I believe....

In preparation for the Vegas trip, I'll post my gambling beliefs - those rock solid credos that guide behavior at the casino.

Here goes.

I believe that...

1) Any male who stays on 16 against a 10 is a communist or a Howard Dean supporter
2) Any male who waffles on that hand (hits once, stays the next time) should be immediately castrated.
3) You should always hit 12 vs a 2.
4) The hardest hand is the high soft hand (A-7, A-8). All three options (hit, double, stand) are valid in some cases. Like A-8 vs a 7. What do you do? A-8 vs 10? A-7 vs 7?
5) Never take insurance unless you are playing with Kermit. If Kermit takes insurance, you do too. If he doesn't, you don't. He is uncanny at this.
6) You should always have the right to receive your double down card down.
7) if you are hitting, you should ask for 2 less than 21. For instance, you have 14; ask for a 5. The dealer will give you a 6 or a 7.
8) Always make fun of other's play, but only if you don't know them. Don't make fun of play of people you don't know well - like your friend's wife who loves Kerry/
9) The best time to play craps is 9 am.
10) It is a good sign to open up an empty craps table.
11) The horn bet should only be used when you are drunk or winning; if you see me do this, let's hope it is the latter.
12) It is ethically acceptable to root for a shooter to 7 out - even if you are betting with the shooter - if he is one of those assholes that takes 30 seconds to line up the dice before each roll. I have struggled with this one immensely before coming to this conclusion.
13) Roulette is a glorified form of Keno. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
14) If you come to Vegas during tournament weekend, bet more than $5.50 a game on the tourney. (True story - I met someone who did this).
15) Anyone who orders a Tom Collins as a drink is a genius. Follow him.

Freddie is sick so Eric is throwing the dice

Warming up this afternoon for our trip Vegas trip by playing craps over the phone with Eric. It might not sound like fun, but boy its exciting. The table is getting hot. Anyone who wants in, let me know and I can conference you in.

Scottsdale

Went to Scottsdale over the weekend for a quick visit. Mixed feelings about the town. Spring time is amazing out there. 85 degrees, spring training, and excellent golf. Why have we not been there before? Plus they added a couple of nice casinos, so it would be perfect for a long weekend.

Where's the Charmin????!???

So what do people use when they run out of toilet paper? Never had that problem? Hmmm, so I guess I'm just that lazy. Last night I ran out of TP, but magically found a roll of Bounty underneath the sink. Inspected it, thought it was soft enough and felt like it would get the job done. Well, never use Bounty!!! NEVER!!! Bounty caused the mother of all toilet backups. I guess the Bounty is too thick for the plumbing, so I had a massive overflow. And Bounty is so compact and made not to dissolve in water (thought about that after the fact), that you have to use the plunger like 2,000 times before anything even starts to drain. I actually had to remove the Bounty from the toilet, since it just wouldn't drain. And after I cleaned up everything and took a 40 minute shower, I had to take a quick piss. Flushed the toilet and realized that some of the Bounty was still in there and it was blocked up again. Plunged again, this time only for about 2 mintues, removed the Bounty and took another shower. I almost passed out in the shower due to all the cleaning products that I poured on the floor. Good times. Almost as good as minding your own business, then having one of your friends take your picture in a hotel lobby, only for it to look like your taking a dump.

This had me thinking about a couple of things this morning on the way to work:
1. Would it of made a difference if I used cheap papertowels?
2. Should of I used something different, like a warm wet towel or something like that?
3. Is there anything better than Charmin Ultra?

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Caption contest

This is a little too easy, but still. Best caption wins a signed golf ball by Charles Nelson Rielly.















Giambi: "Something is wrong down there ever since sleeping with that girl named Paula in SF"

NCAA Review, 3/2

What a wonderful time of the year. Conference tourneys are starting in earnest today - which means 11 straight days of tournament action leading up to selection Sunday - and then Vegas will be here.

Here's the picture for the tournament as of this morning:

A-10: 1 lock - GW. No bubble teams at all here.
ACC: 4 locks (Duke, BC,NC, NC St.), 1 bubble - Fla St. What a win last night; that may have done it for the Noles; however, the committee may punish them for that horrid out-of-conference schedule - schedule strength of #318!!!
A-Sun, A-East: 1 each
B-10: 6 locks (Ohio St, Iowa, Ill, Mich, Mich St, Wisc), 1 bubble - Ind with 2 wins (home vs Mich St, away vs Pur) have played their way into the tourney for now.
(Although the Mich St win is nothing to write home about - they are now 7-7 are will be severly overrated in the tourney. I see them in an 8-9 game:
(8) Mich St. vs. (9) Missouri St
with the line being Mich St -4.5
and I will be licking my chops.
B-12: 3 locks, 2 bubble. Tex A&M win last night over Texas puts them in the mix, but their profile is still weak. Colorado has to win 2 games in the B-12 tourney for a chance.
B-East: 7 locks (we'll put Syracuse there), 2 bubble, SH and Cinci. Is a home win vs. Cin good enough to put Seton Hall in, after their recent slide? I say no.
B-West, Big South, Big Sky: 1 each
C-USA: 1 lock, 2 bubble (UAB, Houston). I can't see UTEP getting in with 0 top 50 wins; UAB doesn't have one either - but if they can beat Memphis this week, the Blazers will be in.
Colonial: 1 lock, 2 bubble. G Mason is in; NC_Wilmington (RPI #38) is probably in if they get to the finals, and Hofstra (#40) still has an outside shot. IT's possible that 3 can come from this conference.
Horizon, Ivy: 1 each
MAC, MAAC, MEAC, Mid-Con: 1 each
Missouri Valley: what a mess. Northern Iowa, everyone's darling, is now the #6 seed in the tourney - unfortunately, they will be playing a red hot Missouri St team. Wichita St and Missouri St and probably in; Crieghton is too; Northern Iowa should be in even with a loss (although that 1-5 record in the last 6 will hurt, but they have SEVEN top 50 wins - compare that to Syracuse's 2 or Boston College's 2 or Air Force/UAB 0 ). Which leaves us Southern Illinois (RPI 43) and Bradley (RPI 46). It is conceivable that this conference may get all 6, but I will say 5 for now, with Southern getting the shaft.
Mountain West: no locks, 3 bubbles: SD St (the leader, RPI 52), Air Force (RPI 40) and a hot BYU (RPI 56). Two combined top 50 wins. Should the regular season champ of a top 10 conference get in (which is San Diego St) without the tourney win? Can a team like Air Force (overall SOS is 155, non-conference 273) just plod along, win the games they should, lose the one they should, and be 21-5 - get rewarded? BYU is the hottest team - 9-1 in their last 10 - with wins over SD St and Air Force in the last month. We will see. The weakness of the bubble may help them.
Northeast, OVC: 1 each
Patriot: I think Bucknell is in, no matter what.
Pac-10: Pretty clear; we'll put Cal in to make it 4 locks, 0 bubbles.
SEC: This is clear as well - 6 locks now (Tenn, Fla, LSU,Ala, Ark, Kentucky). Everyone has done enough. No bubbles here.
Sun Belt: Western Kentucky has an outside shot as an at-large if they stumble; I want to see the Hilltopper mascot in the big dance. I love that guy.
Southern, Southland, SWAC: 1 each
WAC: Nevada is in as a lock; Utah St (57) and La Tech (70) have outside chances.
WCC: Gonzaga, of course, is in.

That means we have:
57 locks:
8 bubble teams that are in: Fla St, Cinci, Indiana, NC-Wilmington, Tex AM, N Iowa, Bradley, and....Air Force, I guess.
bubble teams out: the rest of the ACC, Seton Hall, Hofstra, Colorado, S Illinois, BYU, Utah St, La Tech, Houston, UTEP.

Last four in, I think, are: Bradley (last), NC-Wilmington, Fla St, and Air Force.

The thing to watch this week are the conference tournaments involving lock teams; if Gonzaga, Nevada, Bucknell, GW, etc. go down, this means one less spot will be available for the bubble teams - so we starting crossing the above teams off one by one.

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

Just wanted to take a quick second to wish everyone a Happy Fat Tuesday!

Now, from the "Damn we are getting old!" Department. Do you guys realize is was TEN years ago that we went to Mardi Gras (trip #2 was in 1996)!?!?!?! Ouch...

I don't think I've abused my body any more than Mardi Gras Trips I and II. Not even any of the Vegas trips (although our first few trips had moments). I'm getting a stomach ache just thinking about it.

Random bodily injuries:
- I specifically remember losing my voice from all the grain alchohol in the hurricanes
- Mardi Scum from the lower calf to your feet
- Random injuries when trying to de-bead yourself (or de-beading another person who was drunker than you for the night)
- Whatever happens to your internal systems when you "sleep" a couple hours a day, wake up at 10:00 start drinking again by 11:00 and the only other thing you put in your body consists of:

• taco buffets
  
• Lucky Dog Hot Dogs
• Seafood platters (not me fortuantely)
• Dante's pizza

As TK would say - Thats it, thats the list...

Good times!!

Hey Don H...

Sorry, one more random item:

Did you see who the expert analyst is for the NFL Network at the Combine this week?

Hint: this person doing analysis at the Combine is like....
Derek commenting on the Midwestern social life
Laura commenting on the strengths of the Republican party
me commenting on the singles' scene

Give up? Yes sir, it's Butch Davis!

Two more random items...

Mock bracket coming soon.

1) Here is an actual conversation between two guys at a poker game I went to Friday night:
Guy 1: "Did you go to the casino last weekend?"
Guy 2: " Yeah, we went to Grand Victoria on Friday" (note: Grand Victoria is a smaller casino in Cincinnati, further away than the more popular Argosy)
Guy 1: "Why did you go all the way down there?"
Guy 2: "Well, my mother-in-law wanted to see the Sha Na Na concert at Grand Vic that night."

I was speechless for about 5 minutes. You could take that conversation in so many directions.

2) Here is a time waster for you:
a website that lists the #1 song for any date in history

Mine isn't bad: "American Pie", by Don McLean.
My wife - who hates all Neil Diamond albums, is cursed with "Cracklin Rosie" by Mr. Diamond himself. Hilarious.

Derek's song is mildly ironic.

I found this on the Browns' board, where there was a history of the users/posters posting the #1 song on the day they were born. One poster listed "Vision of Love" from Mariah Carey as his song. WTF? He's like 14!

Post your "birth songs" in the comments.

Engagement Party

What is this crap? I can only remember one engagement party, and that was just a bunch of us getting together, playing poker and getting drunk. The presents consisted of liquor in non plastic bottles.

But anyway, where does the party rank amoung the other pre-wedding items like the bachelor party and the bridal shower. Do they get presents? Is it family only? Does anyone need to give a speech? Where is Dr. Laura when you need her?

Eric vs. Laura

I'm sure many of you missed the good discussion between Eric and Laura about the direction of the Democrats, but please make sure you check it out before it disappears. I like listening to the discussions between two rational people talking about politics, who instead of ranting about people being idiots, they actually discuss the topics at hand. Reminded me of Garafalo/O'Reilly discussion back in 2005, who actually respected each other and was a great debate on Iraq. Once I work out my deal with XM, Eric and Laura will have the key afternoon drive time slot.

Anyway, I wanted to make a couple of comments on their discussion.

• Voting based on Wedge Issues: Laura, didn't you and Jay (and the rest of us) vote for Elrich solely based on his slots for MD stance? By the way, what is going on with that? Has there been any progress on this?
• Arnold: Remember, he wasn't the first choice of the Republicans. It was actually Tom McClintock . The reason why Arnold won, was that he had a solid plan laid out to get our state out of major financial troubles. He kept hammering away on his 5 point plan that he promised would be met within the first 6 months of his term. He followed through and made it happen. The reason why he is getting some bad press now (or back in November) was that he took on Teacher Tenure, Union Dues, Parent Notification on Abortion, Debt Refinancing, and Prescription Drugs. He lost on everything, but at least he tried to make some major changes that every other republican and democrat was too scared to address.
• Dems need a plan: How do you build up support without a real plan? I mean this is Leadership 101. And then they wonder why they can't beat Bush and the Republicans!! I think it speaks volumes on the lack of direction for the party. Now I'm not as political as Eric and Laura, so someone like me needs to be reminded why I should vote for them, and it shouldn't be some platitudes on the country. Give me something that I can think about. Almost like what Arnold did in CA. Five key things that would improve the country with a solid timeline on completion. Hammer this home over the next 9 months. I think that everyone is getting tired of the same old platitudes that are provided to them by both the republicans and democrats.

Five things that I'm going to start doing next week

1. Tivo the Oprah Sex Talk shows next week. The transcripts on the drudge report are almost making me cry.
2. Try using the phrase "Just the tip" a little bit more.
3. Try and catch Running Scared. Am I an idiot or do the trailers look pretty good to anyone else?
4. Listen to more Opis and Anthony on XM. I finally gave into Jon's request to listen to these guys and they were very impressive this morning.
5. Get up to Hollywood Park to get in some quick poker time before the back to back trips out to Vegas.

Random thoughts....

1) I love IT on days like this. I got a new computer; the process of moving my data from my old to my new computer takes a half a day. So - what can I do without a computer for an afternoon?
Golfing it is! Shot a 75 this afternoon at Walden Ponds. No one on the course, and it still took me 3 hours and 20 minutes to play. Maybe I am a slow player.

2) Went to Kindergarden orientation last night - to get parents ready for the 06/07 school year. All kids in the school district go to one building for Kindergarden.
For perspective, I graduated in a class of 13. Even if I would have stayed at Hereford for my senior year, my class would have only been 200.
Freddie's Kindergarden class is projected to be 1100 students.
Wow.

3) Freddie's learning new things, but we're still working on some concepts. This is an actual conversation we had tonight:
Me: "Pick a number between 1 and 5"
Freddie: "OK".
Me: "Now think of a word that rhymes with that number.".
Freddie: "OK, got it!"
Me: "What is the word?"
Freddie: "Hand".
Me: "Um.... what was the number you picked?"
Freddie: "Six".

4) For any of you who has ever received one of those spam e-mails from Nigeria, you will get a kick out of this:
An e-mail George W Bush must have received.

5) Finally, on the college basketball front, I read this article from cnn si and can assure you that Iowa City is completely blase about possibly losing Alford. It may not make sense to an outsider, but Alford is not well liked at all at Iowa.

Take my coach, please!

99 problems but a bitch aint one

Been crazy busy this week with the parents in town and a packed schedule at work. Ugh. Two questions though...

1. I'm going to get contacts (yeah about time) in the near future. What type should I get? I am totally clueless in this area.
2. I'm so torn on where to stand on this port security thing. Isn't this a topic of racial profiling, and if so then why is it OK to profile against a country and not their people?

Bubble Picture, 2/20

The past weekend of college basketball brought just a little more clarity to the tournament picture. Here is my take on where we are - the locks and bubbles - and some one-line thoughts on teams and conferences for the NCAA tournament:
Conference (L= # locks, B=# bubbles)
Am East: 1 (I know nothing on these teams)
ACC: L:4 B: 3? 4? Geesh. Who is the 5th team in the ACC? Md gets no kudos for beating Ga Tech at home in OT. Florida St has an easier schedule down the stretch. The bubble teams in order: Fla St, Md, Miami-Fl, Va.
A-10: L:1. What a pathetic conference. Who is the 2nd best team in this conference now? It's La Salle, RPI #99. No bubbles here. And I'm not impressed with GW. They will be a #3, #4 seed, and with the wrong draw, could lose in the 1st round.
(and you know GW will lose in the conf tournament, sending 2 teams to the NCAAs)
A-Sun: 1
B East: L: 7. B: 2 (Syr, Cin). I'd like to see more of each bubble team before putting them as locks. Home wins by both over the weekend over the also rans in the conference is not impressive enough.
B Sky: 1. N Arizona will be a dangerous #13-#14 seed.
B South: 1. Same with Winthrop.
B 10: L:6. B: 1. Is Indiana even a bubble team anymore? Geesh.
B 12: L: 3. B: 2 (Col, Neb)? What do you do about Colorado? They finally get the win they want vs. Oklahoma, then lose badly on the road to K St. Yikes. Right now, they are most people's last team in - and shouldn't do much damage.
B West: 1. Any comments about Pacific or Irvine?
CAA: L:1. B: 2 (NC-W, Hofstra). George Mason is now IN no matter what about going to Wichita and winning. Is Wilmington in too, now? I say yes. What if Hostra or ODU wins the CAA? Then this conference can - and should - get 3. This has happened before - remember the Horizon in 1999 or 2000? Detroit Mercy, Ill-Chi, and Butler all made it from the #10th best conference? This is a similar situation.
C-USA: L:1. B: 3 (UAB, UTEP, Hou)? Houston has slid up the board here. Non-conference schedules of UAB and UTEP are just killers.
Horizon: L: 1. UW-M's loss on Saturday removes any chance of being an at-large.
Ivy: L:1. And I wouldn't think too highly of Penn - they lost to last place Dartmouth on Friday. THey will be a #14, #15, be overrated and be blown out by 25.
MAAC: L: 1. Sorry -no two bids this year.
MAC: L:1. Sorry Don - Akron looked terrible vs. Nevada. No two bids this year. Akron wil be a weak #13 or #14 and still lose. Akron is #70 in the RPI; too high for an at-large.
Mid-Con: L:1: everyone's favorite team, IUPUI (pronounced ooo-eeee-poo-eee)
Mid-Eastern: L:1. No idea here.
Missouri Valley: L:3 B:3 (S Ill, Miss St, Bradley). UNI, Wichita, and Crieghton are locks. Missouri St had a HUGE win to probably get the inside track on an at-large; they won AT UW-M. Southern Ill had a big loss to La Tech at home; they have been fading and may miss it now. Bradley is coming on strong.
No way this conference gets 6, but still a strong chance for 5.
Mtn West: L:1 B: 1 (AF). Air Force has a terrible SOS (#290), but a neutral court win vs Miami that may be a tiebreaker down the stretch. If they get in (#11, #12 seed), they will be a tough out.
NEC: 1. No idea
OVC: 1. No idea.
Pac-10: L: 3 B: 2(Cal, Stan). What to do here? Is Cal in or out? Stanford is hanging on the bubble but another loss this weekend kills them. I'd guess that Cal is in, and are good enough to win a 1st round game.
Patriot: L:1. Bucknell is going to be a tough call for the committee if they lose in the tournament. RPI #40, great non-conf SOS #37, and wins vs. Syracuse on the road, St Joes at home. Could have sealed it with a win Sat vs N Ia. Right now, probably a #11; very similar to a NC-Wilmington from 2003 who took Md to the wire. Will be over-rated come tourney time due to history, but could do damage (Sweet 16?) given the right draw. Say, this scenario comes up:
#3 GW vs #14 Northwestern St
#6 Boston College vs #11 Bucknell
then Bucknell has a great shot to go to the Sweet 16. However, if it is:
#3 Tennessee vs #14 Akron
#6 Georgetown vs #11 Bucknell
then Bucknell will struggle to win 1 game, let alone 2.

ok, where was I?
SEC: L:4. B:3 (Ala, Ark, Vandy). Kentucky is in for me. What to do with Arkansas, who can't win a game on the road to save their life? I have a feeling it may come down to Maryland and Arkansas for the last spot, and that's when Maui might save the Terps. You watch Arkansas play - and you wonder how they win games. Clutch defense is terrible, can't shoot free throws, and don't have a true go to guy.
In general, this conference may be overrated.
Southern: L:1. Is this the year for Elon?
Southland: L:1. Northwestern St. Remember this name come tourney time. A legit team who will be a #13 and has the experience to pull off the upset.
SWAC: L:1. No idea
Sun Belt: L:1. Western Kentucky has a chance for an at-large, but it's not likely. RPI is 42, beat UAB (another bubble team) on the road and Viriginia. 8 straight wins.
West Coast: L:1. Gonzaga is overrated. They can't play D.
WAC: L:1. B: 2 (Utah St, La Tech)? This is another conference that can sneak 2 or 3 in. Utah St now at 50 in the RPI, and 8-1 vs top 100. La Tech had a huge win on the road vs. S Ill. Nevada is very close to being a lock if they lose.

So that is 54 locks; 24 teams fighting for 11 bubble spots.
In: Cincinnati, Colorado, NC-W, Miss St, AF, Cal, Ala, Syracuse, S Ill, UAB, Md
Last 4 out: Houston, Arkansas, Utah St, UAB

What the Dems Need

Interesting article in the Washington Post Outlook section. With all of the material the Republicans have given them, what have the Dems done with it? The war planning (or lack thereof, depending on your viewpoint), Abu Ghraib, Jack Abramoff, Social Security, budget deficits, Harriet Miers, the size of gov't, pork barrel spending, etc. Speaks to the ineptitude of the Dems and overall lack of leadership in the party in general, in my opinion. The article attributes it more to the overall leadership "style" of Pelosi et al.

Don't click on this link...

unless you are a fan of:
a) Supreme Court Chief Justices, and
b) gregarious Broadway stars

Well Hello, Justice, ...well hello, Justice....

I know you can't resist.

US Olympic team

I don't know how to say this - since this could come out the wrong way - but...

it's awfully hard to root for the Americans in the Olympics.

It's hard to cheer for people that are constantly thrown down your throat; it's also hard to feel sorry for hot dogs and underachieving dolts.

Look at what we have so far in this olympics. We are "forced" to root for:
1) Bode Miller. He is the most overhyped athlete since Dan O'Brien.
2) Apolo Anton Ohno. Another definition of overhyped. As one writer put it, "he has never crossed the line first in an Olympic event".
3) The curl girls - Curling's hope on the women's side (last I looked, they were 1-4).
4) Michael Weir, the figure skater who wore a "CCCP" jacket at practice the other day. Oh yeah, that warmed him up to anyone 30 years old or older who remembers the cold war. Punk.
5) Jeremy Bloom - another overhyped "star" who choked in the clutch.
6) I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the 1998 Hockey fiasco in Nagano.
7) And now this snowboardnig woman (Lindsey Jacobellis) who had the race won, decided to do a move at the end, fell, and lost a sure gold medal.

How am I supposed to be expected to root for these people? Give me the unheralded underdogs like Joey Cheek and Toby Dawson anyday.

I wish NBC would just let the games play out so we can decide who to root for, instead of forcing "stars" down our throat - "stars" that can't perform on the big stage.

February 18

Is the date Feb 18, 2001 going to be a date that will live in infamy for sports fans? This, of course, was the day that Dale Earnhardt died at Daytona.

ESPN is already calling Feb 18, 2001 as a "surreal" day

Something more monumental happened that day. See the above picture.

Just a question - is Freddie going to be saddled with this date for the rest of his life? Like being born on Aug 12, 1994 (baseball strike), Apr 5, 1974 (Aaron's 715) or Dec 31, 1971 (Clemente's death)?

(Boy, I look young in this picture....)

(And yes, I am the one in red sweatshirt....)

Wow...I was dead on!!!!!

So I got copied in on an email from my old VP on my forecasting model results for the first two months. First month, I was off slightly, but it was explainable due to some crap that happened in Oklahoma. The second month I was off by $200,000. That's $200,000 off of a $419 million dollar monthly total. That's .05% off. I emailed the VP back asking if I could come back since I can't seem to hold onto any employees these days. My YTD total for terminations is 10. That is a 10% monthly turnover rate. I was told that they haven't seen something like this in some time. So I go in front of the firing squad tomorrow to explain my actions and oh yeah, my office results.

US vs Finland

What a disappointing end to the 2nd match for the US Men's Curling today - one that will be talked about. After a great shot to finish the 2nd end with a double, the US let up a double in the 5th. We were all tied at 3 going to the 9th - a perfectly executed blank end resulted in the US having the crucial last shot in the 10th and final end. However, the strategy for the last shot in that end was botched, and Finland grabbed a point when the US captain decided on a controversial plan of attack.
Final - Finland 4, US 3. The US is now 1-1 in group B.

We still have the first US Men's match and the Women's match on TiVo from early this morning; when the kids are in bed, Janice and I will watch to see how they won the first match and what the women did.

(and, unlike most of my posts that sound like this, I am not being sarcastic. Janice has become a huge curling fan, and I'm getting sucked in.)

Dane Cook

I've been meaning to post this for about 5-6 months now, since hearing him do standup on XM. This guy is easily the greatest comic we have now!!! What jogged my memory was that he played a cook in the movie Waiting, which I saw over the weekend, and I highly recommend it. This guys topics are so random and his delivery is very original that he blows me away. On a side note, it is depressing to listen to all the other comics nowadays. Didn't racial humor hit its peak back in 92? Why are people still doing this type of shit? "Let me tell you something about (fill in race) people." Come on!!! And is there a decent female comic that can talk about something else other than how much men suck in bed? Don't they have anything else to talk about? Wanda Sykes makes me laugh and Ellen D can get me to crack a smile, but everyone else sucks. I wish I had Tivo the last time I was at the New York New York, so I could send everyone the Rita Rudner outtakes playing on the TV. It really makes you wonder, who the fuck is seeing her everynight.

College Sports

Was up watching US Hurling at 1:00am. Not too bad, but I just can't get into a sport that was probably thought up by some college kids on a boring friday night. I'm just waiting for them to turn some of our college "sports" into an olympic event like card tossing into a bowl, full contact 21, putting 90 feet on a concrete surface, ice hockey when wearing shoes, keg or other large random object carrying race, or going through a gauntlet to get to the bathroom at 2:00am.

And is anyone else getting bored at watching this snowboarding half-pipe bullshit? Its impressive and all, but I tend to get tired of watching guys do twisting things over and over again. ugh.

Vegas Planning

OK, we've got a little more than a month until Vegas. I've gotten a few questions about plans, golf, etc. - and what better place to quibble about Vegas plans than right here?

1) Golf. What are people's plans for golfing? Kermit (my friend from college) has got a tee time at Paiute on Friday afternoon - Don is in, I think I'm in... Leland - does you and your party want to jump in with us? Derek?

Saturday - Kermit is interested, but I don't think I will go. Anyone else?

2) Dinner. It is tradition that we go out for a fancy meal once during the trip; the last two years it has been at Smith and Wollensky's.
One suggestion this year (from Don) is Bobby Flay's at Caesars. Other recos?

3) As stated before, Don, Derek and I are coming in Wed night; Don and I are leaving Sun night. Kermit is coming in Thu night and leaving Sat night. Derek - do you have any definites as to who else is coming from southern California?

NCAA Bubble Watch, 2/8

OK, here is our weekly look at the bubble. We will look at each conference and list the teams that are a definite lock (at this time) or are on the bubble currently.

Am East: 1 (Albany)
ACC Definite: 4 Duk, NC St, NC, BC
Bubble: Miami, Md, Va
Big win last night for Md to keep them on the good side of the bubble.
A Sun: 1 (E Tenn St)
A-10: Def: 1 (GW)
Bubble: Xavier, ?
God, this conference is terrible. Temple's loss today takes them off the bubble.
Big East: Def: 6 (WV, Vill, UConn, G'town, Pitt, SH)
Bubble: Marq, Syr, Cin
Big Sky; 1 (N Az)
BIg South: 1 (Birm So)
Big Ten: Def: 6 (Ia, Ill, Mich, Ohio St, Mich St, Ind)
Bubble: Wisc. Tonight's win helps, but losses to Purdue and ND St are black marks.
Big 12: Def: 3 Tex, Kansas, Okla
Bubble: Colorado, Neb, Ia St
Big West: 1 (Irvine)
CAA: Def: 1 (leader is Geo Mason now)
Bubble: loser of Geo Mason, UNC-W, Hofstra.
3 teams in the top 50 in the RPI. This conference should have 2 bids.
C-USA: Def: 2 (Mem, UAB)
Bubble: UTEP
Horizon: 1 (UW-M)
Ivy: 1 (Penn)
MAAC: 1 (Iona)
MAC: 1 (Kent)
Bubble: Akron
Mid-Con: 1 (IUPUI)
Mid-Eastern: 1 (Del St)
MVC: Def: 3 (N Ia, Crei, Wichita)
Bubble: S Ill, Miss St. Bradley's loss tonight kills them.
MWC: Def: 1 (SD St)
Bubble: AF. AF @ SD St is in progress right now.
NEC: 1 ( F-D)
Ohio V: 1 (Murray)
Pac 10: Can any of you west coasters figure this one out?
I have 1 Definite - UCLA
4 Bubbles: Washington, Cal, Stanford, Arizona.
Washington is 6th in the conference right now!
Pat: Def: 1 (Buck), who is in even if they lose their conf tournament
SEC: Def: 5 (Tenn, Fla, Ky, LSU, Bama)
Bubble: Ark (what a crushing defeat tonight for them)
Southern: 1 (Elon?)
Southland : 1 (NW St)
SWAC: 1 (Southern)
Sun Belt: 1 (W Ky)
WCC: 1 (Gonz)
WAC: Def: 1 (Nev?)
Bubble: Utah St, La Tech

So that is 53 locks. The bubble teams are fighting for 12 open spots. How do you separate them?
My guess at this point:

IN: Marquette, Wisconsin, Washington, Miami-FL, Maryland, NC-Wilmington, Syracuse, S Illinois, Air Force, Arizona, Colorado, California
OUT: Virginia, Xavier, Hofstra, Cinci, Ia St, Nebraska, UTEP, Akron, Missouri St, Stanford, Arkansas, Utah St, La Tech.

Question of the Day

What does the term "Pass the duchy on the left hand side" mean? And is that a little boy singing part of that song or just a girl with a high pitch voice?

Thoughts While Driving a Yellow Mustang

Just a couple of quick things from LA/San Diego since it's 1am PST and I was trying to stay on EST. Guess that ends today.
1. Part of the reason I'm staying up is to download "It's Raining Men" from iTunes so I can blast it on the car stereo driving around San Diego.
2. Besides the incredible homo factor, the 2006 Mustang is one of the worst cars I've ever driven. Blog to follow on this sometime next week, but I'd honestly rather be driving my old '83 Honda Accord 4-door with 13 people in it on the way to the Student Union to see "Blue Chips".
3. Eric, let's pretend you never mentioned that.
4. Malibu--overrated. Santa Monica--not bad. Pepperdine--wow.
5. Derek, I now see how you've become such a pussy with cold weather. It's 75 degrees in Feb! This shit is amazing.

Final Stats

Overall stats on the year: 154-138-13.
So, for a span of 305 games, I was at a 52.6% clip.
Break even is 52.4%.

If (hypothetically, of course) I put 22 donuts on each game, I would have risked a total of 6,710 donuts and came out ahead 44 donuts. A return of about 0.6% on the investment; slightly better than the average savings account.

For perspective, if I picked at a 50% rate - 152-152-1 - I would have been down 304 donuts.

But the 52.6% rate is a positive balance. Two years in a row now - with a sample size of 300+ games each year.

Not too bad. Next stop: Vegas during the tournament; in 2003, I think I had 45 bets on the 48 games for the weekend.

Final Thoughts on the NFL

Yes, the result of the Super Bowl makes me upset. I'm not quite as infuriated as the result from The Super Bowl That Never Occured (tm), but frustrated nonetheless. Why? No one wants to see their division rival win. As I said earlier, I want everyone to suffer until I get a ring in any sport.

To see the refs play an important part in that game, well, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Do I think that the game was fixed? Well, to quote "The Incredibles", "The law requires me to say no". If you put Wonder Woman's truth rope on me, I'd say no. But it's becoming clearer and clearer that the refs put some teams in position to win.

For example, the Browns ran back 4 kickoffs/punts for TDs this year. They were against the:
Bengals
Ravens
Colts
Lions

Which 2 of those TDs were called back on questionable penalties?
Which 2 of the above teams made the playoffs?

The answers, of course, are the same. Draw your own conclusions.

Now, Seattle did enough things wrong to lose on their own. As Don said, the clock management by Seattle was Butchie-esque.
And then there was the trick play. The Steelers have run this sort of play two or three times this year. Any AFC North opponent can tell you to expect it. AND THEY ONLY RUN IT WHEN THEY ARE LEADING IN THE SECOND HALF!!!

So what happens? Seattle seems to be caught off guard by the gadget play inthe 4th quarter when Pittsburgh is leading, 14-10. That's all on Holmgren. I don't care if it was a 2nd string safety in there - it is the coach's job to get everyone ready to play.

I don't ever want to hear the Steelers described as a "smashmouth" team. The trick/gadget plays are a vital part of their offense. Nothing wrong with that - but let's not call them a "throwback", "old-fashioned", or any of that nonsense.

Retirement

Wow, I was surprised on the amount that came in yesterday on the game. Stupid prop bets make the regular gambling addicts go bezerk. Everything turned out very well. Very Very Well in fact. This will probably go down as the fourth largest day for me, behind the 2001 New Years Day Bowl Games, Carolina-Pats Superbowl, and the 2002 New Years Day Bowl Games. In talking with some of the other people in my profession, they stated that they had to stop taking action on Pitt by the weekend, since the amount was so large. Lucky for Brad and I, we only had 1 wager on Pitt, with everything else on Seattle and the Over. Amazing....

And I'll take the line from The Bus and I am announcing my retirement today. Brad and I are in talks on what to do with the client list, but for the most part we will be closing shop, with a few small exceptions. Its been an amazing ride over the last 10 years, which has taught me several important lessons about life and sports:

1. Never accept a wager from someone you don't know. Over the years, I've only had a few small problems collecting and they have been all related to people who I don't know that well. Friends and friends of friends will pay up 100% of the time, but its those people that do not have ties to anyone that I have problems with.
2. Gambling will make men do the craziest things. I have had to cut people off from placing wagers, when they are into me for way too much money and have 2 kids and a wife to take care of. Its amazing to watch how desparate people get when trying to win back money that they couldn't of afforded to lose.
3. The Gooch is real!!!!
4. Most games leading up to a big event like the Superbowl, World Series, and the NBA Championship are fixed. It will eventually come out.
5. Nobody has a firm understanding on how to be great sports handicapper. Boston and my brother are the closest, but the rest of us are in the dark.

Recent Movies

I finally watched both Wedding Crashers and 40 year old Virgin, which were excellent!!! Maier and I are trying to rank these two with the recent comedies. How would you rate the following movies:

1. Old School
2. Wedding Crashers
3. 40 Year Old Virgin
4. Anchorman
5. Dodgeball

Beach Football

Played tackle football on the beach for the first time in about 4 years. A little rusty, but still was able to bowl over a couple of people and throw about 7 TD passes. I've lost about 6 steps, but gained about 25 pounds which was put to good use. The highlight of my day was on an interception, I lined up one of the guys and totally ran over him, which prompted Austin to go completely nuts. Austin also had one of the greatest TD celebrations, which involved him running to a lifeguard stand, climbing it, making the superman pose, and then yelling the name of the guy who he burnt out about 10 times. Classic. The only downside of the game is now I'm not able to really move around. I'm in so much pain right now.

LA Blog

I'm out in LA on business, so I'll actually try to keep a real blog going this week. I doubt that I'll get to post stuff every day (both for lack of want to and lack of interesting things to post), but I'm hoping for 2-3 moderately entertaining posts.

Sunday. Direct flight from Reagan National Airport to LAX--5 hours and 43 minutes. The captain mentions an 82 knot headwind that we're flying into--that sounds like a lot to me. I'm on an Alaska Air flight (was booked through Delta, but operated by AA). As a result, you had to call and book your seat, it wasn't available online. Result was that I called and got an aisle, the other three that I'm traveling with all got stuck in middle seats. 6 hours in a middle seat is my idea of hell, and one of the guys is in the last row next to the pisser. Sucks to be him.

Fairly uneventful flight, there are a lot of Koreans on the flight. Not sure if they all fly AA, or they're all just going back to LA. Get to the rental car place (Avis) and they try to up-sell me on the car category. No, I don't need an Impala, just give me the Malibu or Monte Carlo that I signed up for and let's get this done with. She tries a couple of more times, but finally gives in and gives me my contract. It's in space 938 and it's a canary yellow '06 Mustang. I see what she's writing and I tell her that that's not what I asked for in the reservation. Sorry, that's all we have. Really?!? Are you fucking kidding me?!?! "Is there anything else available?" I ask. "I'll even move down a category." "No, I'm sorry", is her response. I feel like I'm being punished for something. So I'm the homo driving around a Navy base in a canary yellow Mustang.

Stop by a friend's place to meet up to watch the Superbowl. Liz lives in Redondo Beach, about 10 minutes from the airport. Derek meets up with us with a friend, Carol. She turns out to be very funny, attractive, intelligent, and she doesn't work for his company. Hmmm. She must not know him very well, or he must have some sort of incriminating photos of her. Anyway, off to lunch at Hermosa Beach at a little Mexican place. Decent food, nothing outstanding. The major subject of conversation turns out to be sex acts/positions. Rusty Trombone, Cincinnati Bowtie, Cleveland Steamer, ATM, Bull Rider, etc. Just your general run of the mill, lunch conversation. The Superbowl has started, but Liz TiVo'd it, so we're heading back about 20 minutes into the game.

I won't talk about the game, but we all have a good time and head out to our hotel. I already love the fact that we've watched the game and it's still early. The hotel is in Oxnard, about an hour north of LA. Check in, and here I am, writing in the blog. The plan is to try to stay mostly on East Coast time, but I know that that is doomed. I'm hoping to get up early tomorrow, get a run in and still be out of here by 0800 LA-time. We'll see what happens.

Talk to everyone tomorrow.

Super Bowl Picks

Before we start, some random notes:

1) Is anyone else uncomfortable with Tom Brady tossing the coin at the start of the Super Bowl? He is still active - it's not like he is a retired icon like Marino or Kosar. How do Pats fans feel about this?

2) Went to the grocery store today - so many people had their Bengals jersey on. Why? It's not like this is a celebration of ALL NFL football. If your team is not in it, then shut up and take it.

3) While waiting in the line, I picked up the latest "US" and started to look for the "Fashion Police" section - it wasn't there? That's the only reason that magazine is in existence! After 5 minutes of flipping through in a panic, I found out that the last few pages were stuck together and, yes, the "Fashion Police" section was there. The victims this week were Robert Downey Jr. and Lisa Loeb. Whew! The world is safe.

As for the game, I really want to see Seattle win, but I can't see it. This game will be dominated by the Steelers, but the final score will be closer than the game:

Seattle 3 3 0 14 -- 20
Pittsburgh 0 14 6 3 -- 23

Scoring for the game:
1st Q:
Sea: FG Brown 36, 7:12 left
2nd Q:
Pit: Randle El 12 run (Reed kick), 13:19 left
Pit: Bettis 1 run (Reed kick), 4:47 left
Sea: FG Brown 42, 0:04 left
3rd Q:
Pit: FG Reed 31, 9:23 left
Pit: FG Reed 29, 4:10 left
4th Q:
Sea: Alexander 2 run (Brown kick), 13:03 left
Pit: FG Reed 35, 6:33 left
Sea: Stevens 15 pass from Hasselbeck (Brown kick), 0:42 left

Best bets: (current record: 153-137-13
Sea +4.5 (The Seahawks will make it close in garbage time)
Under 47

Superbowl

I'm so behind on everything right now, so I haven't had the time to put together a nice spreadsheet on props for the Superbowl. Click on the link below to get a list of over 200 props f0r Sunday.

http://www.vegasinsider.com/nfl/props/

Some basic ones are missing like over/under of interceptions, FG, and punts. If you don't find something that you want, please write a comment and I will supply anything that you want.

One interesting one that I found on my other site is this one.
"Will The Burger King Score TD Any Commercial Between Kickoff and Last Play"- Even money

And yes, I will take that one.

Terps and the NCAAs

My God, was that ugly. I waited all night to watch the game uninterrupted on TiVo, and I see that abomination of a 15-point loss at home to Carolina.

What can this team do well? Well, Caner-Medley gives a whole lot of effort, especially on the offensive end. Strawberry reminds me of Dixon, a little bit.

But overall, this team is not a team. No defensive team play. Too many gaps in the lane and allowing too many drives by UNC. Offensively, it's the same old Williams-coached team - too careless with the ball. I'm not impressed with UNC at all - contain Tyler in the middle and then you just let Noel have his points, so this was a very winnable game that was lost in the 2nd half.

Can you say that the Terps belong in the top 30 in the nation right now? I can't. Top 40? Close - which makes them a pure bubble team.

Eric's picture on the tournament right now:

Definite "in"s at the moment:
Am East (1)
ACC (3: Duke, BC, NC St)
A-10 (1) GW
Atl Sun (1)
Big East (5: UConn, WV, Vill, PItt, G'town)
Big 10 (7; all 7 are locks at this point. Mich, Mich St, Ohio St, Ill, Iowa, Wisc, Ind)
Big 12 (3; Tex, Col, Ok)
Big West (1) UC-I
Big South (1)
Big Sky (1) Montana could pull an upset as a #13
Colonial (1) Watch this conference. We could have 2 here.
C-USA (1) Memphis
Horizon (1) UW-M could be an at-large, but tonight's loss hurts.
Ivy (1)
MAC (1) I love the MAC, but only one is definite right now.
MAAC (1)
MEAC (1)
MVC (all 4 are locks now; UNI, Wichita, Crieghton, and S Ill)
MWC (1) SD St
Mid-Con (1)
NEC (1)
OVC (1)
Patriot (1) Bucknell is almost a lock for an at-large if they lose in the Pat tournament.
Pac-10 (3: UCLA, Az, Washington)
SEC (4: Fla, Ky, Tenn, LSU)
Southern (1)
SWAC (1)
Southland (1) Northwestern St is another team to watch - another upset in the making as a 12/13.
Sun Belt (1)
WAC (1- La Tech; Nevada has really slipped)
WCC (1; Gonzaga).

That's a total of 53 teams. So - 12 more spots for teams like:
Md, NC, Mia-FL, Clem, Xavier, St Joseph's, Temple, Marquette, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Louisville, Cincy, Kansas, Ks St, Iowa St, Neb, 2nd Colonial (GMason/UNCW loser), UAB, 2nd MAC (Miami-OH? Akron? Kent?) , Missouri St, Bradley, Air Force, California, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Nevada

That's a pool of 26 teams for 12 spots. Is Maryland in the top half of that group? We will watch this over the next few weeks.

State of the Union Live Blog

OK - here we are. Is there anyone out there? Will anyone care? Who knows... off we go with the grand experiment.

8:35 ET: Got the kids a bath and in PJs; I have 25 minutes for snack, stories and bed. It will be close.

8:39: Side question: Are Cheez-its a healthy snack or junk food?

9:07: Got back down here in time to see someone who looks like Michael Irvin sitting next to Laura Bush, and just in time to see/hear the President being announced.

9:09: What are in those manila folders that Bush gives to the VP and Speaker? "Here's a copy - try to follow along"?

9:10: So the sergeant at arms announces the President - 3 minutes of applause; just when it dies down, Hastert announces the President - 1 more minute of applauding. Just in case you missed it the first time.

9:11: Starting out the speech with a memorial on Coretta Scott King. Touching.

9:12: "rostrum"? What is that?

9:14: "state of the union is strong", as always. This after a pledge for civility.

9:16: "problems in a country 7000 miles away are a cause" for the 9/11 attacks. Hoo boy, that oughta cause some controversy.

"advance of freedom" is a cause for the last 60 years. He's alluding that the war on terror is a natural extension of freedom's march that started withthe end of WW II. I think it's a good principle - why haven't you been constantly selling this for the last 3 years?

9:18: " no peace and no honor in retreat". Was he looking right at Cindy Sheehan (who is in the audience) when he said that?

9:20: Quick shot of Barbara Mikulski behind John Kerry. I'm sorry, she looks like a quiet grandmother, dressed in a long-sleeve velour dress. (What am I, Blackwell?)

9:22: Allies are "relentelessly shutting off terrorist infiltration" in Iraq. Hmmm. tough sell.

"we are winning". Wish you would say that more often, Chief.

9:23: How in the hell did they get a camera shot of Alito, two military heads, and Harry Reid all in one shot? Do the Republicans set seat assignments with camera angles in mind? (don't answer that....I'm sure that's some intern's job).

"the military will decide on troop withdrawal". A good point, one worth repeating.

9:27: The tributes start with a letter from a soldier who died in Iraq last month; his wife and parents are introduced.

9:29: "USA supports democratic reform and elections" in the Middle East. Will he say something about Hamas, then?

9:30: He must have heard me! "Hamas must recongize Israel and disarm....... " Or???
"Democracies in the Middle East will not look like ours".

9:32: Uh oh, Iran... here we go. "The regime sponsors terrorism, and that must come to an end".
"Iranian government is defying the world". Boy, this sounds familiar....

9:33: "Let me speak to the citizens of Iran...".....we repsect you.....we wish one day we can be the closest of friends with a democratic Iran.

9:35: An awkward shift to the US showing compassion around the world with AIDS funding, malaria relief, etc..... they cut to Rumsfeld who looked like he was thinking "Where is he going with this?"

9:36: Then back to homeland security? What was that about? 60 seconds about showing compassion abroad. Awkward and seemingly out of place.

9:38: Here we go with the good stuff.... asking for Patriot act extension.... and he is explaining his authority for the surveillance. "Other presidents have used it. We should have connected the dots in 9/11, as 2 hijackers made phone calls with Al-Qaida."
"If there are people inside America whoa re talkin' with Al-Qaida, we will find them."

Exactly 50% of the audience is standing. Hillary is giving a weird big smile, like "I can't believe this".

9:40: Two more shots of Mikulski. Why?

9:41: Now onto the economy. America has created more jobs than Japan and the EU , combined, over the last 2 years.

9:42: "Some say immigrants are bad for the economy,even though our country can not function without them". Hmmmm... But he didn't say illegal immigants, now did he?

9:43: "Make the tax cuts permanent". Even more of a dramatic 50% applause/silence in the crowd.

9:44: "plans to cut the spending by $14 billion this year" - um, that doesn't seem like much. Maybe I am wrong.

9:45: Earmark reform - one of McCain's big issues - was brought up. McCain looks like he is Boss Hogg after he ate a plate full of wings with Roscoe. Seriously, I think that kind of look may make him a little more unelectable.

9:47: "Baby boomers are turning old, including 2 of my dad's favorite people - me and President Clinton". A little laughter, and Hillary is certainly not amused. This look, likewise, also makes her unelectable.

9:48: "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security". Very audible cheers in the crowd, and Hillary is up and cheering. Now almost all of the Democrats are up.
"Let's create a commission to come up with solutions for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security - a bipartisan commission". Loud cheer from both sides.

This is startling to me. Is he abandoning Soc Security reform? I think so. He's asking for a truce. Not a bad move politically, but disappointing to me.

9:51: Illegal immigration... toughen the borders, reduce smuggling, help those who are legally looking for jobs... that's it. No more. On to health care.

9:53: "Dangerous medical errors" are a cause for rising health care costs? So Sally the secretary at the doctor's office is the root of all evil? I don't get it.

9:54: "America is addicted to oil". Best way to break it - "technology". "On the threshold of incredible advances". 22% increase in dept of energy spedning, for research in solar, wind, and nuclear energy. Need to change how we heat/cool buildings.
"Must also change how we power automobiles". Ethanol from wood chips and switch grass? Goal set of being competitive (ethanol) in 6 years.

Big goal set: Reduce 75% of oil imports from Middle East by 2020. Seems much more dauting than Kennedy's declaration in 1961 to put a man on the mood by the end of the decade.

9:58: More money for math and science. Too bad, humanties majors. Learn to say "Do you want fries with that?" and "I'm Trevor, our special today at Applebee's is the 3-course special for $12.99!"

10:00: 70,000 more AP Math teachers. 30,000 more "math and science professionals" (me?) to go into schools.

10:01: "A generation is finding that a life of personal responsibility is a life of fulfillment". Welfare reform, abstience, drug education have made a difference in the character of the country. Zing to the social left! Take that, Hollywood!

10:03: Ethics time - parents concerned on ethics, from shady politicans to activist judges (?). Savvy link, but one that doesn't fly here. Activist judges are not ethically wrong, just a wrong point of view.

10:05. Hoo boy, talking about Alito - and a justice next to him is beaming. I can't name him. Kennedy? Souter? Nope. No idea.

10:06: "Embryos and stem cells". Boy, am I not excited about this. I just can't get into this topics at all.

10:08: I'm losing interest.... One minute on New Orleans..... revise and reform the Ryan White act......Va Tech wins over Ga Tech, 63-62
(sorry, that last one was not in the speech).

10:10: closing now...Courage needed, like Lincoln, King, America post-WWII, etc. Can't lose sight and vision at this crucial time.

And it's over! 51 minute speech , which seems short.

A good speech, with clear ups and downs. I like his defense of the wiretapping - which, let's face it, is playing to popular support - and his vision of the energy policy. Only cursory mentions of Katrina, immigration, and ethics, which I would have like to hear more of.

He had a tough job of talking about Iran and Hamas- what is he going to say? He - and all of the US in particular - can't come out and say "we're going to war", but we have to put up a tough fight. It is apparent that Iran is going to defy the UN - so now what? No word. A little disappointing- no ultimatum- but it's too early yet to be bold.

I don't know why, but I like the energy piece. Energy is not just a Ralph Nader issue anymore (which is was in the 80s and 90s), but it is a national security issue! The less we are dependent on oil, the more we become less tied politically to that area in the world.

10:25: Tim Kaine on now for the Demo response. This is the first time I have seen him; first impression is that he is a little too formal of a speaker.....

"there is a better way"...."Americans have expectations for competancy".

First big topic he talks about is the tax cuts...... Hmmm, I don't think that's smart, but he is talking about his bipartisan examples from Virginia.

Education - he's critiquing teh No Child Left Behind. I have heard that the program is getting results.

The talk is very formulaic:

Take a topic:
1) criticise Bush / R's policy
2) Be sure to say "there's a better way"
3) Share an example, however small, of what democrats or bipartisan efforts have done. (not really showing better results from those examples, however).

However, his style is getting in the way. I know, I know, Bush is not a good speaker - but Kaine is just.... boring.

"If we want to get rid of the division, we need to get rid of the leadership". And put the party of John Kerry and Ted Kennedy in? That's why it rings a little hollow.

"Pray for the day that service returns to Washington". A clear bone to independents that are religious. This statement made sense, even though it may not on this blog.

"America can do better". My God, it's John Kerry's tag line. Is this good poliitcs?

What the hell is this?

I swear, I go to Yahoo sports, and here is a link crying for me to click on it....

Preakness to be held despite herpes?

This further cements Baltimore as the STD capital of the world.

First live blog?

OK - we will try an experiment tonight.... if I can get the kids in bed before 9, I will attempt to live-blog the state of the union address. Gotta try out the new laptop!

I hope that it will remain light yet substantive - so we will talk about the speech as well as any ugly wardrobes or bad toupees. We'll see if we can make this work!

College Credit

When we state that we require a college degree, does University of Phoenix count? Honestly, I thought I saw something on 60 minutes of the Drudge Report on how other colleges are not recognizing the undergrad degree when students are applying for Grad School.

World Baseball Classic

Am I the only person excited about this? Austin and I picked up tickets for the games in early March at Anehiem, so I'm starting to pay a little more attention to the rosters and other crap like that, I'm really getting excited about it. Could this eventually turn into something like the World Cup or the European Championship? Which would you prefer?
1. Every 2 to 4 years each country puts together an all-star team and plays for the championship in March (World Cup style)
2. Each league's champion from around the world plays in late October or November for a true World Series (European Championship style).

Eric thinks that option one is too much like the Olympics and the Dream Team stuff and how serious are the players going to take this. I tend to agree with him. All its going to take is the US to lose and the baseball writers are going to be all over everyone and then certain players won't play and then it will be a waste of time. But if we go with option 2, I think it will bring a little more interest. Who are you going to support, the Yanks or the Australian League Champs? Rob Dibble on Friday said that teams that play in the World Series could easily play another 20-25 games since they are on such a high on winning the WS.

Thoughts?

Remember Me?

I don't even know what to say about this... Jeffrey Maier, wow.

Vegas update

All set for Vegas! Don and I have booked our flights:

arriving Wed ~ 9pm or so
leaving on the red eye Sun night.

Now it's time to concetrate on basketball and separate the teams into the overrated/underrated category.
I hate to say this on this website, but one team that I think is overrated is Maryland. Look at their results - what are their road/neutral wins? Arkansas in Hawaii or Ga Tech on the road. That's it. This team can not play away from Comcast - and now with McCray done, it's going to be tough for them the rest of the way in the ACC.

Florida is another team. I looked at their schedule today - their only road win of note is @ Mia-FL. A good team, but a team that is inthe top 5 should have better numbers that than. Looking back, it's not a shock they lost their first two true road tests of the year.

I will try to post mock bracket projections each week in February. After looking at the stadnings for a short time, it's going to be awfullyhard to fill the last spots on the bubble becuase it seems there is a dearth of great at large candidates. Some midmajors have truly stood out (most of the MVC, Bucknell) that they are now considered locks. Other midmajors have slipped horribly (Nevada, Old Dominion) and have gone off the radar screen. But the big conferences (outside of the Big 10 and Big East) have failed to put forth quality teams in the middle of the pack.

Look at the SEC, or Big 12. No way that eitehr conference gets 6 this year.
The Pac 10 looks like it will return to its 3-bid ways.

The math will be very interesting this year.

All settled in....kind of

Last day of freedom for me as our "grace" period ends today from our move. The boys are in their new day care for a couple of hours this morning - Freddie is in a pre-K class of 14 boys and 0 girls. Something must have been in the water in 2001.

Some random notes from the last two weeks:
- Two words you don't ever want to hear from a hotel maintenance employee working on the pool: "Emergency Sanitization". Apparently, on Saturday night, at 8 pm (when about 45 10-to-13-year old boys are running around the hotel lobby and pool area), a boy threw up in the pool - big time. The pool was closed for 2 hours as it was cleaned up. Janice went to the hot tub later that night and saw small "chunks" still in the pool when it was reopened.
- Why is it that Sears appliance salesmen (they are all men, if you haven't noticed) are 1) all over 55, 2) can't work a computer? Derek and I kid our Dad on his non-technical skills, and it's charming to watch, but when you have 2 kids that are tired and hungry and the salesman can't figure out how to put your address in for the 4th time - well, it gets old and frustrating. And (maybe Jay can answer this) why are all of Sears' computers made in the 1970s? They haven't had a computer upgrade in 25 years, I bet.
- Have to say we had a pleasant TV buying experience from Best Buy. And the HDTV picutre looks great! However, the local channels are not broadcasting in HDTV on DirectTV - so no HD Super Bowl for me.(I think this is a Cincinnati contractual issue - some spat between the stations and DirectTV that will hopefully get resolved soon).
- The installer didn't hook up the bedroom right, saying we 'had a bad cable" going from the main to the bedroom (B.S), so yours truly spent Tuesday afternoon in our attic tracing the cable line from our bedroom. It was 30 minutes of playing "Is this a beam?" as I step through the insulation, hoping to find a cross beam and not plunge down through the floor. Ah, home ownership.
- Got the foosball table and the craps table set up last night (permanently!). However, we still haven't found the actual foosball yet. Talk about a needle-in-a-haystack search; we have to find a 2" diameter red ball that we haven't seen in 2 years among the 30 or so boxes in our basement. Oh yeah, that will be fun.
- Congrats ( grudgingly ) to the Steelers. Now go lose to the Hawks. I'm already sick of Bettis - but I was sick of him 3 years ago. Now the nation can be sick of him just as Super Bowl XL kicks off.....

Bosnia

My office is in a tailspin. A couple more terminations and a resignation and now this place is a war zone. I'm honkered down in my office right now with a pocket knife and a jar of Purell trying to make sure I don't lose complete control. I can't even concentrate on my results right now, since all I'm doing is interviewing people. I was getting so frustrated the other day that I ended an interview in 5 minutes when the guy couldn't tell me about what strengths he had and what assests he would bring to my operation. It only lasted that long because I wanted to see how long the silence would go for before he would start talking. Then one of my employees received 22 death threats over the weekend from some angry customer and come to find out that it is against fire code to lock the doors during business hours, sSo I had to hire a security guard to man the front and side doors. Well the guy shows up this morning and I really can't tell him apart from the homeless guy who I catch pissing on my building every morning. They guard doesn't even have a nightstick.

Then I got a call this morning from my ex-girlfriend's sister telling me that my ex (Amy) had a baby....oh and she is looking for a job. What???? Seriously, what the fuck???? Why does this women and her family continue to haunt me? I have a million stories over the past couple of years. Like on one Saturday when I'm talking to Jon on the phone and I see Amy's home phone come in on the caller ID (probably one of the funniest exchanges between Jon and I) and it was her calling me to warn me that her fiance at the time wanted to talk to me about sleeping with her on some random night back when I stopped into Baltimore for a wedding. Ugh...

The only positive thing right now is that they have Direct TV in the lunch room and this show will be out in early Feb. Oh, I've missed you so much Kristen.
http://www.upn.com/shows/party/

Stuck without a computer

I'm writing to you live in the lobby of the Embassy Suites in Blue Ash, OH. It's pretty sad how addicted I am to the internet. I feel lost in a cave over the last 5-6 days - reading and re-reading the USA Toady just doesn't feed my fix for Glenn Reynolds, Bill Simmons and (of course) Vegas Insider).

I'm in a hotel here as we wait for the moving van to arrive on Saturday; of course, it's going to rain tomorrow during the unload. Phone and internet service arrive at the house on Monday, and the Direct TV guy comes on Tuesday.

Some comments before the picks:

- Bought a 50" Sony today for the new house. I will post my thoughts on the picture quality once it is installed.

- The previous owners of the house we bought were LSU fans; so much so that our finished basement is painted in purple (I guess it's really burgundy) and a dark gold - the two colors of LSU. Boy, is it ugly. I'm going to turn around and paint it orange and brown right away.

- Two big elections coming up; Canada votes for a new government on Monday, and it looks like the conservatives are winning - boy, will that drive the liberals mad. Also, the US House Republicans will vote for a new Majority leader. Even though I now live in the district of one of the candidates (John Boehner), I support John Shadegg (from AZ), who represents a clean break from the DeLay leadership team that has been (fairly and unfairly) tainted.

- The message that Bin Laden wants a truce means, to me, that we are unmistakably winning the war on Terror and against Al Qaida.

Picks for this weekend:

Denver 31, Pittsburgh 17 - I just feel that Pittsburgh will be out of gas.

Seattle 27, Carolina 24 - A close game to the end; Josh Brown kicks a.... let's see... 39 yarder to win in with :02 left.

Best bets: 4-2 last week! 150-136-13 overall.

Den -3
Den/Pit over 41
Car/Sea over 44

Arbys

Is Arbys making a comeback? I'm seeing more and more of the chains pop up out here, and man that makes me sooooo happy. The Big Montana might be the most underrated sandwich around (put that on your list RRD), and that freakin' horsy sauce is out of sight. Hmmmmmm.....

With two great lunches at Arbys, they now move into my top 5 fast food chains:

1. In and Out
2. Taco Bell
3. Pick Up Stix
4. Popeyes
5. Arbys

Interesting.....

So the top two NFL officiating crews were not doing games this weekend? Hmmmm...Why not? Eric's take is that the NFL is just stupid, while my take is that the NFL couldn't pay off the top officials, so they used shitty ones, paid for their spring vacations and tried to ensure that Indy would win. Eric says that there was only one blatant bad call in the Indy game, while I say there were three:

• Interception called an incomplete
  
• The no safety call on Manning
  
• The do over play when encroachment was not called on Indy
  

All three plays would of sealed the game for Pitt, but they were called in favor of Indy. I know Eric will slam me on the interception call, but I still don't understand the rule. The tuck rule I understood, just thought it was stupid, but this rule doesn't make any sense, not do I think it exist. So explain away.

On a side note, spent Saturday and part of Sunday in Vegas. The New York New York installed TVs above all of their gaming tables. Excellent move. Fabulous move. I can't rave enough about this decision. Its a win win situation for everybody. I have never seen rows of blackjack tables all yell and get excited at the same time, not because all of them were winning money, but because everyone is watching the games. I can't even imagine how it is going to be during March Madness. Instead of just hearing the roar coming from the Sportsbook, you will now have it coming from every table game. I'm just waiting for a "Sportsbook Runner" to take bets from the tables, so people don't even need to get up from the tables. Looks like we will be moving away from the Monte and into the New York, now that I have a Casino Host interested in our wagering. Let's see, 14 hours of play, all on roulette (I know, I know) at about $20 per spin somehow gets the Host excited, especially when I tell them I plan on coming out every other weekend. Somehow I walked out of there only down $400, while Ben took a major hit but with a great Sunday morning run, was only down $900.

Sunday's NFL

Well, I was 2-for-2 vs. the spread today; let's keep it going:

Indianapolis 31, Pittsburgh 10 - Indy will be ready to play and will stop Big Ben and the Steelers. They are able to pressure Ben withoutu blitzing, forcing Ben to make quick decisions - and mistakes.

Carolina 16, Chicago 13 (OT) - this will be a classic hard hitting, overtime game. Wouldn't surprise me to see it go to double overtime.

Best bets for the day:

Ind -9.5
Ind/Pit Under 47 1/2
Car +2.5

Picks for today:

OK, we were 2-1 last week (Saturday's picks were not submitted because, well, we may still have been drunk when the games kicked off last week.

This week's picks:

Seattle 31, Washington 10: Seattle will be ready to go. This shouldn't even be close.

Denver 30, New England 20: Why is everyone picking New England in this one? Yes, they have a great coach, and BRady is Brady, but this year the talent isn't there. NE's running game is suspect, and their defense is not as good as before. Denver will score at will.

Best bets:
Seattle -9.5
Den -3
Den/NE Over 44

Life at a Manufacturing plant

Well, Friday was our last day at the plant. We pack up and move on Monday and Tuesday to start our new jobs back in Cincinnati in the home offices.

Speaking from a job perspective, it was a 2 years I will never forget. The work at a plant is very immediate, urgent, and crosses all functions and roles - you need to be effective with people above you (plant manager) and below you (techs who just started 2 months ago unloading bottles).

The plant culture is dominated by a "us. vs the world" attitude- and "the world" can mean other P&G plants and even Cincinnati itself. Because of this environment - and the fact that the plant is in Iowa - means that most people at the plant not only are close at work, but close socially as well. A group goes out for "drinks" each Friday (and sometimes Saturday), which makes the work easier (because connections are made those nights that won't happen during the working houre). You rarely see this in Cincinnati - you usually never have a group from the same function go out and hang out outside of work - people have their own friends and go their own ways at 5:00 on Friday. That's one thing I will miss about the plant.

The work can be extremely fulfilling and frustrating at the same time. I feel there are times when I've aged 10 ears due to the work, and times when I feel 10 years younger (when talking/partying with people who were born after "Bette Davis Eyes" came out in 1981.) It's a different kind of work. I will miss it immensely when I go back.

(I won't miss the god-awful recycling rules in Iowa. Jees).

Sneak Preview

I know I am jinxing this, but I have never felt so sure of my picks this far in advance of playoff games. The four games this weekend just seem to perfectly fall into place in my head.

Actual picks to be unveiled later; it will be three home teams and one road team.

(Remember one of my key rules? Find a popular pick, and then go the other way? Many of those this week...)

Office Pros/Cons

New office Pros:
Direct TV in the lunch room
Slightly above average secretary with a decent rack
Nice big office
Great location and close to the beach
Decent group of people

Cons:
Raised toilet seat
Had to fire 4 people and counting during my first week
One small ass window that lets in a sliver of light in my office
Homeless man that now lives in my office dumpster was taking a piss in my parking lot this morning

Football notes...

1) Derek won the Eric vs Derek challenge by a slim margin:
Derek: 95-90-8
Eric: 92-90-11
I lost because I had three more pushes than him.

2) Best bets record is now 146-134-13; that's a 52.0% clip - just about break even.

3) A public service note: I'd like for each one of our readers to click on this link, which will take you to a website trying to get funds for a worthy cause. This is especially applicable to our readers in California.

Public Service Website

OK, enough for today.

Guilt Trip

So late last year, I got a survey from the Republican Senate Campaign Committee asking me for my thoughts on various issues of the day. I filled it out, answered honestly, and wrote some terse comments in the comment section about how the Republicans need to get back to basics and focus more on immigration and deficit control (with Mr. "Bridge-to-nowhere" needing to be removed as Appropriations Chairman.) I included a $25 donation - the minimum - to hopefully get my voice heard.

Well, that was a mistake. I know get these "official" letters from Libby Dole every week (in official-looking stationary - DO NOT FORWARD, OPEN IMMEDIATELY, etc.etc.), and those letters are asking for - can you believe it? - more money! (that was sarcasm)

I know, I know, I think I just got put on the sucker list. I just was desperate enough to try to get my voice heard. And now I'm on a mailing list for the rest of my life.

The latest letter has a $1 bill inside- "I'm trusting you", says Libby, turn turn that $1 from me into a donation to the Republicans. So now what? Do I return the $1? Keep it and spend it on a soft taco from Taco Bell?

(I sent a nasty note as well to the Browns on Dec 30 when they were on the verge of firing Savage - got a response back today thanking me for my interest and assuring me that with Romeo and Phil, the Browns are moving forward.... and they thank me for my support from Iowa! Why can't I get that response from Libby? What's Bob doing these days?)
(On second thought, I did get a Christmas card from the Dole's. Very classy. And for whatever reason, I also got a Happy Chaunnakah card from Rick Santorum. That was weird.)

NBA Coaches

I was looking at ESPN's NBA coach ratings tonight. After about 3 minutes, I just had one thought in mind -
who are these guys????

I'll list 10 teams and 10 coaches. Without looking, can you match the coach up to the team? I bet even the most diehard fan couldn't get 6 right.

Teams:
a. Memphis
b. Orlando
c. Atlanta
d. Seattle
e. Toronto
f. Milwaukee
g. New Orleans/Okla City (by the way, what the hell is this? This is like the 1942-43 Card-Pitt teams of the NFL)
h. Philadelphia
i. Minnesota
j. Portland

Coaches:
1. Sam Mitchell
2. Byron Scott
3. Mike Woodson
4. Bob Hill
5. Nate McMillan
6. Brian Hill
7. Dwane Casey
8. Mike Fratello
9. Maurice Cheeks
10. Terry Stotts

Questions of the Day?

Two questions:

1. Pleats or flat front? My take is that if you are thin then go with the flat front, but if you are fat go with the pleats. I look fucking retarded in flat front pants.

2. Thoughts on the handicap stall that has a raised seat instead of a raised toilet? What the hell is this all about? Just pissed all over myself since the toilet seat is raised like 2 feet above the stall. Thought I was pissing into the toilet, but instead I was pissing on the back of my pants. I almost knocked over the stall when I saw what the hell was happening. And that is why I always carry an extra set of clothes in my trunk. Well, not exactly the main reason because this is the first time I've pissed on myself in well, but I usually spill coffee or food on the way in or at lunch. Good times right now.

Adam Corolla

So Adam Corolla takes over the Stern time slot on free FM out here and is doing a hell of a job. I've always liked Corolla but found it so strange that I will listen to him on radio, but find his TV stints sub-par. I've listened to his show over the last 3 days during my 30 minute commute and I can honestly say that the show is better than the Stern show has been over the last couple of years.

Secret Santa

Time for a semi-annual talk on statistics. First there was the "Next" Markov chain problem, now we have the Secret Santa problem.

The question is : in a "secret santa" in an office, what are the chances that two people draw each other? In a pool of our readers, what are the chances that Derek draws Leland and Leland draws Derek?

So - let's say N is the number of people in the pool

Chances that Derek picks Leland: 1/(N-1)
Chances that Leland picks Derek: 1/(N-1)

So chances of a specific 2-pair is: 1/(N-1)^2

But how many possible pairs are there? Isn't this (N)*(N-1)/2? (Or, in statistics, N-pick-2)

So we mulitply the chance of a specific 2-pair by all the possible pairs?
(N)*(N-1)/2*(1/(N-1)^2)) = N/(2*(N-1))

Which works if N =2; it equals 1, which it should.
N=3; probability is 3/4. Hmmmmm....seems high.
So if N = 10, the chance of a pair is 10/18? That seems high, too. Over 50%?

Any help out there? Don - can you set up another spreadsheet to look at this?

Class is over. This reminds me of my sophomore year - when I actually was thinking about become a math major - and I took a "Discrete Math" course. The professor tried to do a proof, and after 45 minutes of work on the board, he came to this conclusion:
1 = 0 .

He quickly said: "Class dismissed". Right then I decided against being a math major.

New Number

New Office number: 562 986 6201. Call and hear my new relatively cute secretary. Probably about a 7.5 on the scale.

Happy B-Day

Happy Birthday to Eric!!!!! Despite arguing half the time on stupid shit like "Will Charlie Frye be the Browns starting QB next year" or "What are the odds of 2 people getting each other in Secret Santa", I truly appreciate how we have remained so close over the last 5 years. Oh and the Christmas present and B-Day presents are running a little late. Left the Colin M. signed golf balls up in Westlake.

Also, congrats to Jon and Suz on their engagement over the holiday season.

NFL Sunday

Boy, am I behind here on the blog. I've got to tally the final results for the Eric-Derek showdown (which I guess Derek won by 1 or 2 games; final results to be posted later).

But before we begin, a quote from Sen. Ted Kennedy on Samuel Alito (from the Washington Post):
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), hosting a morning roundtable with reporters, had nothing nice to say about Alito. "We here in the United States are not going to stand for monarchial tyranny," he said, protesting Alito's support for "unfettered, unlimited power of the executive." He faulted Alito for belonging to a group that was "anti-black and also anti-women." Kennedy wondered if "the average person is going to be able to get a fair shake" under Alito. "This nominee was influenced by the Goldwater presidency," he said. "The Goldwater battles of those times were the battles against the civil rights laws."

1) Can someone please tell me when the Goldwater presidency was?
2) Alito was 14 when Goldwater was at his political height. So I guess it is possible that a 14-year old was influenced by the political topics of the day.....but highly implausible.

Stay off the Martinis before press time, Senator.

My picks for today remain the same as they were 2 days ago:
Car 24, NYG 20
Cin 31, Pit 27

Best bets:
Car +3
Cin +3
Cin/Pit over 47

Larry King 1-liners

I have so many topics to talk about , but not a lot of time. So here we go with some Larry King-like ramblings:

1) For the Baltimore natives, did you see that Michael Olesker was fired for plagiarism and faking content? Hee Hee....I never like him.

2) The turning point in the national championship game (see comments) was when USC went for it...in the 1st quarter. They could have been up 10-0; instead, they gave Texas the momentum.

3) The fans win one this week when Phil Savage was retained as GM and the President of the Browns, John Collins, "resigned". Some of the stories that have surfaced state that Savage was fired on Friday afternoon, but the backlack from the media and the fans - and the fact that Romeo advised Lerner not to do it - caused Lerner to reconsider. Yes, I sent an angry e-mail to them on Friday night.

4) Wednesday was the 25th anniversary of the first time I ever cried while watching sports - Red Right 88: Oakland 14, Cleveland 12. Still painful to talk about it.

5) I'm convinced that Paterno and Bowden have a graduate student stand next to them on the sidelines narrating what took place to the old coach. Bowden was ready to go shake hands in the 1st OT until he learned that Penn St's FG was wide! Is being a college coach that much of a figurehead position?

6) Sports Guy's diary on Wednesday night was hilarious, excluding the completely unnecssary rips at Charlie Frye. The quote he had from Keith Jackson trying to promo "Emily's Reasons Why Not" was NOT made up - I heard the same thing SG did. Hilarious.

7) What is the infatuation with Herm Edwards? He is a mediocre coach who can't manage the clock at the end of a game. KC wants to give up draft picks for him? Please - be my guest! We have KC at home next season - I'd love to go against a Herm Edwards-coached team.

8) I was going to compliment the Cavs - recent wins include a big home win vs. the Pistons on New year's and a big road win vs. Milwaukee - and then they lose last night at home to Houston. I see a solid #4 seed, winning in 6 in the first round, then losing in 5 to the Pistons.

9) I am pretty sure I know what's going to happen Sunday, but clueless on what will happen on Saturday. I get REAL scared when everyone says New England will win by 14 or more. That's a red flag. But on Sunday: Carolina 24, NY Giants 20; Cincinnati 31, Pittsburgh 27.

10) Just one wish about the Cincinnati/Pittsburgh game: I hope it ends with a massive heartbreak for one side. Either a inerception in the last minute by Palmer/Fraudlisberger, or a fumble by Parker/Rudi/Houshmandzadeh/Randel El (or even better, by Quincy) to end a game-winning (or tying) drive. I hate both teams - I hope one team (and their fan base) suffers a whole lot for the next 6 months.....

Baby Shit....

So tell me if I'm justified in being pissed off or being more like Larry David....

A close friend of mine, who will remain nameless, had a baby girl recently and since I'm a lazy fuck I didn't send him a gift right away since I knew I was going to see him during Christmas. So I see him down in Columbia and I gave him a gift card to Nordstrom since I'm not picking out an outfit or diapers and I'm sure they have toys since it was right before Christmas. About 7 days later I go to his house in Arlington to see his wife and kid and as we go out to pick up some pizza I asked him what did he buy his kid with the gift certificate. His response was "Oh yeah, about that. I spent it. I picked up a couple of shirts. Don't tell Katie." I'm like "What the fuck dude? That's for your kid? Now your wife thinks that I didn't give your kid anything???" After we were both done laughing and I assured him that I wouldn't tell his wife, but I would sell him out on the blog. So what do I do? Do I tell his wife? Do I pick up another gift and ship it to his house? Or do I just sit back and hold it over his head and cash in during our Vegas trip?

2006 Performance Year

As I watched USC butcher the National Championship Game, I decided to write down my personal 2006 expectations. This is more detailed than the "What are my new years resolutions", which never result in anything. If I take a corporate look at my personal life and come up with a 2006 Strategy and put some measurements to them, they might actually result in something positive. Like any Performance Review or PPR that is given to you by your boss at the beginning of the year, I will have several categories with certain weights associated to each, along with a due dates. I'll have the members of the blog rate my performance every quarter so I know how I'm doing. And yes, I know I'm opening myself up to Lee's usual gay comment, or Eric's question on why I didn't include any gambling lessons to improve my picks, so I'm ready for it. So here it goes:

Category Breakdown: For way too long I have put too much weight on Career Development and Travel. To be honest with you it probably has made up of 90% of the shit that I did for over 3 years now. So this year, with the job change, I will be able to spread out my time to concentrate on everything else. I have removed my career development from my PPR, which will be a major shift in my priorities.
Category 1: PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT 50%
Category 2: FINANCE 30%
Category 3: ENTERTAINMENT 10%
Category 4: TRAVEL 5%
Category 5: RELATIONSHIPS 5%


Category 1: Personal Improvement
Start school: (40% weight) Due Date Sep 1st
1. Finish Application process: Apr 15th
2. Take GMAT: Mar 1st
Buy a House: (25% weight) Due Date July 1st
Get back into shape: (35% weight) Will be measured Quarterly. Expectation is 5 pounds per quarter. Starting weight is 221. Yup 221. What the hell has happened to me. I now only have about 5 pairs or pants or shorts that fit.

Category 2: Finances
Reduce debt by 75% (25% weight) Due Date Dec 31st
Start College fund for nephews: (50% weight) Due Date Feb 1st
Obtain a Financial Advisor (25% weight) Due Date March 1st

Category 3: Entertainment
Finish Reading 25 books that are in my collection that I haven't completed. Roughly 7 per quarter. (20% weight)
Go to Petpco Park to see the Padres
Learn to surf
Run half marathon on Feb 2nd in Huntington Beach with Mickey
Run half marathon on May 23rd in Zuma
Complete 2 Triathlons

Category 4: Travel
Go visit my brother and kids in May and September 60%
Monthly trips to Vegas 20%
Mid week trips with Ben
2006 NCAA Tournament with Eric and Lee
Blondie’s bachelor party
Fishing Trip with Maier and Stanchak 5%
Golf Trip with Maier and Stanchak 5%
Skiing in Colorado 5%
Two weekend trips to Oakland for the A’s 5%

Category 5: Relatives
Be nice to my friends and relatives on the phone.
Positive Karma!!!

Ahhh Memories

As a NE fan, it was great to see the Pete Carroll Face resurface after all these years!! That look as his "defense" was getting chewed up time and time again. You had a feeling that USC was going to lose, since their offense was bailing them out several times this year (Fresno, ND). Somewhere their D had to make a play, and they couldn't. Vince Young was a total beast. His college performance reminded me of Larry Johnson's (UNLV) performance when they throttled Duke in the championship game (103 to 70 or something??), LJ was a total man among boys that night, and VY was the same. The way they were bouncing off of him, he looked like he was playing against High Schoolers.

And, yes I feel good that all of LA is feeling lousy today! You can't have nice weather in January and win National Championships too, that isn't fair to the rest of us.

What was I thinking

I'm so fucking fucked. Met my management staff yesterday for my new office and all but two completely blow. I remember some of them from a class that I taught last year and it wasn't because they were stand outs, but rather complete fuck ups. And to top it off, my top candidate for my liability manager job backed out. Crap.

Tivo Question

One quick Tivo question:

What are the rules involving 2 people and Tivo, when one person leaves for two weeks? Is it expected that all of the shows are saved and ready to go for the one person coming back, or is it OK for the other person to just let the old shows fall off and be erased?

Bowl Game Diary

Well Happy New Year to everyone. Got good news yesterday from Boston...I guess. His coalition was disbanded so there will be no large wagers coming in today. Good for the business, but sucks for the excitement for today. I guess its good since the electricity has been out since 3:00am today and I can't watch any of the games. Ugh. So no Bowl Game Diary today then.

Drop Kick???

Jay - what the hell happened in NE today?

First Drop Kick since 1941

How was this executed?

Why are we so much better than everyone else

Man, I'm in a ranting mood after being gone for about 2 weeks. Anyway, while I was over in Bermuda I was in this Bookstore that was declaring itself as the second largest collection of books on a ship. It caught Suz's brother (Greg) and my attention that we had to go check it out. Anyway, we go onboard and find that it had to be a drug smuggling operation that uses the store as a cover up so it can dock in certain ports since the book selection makes Target's book department look like Barnes and Noble. Anyway, Greg and I had this little exchange in the middle of the ship in front of about 10-15 Irish and British couples;

Greg: Dude, this place sucks! (almost yelling it)
Derek: Um...your the reason why people hate Americans
Greg: No, places like this is why Americans feel that they are so much better than everyone else.

And on that note we left the ship. But that little exchange started to make me think, why is our country so much better than everyone else? Our economy is flourishing, our infrastructure is second to none, the political atmosphere allows for major disagreements without violence or corruption, and the products we have and the
conveniences that are supplied to us is the envy of just about every country. And most importantly our government is strong without heavy taxation and too many restrictions on many of our personal freedoms. You don't really appreciate it until you actually travel abroad. How are we able to maintain this type of economy and lifestyle all at once, when other countries can't even achieve one of these benefits?

Well, the answer came from my current bathroom reading book "Peace Kills" by PJ O'Rourke. He is examining the Middle East situation post 9/11 and takes a closer look at Egypt and how does a country go from having a powerhouse
economy, with substantial innovation, law and order, and learning when there was none. But something went wrong. How did the Arabs fall behind Europe, America, and now the Far East. Many blame it on the Islamic religion, but O'Rourke states that the Koran preaches the fulfillment of contracts, the payment of all debts, and actually states that "God hath permitted trade". He goes on to say that:

It was probably nothing so air-filled as "The experimental model and European rational thought" or "the Protestant work ethic" or "Confucian values" Civilizations, like people, trip over smaller things. The answer may be as boring as a real estate title search. It also has to do with the dearth of private land in the Islamic world is of a piece with the excessive government centralization that has always plagued the civilizations of the Fertile Crescent. Governments seemed to have reasoned that if they could earn so much a year by taxing Farmers or the pepper trade, they could earn even more by taking it over entirely. This works so well in Cuba.

He goes on to say that from 1952-1970, Gamal Nasser, the ruler of Egypt, we ahead and nationalized banks, insurance companies, and other major enterprises while limiting land ownership and cutting off imports so to give his nationalized companies the bulk of the markets. On a different but similar note, many European countries have extremely high tax rates to pay for nationalized healthcare and other services, forcing the removal of the middle class. And this isn't in third world countries either, but rather countries like France and Spain. And these high tax rates are why these countries economies are declining year after year.

The point of this post isn't to say that a low tax rate and deregulation is the key to a strong economy, but rather how amazing it is that America can have the best of both worlds; a strong economy along with a strong government that provides stability without over-reaching and removing many of our freedoms. And you don't really get to appreciate it until you go and spend some time out of the country in non resort areas. Here you will see how fucked up many of these other countries are and how nobody is doing anything to change it. And if you think I'm being arrogant, go ahead and try to spend a couple of weeks in a foreign country and just try to get around, buy decent groceries, find cheap gas, or even find a decent hospital. Sort of puts my airline post below in perspective.

Fuck United

What the fuck has happened to the airlines and their customer service over the last 4 years. I'm done paying a premium to fly airlines like American and United, to only get treated like shit and getting service that is substandard compared to the discount airlines like Southwest and JetBlue. And this is coming from a guy who is a Premier member for United. What really is the difference between Southwest and United/American nowadays. Is it worth paying a little more for a movie and a couple extra inches of leg room on United and then getting delayed constantly, or would you rather be on time and just go with Southwest. And with all of the concessions that the labor unions have made on pensions and salary for United, Delta, and American, their employees are so unhappy with their jobs and it translates into crappy customer service. I must of encountered 20-25 United and Delta employees yesterday from Flight Attendants to CSAs to the Premier Customer Service Reservation Line, with only 2 people having a decent attitude. And these two people that I'm excluding from this group were not outstanding, but werejust doing their jobs. And its not like it gets better on Continental or American, they all suck...well except for a few discount airlines. How the fuck is this possible? How can the low cost provider be the best in customer service? The CSA and Flight Attendants at Southwest are outstanding and are so accommodating. As BSG always says, they actually brings things to the table. They are so efficient and checking people in, they are always on time, and when they fuck up they don't try to pass the buck and blame you, but they just resolve the issue with a smile. The way that Southwest drives this attitude to their employees is through one major program...Profit Sharing. If the company does well, then the employees share in the profits. Farmers Insurance Company does this and it basically equates to a 15-17% bonus each year, which has seen for over 75 years. This blows away 401K or any other type of matching program that everyone has. The company gives you 15-17% of your salary each year in either a deferred account or cash without you having to contribute any of your own money. This is a way that Southwest and Farmers drives ownership to someone who gets paid $35,000 to serve you drinks or to transport your luggage.

While we sit by and watch United, American, and Continental file of Chapter 8 and continue to run a business model that does not work, companies like JetBlue and Southwest continue to operate in the Black and expand. And in todays travel world where United and others continue to cut back on the items that made them different from Southwest like food, movies, and a supposedly better overall experience, I just don't see why I continue to reward companies that provides such shitty products and service.

Oh and just to recap my day yesterday, I woke up at 3:30am EST and didn't get home until 7:00pm PST. Thanks United for fucking up my New Years Eve plans!!!! The shit that went down yesterday was absolutely outrageous. And if United would of treated me with any type of decency yesterday instead of making me feel like it was my fault that the flight crew didn't show up or that they had to change planes or that the Premier Reservation desk fucked up, then I wouldn't be like this right now.