-mile or more from your target, while supporters of the Bush regime/administration are allowed to get much closer to the president. Dissent may as well be a four-letter word to 'W'. That's why I was surprised that D.C. cops and the Secret Service let a small group of protesters - waving signs about religious freedom for Vietnam and Bush not negotiating with dictators - congregate in front of the Mayflower Hotel's side entrance (which is almost directly below my office window). These are the doors through which they shuttle VIPs such as Ariel Sharon when they're at the Mayflower.
Of course, they were later moved to the end of the block. And despite being on my way to 30, I'm not that old that I could recognize this flag, which protesters were waving, without some online searching. Perhaps the Vietnamese prime minister, who is meeting with our beloved president, is within the hotel?
They have now been moved around the corner, almost out of my line of vision, so that they can't even see the Mayflower doors. This is a group of 15-20 obviously dangerous protesters, waving menacing-looking flags. Ah, Democracy!
(You've no doubt noticed that any mention of the president includes an appropriate change in font size. I've decided that he just doesn't deserve the full-sized font when mentioned in my blog. I apologize if this makes it difficult to read, but it's the price that must be paid for freedom.)
Of course, they were later moved to the end of the block. And despite being on my way to 30, I'm not that old that I could recognize this flag, which protesters were waving, without some online searching. Perhaps the Vietnamese prime minister, who is meeting with our beloved president, is within the hotel?
They have now been moved around the corner, almost out of my line of vision, so that they can't even see the Mayflower doors. This is a group of 15-20 obviously dangerous protesters, waving menacing-looking flags. Ah, Democracy!
(You've no doubt noticed that any mention of the president includes an appropriate change in font size. I've decided that he just doesn't deserve the full-sized font when mentioned in my blog. I apologize if this makes it difficult to read, but it's the price that must be paid for freedom.)
Monday, June 20, 2005
FE Exam Revisited, Music Reviews
OK, so I was apparently wrong about bombing the FE Exam, because I passed after all. A source of pride? Not really, more like relief that I don't have to re-take it, and can move on to the PE exam. Yay. Too bad these exams don't actually test your competency as an engineer. How can any multiple-choice format test do that? It's a good way for state licensing boards and the test prep industry to make some money, meanwhile years after the college application process and initial job-seeking, I'm still playing the "it will look good on your resume" game. I've grown to hate that game. However, a PE license will make it much easier to jump to another firm should I want to do that in the future (to shorten my commute, primarily).
I'm also not thrilled that I'll probably end up taking the Civil Engineering test. That test and the Environmental test includes topics such as transportation systems and air pollution that my Biological Resources Engineering program did not include, but the environmental test is 20 questions longer over the same time period, and there are fewer available study materials by far than for the Civil exam. I guess the labels aren't that important, but it still annoys me for some reason.
The White Stripes' Get Behind Me, Satan - two thumbs up. Just what one would expect of this band. They're a blues band as much as a rock band, IMO, and when I hear the Stones or Zeppelin, especially earlier stuff, it's no wonder that the White Stripes sound like such a throwback - those bands we're playing the blues back then, too. The Stripes keep it simple, and it works. Meg's drumming really comes through on this album, too. Sometimes it's like that bass drum is pounding on your skull. In a good way, though.
Coldplay's X&Y - eh, not so great. It's pleasant enough music, but after two solid-if-not-spectacular albums, I expected more than pleasant. There's nothing all that noticeable, new, or catchy here, and too many soft spots.
I'm also not thrilled that I'll probably end up taking the Civil Engineering test. That test and the Environmental test includes topics such as transportation systems and air pollution that my Biological Resources Engineering program did not include, but the environmental test is 20 questions longer over the same time period, and there are fewer available study materials by far than for the Civil exam. I guess the labels aren't that important, but it still annoys me for some reason.
The White Stripes' Get Behind Me, Satan - two thumbs up. Just what one would expect of this band. They're a blues band as much as a rock band, IMO, and when I hear the Stones or Zeppelin, especially earlier stuff, it's no wonder that the White Stripes sound like such a throwback - those bands we're playing the blues back then, too. The Stripes keep it simple, and it works. Meg's drumming really comes through on this album, too. Sometimes it's like that bass drum is pounding on your skull. In a good way, though.
Coldplay's X&Y - eh, not so great. It's pleasant enough music, but after two solid-if-not-spectacular albums, I expected more than pleasant. There's nothing all that noticeable, new, or catchy here, and too many soft spots.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
The Dark Knight Returns
Of course there are natural tendencies to compare creative works that share a protagonist. Batman Begins will be, appropriately enough, compared with Tim Burton's 1989 Batman. But most people will want to pick a 'winner', and that's unfortunate because I think there's room for both movies at the top of the pile. They are such dissimilar films, set in different universes, yet I think they both hit the mark in their portrayals of a billionaire with lots of neat toys and the lunatics that he battles (both externally and within his own head).
I'm not going to make any of those comparisons now. I'll just say that I loved Michael Keaton as Batman, Nicholson's Joker obviously hit the mark, and Tim Burton's vision of Gotham City was fantastic. It didn't hurt that a decent Batman movie was a long time coming (50 years), but when it finally arrived it sure blew Superman out of the water.
Now, onto Batman Begins. WOW. I absolutely loved this film. I'll get my only two complaints out of the way first: (1) It was a bit long and (2) Katie Holmes looks like she's 15, that does not make her a very convincing district attorney. Christian Bale as Batman - yeah. It works, big-time. He's got the look, he has a fantastic voice (the voice he gives his Batman is creepy as hell! Plus they amplified it somewhat I think, to give his raspy bellow more...bite?), and his transitions between Bruce Wayne and the Batman are seamless. Supporting cast? Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman aren't on screen enough to steal any scenes, but Caine as Alfred is the butler we all wish we had (I know my butler can't hold a candle to him, that's for sure), and Freeman is his usual charming self. Gary Oldman as Gordon wasn't really given that much to do, which surprised me - you cast an actor of his caliber, I would figure he'd be a bit more interesting. But as always, a solid performance. The bad guys? I don't want to give anything away, so I won't comment on them directly, other than to say that it's nice that Christopher Nolan chose two lesser-known but still intriguing baddies for his (hopefully first of many?) Batmans. Casual fans won't even recognize either of these villains, but they're worked into the plot quite well, and the performances behind the masks are solid, if unspectacular. But that's OK, because for this film, the focus is all on the Batman. None of the bad guys are half as scary as the good guy with the point ears, and that's how it should be.
Ok, I have to get my ass going this morning to help friends move. More on Batman Begins later...
I'm not going to make any of those comparisons now. I'll just say that I loved Michael Keaton as Batman, Nicholson's Joker obviously hit the mark, and Tim Burton's vision of Gotham City was fantastic. It didn't hurt that a decent Batman movie was a long time coming (50 years), but when it finally arrived it sure blew Superman out of the water.
Now, onto Batman Begins. WOW. I absolutely loved this film. I'll get my only two complaints out of the way first: (1) It was a bit long and (2) Katie Holmes looks like she's 15, that does not make her a very convincing district attorney. Christian Bale as Batman - yeah. It works, big-time. He's got the look, he has a fantastic voice (the voice he gives his Batman is creepy as hell! Plus they amplified it somewhat I think, to give his raspy bellow more...bite?), and his transitions between Bruce Wayne and the Batman are seamless. Supporting cast? Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman aren't on screen enough to steal any scenes, but Caine as Alfred is the butler we all wish we had (I know my butler can't hold a candle to him, that's for sure), and Freeman is his usual charming self. Gary Oldman as Gordon wasn't really given that much to do, which surprised me - you cast an actor of his caliber, I would figure he'd be a bit more interesting. But as always, a solid performance. The bad guys? I don't want to give anything away, so I won't comment on them directly, other than to say that it's nice that Christopher Nolan chose two lesser-known but still intriguing baddies for his (hopefully first of many?) Batmans. Casual fans won't even recognize either of these villains, but they're worked into the plot quite well, and the performances behind the masks are solid, if unspectacular. But that's OK, because for this film, the focus is all on the Batman. None of the bad guys are half as scary as the good guy with the point ears, and that's how it should be.
Ok, I have to get my ass going this morning to help friends move. More on Batman Begins later...
Monday, June 13, 2005
Busy Weekend
- Out for Cal's birthday Friday night. Franklins on Route 1 in Hyattsville, very good beers but the decor was too cheerful, in my opinion.
- Shopping for patio stone, movie Saturday (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I thought it was great, lots of fun)
- 7-mile race early Sunday morning. I was pretty happy with my results, 1:01:57 for a pace of 8:51 (don't ask me why the pace they have on the results page is the gun time pace, the net time pace is what really counts). Not bad for me, especially considering how miserable it was that morning (heat, humidity), and that I didn't exactly have the luckiest bib number - 666. On the other hand, it was a very flat course. I'd sure like to move up in my division though, 27/47 is OK but not great.
- Six Flags America trip w/Jenny, Tammie, Liz, and Jarriel the rest of Sunday. A good time, we hit all the major coasters very quickly; because of how hot and humid it was, we suspected that everyone was at the water park. Later, we visited said water park and it was pretty damn crowded (we didn't stay long). Their Batwing coaster featured a car design that I hadn't seen before, where you're sitting, but completely horizontal with the track. When the cars invert below the track, you're basically hanging from the various restraints. It's a freaky feeling that wasn't all that comfortable at first, but I got used to it after 30 seconds or so. Neat idea, but why isn't it a Superman themed ride? Because it looks and feels like Superman flying more than anything Batman-related.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Nats Win!
Finally, at my third Nats game, they finally win. The Mid-Atlantic is currently the center of the MLB universe, with Baltimore and Washington both leading their divisions, and Philadelphia the hottest team in either league right now.
Third Nats game, only one O's game? Well, I usually don't go to many games early in the season. I'm going to try to get to a few games on the next homestand though, before anyone else goes on the DL.
Third Nats game, only one O's game? Well, I usually don't go to many games early in the season. I'm going to try to get to a few games on the next homestand though, before anyone else goes on the DL.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Who Is PixelFish?
Several people have already asked about the new blog link that I added just this morning: she is Lis, Jenny's childhood friend from Utah (that sounds so picturesque, doesn't it?). She and her b/f Lee are both artists who currently reside in the artisit-hippy utopia that is San Fransisco.
She's also into these newfangled online communities more than anyone I know. Of course, since I don't know too many people who are blogging, forum-posting fools (that's a compliment, Lis), I'm not sure how much meaning that has. Seriously though, rumor has it that our esteemed president was ready to give Lis her very own Internet, but then he found out that she wasn't exactly his biggest fan.
Bah, who needs his internets anyway?
She's also into these newfangled online communities more than anyone I know. Of course, since I don't know too many people who are blogging, forum-posting fools (that's a compliment, Lis), I'm not sure how much meaning that has. Seriously though, rumor has it that our esteemed president was ready to give Lis her very own Internet, but then he found out that she wasn't exactly his biggest fan.
Bah, who needs his internets anyway?
The Artist In The Family
These are some glass tiles that my sister Em has been working on recently. I would have to say that my favorites are the one in the top right corner, and the one in the first column, third row. Although they're all quite groovy.
As you can see, I've finally figured out how to include pictures in posts, using a Google-affiliated app called Hello that links directly with Blogspot. The Hello icon is that little white and blue box above. It's primarily for sharing pcitures without using a website. If anyone starts using it, let me know; eventually I'll be adding more photos to my Hello profile (name: underchuckle).
As you can see, I've finally figured out how to include pictures in posts, using a Google-affiliated app called Hello that links directly with Blogspot. The Hello icon is that little white and blue box above. It's primarily for sharing pcitures without using a website. If anyone starts using it, let me know; eventually I'll be adding more photos to my Hello profile (name: underchuckle).
Friday, June 03, 2005
Revenge is a Dish Best Served on Ebay
I don't know whether it's a real auction, but either way it sure is creative.
Yes, in case you were wondering, it IS a slow (and rainy) Friday at the office...
Yes, in case you were wondering, it IS a slow (and rainy) Friday at the office...
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Is It Stuffy In Here?
I re-read each entry after I post it, and usually go back and do some editing on every post. Most of the time, it's to attempt to make the post friendlier. I have a tendency, especially with serious topics like war, politics, the president (oops, I said serious, so that excludes that asshat), to write like I'm writing an essay for an English class. I don't necessarily think that way, nor do I use that extensive a vocabulary every day - I much prefer grunts and snorts as means of communication - but I re-read some of these entries and wonder what the hell I was thinking when I phrased a certain sentence with 6 commas, or went out of my way to avoid a contraction. I can't promise that I won't lapse into the heavier prose on occasion, but from here on out, I'm really going to try to be more conversational. Well, as conversational as one can be when writing a monologue.
In other news, I re-designed the page layout a bit (mostly link colors, more colors=cool) and added more sites to the LINKS section. I'm also looking to add more sites to the OTHER BLOGS sidebar, so suggestions are welcome. I have a few in mind, but need to ask the owners first. I'm also thinking about removing an inactive blog that's rarely updated (you know who you are) - gotta clean house occasionally.
In other news, I re-designed the page layout a bit (mostly link colors, more colors=cool) and added more sites to the LINKS section. I'm also looking to add more sites to the OTHER BLOGS sidebar, so suggestions are welcome. I have a few in mind, but need to ask the owners first. I'm also thinking about removing an inactive blog that's rarely updated (you know who you are) - gotta clean house occasionally.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
The Fog of War
Jenny and I saw this Oscar-winning documentary this past weekend; it's essentially a long interview with its subject, Robert McNamara. Talk about a well-made film, I can understand why it won the Oscar instead of higher-profile films like Michael Moore's more entertaining but less coherent Fahrenheit 911. The archive footage that was chosen really hit the mark, but McNamara himself is a very able performer. I sure hope I'm that coherent when I'm 85 years old. He's extremely blunt and in-your-face, but just below the surface there's a lot of regret? Frustration? Defiance? All of the above, perhaps. He doesn't take full responsibility for anything (his roles in the firebombing of Japan in WWII and as Secretary of Defense for most of Vietnam are well-documented), but at the same time admits that he was at the center of this huge military decision-making apparatus that went horribly wrong when mixed with Cold War politics.
McNamara is a paradoxical figure. He was a master of efficiency and optimizing who helped develop the bombing technique that destroyed most of Japan long before the Bombs were dropped, but acknowledges in the film that if the U.S. had been on the losing side of WWII he would certainly have been convicted of war crimes. He was the public face of one of the most controversial military operations in U.S. history, but behind the scenes was working to extricate us from that mess long before the troops came home. At the end of the film though, he remains guarded, unwilling to directly address the emotional toll that's been taken, or any feelings of guilt or remorse (I'm assuming those feeling do exist, btw). He doesn't want to visit those places publicly, because he doesn't think that anything good will come of it. Likewise, as well made as this documentary is, it's unlikely that anything good will come of it anytime soon - the 'leadership' of the U.S. seems to be making the same mistakes in the Middle East that were made in Vietnam.
The footage of Lyndon Johnson was most striking - the president with the thick Texas accent, speeches filled with rhetoric about stopping tyranny and preserving freedom. Sound familiar? Too bad that our current president was busy getting drunk and doing lots of drugs while Vietnam was happening, otherwise he might have actually learned something! One of the most memorable scenes in the film was of McNamara meeting with the former North Vietnamese foreign minister in 1992. He told McNamara that the North Vietnamese leadership considered the conflict in their country as simply a civil war, and the U.S. as a colonial power looking to take the place of former occupant France. They never saw it as part of the Cold War, and were not concerned about Chinese influence. Big surprise, a U.S. war for no good reason! Hey that reminds me, have we found those weapons in Iraq yet?
That scene did remind me of something though - Brian Schweitzer, the current governor of Montana (of all places), a Democrat who spent time as a businessman in the Middle East and can speak Arabic, said this in a Salon Interview last month when asked about Iraq:
McNamara is a paradoxical figure. He was a master of efficiency and optimizing who helped develop the bombing technique that destroyed most of Japan long before the Bombs were dropped, but acknowledges in the film that if the U.S. had been on the losing side of WWII he would certainly have been convicted of war crimes. He was the public face of one of the most controversial military operations in U.S. history, but behind the scenes was working to extricate us from that mess long before the troops came home. At the end of the film though, he remains guarded, unwilling to directly address the emotional toll that's been taken, or any feelings of guilt or remorse (I'm assuming those feeling do exist, btw). He doesn't want to visit those places publicly, because he doesn't think that anything good will come of it. Likewise, as well made as this documentary is, it's unlikely that anything good will come of it anytime soon - the 'leadership' of the U.S. seems to be making the same mistakes in the Middle East that were made in Vietnam.
The footage of Lyndon Johnson was most striking - the president with the thick Texas accent, speeches filled with rhetoric about stopping tyranny and preserving freedom. Sound familiar? Too bad that our current president was busy getting drunk and doing lots of drugs while Vietnam was happening, otherwise he might have actually learned something! One of the most memorable scenes in the film was of McNamara meeting with the former North Vietnamese foreign minister in 1992. He told McNamara that the North Vietnamese leadership considered the conflict in their country as simply a civil war, and the U.S. as a colonial power looking to take the place of former occupant France. They never saw it as part of the Cold War, and were not concerned about Chinese influence. Big surprise, a U.S. war for no good reason! Hey that reminds me, have we found those weapons in Iraq yet?
That scene did remind me of something though - Brian Schweitzer, the current governor of Montana (of all places), a Democrat who spent time as a businessman in the Middle East and can speak Arabic, said this in a Salon Interview last month when asked about Iraq:
I had misgivings from the very beginning. We were told that this incursion was going to make the world a safer place. But that didn't square with me because I knew, in the Middle East, the days of the Crusades are like they happened just a few years ago. Any incursion of the West into Islamic cultures is going to be met with resistance.Anyway, I could write four more pages on this film, but I've probably already lost some people. Check out the movie yourself, especially if you plan on supporting a war anytime soon - McNamara's eleven lessons (they serve as a loose framework for the film) may give you pause.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
The Beer Tax
Now I'm not a fan of super-conservative PA Senator Rick Santorum (based on past comments, he's proven himself to be - gasp! - somewhat of a bigot). So it's always nice to discover a Republican who is not, in fact, pure evil. Santorum introduced a bill last month that would reduce the dreaded Beer Tax. And several other Republican Senators were co-sponsors.
What I'd like to know though, is why this didn't make the front pages of all the papers. Our priorities in this country are so out of whack. Some of you may be thinking, "Hey, it's only beer. And I didn't even know that there WAS a tax, so the tax can't be that bad!" WRONG. The tax is built into the price (like fuel taxes), and can be up to 44% of that price! Besides, it's a luxury tax - should any product made by Budweiser, Coors, or Miller really be considered a 'luxury' item?
The Beer Tax - another reason why the terrorists have already won. Why does our Federal Government hate Beer/Freedom?
What I'd like to know though, is why this didn't make the front pages of all the papers. Our priorities in this country are so out of whack. Some of you may be thinking, "Hey, it's only beer. And I didn't even know that there WAS a tax, so the tax can't be that bad!" WRONG. The tax is built into the price (like fuel taxes), and can be up to 44% of that price! Besides, it's a luxury tax - should any product made by Budweiser, Coors, or Miller really be considered a 'luxury' item?
The Beer Tax - another reason why the terrorists have already won. Why does our Federal Government hate Beer/Freedom?
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
From the Office of the Governor
Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich is going to veto a bill that would require large companies (such as Wal-Mart) to spend at least 8% of payroll on healthcare costs for employees. That's too bad, but also unfortunate is the press release from the governor's office.
"...the county expected to most largely suffer from the passage of the bill..."
That's a brilliant staff you have there, Bob. Perhaps you can introduce them to the English language someday.
First though, please get a decent haircut.
"...the county expected to most largely suffer from the passage of the bill..."
That's a brilliant staff you have there, Bob. Perhaps you can introduce them to the English language someday.
First though, please get a decent haircut.
George Lucas Is Stealing From Me!
People keep asking me if I'm going this weekend to see the final installment of the Star Wars prequels. Probably not. Yes, I'll see it eventually, and probably while it's still in theaters. But I'm in no hurry.
I'll acknowledge that George Lucas is a good storyteller, but he is by no means a good director. And the nostalgia for the original Star Wars films - I still remember going to see Return of the Jedi in the theater with my family, and when the original Star Wars came out, it was the first time that my parents hired a babysitter for me - means that many of us who remember the original films fondly feel obligated to see the new films.
Fine, except for this unfortunate detail - the new movies just haven't been very good so far. The early reviews indicate that the third film is markedly better, but comparing it to the first 2 prequels, that's a low bar to clear. Lucas takes actors like Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, who have turned in good performances in other films, and turns them into cardboard. Only Ewan McGregor seems immune from being compressed by Lucas into a 2-D construct 'acting' against a blue screen (or green, or whatever they use these days). Ever wonder what the original films would have been like without Harrison Ford? Without his Han Solo, would we hold those movies in such high regard? Maybe. But take Ewan McGregor out of this series, and I'm not sure if the first two movies are even watchable.
The Star Wars saga tells a fantastic story, simplistic at times, but still engaging. George Lucas isn'ty the the storyteller that Tolkien is, but may be the closest thing to him in the realm of sci-fi filmmaking. But he's nowhere near Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, Spielberg, Mel Gibson, or these guys when it comes to directing the epic film. I really wish he would have entrusted the directing duties to someone else. I'm out $15 to $20 after the first two movies, and I can't say that it was worth it. But I'll fork over my money for the third installment all the same. You're robbing us blind, George! At least make the 7th, 8th and 9th episodes, to make up for these last three films, OK?
I'll acknowledge that George Lucas is a good storyteller, but he is by no means a good director. And the nostalgia for the original Star Wars films - I still remember going to see Return of the Jedi in the theater with my family, and when the original Star Wars came out, it was the first time that my parents hired a babysitter for me - means that many of us who remember the original films fondly feel obligated to see the new films.
Fine, except for this unfortunate detail - the new movies just haven't been very good so far. The early reviews indicate that the third film is markedly better, but comparing it to the first 2 prequels, that's a low bar to clear. Lucas takes actors like Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, who have turned in good performances in other films, and turns them into cardboard. Only Ewan McGregor seems immune from being compressed by Lucas into a 2-D construct 'acting' against a blue screen (or green, or whatever they use these days). Ever wonder what the original films would have been like without Harrison Ford? Without his Han Solo, would we hold those movies in such high regard? Maybe. But take Ewan McGregor out of this series, and I'm not sure if the first two movies are even watchable.
The Star Wars saga tells a fantastic story, simplistic at times, but still engaging. George Lucas isn'ty the the storyteller that Tolkien is, but may be the closest thing to him in the realm of sci-fi filmmaking. But he's nowhere near Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, Spielberg, Mel Gibson, or these guys when it comes to directing the epic film. I really wish he would have entrusted the directing duties to someone else. I'm out $15 to $20 after the first two movies, and I can't say that it was worth it. But I'll fork over my money for the third installment all the same. You're robbing us blind, George! At least make the 7th, 8th and 9th episodes, to make up for these last three films, OK?
Monday, May 16, 2005
HFStival 2005
Saturday was quite a busy day for me. I began the day out in Frederick, running in the Mission of Mercy 5K with my dad and sister. Beautiful weather, and a decent race. I got almost the exact same time I had been getting earlier in the week when I ran the 5K course over in Patterson Park - 25:35. Odd, because usually people run a bit faster on race day, perhaps I've hit a bit of a 5K plateau and need to push through it. Anyway, Em finished about 90 seconds after I did, and Barry came in 30 seconds after her. Not too bad overall, especially the old man, who knocked 2+ minutes off of his previous 5K personal best.
After the race, it was back to Baltimore for the 2005 HFStival. The lineup this year was really strong, so after living in this area most of my life and never attending an HFStival, I've been the past two years. Strange. Overall, a good time. This is despite some crappy weather, tons of inconsiderate, punk-ass kids, and a few less-than-stellar performances. Here's the summary, I'll start with the not-so-good:
After the race, it was back to Baltimore for the 2005 HFStival. The lineup this year was really strong, so after living in this area most of my life and never attending an HFStival, I've been the past two years. Strange. Overall, a good time. This is despite some crappy weather, tons of inconsiderate, punk-ass kids, and a few less-than-stellar performances. Here's the summary, I'll start with the not-so-good:
- Interpol - I'll put them first not because they were particularly bad, because they weren't, but because I've seen them twice before. They were incredible both times, so expectations were high. Yes, they sounded great. But they went on early in the day, around 2:30, and it seemed like they didn't want to be there. They played 6 songs or so, and while this was similar to the set lengths of other acts, their set seemed much shorter. Their bass player smashed his bass (badly - the Who would have laughed at him) before they walked off the stage, so maybe they were angry about something. Message to Interpol: you guys might be big now, but you're not U2 just yet. Adjust your attitude.
- Echo and the Bunnymen - Their lead singer's voice was malfunctioning, so they couldn't even play. He tried a song or two, but that was it. If you haven't been around for a while, it's probably best to take care of your voice before a big live show. Echo didn't get any new fans on Saturday. Also, the Bunnymen were not in costume.
- Good Charlotte - I thought their stage set, which Amy hilariously called the "Hot Topic set", consisting of gargoyles in a graveyard, was a bad sign. I was right. How did these guys ever get a record contract? They stink. Maybe there should be a new label for their type of music, because applying the pop-punk label to these types of bands disparages both Justin Timberlake AND the Ramones. Throw them together with Blink 182, Sum 41, Linkin Park, and you've got Hot Topic Rock. Cheap, trendy, appeals only to teenagers, won't last more than a few years.
- Garbage - We've seen them twice before, but unlike Interpol, the third time didn't disappoint. They are simply a great rock band, and Shirley Manson is a great performer and terrific live singer. If you like their music, I would recommend a live performance. Even the songs from their new album, which I think is quite unspectacular, sounded great live.
- The New York Dolls - I don't know much about them, other than they were a short-lived but influential punk band from the early 70s (the American answer to the Sex Pistols?), perhaps more influential for their style and appearance than anything else. They sounded damn good! They were clearly having fun up there, playing in front of a larger crowd than I'm sure they've seen in many years. And here's some bizarre music trivia about their lead singer, David Johansen. I knew I recognized him from somewhere, but when the guitarist announced his name mid-way through the set, I finally put it together. This is the same David Johansen who was also known in the 80s as Buster Poindexter, a purveyor of cocktail party songs and cheesy conga line dance numbers. He was almost unrecognizable, he currently looks like he's about 70 years old (he's 55) and a poster child for heroin use - either that or he's really sick.
- The Pietasters - Over at the locals stage, they went on last, and played an abbreviated set due to the appearance of some lightning. They sounded much better than last time I saw them, probably because they weren't drunk (yet). I vowed to never pay to see them as headliners ever again - they're a great band if they're opening for someone, but as the main act they can't keep it together because they're drinking - heavily - before and during their act. On Saturday, they were behaving, and consequently they sounded good.
- Billy Idol - The biggest reason that I was at the HFStival was to see this man perform, and he did NOT disappoint. He and his band just rocked. Simple as that. Definitely the highlight of my evening. He looked and sounded amazing, and knew how to work a crowd better than anyone else there (although Shirley Manson and Chris Martin came close). He reminded us several times that he was, after all, "Billy Fucking Idol". But we didn't need him to tell us that - we knew.
- Coldplay - They came on after a brief lightning delay, and had a surprisingly good live sound. Like Billy Idol, Chris Martin has a very distinct voice that shines through during live performances. He's quite the performer, very animated on stage, he really gets into each song. I'd love to see a show of theirs in the future.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Baltimore 3, Minnesota 0
Jenny and I went to our first O's game of the season last night, a 3-0 win against the Twins. How is it that we have a first-place team in Baltimore for the first time in 8 years, and I don't get to Camden Yards until May? Good question. It's because I was in no hurry to fork over my money to Peter Angelos this year, after the morons in the 'customer service' department wouldn't return my calls when all I wanted to do was upgrade the seats in my ticket package. No wonder he was so scared about a Washington team.
We had marvelous seats, good enough that you could recognize the players without reading the jerseys or knowing their uniform numbers. But there wasn't much of a crowd there. I suppose it's because it was a Monday, but the weather was perfect, and the Twins are a good team; they've been to the playoffs the last few years. The fans down in section 14 aren't too vocal either, which is too bad. I always suspected that once D.C. got a team, the long-time Orioles fans would finally be in the majority at Camden Yards, displacing the cell-phone-chatting casual fans from the D.C. area. I guess I was wrong - the $40 seats are apparently still full of those people, using their company's season tickets, chatting on the phone, leaving early during a great game on a beautiful evening. Could it kill them to make some noise, other than when the scoreboards instruct them to?
There was a 5-6 year old kid sitting behind us who started asking in the fifth inning if they could leave. Thank God for short attention spans, which led to the kid's discerning observation in the seventh: "Whoever cut that grass did a pretty good job." Yeah kid, they sure did.
On to the game! A dominating pitching performance by Daniel Cabrera, shutting out a team that hadn't been shut out since July of last season, and striking out a career-high 11 in 8 innings (B.J. Ryan pitched the ninth to complete the shutout). And Cabrera is a BIG guy. He's listed at 6' 7", and used all of that leverage last night -he was hitting 99 mph on the radar gun on more than one occasion, with most pitches above 95. Miguel Tejada also hit his 10th home run (and 200th of his career), a line-drive that cleared then left field wall in a hurry.
Hopefully this is a defining moment in Cabrera's young career - he's got the stuff to be a frighteningly good, intimidating pitcher. Baltimore pitching coach Ray Miller supposedly compared his mound presence (and fastball) to that of J.R. Richard, a similarly-proportioned pitcher who had some great years with Houston back in the 70s. That's good news for the Orioles, if Cabrera can have a career similar to that of Richard.
One last item: now that Washington has a team, would it kill the Orioles to put Baltimore back on their uniforms? Their road uniforms used to include 'BALTIMORE' in big block letters. We looked around the ballpark last night, and couldn't see one sign, uniform, or advertisement that included the name of the city in which the game was being played. That's just sad. In all fairness, this can't be blamed on Angelos (see link to Sun article), but he has the power to rectify it. Time to stop pretending that this is a huge regional team, because it isn't anymore (if it ever was in the first place). I know that Baltimore has its problems, but there's something wrong when a team purposefully dissociates itself from its own city.
We had marvelous seats, good enough that you could recognize the players without reading the jerseys or knowing their uniform numbers. But there wasn't much of a crowd there. I suppose it's because it was a Monday, but the weather was perfect, and the Twins are a good team; they've been to the playoffs the last few years. The fans down in section 14 aren't too vocal either, which is too bad. I always suspected that once D.C. got a team, the long-time Orioles fans would finally be in the majority at Camden Yards, displacing the cell-phone-chatting casual fans from the D.C. area. I guess I was wrong - the $40 seats are apparently still full of those people, using their company's season tickets, chatting on the phone, leaving early during a great game on a beautiful evening. Could it kill them to make some noise, other than when the scoreboards instruct them to?
There was a 5-6 year old kid sitting behind us who started asking in the fifth inning if they could leave. Thank God for short attention spans, which led to the kid's discerning observation in the seventh: "Whoever cut that grass did a pretty good job." Yeah kid, they sure did.
On to the game! A dominating pitching performance by Daniel Cabrera, shutting out a team that hadn't been shut out since July of last season, and striking out a career-high 11 in 8 innings (B.J. Ryan pitched the ninth to complete the shutout). And Cabrera is a BIG guy. He's listed at 6' 7", and used all of that leverage last night -he was hitting 99 mph on the radar gun on more than one occasion, with most pitches above 95. Miguel Tejada also hit his 10th home run (and 200th of his career), a line-drive that cleared then left field wall in a hurry.
Hopefully this is a defining moment in Cabrera's young career - he's got the stuff to be a frighteningly good, intimidating pitcher. Baltimore pitching coach Ray Miller supposedly compared his mound presence (and fastball) to that of J.R. Richard, a similarly-proportioned pitcher who had some great years with Houston back in the 70s. That's good news for the Orioles, if Cabrera can have a career similar to that of Richard.
One last item: now that Washington has a team, would it kill the Orioles to put Baltimore back on their uniforms? Their road uniforms used to include 'BALTIMORE' in big block letters. We looked around the ballpark last night, and couldn't see one sign, uniform, or advertisement that included the name of the city in which the game was being played. That's just sad. In all fairness, this can't be blamed on Angelos (see link to Sun article), but he has the power to rectify it. Time to stop pretending that this is a huge regional team, because it isn't anymore (if it ever was in the first place). I know that Baltimore has its problems, but there's something wrong when a team purposefully dissociates itself from its own city.
Monday, April 25, 2005
A Cookie is a Sometimes Food?!?
This may be old news to some of you, but I just heard about it this morning: apparently, Cookie Monster is cutting down on his cookie intake.
Sure, the chunk factor of kids in this country have been well-documented. But he's a piece of felt who likes cookies - no harm there, right? Maybe parents need to be a bit smarter if they believe that their kid is being unduly influenced by Cookie Monster's cravings for sugar and saturated fat (although with all the role models kids could choose these days, one would think that Cookie Monster would be the least of parents' worries). Buy lowfat cookies for your rotund child! Sure, they taste like sawdust, but they're still technically cookies. Kids are smart, smart enough to know better when their parent tries to pass celery off as a crunchy green cookie, but not smart enough to make sure there's real sugar and high fat content in that package of low-fat Oreos.
I appreciate what Sesame Street is trying to do, but let's hope they don't go too far. Oscar should still be a Grouch, not "Oscar the Occasionally Moody". Big Bird is still a BIG YELLOW BIRD! He's not "Bird, who is tall for his age". And Elmo is simply hyper and obnoxious, not overly enthusiastic.
Sure, the chunk factor of kids in this country have been well-documented. But he's a piece of felt who likes cookies - no harm there, right? Maybe parents need to be a bit smarter if they believe that their kid is being unduly influenced by Cookie Monster's cravings for sugar and saturated fat (although with all the role models kids could choose these days, one would think that Cookie Monster would be the least of parents' worries). Buy lowfat cookies for your rotund child! Sure, they taste like sawdust, but they're still technically cookies. Kids are smart, smart enough to know better when their parent tries to pass celery off as a crunchy green cookie, but not smart enough to make sure there's real sugar and high fat content in that package of low-fat Oreos.
I appreciate what Sesame Street is trying to do, but let's hope they don't go too far. Oscar should still be a Grouch, not "Oscar the Occasionally Moody". Big Bird is still a BIG YELLOW BIRD! He's not "Bird, who is tall for his age". And Elmo is simply hyper and obnoxious, not overly enthusiastic.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Clarification, and...Happy Birthday Matt!
A few loyal readers have asked, based on the last entry, if I played gold in SC recently. No, based on my "skill" level I would certainly not be allowed to defile the beautiful South Carolina courses. My dad Barry is a contributor to this blog though, and it is he who is responsible for the last item. What can I say - he found out about my blog, and since he wants to be just like me, he asked to become a contributor. He spends too much time online already looking at photos of old tractors and trying to find tractor parts (aaah, middle-age hobbies!), leaving no time for his own blog.
Meanwhile, it's the 21st of April 2005, and that means that my brother Matt (picture approximately reflects current appearance) turns 26 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!
Meanwhile, it's the 21st of April 2005, and that means that my brother Matt (picture approximately reflects current appearance) turns 26 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Brand New Pope
Benedictus XVI (doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like John Paul II did) is now pope. And it looks like his election will likely lead to a even more fractious relationship between Rome and the Church in North America and Europe, and continued harm to the health crisis in Africa.
This guy is old-old school. Believes homosexuality is bad. Ditto contraception. He can probably point to the Bible, and cite passages that support these claims. The Bible though, was a book written by men. I listened to a sermon by a priest once that reminded the congregation of that fact. It's not like God reached down from the puffy white clouds with an enormous hand, a la some Terry Gilliam - Monthy Python animation, and scribbled all this stuff down.
Those views aren't going to help keep gays in the Church, it's just going to push them out, all because of who they are. Anyone see the bizarre analogy between this and the U.S. military's don't ask don't tell policy? The church is shrinking in the 'first world', so let's alienate a segment of the congregation and make it even smaller! ~ The armed forces can't recruit, so let's tell this group of people that they're not allowed to join up and die for their country in its bullshit wars!
A ban of contraception won't help much in Africa, where the church is growing like nowhere else but where millions are dying of AIDS. Shouldn't a sense of responsibility towards humanity as a whole come before any religious doctrine? If the Church hierarchy stepped back and asked itself that age-old question, "What would Jesus Do?", I'm wondering if the answer would really be to let millions in Africa die instead of supporting....condom distribution.
How far does the Church have to go before rational people of faith decide that enough is enough and look elsewhere for their spiritual needs? Unfortunately, the reign of Benedictus XVI may provide an answer to that question.
This guy is old-old school. Believes homosexuality is bad. Ditto contraception. He can probably point to the Bible, and cite passages that support these claims. The Bible though, was a book written by men. I listened to a sermon by a priest once that reminded the congregation of that fact. It's not like God reached down from the puffy white clouds with an enormous hand, a la some Terry Gilliam - Monthy Python animation, and scribbled all this stuff down.
Those views aren't going to help keep gays in the Church, it's just going to push them out, all because of who they are. Anyone see the bizarre analogy between this and the U.S. military's don't ask don't tell policy? The church is shrinking in the 'first world', so let's alienate a segment of the congregation and make it even smaller! ~ The armed forces can't recruit, so let's tell this group of people that they're not allowed to join up and die for their country in its bullshit wars!
A ban of contraception won't help much in Africa, where the church is growing like nowhere else but where millions are dying of AIDS. Shouldn't a sense of responsibility towards humanity as a whole come before any religious doctrine? If the Church hierarchy stepped back and asked itself that age-old question, "What would Jesus Do?", I'm wondering if the answer would really be to let millions in Africa die instead of supporting....condom distribution.
How far does the Church have to go before rational people of faith decide that enough is enough and look elsewhere for their spiritual needs? Unfortunately, the reign of Benedictus XVI may provide an answer to that question.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
FE Exam
I attempted the Fundamentals of Engineering exam yesterday up in Timonium. This is the exam that engineers usually take during their senior years or immediately after graduation, but that I - due in part to poor academic advising and laziness/complacency on my part, never got around to taking. But it's a prerequisite for the Professional Engineers exam/certification, a good thing to have, in my field.
Ugh. Not pretty. I honestly don't think that I passed. There's a reason that most people take the exam while still in school - the material is still fresh, and they're used to taking exams. Six years out of school, I have no fresh material, and I haven't taken an exam over that whole time period.
Bottom line - I didn't study enough. I really needed more review of several topics, plus more practice working problems in a timed environment. I can look to my recent travels (3 weekends away in the 5 weeks leading up to the test) as part of the problem, not that that's anyone's fault but my own. I don't find out the news until July, but I can't say that I'm optimistic at this point. This test won't defeat me though, I'll almost certainly be taking it again in October, if necessary.
Last time I was up at the fairgrounds in Timonium, it was for a beer festival. Let me tell you, that was much more fun than an eight-hour engineering exam. If you have to choose, go with the beer every time.
In other news, both local baseball clubs, my hometown O's and the Nationals, are doing well. Baltimore is doing what it couldn't do last year, beat the NYY. As long as they keeping winning 4 out of every 5 games versus New York, that's a good season - if only because it shuts up all the local Yankees fans - you know, the ones who have never lived in any proximity to NYC - who invade Camden Yards each series. Now I don't begrudge real NY fans for rooting for their home team, I even know a few NYY fans who are decent human beings, believe it or not, but these people that show up in Baltimore grew up in Maryland and started rooting for the Yankees during the Joe Torre era. How convenient - they were also big Bulls, then Lakers fans, and these days they just love their New England Patriots. Maybe eventually those 'loyalists' will stop showing up and go root for somebody else. I know, probably too much to hope for.
Ugh. Not pretty. I honestly don't think that I passed. There's a reason that most people take the exam while still in school - the material is still fresh, and they're used to taking exams. Six years out of school, I have no fresh material, and I haven't taken an exam over that whole time period.
Bottom line - I didn't study enough. I really needed more review of several topics, plus more practice working problems in a timed environment. I can look to my recent travels (3 weekends away in the 5 weeks leading up to the test) as part of the problem, not that that's anyone's fault but my own. I don't find out the news until July, but I can't say that I'm optimistic at this point. This test won't defeat me though, I'll almost certainly be taking it again in October, if necessary.
Last time I was up at the fairgrounds in Timonium, it was for a beer festival. Let me tell you, that was much more fun than an eight-hour engineering exam. If you have to choose, go with the beer every time.
In other news, both local baseball clubs, my hometown O's and the Nationals, are doing well. Baltimore is doing what it couldn't do last year, beat the NYY. As long as they keeping winning 4 out of every 5 games versus New York, that's a good season - if only because it shuts up all the local Yankees fans - you know, the ones who have never lived in any proximity to NYC - who invade Camden Yards each series. Now I don't begrudge real NY fans for rooting for their home team, I even know a few NYY fans who are decent human beings, believe it or not, but these people that show up in Baltimore grew up in Maryland and started rooting for the Yankees during the Joe Torre era. How convenient - they were also big Bulls, then Lakers fans, and these days they just love their New England Patriots. Maybe eventually those 'loyalists' will stop showing up and go root for somebody else. I know, probably too much to hope for.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Walking on the Moon
No, not literally. But that is what I felt like I was doing on occasion during our recent trip out to Utah for Jenny's brother's wedding. That feeling stemmed not only from the wedding, which had facets that were unfamiliar in a bizarre way, but also from our subsequent trip to Moab and Arches National Park, a landscape that was unfamiliar in a spectacular, otherworldly way.
Utah is...different than the East Coast, there's no mistaking that. I had been out there three (?) times previously, so I thought I was getting used to the culture. Then we went to this wedding. Foremost, it was a Thursday affair, which is unheard of in the East. I can only assume that the Thursday date was necessary so that Chris and Jen (the newlyweds) could have use of the Salt Lake City temple for the ceremony. It probably saved them a few bucks too, something that I can appreciate since we're still paying off our own wedding that took place last November.
I had never attended a wedding in which I was barred from viewing the actual ceremony, until last week. The Mormons have a closed-door policy for their weddings, evidently. Actually, my understanding is that the closed-door policy is for the temple, but since the wedding takes place within said temple - in nerd-speak, according to the distributive property - it applies to weddings as well. So Catholic heathens like myself waited outside the temple, along with the non-temple-worthy Mormons in attendance, children from Mormon families, and everyone else. That worked out OK; the weather was nice and we played with - and, when necessary, chased down - niece and nephews. The reception was fun, with live band and food, although the absence of a bar or any adult beverages of any kind was striking. I was warned beforehand, but it's still weird to be drinking lemonade (w/o whiskey) at a wedding reception. At least the reception was uneventful, unlike the previous evening's rehearsal dinner. During which the bride's parents both chose to mention that they wished that the bride's previous fiancee (boyfriend?), who was in attendance with his wife, had been the one to join their family. Never mind that Chris is a fabulous guy who's a lot of fun to be around, and that one would be hard-pressed to meet a nicer person, and that he was sitting right next to them hearing this crap! - the parents of the bride should really know better than to be so rude and disrespectful of their daughter and future son-in-law, right?!? I'm not sure I would have believed that it happened, were I not there to hear it myself.
I don't think words can do Arches National Park justice. The hiking was amazing - challenging and beautiful. Sometimes we would stop, not for a rest, but simply to look around for a sec. The weather was pleasant enough too, aside from the wind on the first day. It was what I would imagine the surface of Mars to be like, except with more cacti, shrubbery, and butterflies. Truly an alien landscape, but maybe all too appropriate that it's located in Utah? Don't get me wrong, I like visiting, and Jenny's family is wonderful. But it's still good to be home.
Utah is...different than the East Coast, there's no mistaking that. I had been out there three (?) times previously, so I thought I was getting used to the culture. Then we went to this wedding. Foremost, it was a Thursday affair, which is unheard of in the East. I can only assume that the Thursday date was necessary so that Chris and Jen (the newlyweds) could have use of the Salt Lake City temple for the ceremony. It probably saved them a few bucks too, something that I can appreciate since we're still paying off our own wedding that took place last November.
I had never attended a wedding in which I was barred from viewing the actual ceremony, until last week. The Mormons have a closed-door policy for their weddings, evidently. Actually, my understanding is that the closed-door policy is for the temple, but since the wedding takes place within said temple - in nerd-speak, according to the distributive property - it applies to weddings as well. So Catholic heathens like myself waited outside the temple, along with the non-temple-worthy Mormons in attendance, children from Mormon families, and everyone else. That worked out OK; the weather was nice and we played with - and, when necessary, chased down - niece and nephews. The reception was fun, with live band and food, although the absence of a bar or any adult beverages of any kind was striking. I was warned beforehand, but it's still weird to be drinking lemonade (w/o whiskey) at a wedding reception. At least the reception was uneventful, unlike the previous evening's rehearsal dinner. During which the bride's parents both chose to mention that they wished that the bride's previous fiancee (boyfriend?), who was in attendance with his wife, had been the one to join their family. Never mind that Chris is a fabulous guy who's a lot of fun to be around, and that one would be hard-pressed to meet a nicer person, and that he was sitting right next to them hearing this crap! - the parents of the bride should really know better than to be so rude and disrespectful of their daughter and future son-in-law, right?!? I'm not sure I would have believed that it happened, were I not there to hear it myself.
I don't think words can do Arches National Park justice. The hiking was amazing - challenging and beautiful. Sometimes we would stop, not for a rest, but simply to look around for a sec. The weather was pleasant enough too, aside from the wind on the first day. It was what I would imagine the surface of Mars to be like, except with more cacti, shrubbery, and butterflies. Truly an alien landscape, but maybe all too appropriate that it's located in Utah? Don't get me wrong, I like visiting, and Jenny's family is wonderful. But it's still good to be home.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Sin City Review, ipod mini battery: Unstoppable!
Jenny and I took in Sin City at the cinema last night. Wow, talk about loving and hating a movie. The film is gorgeous, the cast is fantastic, the noir style felt way more immersive than I thought it would be here in 2005. But it's a brutally violent, gory movie - afterwards I felt like I should go home and take a shower, like some of the blood and guts (yes, lots of both in this film) had stained me in some way. I've read the Sin City comics so I know what Miller & Rodriguez were trying to do, and they succeeded. You were in Sin City, and that meant that you had to get slapped around some too, if only mentally and emotionally. Would I recommend this film? Without hesitation. Should you bring a date? I'd lean towards, um...."NO!". Will I see it again? Perhaps someday. I'm not masochistic enough to sit through it again anytime soon though.
The ipod mini battery? Lasted longer than I did yesterday. Started at 6:15 AM, battery indicator went to zero around 7:15 PM, when I went to bed around 1:15 AM (19 hours later), it was still going. And this with a battery that probably hasn't been fully conditioned, and with some of the mp3s encoded at a higher-than-average bit rate! So if Apple ever made a car, I suppose it would go another 200 miles or so once the fuel tank hit 'E'? Sign me up! Wait, that car would only come in white or 3 different pastel colors. Never mind.
The ipod mini battery? Lasted longer than I did yesterday. Started at 6:15 AM, battery indicator went to zero around 7:15 PM, when I went to bed around 1:15 AM (19 hours later), it was still going. And this with a battery that probably hasn't been fully conditioned, and with some of the mp3s encoded at a higher-than-average bit rate! So if Apple ever made a car, I suppose it would go another 200 miles or so once the fuel tank hit 'E'? Sign me up! Wait, that car would only come in white or 3 different pastel colors. Never mind.
Friday, April 01, 2005
New Blog Link! plus, an ipod mini Battery Test
Slow Friday at work, so I have time between the simulations I'm running for additional posts. No need to thank me, loyal readers!
I finally added a link to Jenny's long-running blog! I'm sure she'll be thrilled. But she's been doing this blogging stuff for years, so it's no big deal to her. I only recently discovered this facet of the Internets, so it's still new and exciting for me.
I think the plan is for us to see Sin City tonight or maybe tomorrow night. Naturally, a review with follow. This evening at 6:30 I have a live fantasy baseball draft for a league I just joined a few hours ago. I've never been as unprepared for fantasy baseball, I've done no research whatsoever! It should be fun, but I'm not expecting that this casual approach to the draft will extend my 2-year league winning streak. Ah well, all good things must come to an end. And I'm sure I'll still draft better than my hometown Orioles!
Right now I have my ipod mini sitting in my desk drawer running through its songs. Or rather, I'm seeing how long it will run through said songs - I'm doing an un-scientific battery-life test, for what it's worth. There are a number of potential problems with this test, the first being that the battery has only been 100% charged once. I'm not sure if it's true, but I've read that the battery needs 3-4 charges to be 'broken-in'. The second issue is that the mp3s that are loaded onto it were encoded using a number of different settings and bit rates, few of which are what I'm currently using to rip-and-encode my CDs. I'm using the LAME mp3 encoder at alt-preset-standard settings, which produces a VBR (variable bit rate) file with an average bit rate of around 200kbps. It's certainly more quality than I need when listening to songs through headphones, so I suspect I'm being a bit of a audiophile snob. But I swear I can hear the difference on certain CDs, especially jazz recordings and electronic music. Who knows, maybe there's a placebo effect at work there. But when every yuppified home has a media receiver that will wirelessly access all mp3s, video files, and photos from home computers, I figure it will be nice to be able to pump high-quality mp3s from my home stereo (which has great-sounding speakers). The downside is that bigger mp3 files - and VBR files to boot - will drain mp3 player batteries quicker than smaller, lower-quality files encoded at constant bit rates.
So time will tell (literally!) whether my current test will yield battery life close to Apple's 18 hour claim. Then for part II of testing I'll see what kind of a hit the battery takes playing my newly-encoded audiophile-snob files. Currently, the battery indicator looks to be at about 60% and I'm at 5 hours of play time. I will provide updates on the test later in the day. Hopefully, much later.
I finally added a link to Jenny's long-running blog! I'm sure she'll be thrilled. But she's been doing this blogging stuff for years, so it's no big deal to her. I only recently discovered this facet of the Internets, so it's still new and exciting for me.
I think the plan is for us to see Sin City tonight or maybe tomorrow night. Naturally, a review with follow. This evening at 6:30 I have a live fantasy baseball draft for a league I just joined a few hours ago. I've never been as unprepared for fantasy baseball, I've done no research whatsoever! It should be fun, but I'm not expecting that this casual approach to the draft will extend my 2-year league winning streak. Ah well, all good things must come to an end. And I'm sure I'll still draft better than my hometown Orioles!
Right now I have my ipod mini sitting in my desk drawer running through its songs. Or rather, I'm seeing how long it will run through said songs - I'm doing an un-scientific battery-life test, for what it's worth. There are a number of potential problems with this test, the first being that the battery has only been 100% charged once. I'm not sure if it's true, but I've read that the battery needs 3-4 charges to be 'broken-in'. The second issue is that the mp3s that are loaded onto it were encoded using a number of different settings and bit rates, few of which are what I'm currently using to rip-and-encode my CDs. I'm using the LAME mp3 encoder at alt-preset-standard settings, which produces a VBR (variable bit rate) file with an average bit rate of around 200kbps. It's certainly more quality than I need when listening to songs through headphones, so I suspect I'm being a bit of a audiophile snob. But I swear I can hear the difference on certain CDs, especially jazz recordings and electronic music. Who knows, maybe there's a placebo effect at work there. But when every yuppified home has a media receiver that will wirelessly access all mp3s, video files, and photos from home computers, I figure it will be nice to be able to pump high-quality mp3s from my home stereo (which has great-sounding speakers). The downside is that bigger mp3 files - and VBR files to boot - will drain mp3 player batteries quicker than smaller, lower-quality files encoded at constant bit rates.
So time will tell (literally!) whether my current test will yield battery life close to Apple's 18 hour claim. Then for part II of testing I'll see what kind of a hit the battery takes playing my newly-encoded audiophile-snob files. Currently, the battery indicator looks to be at about 60% and I'm at 5 hours of play time. I will provide updates on the test later in the day. Hopefully, much later.
The Pope & Mitch Hedberg
There's a juxtaposition I never thought I'd read, let alone type.
It's not looking good for John Paul II. He has been given last rites, and today might be his last day on Earth. Once he's passed, the mourning and celebration of his life will begin, and all the superlatives may not do justice to what he meant to the Church, and to the entire world, in the 20th century. From his worldwide travels to his role in rolling back the iron curtain, he will be remembered as a political, cultural, and spiritual force. I was 17 when I met him - It never occured to me then - was I meeting a future saint? I wouldn't be surprised if there was a movement to canonize him. What did occur to me on that evening in Denver, was that this was a man who was at peace with his tremendous responsibility, of being the spiritual leader to a billion people. He's done the job about as well as any human could, and now he gets to go home.
Mitch Hedberg is, or should I say was, one of my brother Matt's favorite comics. We saw him live at the DC Improv a few years ago, and it was a great show. He has a...unique style, and some fantastic material (scroll down for quotes). That being said, c'mon people, get it together. Maybe some philanthrophic-minded person in the comedy industry needs to make like the the Gideons and their hotel room Bibles, buy a million copies of Bob Woodward's John Belushi Biography, Wired, and hand it out at the stage door to every up-and-coming comedian. I know these overdoses (I'm speculating in Mitch's case, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't) don't happen as often as they seem to. But these are the people that make us laugh. They're an integral part of a fucked-up world that's easy to laugh at - bitterly, mind you - but hard to laugh in. If you can make people laugh consistently, they will love you. Why throw that away?
It's not looking good for John Paul II. He has been given last rites, and today might be his last day on Earth. Once he's passed, the mourning and celebration of his life will begin, and all the superlatives may not do justice to what he meant to the Church, and to the entire world, in the 20th century. From his worldwide travels to his role in rolling back the iron curtain, he will be remembered as a political, cultural, and spiritual force. I was 17 when I met him - It never occured to me then - was I meeting a future saint? I wouldn't be surprised if there was a movement to canonize him. What did occur to me on that evening in Denver, was that this was a man who was at peace with his tremendous responsibility, of being the spiritual leader to a billion people. He's done the job about as well as any human could, and now he gets to go home.
Mitch Hedberg is, or should I say was, one of my brother Matt's favorite comics. We saw him live at the DC Improv a few years ago, and it was a great show. He has a...unique style, and some fantastic material (scroll down for quotes). That being said, c'mon people, get it together. Maybe some philanthrophic-minded person in the comedy industry needs to make like the the Gideons and their hotel room Bibles, buy a million copies of Bob Woodward's John Belushi Biography, Wired, and hand it out at the stage door to every up-and-coming comedian. I know these overdoses (I'm speculating in Mitch's case, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't) don't happen as often as they seem to. But these are the people that make us laugh. They're an integral part of a fucked-up world that's easy to laugh at - bitterly, mind you - but hard to laugh in. If you can make people laugh consistently, they will love you. Why throw that away?
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Let's Go Digital
After receiving my bonus from my employer earlier this week, I went up to the Apple store in Towson and bought myself an ipod mini, with the intention of making my long commute more bearable. First impression: the mini will perform more than admirably as my commuting sidekick. It's small enough to fit into a regular-sized pants or shirt pocket, looks fantastic (I bought the lime green model, in case you were curious), and sounds much better than something this small has any business sounding. The frequency response is incredible, and this is with the uncomfortable earbuds that come packaged with the mini. It pumps out plenty of bass for my tastes, and the sound may be as clear as on my home stereo. In a word, impressive.
Thanks to Apple, my transformation from analog to digital yuppie is almost complete.
I can also understand how Apple is banking on ipods being the gateway device for more people to purchase Apple computers. I was playing with one in their store, and it is a beautiful and elegant machine. Still overpriced when compared to the equivalent PC, and I'm not sure what Apple is thinking offering 256MB as the base RAM on most models (maybe their non-Windows OS is less of a memory-hog?), but if I were in the market for a new PC I'd certainly take a look. They're not quite as pricey as a few years ago, and their most notable feature may be what they lack; a Microsoft OS.
Sin City opens tomorrow, and as you could tell from a previous post I'm really looking forward to it. An article on wired.com about director Robert Rodriguez is a good read; it describes how the maverick director makes his movies by shooting exclusively in digital, reveals some Sin City production tricks, and even compares him to a young George Lucas. He'll use non-union crews when it suits him, and lost a directing job for a big-budget sci-fi movie when he quit the Director's Guild over a dispute about Frank Miller's directing credit. And if you've never seen El Mariachi, his $7,000 first film, check it out. It's just as exhilarating, if not quite as flashy, as its big-star sequel Desperado, but it's basically just more fun.
Thanks to Apple, my transformation from analog to digital yuppie is almost complete.
I can also understand how Apple is banking on ipods being the gateway device for more people to purchase Apple computers. I was playing with one in their store, and it is a beautiful and elegant machine. Still overpriced when compared to the equivalent PC, and I'm not sure what Apple is thinking offering 256MB as the base RAM on most models (maybe their non-Windows OS is less of a memory-hog?), but if I were in the market for a new PC I'd certainly take a look. They're not quite as pricey as a few years ago, and their most notable feature may be what they lack; a Microsoft OS.
Sin City opens tomorrow, and as you could tell from a previous post I'm really looking forward to it. An article on wired.com about director Robert Rodriguez is a good read; it describes how the maverick director makes his movies by shooting exclusively in digital, reveals some Sin City production tricks, and even compares him to a young George Lucas. He'll use non-union crews when it suits him, and lost a directing job for a big-budget sci-fi movie when he quit the Director's Guild over a dispute about Frank Miller's directing credit. And if you've never seen El Mariachi, his $7,000 first film, check it out. It's just as exhilarating, if not quite as flashy, as its big-star sequel Desperado, but it's basically just more fun.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Vegas Moratorium
The Vegas trip for Jarriel's bachelor party; for me, it was a tale of two days, and the two different moods of Lady Luck. On Friday, I bet on 3 basketball games, and won two of those bets, including a bet against the TeamfromDurham. I also played in a $25 buy-in Hold-'Em tournament at the Luxor, lasted an hour, and played reasonably well. Elvis Costello at the Hard Rock that evening was also excellent; his voice sounds fantastic live, and he's a much better guitar player than I had previously thought. On Saturday, I bet on two basketball games and lost both bets, and I was basically eliminated from that same poker tournament by holding pocket Aces and getting beat by 3 Jacks. That evening was spent at the VIP section of a club that, as impressive as the club was, I didn't fully appreciate (maybe that had something to do with the $80/pp??). Still, a good time, mostly thanks to the cool dudes that were in our group (the company you keep on trips like this really makes all the difference).
Does that mean I'm itching to go back again next year? Not Exactly. Maybe it's that I'm getting older, but I prefer my vacations/holidays to be a bit less...frenetic. I like to have time to relax, and I'm reasonably sure after 3 visits that Vegas is not my type of relaxation. While I certainly like to gamble, and can't imagine the scenario where I'd turn down a free cocktail, for me the whole sum of Vegas is best taken in small doses. I figure my next dose won't be necessary for a number of years (at least five, that was my announced moratorium on Sunday). The long flights out and back certainly don't help, either - I bet if I lived out west I'd have a different take on the Vegas 'vacation'. Those were very weary flights home on Sunday morning, but at the end was Jenny (and Maya and Marty), so that made it bearable.
Meanwhile there are thankfully still more than a few plastic-and-neon-free locales on the planet that I've yet to lay eyes on. After returning from a weekend in Las Vegas, that's a comforting thought.
Does that mean I'm itching to go back again next year? Not Exactly. Maybe it's that I'm getting older, but I prefer my vacations/holidays to be a bit less...frenetic. I like to have time to relax, and I'm reasonably sure after 3 visits that Vegas is not my type of relaxation. While I certainly like to gamble, and can't imagine the scenario where I'd turn down a free cocktail, for me the whole sum of Vegas is best taken in small doses. I figure my next dose won't be necessary for a number of years (at least five, that was my announced moratorium on Sunday). The long flights out and back certainly don't help, either - I bet if I lived out west I'd have a different take on the Vegas 'vacation'. Those were very weary flights home on Sunday morning, but at the end was Jenny (and Maya and Marty), so that made it bearable.
Meanwhile there are thankfully still more than a few plastic-and-neon-free locales on the planet that I've yet to lay eyes on. After returning from a weekend in Las Vegas, that's a comforting thought.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
A Sin City Easter
Tomorrow I'm off to Vegas with a bunch of other guys for a bachelor party. Over Easter weekend. Didn't bother me too much months ago when the date was changed from the previous weekend in order to save $$ (about $150 each, I think). But I find that now it bothers me more than I thought. I know that when I get there, I'll have a great time. And Jarriel's one of the nicest guys I know, there's no way I would miss this. But it will be strange not being with the family at church. And I can't help but think that the Resurrected One himself wouldn't approve, but who knows - I'm not going to presume to speak for Him (as so many in this fine nation like to do, silly religious right! Yes, in case you're wondering, I hate freedom.)
One the other hand, I had fun last weekend with Jenny and my parents, going up to New York, and I wouldn't have been able to see Steve's family or Ben's show if I had been in Vegas. And a few of us are going to see Elvis Costello on Friday night, so that will be sweet. And nobody's going to hold a gun to my head and force me to hit the strip clubs on Good Friday (those are off my list for this trip, my hypocrisy does have its bounds!). Plus, the tournament's still going on, what's more wholesome then celebrating the achievements of those fine scholar-athletes by placing harmless bets on the outcome of their sports contests? I'm feeling better about this trip already!
One the other hand, I had fun last weekend with Jenny and my parents, going up to New York, and I wouldn't have been able to see Steve's family or Ben's show if I had been in Vegas. And a few of us are going to see Elvis Costello on Friday night, so that will be sweet. And nobody's going to hold a gun to my head and force me to hit the strip clubs on Good Friday (those are off my list for this trip, my hypocrisy does have its bounds!). Plus, the tournament's still going on, what's more wholesome then celebrating the achievements of those fine scholar-athletes by placing harmless bets on the outcome of their sports contests? I'm feeling better about this trip already!
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Poker Lesson #6,742,191
Never let an inexperienced player take you away from your game plan.
I generally don't play a lot of bad hands in poker. When I do get in trouble and lose a hand, it's usually late in the hand. I also have a tendency to bluff every once in a while when I have no business doing so. But if I don't get the cards, I rarely play the hand. When I do get the cards, I do what every other player with half-a-brain does, I use the other players' betting as clues to what they may have.
The only problem with this occurs when an opponent doesn't know what he/she is doing, plays hands that should be folded, and, worst of all, doesn't bet properly on good hands. I'd much rather lose to a good player who outplayed me than a bad player who didn't bet properly and lucked out on the River. All of this happened to me Friday night. Of course, I really have nobody to blame but myself. I wasn't patient enough, wasn't getting the cards, and ended up playing some hands that looked stronger than they were because of another player's non-betting. In the end though, nobody made me push the chips into the pot. After all, the game is all about self-control.
At least I didn't spill any food or drink on myself. And Jenny played well and came out a few bucks ahead. Unfortunately, we had to leave early so that we could get up at 6 am for a drive up to New York (for my cousin Adene's baby shower and to catch Jenny's brother Ben in Wicked). Otherwise, I bet she would have left with more $$. But what do I know, right? I was the first one to go out that evening.
I generally don't play a lot of bad hands in poker. When I do get in trouble and lose a hand, it's usually late in the hand. I also have a tendency to bluff every once in a while when I have no business doing so. But if I don't get the cards, I rarely play the hand. When I do get the cards, I do what every other player with half-a-brain does, I use the other players' betting as clues to what they may have.
The only problem with this occurs when an opponent doesn't know what he/she is doing, plays hands that should be folded, and, worst of all, doesn't bet properly on good hands. I'd much rather lose to a good player who outplayed me than a bad player who didn't bet properly and lucked out on the River. All of this happened to me Friday night. Of course, I really have nobody to blame but myself. I wasn't patient enough, wasn't getting the cards, and ended up playing some hands that looked stronger than they were because of another player's non-betting. In the end though, nobody made me push the chips into the pot. After all, the game is all about self-control.
At least I didn't spill any food or drink on myself. And Jenny played well and came out a few bucks ahead. Unfortunately, we had to leave early so that we could get up at 6 am for a drive up to New York (for my cousin Adene's baby shower and to catch Jenny's brother Ben in Wicked). Otherwise, I bet she would have left with more $$. But what do I know, right? I was the first one to go out that evening.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Steroids Under the Big-Top
After reading over various accounts of the House hearings on steroid use in MLB yesterday, here's my scorecard:
- Mark McGwire: He sure sounded guilty, and about as evasive as Barry Bonds at a press conference (though much less ornery). I don't think he was comfortable with lying under oath, so he simply deflected the question. Unlike Bonds, he's a very likable guy; in that way it's a shame that his 70 HRs are probably as ill-gotten as Bonds' 73 appear to be.
- Sammy Sosa: He brought a lawyer to read a convoluted, precisely-worded statement that leaves plenty of wriggle room. OK, so he broke no laws in the U.S. or his native Dominican Republic. So? What if he was prescribed steroids by some unscrupulous doctor on his home island? Sammy, you did yourself no favors, and didn't even manage to come off as a sympathetic character like your buddy Mark did.
- Rafael Palmeiro: Admittedly one of my favorite players, he went with the unequivical, outright denial. Why Canseco would make up steroid-shooting incidents involving Raffy is beyond me, but don't just take Raffy's word for it, look at the guy! He's not exactly a prime candidate for a Muscle magazine cover shoot, is he? His physique is more Dunkin' Donuts then Shootin' Steroids, and that's how he's always looked. Besides, look at the swing. He's got a beautiful swing, like Ken Griffey Junior's, and during his prime years rarely had the 100+ strikeout seasons that McGwire had (1 season, compares to McGwire's 5) and always hit for average as well as consistent power (unlike Sosa and McGwire). He came out of the hearings pretty much untouched, especially with Canseco bactracking about some of the items in his book during the hearing.
- Curt Schilling: Please remind me again, what was he doing there? Was he going to regale Congress with the story of his heroic post-season, pitching on a stapled-together ankle? I guess he's already told everyone else on the planet how heroic he was, it was Congress' turn?
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Kill Bill, Sin City
Last weekend I sat down and watched Quentin Tarantino's kung-fu epic, Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2, back-to-back. They are easily among the most gory, violent films I've ever seen. Very entertaining though, especially the first film, although I could have done without so much of the anime blood-and-guts. The final fight scenes of Volume 1 are just a load of fun; Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu are fantastic. The second film featured what was easily the funniest character in either volume, the kung-fu master Pai Gei; I actually re-watched some of his scenes, they were that hilarious. Volume 2 managed to have a completely different look than the first volume, which was more kung-fu style than substance. It's presented as more of a western, with the scene locales reinforcing that feel. It is also more plot-dependent and tells more of the back story, in Tarantino's usual non-linear manner (if you don't like Tarantino's filmmaking quirks and gimmicks you won't like these movies, because they're in there - in abundance). I wasn't crazy about the ending - I'm comfortable with some ambiguity at the end of films, but I really wanted a better explanation of WHY Bill did what he did to Uma's character. The explanations in the film didn't cut it for me, but considering the kung-fu genre in which these films clearly belong, maybe it simply doesn't matter. The movie works best on a primal level - Uma's character clearly deserves revenge, period.
Next up in the cinema, I'm really looking forward to the film version of Frank Miller's Sin City, directed by him and Tarantino buddy Robert Rodriguez. For those who aren't comic book fans, Miller has been known for years as one of the top artists/writers around; his work includes the Sin City and Hard Boiled series, as well as "Batman: Year One" and my favorite comic of all time, "The Dark Knight Returns". Watch the trailer, the film looks....unique. Cast isn't too shabby either. It comes out April 1st.
Next up in the cinema, I'm really looking forward to the film version of Frank Miller's Sin City, directed by him and Tarantino buddy Robert Rodriguez. For those who aren't comic book fans, Miller has been known for years as one of the top artists/writers around; his work includes the Sin City and Hard Boiled series, as well as "Batman: Year One" and my favorite comic of all time, "The Dark Knight Returns". Watch the trailer, the film looks....unique. Cast isn't too shabby either. It comes out April 1st.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Oakland > MD? You tell 'em, Skip!
Skip Bayless of ESPN has a great column up about the democratic nature of NCAA tournament selection, and how it lessens the quality of tournament teams. Do I think Maryland would have done any damage in the tournament? No, they look like they would have been a first-round loser at this point in the season. But all a 12-18 team (like Oakland) has to do is get hot for 3 or 4 games at the end of the year to make the field? Let's see Oakland or Montana beat Maryland, Notre Dame, or Miami. I know it increases interest in the first round to have small schools and geographic diversity represented. But is this really a collection of the best 65 teams in the country? Please.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Terrapins' Season in Review
I think Mike Wilbon's column in today's Post sums it up much better than I could, and I agree 100% with his assessment. Yes, a disappointing year, perhaps the most disappointing in the entire nation. But they'll be back. The players are still talented, the coach is still one of the best in the business.
I t will be weird filling out a pool bracket without my alma mater in the field, just because I've never experienced that before. I started following college basketball my senior year in high school, when I was choosing which college to attend and before I realized why the teamfromDurham was a four-letter word. Maryland was making the first of those 11 consecutive tournament experiences, and it was a big deal throughout the state. Joe Smith came out of nowhere as a freshman, Maryland was on the map early in the season with a big win over John Thompson's Hoyas, and in the tournament they shocked the 2-seed UMass (w/Marcus Camby) before losing a tough game to 3-seed Michigan in the Sweet Sixteen (I vividly recall Juwan Howard, in his last year at Michigan, whining to the refs on every call against him in that game). I don't think anyone could have guessed that it was the beginning of over a decade of solid-to-spectacular Maryland teams that would reach two Final Fours, win a National Title, and win the ACC Tournament.
They'll be back next year, and it sounds like Gilchrist will be back too. Hopefully he'll decide to come back as part of the team. With or without #11 though, there's no reason the Terps can't have a very good season.
I t will be weird filling out a pool bracket without my alma mater in the field, just because I've never experienced that before. I started following college basketball my senior year in high school, when I was choosing which college to attend and before I realized why the teamfromDurham was a four-letter word. Maryland was making the first of those 11 consecutive tournament experiences, and it was a big deal throughout the state. Joe Smith came out of nowhere as a freshman, Maryland was on the map early in the season with a big win over John Thompson's Hoyas, and in the tournament they shocked the 2-seed UMass (w/Marcus Camby) before losing a tough game to 3-seed Michigan in the Sweet Sixteen (I vividly recall Juwan Howard, in his last year at Michigan, whining to the refs on every call against him in that game). I don't think anyone could have guessed that it was the beginning of over a decade of solid-to-spectacular Maryland teams that would reach two Final Fours, win a National Title, and win the ACC Tournament.
They'll be back next year, and it sounds like Gilchrist will be back too. Hopefully he'll decide to come back as part of the team. With or without #11 though, there's no reason the Terps can't have a very good season.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Song Killer
At band practice last night - I play the role of the singer, although maybe vocalist is a better term after this post, unless one has a very liberal definition of "singing" - we tried a cover of the Beatles' Eight Days a Week for the first time. I was unfortunately caught in vocal no-man's land; the octave the song was written in was too high for my rather limited range, but dropping down an octave I sounded like Johnny Cash or Steven Wright singing the Beatles. Something was lost, to say the least. So I toughed it out in the written octave, and it sounded just perfect, not counting the occasional strangled animal sound during a high note. I've never been a Beatles fan, but I couldn't help but think that my abbattoir-soundtrack vocal stylings weren't doing any of the four any justice. The dead Beatles (John, George, Ringo's career) were surely spinning around in their graves.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Final: Terps 76 , Hokies 86
Barring a miracle in the ACC Tournament, here's an acronym that's been foreign to Maryland fans for quite a while, but that they need to re-familiarize themselves with:
N-I-T.
N-I-T.
Haltime: Terps 37, Hokies 45
Thanks to recent wireless card driver updates, I'm able to offer this real-time blog entry from our living room!
It's halftime, and the Terps find themselves down by 8 to Virginia Tech. Tech has shot well from 3-point range, but the Terps defense has been almost non-existent so far. VT's point guard is beating John Gilchrist to the basket whenever he wants to (which is often, unfortunately for Terps fans).
Let me first say that the TV broadcast team for this game is awesome. The always-amusing Tim Brant and all his mis-statements and mis-pronunciations, and former Clemson coach Cliff Ellis - he was coach there when I was a freshman at Maryland. Tim is always fun to listen to, and Cliff Ellis just tells it like it is, and is pretty funny himself - he turned to Tim late in the half and asked point-blank, "What's a Hokie?" Too bad Tim left that inquiry unanswered.
Anyway, Ellis really nailed down what newspapers and columnists have only alluded to during Maryland's inconsistent season; Gilchrist's attitude on the court takes his team out of the game too often. Everything is personal with him - a team knows that when Gilchrist is taken off the dribble on defense, he'll almost always come down on the offensive end and take a shot without a pass. He lets opposing fans get to him, and on more than one occasion so far today, he's been arguing with refs about a foul while his defensive assignment has been leading a successful fast break. For the past 4 or 5 games, this team has been better with him off the court. Contrast his mental game with that of Chris McCray, who never seems to take a play off and is always running around on both ends of the court; maybe it would be better for the team if Gilchrist went pro after this year (even though at this point he's only a second-round pick). He may be the most physically talented player on the team (although James Gist and Mike Jones certainly have strong cases), but he's so easily taken off his game. The second half is starting now, we'll see how he and the Terps finish out a must-win game.
It's halftime, and the Terps find themselves down by 8 to Virginia Tech. Tech has shot well from 3-point range, but the Terps defense has been almost non-existent so far. VT's point guard is beating John Gilchrist to the basket whenever he wants to (which is often, unfortunately for Terps fans).
Let me first say that the TV broadcast team for this game is awesome. The always-amusing Tim Brant and all his mis-statements and mis-pronunciations, and former Clemson coach Cliff Ellis - he was coach there when I was a freshman at Maryland. Tim is always fun to listen to, and Cliff Ellis just tells it like it is, and is pretty funny himself - he turned to Tim late in the half and asked point-blank, "What's a Hokie?" Too bad Tim left that inquiry unanswered.
Anyway, Ellis really nailed down what newspapers and columnists have only alluded to during Maryland's inconsistent season; Gilchrist's attitude on the court takes his team out of the game too often. Everything is personal with him - a team knows that when Gilchrist is taken off the dribble on defense, he'll almost always come down on the offensive end and take a shot without a pass. He lets opposing fans get to him, and on more than one occasion so far today, he's been arguing with refs about a foul while his defensive assignment has been leading a successful fast break. For the past 4 or 5 games, this team has been better with him off the court. Contrast his mental game with that of Chris McCray, who never seems to take a play off and is always running around on both ends of the court; maybe it would be better for the team if Gilchrist went pro after this year (even though at this point he's only a second-round pick). He may be the most physically talented player on the team (although James Gist and Mike Jones certainly have strong cases), but he's so easily taken off his game. The second half is starting now, we'll see how he and the Terps finish out a must-win game.
Friday, March 04, 2005
Comment Settings Changed!
No, unlike the enemies of our great democratic nation, I don't hate freedom. With that in mind, I have changed the comment settings, so that anyone may comment to posts. You no longer need permission from the Great and Powerful Underchuckle to comment to my infallible musings. You may now proceed to lavish my words with praise.
Film Review: Winterlude
On Wednesday evening, Jenny and I ventured to the Charles Theatre to take in our first world-premiere of a film. The movie, Winterlude, was a film that featured the photographic expertise, and acting talents, of a friend of mine from high school, Brian Mackey.
The movie is a student filmmaker who is producing a film about relationships, using a real couple in the lead roles as a fictional couple. It's a film within-a-film in some ways, but that doesn't distract from a coherent storyline.
Is it a good film? Keeping in mind the limited budget ($35K) and acting pool - it starred the directors, photographers, etc. - I think it was a well-conceived idea that was, more-often-than-not, well-executed. The plot was clever, but not clever in the bad way that some plots are, trying too hard to come up with a twist and in the process ruining an otherwise good effort. The film moved along very well, aside from the beach scenes near the end, which seemed painfully drawn-out - probably due to too many time-lapses of clouds drifting across the sky (personally, one puffy cloud time-lapse sequence is usually enough for me). The acting performances, while very solid overall, were sometimes a bit too understated, especially by the male lead. That being said, I can't recall any over-acting or melodrama, which is excellent coming from a young cast that I assume doesn't have a lot of experience with film acting.
Most importantly though, the film was a professional-quality effort. Putting aside the subject matter, I wasn't reminded throughout the movie that this was a first-time feature film by people not too far removed from film school. OK, that's not entirely true; I found that the sound, heavy on background noises, was distracting in many indoor scenes. Yes, I know refrigerators cycle on and off in real life, but I don't feel like I need to hear the compressor turn on in a movie - I can listen to my refrigerator from the comfort of my home.
On the whole, the camera work, the acting, the editing, were all of sufficient quality that I would guess that Chlorofilm, the production company, shouldn't have too much trouble getting funding for future projects (No Mack, that's not an offer to invest in your next film - unless, of course there's a lot of gratuitous nudity, then I'll think about it). Overall, a solid film that the people at Chlorofilm should be proud of: I wish them luck in their future celluloid endeavors.
Finally, I feel obligated to throw in some sensational quotes to include in newspaper ads for wide release:
The movie is a student filmmaker who is producing a film about relationships, using a real couple in the lead roles as a fictional couple. It's a film within-a-film in some ways, but that doesn't distract from a coherent storyline.
Is it a good film? Keeping in mind the limited budget ($35K) and acting pool - it starred the directors, photographers, etc. - I think it was a well-conceived idea that was, more-often-than-not, well-executed. The plot was clever, but not clever in the bad way that some plots are, trying too hard to come up with a twist and in the process ruining an otherwise good effort. The film moved along very well, aside from the beach scenes near the end, which seemed painfully drawn-out - probably due to too many time-lapses of clouds drifting across the sky (personally, one puffy cloud time-lapse sequence is usually enough for me). The acting performances, while very solid overall, were sometimes a bit too understated, especially by the male lead. That being said, I can't recall any over-acting or melodrama, which is excellent coming from a young cast that I assume doesn't have a lot of experience with film acting.
Most importantly though, the film was a professional-quality effort. Putting aside the subject matter, I wasn't reminded throughout the movie that this was a first-time feature film by people not too far removed from film school. OK, that's not entirely true; I found that the sound, heavy on background noises, was distracting in many indoor scenes. Yes, I know refrigerators cycle on and off in real life, but I don't feel like I need to hear the compressor turn on in a movie - I can listen to my refrigerator from the comfort of my home.
On the whole, the camera work, the acting, the editing, were all of sufficient quality that I would guess that Chlorofilm, the production company, shouldn't have too much trouble getting funding for future projects (No Mack, that's not an offer to invest in your next film - unless, of course there's a lot of gratuitous nudity, then I'll think about it). Overall, a solid film that the people at Chlorofilm should be proud of: I wish them luck in their future celluloid endeavors.
Finally, I feel obligated to throw in some sensational quotes to include in newspaper ads for wide release:
- "Winterlude is everything an independent film should be. Remember the name: Chlorofilm!"
- "Finally, a Baltimore-based movie that doesn't have a body-count!"
- "Brian Mackey hijacks every scene he's in and won't give them back!"
A Friend in the Blogosphere
It's always nice to have company - I've just learned that my friend Greg has started his blog, Pultoblog. And not to steal any thunder from his future blog entries, but this is a great example of quality parenting in the 21st century (check out the sponsor).
Sunday, February 27, 2005
It's All (Morally) Relative
Slot Machines bills passed in both the Maryland House and Senate! Awesome! Well, actually it is. No, I'm not a fan of slot machines in the state. Not because I'm against gambling, but because it seems like a political cop-out. Leaders can't balance the budget and continue to waste taxpayer money, so of course they are all too attentive when gambling lobbyists and their money come calling. More importantly, slots is a classic example of NIMBY. Republicans in Maryland support their governor and his slots bill, because it puts slot machine parlors in already-economically struggling areas with higher populations of poor people.
So the House bill that was so successfully engineered to pass - by the thinnest of margins - by House Speaker Michael Busch exposes this hypocrisy; it names Frederick as one of the 4 counties where slots are allowed. Frederick is a relatively wealthy Republican-leaning county, far from Baltimore City and Prince George's counties, and our beloved governor has already said that he'll fight to remove Frederick from the list of counties. It's a good strategy, in theory - it makes sense to place an addictive enterprise such as slot machines as close as possible to those low-income communities that help to keep slots in business. Fortunately, Ehrlich and his allies won't have the opportunity, as Busch has ensured that any negotiated bill that varies from the House bill won't have any chance of passing.
The quote of the article comes from Delegate Richard Madaleno Jr. of Montgomery County, and I think it sums up what's backwards about the conservative movement in this country:
Not that liberals are immune to this theory, (pro-choice, anti-death penalty comes to mind) but it just seems much more evident on the conservative side. Especially these days.
So the House bill that was so successfully engineered to pass - by the thinnest of margins - by House Speaker Michael Busch exposes this hypocrisy; it names Frederick as one of the 4 counties where slots are allowed. Frederick is a relatively wealthy Republican-leaning county, far from Baltimore City and Prince George's counties, and our beloved governor has already said that he'll fight to remove Frederick from the list of counties. It's a good strategy, in theory - it makes sense to place an addictive enterprise such as slot machines as close as possible to those low-income communities that help to keep slots in business. Fortunately, Ehrlich and his allies won't have the opportunity, as Busch has ensured that any negotiated bill that varies from the House bill won't have any chance of passing.
The quote of the article comes from Delegate Richard Madaleno Jr. of Montgomery County, and I think it sums up what's backwards about the conservative movement in this country:
Madaleno read a passage from the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, and said social conservatives worried about family values should vote against the bill. "Otherwise, it is just another wonderful example of the moral relativism in American politics."Moral relativism, what a fabulous term! Is that like when conservatives talk about states' rights for such issues as gun control, congressional re-districting, environmental regulation, and - back in the day) - segregation, but want the Feds to crush gay unions, abortion rights, and entertaining television? (we'll miss you, Michael Powell!) Or maybe it's when they pour more money into incarcerating non-violent drug offenders, while at the same time cutting after-school programs for urban kids? Maybe it's when they attack the country of an oppressive dictator with no WMDs, and all but ignore countries with actual WMDs like North Korea, or other oppressive regimes like the one in Burma?
Not that liberals are immune to this theory, (pro-choice, anti-death penalty comes to mind) but it just seems much more evident on the conservative side. Especially these days.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Super Nerdio
12 USC engineering students + 3800 Post-It notes + 90 minutes = a nerd art masterpiece.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
0-1 as a Prognosticator
Only one day later, I'm already out of the prediction business. It's totally astounding to me, given the intensity level of the coach, that this team could expend such little effort, so very often. No matter what the talent level of Gary's teams, effort and energy in games has rarely been an issue. This season it's the issue for two out of every three games! So much talent is being wasted because this team doesn't match the focus, toughness, and energy of its opponents, especially defensively. Yes, they sound like sports cliches, but it's true:
I would love to see changes for the Carolina game. Give Mike Jones more playing time, at least he makes an effort, even if he's still not a good defensive player. And he can shoot the ball consistently, which can't be said of anyone else on this team. I'd also love to see Gary bench his starters for the beginning of their next game against Carolina, a game I don't think this "team" has any shot of winning anyway. Maybe that will send a message, but with these guys, who really knows?
For better or worse, most of the top players on this team - in terms of minutes played - are juniors, which means the same team will be back again next year. Gary has recruited some very talented players, including this group. If they ever figure out that talent alone doesn't win games, (and I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of this happening) they could be a dangerous team. To someone other than themselves, that is.
- Clemson FG: 58.2%, Terps 40.8%
- Clemson 3-pt FG%: 66.7%!, Terps 34.8%
I would love to see changes for the Carolina game. Give Mike Jones more playing time, at least he makes an effort, even if he's still not a good defensive player. And he can shoot the ball consistently, which can't be said of anyone else on this team. I'd also love to see Gary bench his starters for the beginning of their next game against Carolina, a game I don't think this "team" has any shot of winning anyway. Maybe that will send a message, but with these guys, who really knows?
For better or worse, most of the top players on this team - in terms of minutes played - are juniors, which means the same team will be back again next year. Gary has recruited some very talented players, including this group. If they ever figure out that talent alone doesn't win games, (and I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of this happening) they could be a dangerous team. To someone other than themselves, that is.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Terps decide that they're a good team this weekend!
I know this is a few days after the game, my apologies. On Saturday, the Terps beat what appeared at times to be a surprisingly competent Virginia team in double-overtime.
If Maryland has proven one thing this year, it's that no team should take them lightly, nor should they take any opponent (i.e., like their next opponent, Clemson) lightly. This team has the talent and depth to go to the Final Four. And the maddening inconsistency in effort and execution to lose in the first round to an 11 seed by 25 points.
Maryland and Virginia seem to play a lot of close games, but the Terps usually come out on top - they're now 12-4 in their last 16 vs. UVA. Next on the schedule is a rematch against Clemson in College Park. As crazy at it is to predict anything with this team: considering how the Terps were embarrassed down at Clemson, I predict a decisive win!
If Maryland has proven one thing this year, it's that no team should take them lightly, nor should they take any opponent (i.e., like their next opponent, Clemson) lightly. This team has the talent and depth to go to the Final Four. And the maddening inconsistency in effort and execution to lose in the first round to an 11 seed by 25 points.
Maryland and Virginia seem to play a lot of close games, but the Terps usually come out on top - they're now 12-4 in their last 16 vs. UVA. Next on the schedule is a rematch against Clemson in College Park. As crazy at it is to predict anything with this team: considering how the Terps were embarrassed down at Clemson, I predict a decisive win!
The name is Sir Graham (like the cracker)
Back in 1984, the term "personal computer" was still relatively new, and very limited. If there was a computer in the house, it was likely a Commodore 64 or Apple II. My family had IBM's first real personal computer, the PCjr, because my dad worked for the company. I honestly remember when he brought it home, along with a bunch of games in ugly hard plastic hinged boxes. One of them, King's Quest, turned out to be the most popular in our family - and it was no surprise! You could control the little protagonist Sir Graham (later on, his highness King Graham) , making him walk around in his bright blue pants, red shirt, and feathered cap, climb beanstalks, outwit his fairy-tale foes, all the while exploring a magical 16-color world! Yes, sometimes in took a while to load the next screen, but a little patience when playing from a single 5 1/2-inch floppy, please!
No wonder it's been recognized time and again as one of the most important games ever made (#15 on this list, I would have ranked it higher of course).
No wonder it's been recognized time and again as one of the most important games ever made (#15 on this list, I would have ranked it higher of course).
62 Essential Vitamins and Minerals
That's what your average box of Grape Nuts cereal contains. Not only that, but 500% of your USDA RDA - that's Recommended Daily Allowance, for you non-label-readers out there. And what does it have in the taste department? I'm glad you asked!
Jenny (my lovely and talented wife) and I don't often disagree, believe it or not. But I can only hope for the best, and prepare for the nutritious, when she buys breakfast cereals without me. While it's true that I do enjoy the sugary cereals - I have always had a particular affinity for Lucky Charms - I don't need tons of sugar for breakfast. There's nothing wrong in my book with Special K, even the plain stuff without the fruit, or Cheerios, the classic stand-by. But breakfast is the first meal of the day, and I'd prefer not to experience character-building events so early in the morning. Grape Nuts might be fantastically healthy for me, it might be the single greatest source of fiber known to cereal, but it also tastes like mulch. Cheap mulch, not the premium mulch with cedar chips and stuff like that. Cedar chips would actually improve Grape Nuts. Maybe I should write to Post and suggest that - "Grape Nuts, now with cedar!" I've heard that cedar doesn't stay crunchy in milk though, so it's probably not as marketable.
I also never thought much of frosted mini-wheats - kind of bland, I always thought, even with the sugar. That tune changed in a hurry when I discovered the colon-cleansing joy of regular (non-frosted!) shredded wheat. Frosted mini-wheats are a fabulous concept by comparison! Scouring the kitchen for a pop-tart is never an ennobling task, but alas, it was all too necessary on that sad morning.
I'm not asking that pastel-colored marshmallows be added to every cereal, but could we perhaps find a happy medium? Honey-Nut Cheerios? Total, with raisins? Golden Grahams never killed anyone, at least not that I've heard.
Jenny (my lovely and talented wife) and I don't often disagree, believe it or not. But I can only hope for the best, and prepare for the nutritious, when she buys breakfast cereals without me. While it's true that I do enjoy the sugary cereals - I have always had a particular affinity for Lucky Charms - I don't need tons of sugar for breakfast. There's nothing wrong in my book with Special K, even the plain stuff without the fruit, or Cheerios, the classic stand-by. But breakfast is the first meal of the day, and I'd prefer not to experience character-building events so early in the morning. Grape Nuts might be fantastically healthy for me, it might be the single greatest source of fiber known to cereal, but it also tastes like mulch. Cheap mulch, not the premium mulch with cedar chips and stuff like that. Cedar chips would actually improve Grape Nuts. Maybe I should write to Post and suggest that - "Grape Nuts, now with cedar!" I've heard that cedar doesn't stay crunchy in milk though, so it's probably not as marketable.
I also never thought much of frosted mini-wheats - kind of bland, I always thought, even with the sugar. That tune changed in a hurry when I discovered the colon-cleansing joy of regular (non-frosted!) shredded wheat. Frosted mini-wheats are a fabulous concept by comparison! Scouring the kitchen for a pop-tart is never an ennobling task, but alas, it was all too necessary on that sad morning.
I'm not asking that pastel-colored marshmallows be added to every cereal, but could we perhaps find a happy medium? Honey-Nut Cheerios? Total, with raisins? Golden Grahams never killed anyone, at least not that I've heard.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Consistent Inconsistency
I am of course referring to the University of Maryland men's basketball team, which lost badly to N.C. State for the second time this season. Yes, they once again produced a bad loss after a big win. Any time Gary criticizes his team so openly, it's a sign that he's really frustrated, and he should be. This very talented team doesn't seem to be able to summon defensive focus for every game. To allow so many wide-open 3-point shots to N.C. State, to allow them to execute so many of the same high-screen pick-and-roll plays, it seemed as though the players were just reacting instead of anticipating. It's no mystery that N.C. State wants to shoot the 3, and wants to screen high for cuts to the basket. I'm not quite sure what that says about a team that doesn't figure that out, when they play the Wolfpack at least twice a year, and Herb Sendek has been running the same offense for years.
OK, I'll hazard a guess (since this is my page and that's what it's here for, unsolicited opinion) - this is not a smart team unless there's a ranking next to it's opponent's name. It also apparently helps if "Duke" is featured prominently on the uniform. Why is that? Beats me. If you can figure it out, please let me know. First give Gary a call though, before his head pops off of his neck.
OK, I'll hazard a guess (since this is my page and that's what it's here for, unsolicited opinion) - this is not a smart team unless there's a ranking next to it's opponent's name. It also apparently helps if "Duke" is featured prominently on the uniform. Why is that? Beats me. If you can figure it out, please let me know. First give Gary a call though, before his head pops off of his neck.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Planning for the Future?
Time to start allocating more money to our 401(k) plans, looks like we might need them to last a while.
Terps Beat Duke: A Familiar Refrain
The Terps triumphed for their third win in a row over the Blue Devils on Saturday night, in a game that could not have been hyped any more by ESPN. I hate to say it, but this just isn't a big deal anymore. There's not a disparity in talent between these two programs, when you look at the teams as a whole. Might their starters be better than MD's? Maybe. But as a whole, since Koach Konsonant insists on recruiting only the top-rated HS players, he's left with a 1 or 2 player bench when those players leave early for the NBA. Meanwhile, Gary recruits very good players as well, but he seems to recruit those who for the most part are going to stick around for 3-4 years. And given roughly equal talent, Gary has been able to out-coach Konsonant pretty regularly. Speaking of the Koach, I was under the mistaken impression that all the students in Durham loved him. My bad.
Now, is this the beginning of the Terps' run to the tournament this year? Perhaps. One well-played team game with many contributors is certainly a good sign. There may be more hiccups along the way, time will tell. I was wondering 2 weeks ago why a team with so much talent could play so poorly, and often without the requisite effort, against teams like Clemson and Miami. I forget that these players are in their late teens and early 20s; given the hype of certain games, and the disinterest from media and fans for other games, asking them to play with the same level of intensity for every game is probably the most difficult thing they're asked to do as players. It simply runs counter to human nature.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that today was Valentine's Day. Jenny decries this as a greeting card holiday (I agree), and therefore we do not observe said holiday. But most relationships could use a little bit more romance throughout the year, so with that in mind I give you the Onion Love Coupons. Enjoy!
Now, is this the beginning of the Terps' run to the tournament this year? Perhaps. One well-played team game with many contributors is certainly a good sign. There may be more hiccups along the way, time will tell. I was wondering 2 weeks ago why a team with so much talent could play so poorly, and often without the requisite effort, against teams like Clemson and Miami. I forget that these players are in their late teens and early 20s; given the hype of certain games, and the disinterest from media and fans for other games, asking them to play with the same level of intensity for every game is probably the most difficult thing they're asked to do as players. It simply runs counter to human nature.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that today was Valentine's Day. Jenny decries this as a greeting card holiday (I agree), and therefore we do not observe said holiday. But most relationships could use a little bit more romance throughout the year, so with that in mind I give you the Onion Love Coupons. Enjoy!
Friday, February 04, 2005
WarCrack
Given that I've taken to blogging - not that I've promoted it much, and to those few in my family that I have made aware of its existence, I hardly expect regular readership, but rather that I simply enjoy the process - I figured I could combine it with my other pursuit as of late, that being World of Warcraft. It's quite an addictive game, much more so by far than any other game I have had the pleasure of playing over the years.
I planned to create a new blog, calling it - ever so wittily - World of WarCrack, and use it to reflect on the game and its addictive nature, social aspects, and what a generally kick-ass playing experience it offers. It would use the address warcrack.blogspot.com. I suppose that I should've posited the existence of such a blog already, but I didn't. I was actually surprised to find that someone had beaten me to the punch. Thinking about it, though, with well over 1 million characters already playing across the world (I don't assume 1 million players because a player can create multiple characters), one player was bound to come up with the idea before me.
So now I'm toying with the idea of a Warcraft-related blog from a different angle; it would be a journal narrated by one of my characters! Brilliant! Of course, creative writing was never a strength of mine back in my school days, but this project would be different - the stories would practically write themselves as the character moved through the game, I would simply need to take dictation, and occasionally add a few embellishments. I'll have to think it over...
I planned to create a new blog, calling it - ever so wittily - World of WarCrack, and use it to reflect on the game and its addictive nature, social aspects, and what a generally kick-ass playing experience it offers. It would use the address warcrack.blogspot.com. I suppose that I should've posited the existence of such a blog already, but I didn't. I was actually surprised to find that someone had beaten me to the punch. Thinking about it, though, with well over 1 million characters already playing across the world (I don't assume 1 million players because a player can create multiple characters), one player was bound to come up with the idea before me.
So now I'm toying with the idea of a Warcraft-related blog from a different angle; it would be a journal narrated by one of my characters! Brilliant! Of course, creative writing was never a strength of mine back in my school days, but this project would be different - the stories would practically write themselves as the character moved through the game, I would simply need to take dictation, and occasionally add a few embellishments. I'll have to think it over...
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
American Leisure
It's official - according to a new study reported by the Onion (America's Finest News Source), Americans lost 180 trillion leisure hours to work in 2004. That number is just staggering to me. Yet another area where we lag far behind developed countries in Europe and Asia.
I'm a positive person though, so I refused to let this news of lost leisure, especially news from a fake news source, get me down. Instead, I scoured all of the Internets (thanks, Google!) for data that validate our hard-working free market society. There are plenty of great things about living in one of the few developed countries with a private insurance system, and having fewer vacation days than anyone else isn't so bad when you consider the US:
I'm a positive person though, so I refused to let this news of lost leisure, especially news from a fake news source, get me down. Instead, I scoured all of the Internets (thanks, Google!) for data that validate our hard-working free market society. There are plenty of great things about living in one of the few developed countries with a private insurance system, and having fewer vacation days than anyone else isn't so bad when you consider the US:
- has more televisions per capita than any other country (excluding the super-tiny nations at the top of this list, Christmas Island, Bermuda, and Monaco)
- imprisons up more people per capita than anyone else
- uses the most energy per person
- drinks more juice than any country save Canada
Clemson?!?
Yuck. For those who saw the game, no need to elaborate. For those who didn't:
Maryland was terrible. They couldn't shoot, the had no interior game to speak of on offense or defense, they allowed 50% shooting and were out-rebounded. They looked tired and out-of-sync. The lone bright spot was backup point guard Sterling Ledbetter, who demonstrated some great driving and scoring moves that should serve the Terps well when Gilchrist isn't in the game for whatever reason. Clemson beat MD for the first time since 1997.
To say this team needs more consistency is probably a gross understatement. This is especially true in the Terps' interior game, which disappears completely at times. Over-reliance on your guards and your small forward for all of the scoring isn't the best basketball strategy; when they have an bad shooting night, you lose.
Maryland was terrible. They couldn't shoot, the had no interior game to speak of on offense or defense, they allowed 50% shooting and were out-rebounded. They looked tired and out-of-sync. The lone bright spot was backup point guard Sterling Ledbetter, who demonstrated some great driving and scoring moves that should serve the Terps well when Gilchrist isn't in the game for whatever reason. Clemson beat MD for the first time since 1997.
To say this team needs more consistency is probably a gross understatement. This is especially true in the Terps' interior game, which disappears completely at times. Over-reliance on your guards and your small forward for all of the scoring isn't the best basketball strategy; when they have an bad shooting night, you lose.
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