I am friendly with a guy here at the office. He isn’t someone I would ever have become friends with normally. He is a total alpha male, workout freak, in incredible shape, fraternity boy. While I was a fraternity boy in college, none of the rest of that description fits me. He is truly southern down to the Tennessee upbringing and accent. While we have never talked politics, I am almost certain he is a republican. He watches wrestling and college football. I do not. (NOTE: I am trying to get more into college football to try and fit in. It isn’t working.) We both have a love of baseball and that is about all we have in common. However, he is a totally genuine person and I totally respect that about him.
The other thing I totally respect about him is his absolute devotion to his job and his consistency of effort. He is in sales and sales can be a very tricky job for a young man. It is difficult to come in and put your head down and dial the phone. Spin after spin determining whether you are going to have a solid income that month or just scrape by on your draw. Every month since I have been in this job this guy has put up consistent numbers. I have never seen him have a huge month, but more importantly I have never seen him go into the tank either. He is a consistent performer and that has incredible value. When managing staff and budgeting a business over the long term it is important to be able to project your monthly company income. A sales person like this makes that much easier. Every month he brings in consistently forecastable results. He is the Derek Jeter of the sales staff. He has a great work ethic and though he isn’t going to put up gaudy numbers, his intangibles and leadership by example make him one of the team’s most valuable players. If I was building a sales team from scratch, I would pick this guy as my first employee every single time.
Happy New Year!! I probably won’t be posting again until Tuesday.
No 1 of Consequence
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Islamic Daughter Slaughter
Honor killings shock Pakistan. Shock them? Does it really shock them? I don’t think it does. How can something that has happened 260 times or so before this in 2005 alone be shocking? This guy cut his 25 year old daughter’s throat and then, as a precautionary measure, cut the throats of his three other daughters. What was his wife doing? Holding a 3 month old male baby, not saying anything, because she was probably scared to death this zealot was going to butcher her next. He killed the older daughter (25) because she was having a relationship with a man out of wedlock. Why did he kill the younger three? (By the way, when I say younger, I mean 8,7, and 4) So they wouldn’t have a chance to emulate their older sister’s behavior.
Zealotry, my friends is the problem. Defined as: Excessive zeal; fanaticism. Or; excessive intolerance of opposing views.
Deep passionate beliefs are good. Deep passionate beliefs that result in mass murder of strangers that don’t believe what you believe? I am pretty sure that is bad. Deep passionate beliefs that result in you murdering your own family? I am pretty sure that qualifies as insanity. 260 times in one year in Pakistan alone… collective insanity. Also, can we look at the complete devaluation of women in the fundamentalist Muslim world as a serious problem that needs to be addressed? The news story I linked to is very important when trying to understand global terrorism. Especially people who say that it is our own fault they hate us. Now anyone that knows me at all knows I am no fan of our current state of affairs and knows I am one of the more liberal people you will ever meet. Just read my opinions on homosexuality and you know I fall way left of center. However, even the most liberal minded among us have to truly understand that zealotry has no room for feelings aside from those that advance their sociopathic beliefs. Zealotry cannot be reasoned with, because zealots have no capacity to reason. Zealotry cannot be soothed, because the only goal of this kind of zealot is to destroy all those that are not zealous. Zealotry cannot be bought off, because zealotry may be the only thing in this world that has motivation beyond greed... although one could say it is greed of a different sort. So the pacifist in me is hurt immeasurably by this, but the question must be asked, is the only way to deal with zealotry to destroy it? I hope not, but along the same lines, I don't want to die in a shopping mall, bus station, movie theatre, pizza place bombing, or have my throat cut because some fudamentalist thought I was having sex with his unmarried daughter.
No1ofConsequence
Zealotry, my friends is the problem. Defined as: Excessive zeal; fanaticism. Or; excessive intolerance of opposing views.
Deep passionate beliefs are good. Deep passionate beliefs that result in mass murder of strangers that don’t believe what you believe? I am pretty sure that is bad. Deep passionate beliefs that result in you murdering your own family? I am pretty sure that qualifies as insanity. 260 times in one year in Pakistan alone… collective insanity. Also, can we look at the complete devaluation of women in the fundamentalist Muslim world as a serious problem that needs to be addressed? The news story I linked to is very important when trying to understand global terrorism. Especially people who say that it is our own fault they hate us. Now anyone that knows me at all knows I am no fan of our current state of affairs and knows I am one of the more liberal people you will ever meet. Just read my opinions on homosexuality and you know I fall way left of center. However, even the most liberal minded among us have to truly understand that zealotry has no room for feelings aside from those that advance their sociopathic beliefs. Zealotry cannot be reasoned with, because zealots have no capacity to reason. Zealotry cannot be soothed, because the only goal of this kind of zealot is to destroy all those that are not zealous. Zealotry cannot be bought off, because zealotry may be the only thing in this world that has motivation beyond greed... although one could say it is greed of a different sort. So the pacifist in me is hurt immeasurably by this, but the question must be asked, is the only way to deal with zealotry to destroy it? I hope not, but along the same lines, I don't want to die in a shopping mall, bus station, movie theatre, pizza place bombing, or have my throat cut because some fudamentalist thought I was having sex with his unmarried daughter.
No1ofConsequence
Depression USA
The US is depressed. Please excuse my language when I say no fcuking siht. The problem with this country is we are so busy worrying about nonsense issues, we don’t say anything as we continually get screwed over by the people that are supposed to protect us. That resigned apathy causes mass depression because we have this feeling of collective helplessness.
Since my rebirth into the blogosphere I have stayed away from the political because I absolutely refuse to just spew my political ideology out into the ether without supporting information. That means research time. Fortunately in my new job I have a ton of responsibility and that prevents me from spending time doing significant research on current events. Otherwise, I swear to you, I would be screaming from the rooftops about NSA surveillance and the state of the American government which looks less and less stable with each passing day. I would be talking about the hijacking of the Supreme Court. I would be talking about Iraq and what seems to be a war that was cobbled together in a weekend with no real occupational or exit strategy. "Yeah! We changed regimes in Iraq and are in the process of freeing the Iraqi people. Now what?" Meanwhile, the maniac in Iran is saying that Israel should be moved to Europe and The Holocaust never happened. Oh yeah, and he may be months away from having nuclear capability, has a missle with 1000-1300 kilometer range and believes Israel should be wiped off the map. I would be talking about all of these things…but right now. I just don’t have time.
Patience grasshoppers.
No 1 of Consequence
Since my rebirth into the blogosphere I have stayed away from the political because I absolutely refuse to just spew my political ideology out into the ether without supporting information. That means research time. Fortunately in my new job I have a ton of responsibility and that prevents me from spending time doing significant research on current events. Otherwise, I swear to you, I would be screaming from the rooftops about NSA surveillance and the state of the American government which looks less and less stable with each passing day. I would be talking about the hijacking of the Supreme Court. I would be talking about Iraq and what seems to be a war that was cobbled together in a weekend with no real occupational or exit strategy. "Yeah! We changed regimes in Iraq and are in the process of freeing the Iraqi people. Now what?" Meanwhile, the maniac in Iran is saying that Israel should be moved to Europe and The Holocaust never happened. Oh yeah, and he may be months away from having nuclear capability, has a missle with 1000-1300 kilometer range and believes Israel should be wiped off the map. I would be talking about all of these things…but right now. I just don’t have time.
Patience grasshoppers.
No 1 of Consequence
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
A pop culture death and fun with the Internet Movie Database
RIP Michael Vale you made the donuts… and they were good.
I invented a game last night and it tickled me to the point where I was laying in bed giggling. I am still trying to formulate the rules so I am asking for you to come play with me. If you were to meet a celebrity and wanted to irritate them, what role could you bring up that they played early in their careers that they are probably embarrassed about, or was so minor, they try to forget they were even in the movie. So if you want to piss off Jennifer Aniston, you would say, “Great to meet you I loved you in Leprechaun.”
Obviously the movie they were in has to be pretty bad. Ben Affleck was in School Ties for about two seconds, so I am not sure that would qualify because School Ties was a good movie. I guess “Great to meet you I loved you in Gigli,” would be the appropriate answer, but that is really too far into his career. Although walking up to Dennis Hopper and saying, “I loved you in Space Truckers,” is perfect, and he had been acting for about 100 years when he made that dog. It is one of those things where you have that response, like yup, that’s the one. This makes the rules hard to quantify. Also, it has to be pretty major people… I mean busting on Debi Mazar for being in Space Truckers isn’t really fair because although she has a huge body of work, she isn’t what I would consider a major star.
OK, I have given you some guidelines, comment away. I will score your entries on a scale of 1-10. 1 being something like seeing Robert DeNiro and saying, “Hey, I loved you in Raging Bull.” Duh. A 10 is seeing Angelina Jolie and saying, “Hey, you were great in Hackers.”
For the simple minded among you, you don’t have to have actually done this. This is what you might hypothetically say if you were to meet celebrity X.
No 1 of Consequence
I invented a game last night and it tickled me to the point where I was laying in bed giggling. I am still trying to formulate the rules so I am asking for you to come play with me. If you were to meet a celebrity and wanted to irritate them, what role could you bring up that they played early in their careers that they are probably embarrassed about, or was so minor, they try to forget they were even in the movie. So if you want to piss off Jennifer Aniston, you would say, “Great to meet you I loved you in Leprechaun.”
Obviously the movie they were in has to be pretty bad. Ben Affleck was in School Ties for about two seconds, so I am not sure that would qualify because School Ties was a good movie. I guess “Great to meet you I loved you in Gigli,” would be the appropriate answer, but that is really too far into his career. Although walking up to Dennis Hopper and saying, “I loved you in Space Truckers,” is perfect, and he had been acting for about 100 years when he made that dog. It is one of those things where you have that response, like yup, that’s the one. This makes the rules hard to quantify. Also, it has to be pretty major people… I mean busting on Debi Mazar for being in Space Truckers isn’t really fair because although she has a huge body of work, she isn’t what I would consider a major star.
OK, I have given you some guidelines, comment away. I will score your entries on a scale of 1-10. 1 being something like seeing Robert DeNiro and saying, “Hey, I loved you in Raging Bull.” Duh. A 10 is seeing Angelina Jolie and saying, “Hey, you were great in Hackers.”
For the simple minded among you, you don’t have to have actually done this. This is what you might hypothetically say if you were to meet celebrity X.
No 1 of Consequence
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Schedule, schedule, schedule.
I am in a seriously pissy mood. I cannot stand being kept waiting. I am fastidiously punctual and when people don’t show up for things on time it makes me insane. If there is a legitimate excuse I can handle it. I have been and still am a commuter and I know what an absolute pain in the ass it can be. Sometimes traffic just sits and there is absolutely NOTHING you can do about it. So if one of my employees shows up late and says, “Hey, I am sorry, I was on Cobb Parkway and I had to sit through 7 cycles of the traffic light at Windy Hill,” I am understanding and even sympathetic. They stay late and work hard and get things done so for the most part I am not going to get upset about the occasional tardiness.
The thing that bugs me beyond belief, I mean almost to the point where I can’t stand it, is being made to wait in doctor’s offices. This institutionalized disregard for my time is so completely beyond my understanding that I want to scream incessantly at anyone and everyone. If you have an appointment for 9:30 you should be seeing the doctor at 9:30, not at 9:50 and certainly not at 10:10. I know I am not really that important a guy (see the name of my blog) but can you have a little common decency please. If you are going to be half an hour late seeing me for a 6 minute appointment, can you at least have the courtesy to apologize, offer me a lollipop, at least mention that you are so epically incompetent you can’t keep to a schedule.
OK, that’s enough whining.
Last night I apathetically watched the Jets continue on their crippled march towards another disappointing finish. J.E.T.S. Just End The Season, indeed. Although it was a nice symmetry to see them lose 31-21 on the last Monday Night Football game ever as they lost 31-21 on the first Monday Night Football game ever.
The holidays drive me insane. Until they are over I may not post on anything resembling a regular schedule. I am trying to ratchet up my posting because content drives traffic and I want this to be a place people come for fun, education and the occasional rant.
Link post coming.
No 1 of Consequence
The thing that bugs me beyond belief, I mean almost to the point where I can’t stand it, is being made to wait in doctor’s offices. This institutionalized disregard for my time is so completely beyond my understanding that I want to scream incessantly at anyone and everyone. If you have an appointment for 9:30 you should be seeing the doctor at 9:30, not at 9:50 and certainly not at 10:10. I know I am not really that important a guy (see the name of my blog) but can you have a little common decency please. If you are going to be half an hour late seeing me for a 6 minute appointment, can you at least have the courtesy to apologize, offer me a lollipop, at least mention that you are so epically incompetent you can’t keep to a schedule.
OK, that’s enough whining.
Last night I apathetically watched the Jets continue on their crippled march towards another disappointing finish. J.E.T.S. Just End The Season, indeed. Although it was a nice symmetry to see them lose 31-21 on the last Monday Night Football game ever as they lost 31-21 on the first Monday Night Football game ever.
The holidays drive me insane. Until they are over I may not post on anything resembling a regular schedule. I am trying to ratchet up my posting because content drives traffic and I want this to be a place people come for fun, education and the occasional rant.
Link post coming.
No 1 of Consequence
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Ohhhh let me tell you ‘bout a Johnny Damon
Oh let me tell you about a Johnny Damon. Johnny Damon is not that good. Johnny Damon is mediocre defensively. He can catch, but in terms of his arm, well, your mom could probably throw the ball farther. He has a good history of scoring a lot of runs, but he has played for some pretty potent offenses in his time. He has a decent career on base percentage, but has NEVER been in the top ten during any season of his career. He is fast, but he has stolen less than 20 bases each of the last two years. He has some pop, but has cracked 20 homers once in his career. Once. One time in ten years. The one place he has excelled is scoring runs, but that is just a product of being up before guys like Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz in Boston, Giambi, Tejada, Chavez in Oakland and even Sweeney, Randa, and Dye in KC. All of whom are multiple 100+ RBI guys. (OK Randa only did it once, but I am making a point here) Anyone could score 100 runs leading off in front of lineups with that kind of potency. I can only assume Damon will score 120+ runs for the Yankees, so it could be a whole lot worse.
(Sidebar: Someone at my office bet me that Damon would hit 35 homers this season. I tried to let him off the hook, even showed him Damon’s career stats, but to no avail, he was adamant, so next September I will be pocketing a cool hundy)
The worst thing about Johnny Damon is that he does not address the significant pitching needs the Yankees have. I read today they signed Octavio Dotel who is coming off an injury. That is interesting. They have had some success in the past making moves like that, Jon Lieber being the last one. They have also had some mighty failures signing players coming off injury, see punk ass bitch, Kevin Brown. My point is, why spend 52 million over 4 years on a guy that isn’t a critical need. Even if you can’t find the pitching you need this year, why not save the money, muddle through with Bubba Crosby and someone you pick up at the trading deadline, and come out swinging on next year’s free agent pitching market. You wouldn’t be any worse off than you are now and you would have another 52 million in the bank for the future.
No1ofConseqeunce
(Sidebar: Someone at my office bet me that Damon would hit 35 homers this season. I tried to let him off the hook, even showed him Damon’s career stats, but to no avail, he was adamant, so next September I will be pocketing a cool hundy)
The worst thing about Johnny Damon is that he does not address the significant pitching needs the Yankees have. I read today they signed Octavio Dotel who is coming off an injury. That is interesting. They have had some success in the past making moves like that, Jon Lieber being the last one. They have also had some mighty failures signing players coming off injury, see punk ass bitch, Kevin Brown. My point is, why spend 52 million over 4 years on a guy that isn’t a critical need. Even if you can’t find the pitching you need this year, why not save the money, muddle through with Bubba Crosby and someone you pick up at the trading deadline, and come out swinging on next year’s free agent pitching market. You wouldn’t be any worse off than you are now and you would have another 52 million in the bank for the future.
No1ofConseqeunce
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Intelligent Design vs. Evolution
Intelligent Design vs. Evolution
aka
(Creationism) vs. Evolution
aka
The Constitution vs. The Christian Right
Or as Bill O’Reilly would have you believe;
The Secular Progressive Elitist Press vs. All good Reasonable Christian Peoples
Can I get an Oy Vey!
Today a judge in Pennsylvania ruled that teaching creationism would violate the Constitutional separation of church and State. Well duh! Of course it violates the separation of church and State. I am a person of faith. I believe in a higher power, G-d, something greater than ourselves. I also believe in an evolving global/universal ecology based on Einstein and Darwin’s theories. I believe scientific theories should be taught in schools. I believe that religious theories should be taught in the home or in church/synagogue/mosque etc. Or, if you want your children to be taught both sides in school, send them to private religious schools. I have no problem with both sides of coin being taught in religious schools, but religion has no place in democratic/representative government or public education.
They say, “No1!!! You can’t do that!! That’s not possible!!! How can you do that it goes against both theories?!? You heretic!!”
I say, “Bite me… Or, you can listen to what I have to say and either agree or disagree with me.”
Let’s briefly (extremely briefly) define both theories for the purposes of the hypothesis I lay before you.
Creationism, Judeo-Christian origin, as told in the Old Testament, Genesis, G-d created the heaven and the Earth and on the seventh day he rested.
Big Bang/Evolution, infinitely dense singularity in space explodes into an expanding universe. As our sun and earth cool organisms evolve out of some primordial ooze, leading to multi-celled organisms, leading to, leading to, leading to…
Clear? No? Well, me either, but let me try and reconcile the two for you without going into Talmudic commentary or the Vatican Archives.
You have to lose all presumption of the divine. What does this mean? It means you have to reject the possibility that you can understand G-d’s time table versus human perception. If you have a literal interpretation of the bible I just lost you. However, if you don’t, if you think that human understanding is greater now than it has ever been you have to accept the fact that biblical texts may not mean exactly what they did to those who lived when they were written. If the bible was revealed to Moses on Sinai is it reasonable to postulate that G-d, while giving an explanation of things, spoke generically and relatively simply to Moses? I think it is. Is reasonable to presume that we have a true understanding of time as G-d understands? I don’t think so. Therefore, the seven day creation period described in Genesis could very well have taken millions of years as humans understand them. That fits Big Bang/Evolution into Creationism.
Let me see if I can get the scientists to a place where they have to admit that some things are beyond scientific understanding. The Big Bang postulates that an infinitely dense singularity of space and matter exploded at a finite point in time to create our expanding universe as we know it today. My question to you is this; Where did that infinitely dense singularity come from? The answer, obviously, is you don’t know. I don’t know, no one knows where it came from. Therefore, you cannot reject the existence of G-d or a higher intelligence that created that singularity. That my friends, fits Creationism into Big Bang/Evolution.
For those who take the bible word for word literally. I give you the words of the great Aaron Sorkin, from an episode of the West Wing:
President Bartlet (sarcastically): I like how you call homosexuality an abombination.
Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President, the Bible does.
President Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
President Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophmore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? "Think about that, will you? Oh, and one last thing. You may have mistaken this for your meeting of the ignorant tight-asses club, but in this building when the President stands no one sits."
___________________________________________________
Can’t we agree at this point that literal interpretations of the bible lead to unreasonable behavior by today’s standards and it is only through reason and acceptance of more than one idea that we will have a comprehensive understanding of one another and further advance as a global society?
No matter what you believe though, The Constitution is clear that church and state shall be separate entities and no religious ideology shall be imposed by government institution. Debates like that belong in homes, in the news, in places of worship and here, in the blogosphere, where all minds can be free to express their ideas and be heard.
No1ofConsequence
aka
(Creationism) vs. Evolution
aka
The Constitution vs. The Christian Right
Or as Bill O’Reilly would have you believe;
The Secular Progressive Elitist Press vs. All good Reasonable Christian Peoples
Can I get an Oy Vey!
Today a judge in Pennsylvania ruled that teaching creationism would violate the Constitutional separation of church and State. Well duh! Of course it violates the separation of church and State. I am a person of faith. I believe in a higher power, G-d, something greater than ourselves. I also believe in an evolving global/universal ecology based on Einstein and Darwin’s theories. I believe scientific theories should be taught in schools. I believe that religious theories should be taught in the home or in church/synagogue/mosque etc. Or, if you want your children to be taught both sides in school, send them to private religious schools. I have no problem with both sides of coin being taught in religious schools, but religion has no place in democratic/representative government or public education.
They say, “No1!!! You can’t do that!! That’s not possible!!! How can you do that it goes against both theories?!? You heretic!!”
I say, “Bite me… Or, you can listen to what I have to say and either agree or disagree with me.”
Let’s briefly (extremely briefly) define both theories for the purposes of the hypothesis I lay before you.
Creationism, Judeo-Christian origin, as told in the Old Testament, Genesis, G-d created the heaven and the Earth and on the seventh day he rested.
Big Bang/Evolution, infinitely dense singularity in space explodes into an expanding universe. As our sun and earth cool organisms evolve out of some primordial ooze, leading to multi-celled organisms, leading to, leading to, leading to…
Clear? No? Well, me either, but let me try and reconcile the two for you without going into Talmudic commentary or the Vatican Archives.
You have to lose all presumption of the divine. What does this mean? It means you have to reject the possibility that you can understand G-d’s time table versus human perception. If you have a literal interpretation of the bible I just lost you. However, if you don’t, if you think that human understanding is greater now than it has ever been you have to accept the fact that biblical texts may not mean exactly what they did to those who lived when they were written. If the bible was revealed to Moses on Sinai is it reasonable to postulate that G-d, while giving an explanation of things, spoke generically and relatively simply to Moses? I think it is. Is reasonable to presume that we have a true understanding of time as G-d understands? I don’t think so. Therefore, the seven day creation period described in Genesis could very well have taken millions of years as humans understand them. That fits Big Bang/Evolution into Creationism.
Let me see if I can get the scientists to a place where they have to admit that some things are beyond scientific understanding. The Big Bang postulates that an infinitely dense singularity of space and matter exploded at a finite point in time to create our expanding universe as we know it today. My question to you is this; Where did that infinitely dense singularity come from? The answer, obviously, is you don’t know. I don’t know, no one knows where it came from. Therefore, you cannot reject the existence of G-d or a higher intelligence that created that singularity. That my friends, fits Creationism into Big Bang/Evolution.
For those who take the bible word for word literally. I give you the words of the great Aaron Sorkin, from an episode of the West Wing:
President Bartlet (sarcastically): I like how you call homosexuality an abombination.
Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President, the Bible does.
President Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
President Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophmore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? "Think about that, will you? Oh, and one last thing. You may have mistaken this for your meeting of the ignorant tight-asses club, but in this building when the President stands no one sits."
___________________________________________________
Can’t we agree at this point that literal interpretations of the bible lead to unreasonable behavior by today’s standards and it is only through reason and acceptance of more than one idea that we will have a comprehensive understanding of one another and further advance as a global society?
No matter what you believe though, The Constitution is clear that church and state shall be separate entities and no religious ideology shall be imposed by government institution. Debates like that belong in homes, in the news, in places of worship and here, in the blogosphere, where all minds can be free to express their ideas and be heard.
No1ofConsequence
Monday, December 19, 2005
R.I.P. Barry Halper
Sad Day
Rest In Peace Barry Halper
Guy had the best quote about George Steinbrenner ever, “There is nothing so limiting as being the limited partner of George Steinbrenner”.
No1ofConsequence
Rest In Peace Barry Halper
Guy had the best quote about George Steinbrenner ever, “There is nothing so limiting as being the limited partner of George Steinbrenner”.
No1ofConsequence
DBA's rock, the Jets do not & Politics A Go-Go
I love my job. I work for a growing company that is really on the verge of something special. However, as with all growing companies we are experiencing some growing pains, specifically with our website performance and our ASP application. We recently added a new database administrator to the staff and there were great promises made about what he could do for the company and how he would single-handedly improve the performance by reorganizing the data. You hear things like this and you nod along. You hear things like this and you roll your eyes. Promises have been made in the past, you see, and nothing has ever improved the situation. Usually we muddle through and fight onward. However, when I got in this morning, the promise had been delivered upon. My backside application is working with a fluidity that I have never seen and our front side, client facing application, is absolutely smoking fast. The new DBA has not come in yet, he probably is taking a comp day after working the whole weekend, but when he gets in he is getting a major high five from No1ofConsequence.
Onward to far less important things.
In other news, the Jets snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. This, of course, plays right into the duality of Jets fandom, yes, obviously you want them to win as many games as possible, but once they miss the playoffs and there is no hope of Super Bowl dreams being fulfilled, you kind of, and I say this gently, want them to lose every week so they get a good draft pick. I know, I know, I am a bad person for actually being happy that they blew the Dolphins game this weekend, so be it. Now, of course, you don’t want them to throw games, because that damages the integrity of the league, but when you have the opportunity to land a Reggie Bush, you want to get him.
This leads me to a knucklehead conversation my brother and I had while he was visiting me a couple of weeks ago. Millions of Americans participate in Fantasy Football. I haven’t really enjoyed it since Barry Sanders retired, but I am still in about three different leagues on Yahoo. You play head to head against other people in the league, with your players and their players accruing points. At the end of the season the best two teams play in the Fantasy Super Bowl for that league and the winner takes home the top prize, usually some cash. However, the two worst teams also play head to head that same final week and the winner is crowned the Toilet Bowl Champion. The loser usually wins some money also.(about the price it costs them to enter the league) How have we not instituted this in the real NFL? The two worst teams play the Sunday before the Super Bowl and the winner gets the top pick in the draft. Who would be against this? The players would get an extra pay day, the league would have something else to promote and the week before the Super Bowl would not be dark. Also in terms of sponsorship, American Standard, Kohler and any other bathroom fixture company would go crazy to sponsor an NFL sanctioned toilet bowl. It would be a bonanza, plus, you know Vegas would love it.
Politics - a go go
I am not going to write much about President Bush’s speech last night. I don’t like to dive into the political realm without having well researched data to support my contentions. I just don’t have that kind of time right now. I will ask this, has there ever been a less inspiring speaker in the history of the White House? You would think after 5-6 plus years (including campaigning) the guy would loosen up in front of a camera, but President Bush continues to be a complete stiff. There is a new parody on Jib Jab. If you haven’t checked out their stuff it is pretty clever, usually.
No1ofConsequence
Onward to far less important things.
In other news, the Jets snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. This, of course, plays right into the duality of Jets fandom, yes, obviously you want them to win as many games as possible, but once they miss the playoffs and there is no hope of Super Bowl dreams being fulfilled, you kind of, and I say this gently, want them to lose every week so they get a good draft pick. I know, I know, I am a bad person for actually being happy that they blew the Dolphins game this weekend, so be it. Now, of course, you don’t want them to throw games, because that damages the integrity of the league, but when you have the opportunity to land a Reggie Bush, you want to get him.
This leads me to a knucklehead conversation my brother and I had while he was visiting me a couple of weeks ago. Millions of Americans participate in Fantasy Football. I haven’t really enjoyed it since Barry Sanders retired, but I am still in about three different leagues on Yahoo. You play head to head against other people in the league, with your players and their players accruing points. At the end of the season the best two teams play in the Fantasy Super Bowl for that league and the winner takes home the top prize, usually some cash. However, the two worst teams also play head to head that same final week and the winner is crowned the Toilet Bowl Champion. The loser usually wins some money also.(about the price it costs them to enter the league) How have we not instituted this in the real NFL? The two worst teams play the Sunday before the Super Bowl and the winner gets the top pick in the draft. Who would be against this? The players would get an extra pay day, the league would have something else to promote and the week before the Super Bowl would not be dark. Also in terms of sponsorship, American Standard, Kohler and any other bathroom fixture company would go crazy to sponsor an NFL sanctioned toilet bowl. It would be a bonanza, plus, you know Vegas would love it.
Politics - a go go
I am not going to write much about President Bush’s speech last night. I don’t like to dive into the political realm without having well researched data to support my contentions. I just don’t have that kind of time right now. I will ask this, has there ever been a less inspiring speaker in the history of the White House? You would think after 5-6 plus years (including campaigning) the guy would loosen up in front of a camera, but President Bush continues to be a complete stiff. There is a new parody on Jib Jab. If you haven’t checked out their stuff it is pretty clever, usually.
No1ofConsequence
Thursday, December 15, 2005
What kind of world view do I have?
I do occasionally like a good quiz. I found this one today. It is mildly silly because a 32 question quiz can't possibly decipher my world view, but it didn't do a terrible job.
This quiz pegged me perfectly. I am a cultural creative as they define it. I do believe in the divine, but I also believe in the ability for humanity to charter its own course through collective responsibility. I don’t mean communism. I mean community. One person reaching out, whenever possible to help his fellow man, even in small ways is the type of responsibility I am talking about. The problem is being conscious of the opportunities when they present themselves. I recently had an opportunity to reach out to someone and failed. It has really bugged me ever since. I was driving to the airport to pick my brother up. I stopped to fill my gas tank before jumping on the highway. As I was waiting in line I noticed a man standing near the register, having an animated conversation with what could only have been a belligerent credit card company. There was some sort of problem with the account, he needed to pay for his gas and he was having a problem. I doubt this was a poor person, based on his clothing and general stature, but he was clearly a man having a rough night. I could easily have eased his burden, in the hope that he would in turn ease the burden of someone else. I chose not to. It is still not entirely clear to me why. It is kind of a Pay It Forward philosophy, but a continuous one.
Let’s make it a running theme here. I will try and find a cool custom counter to code into the blog and each time one of my readers comments with a Community Moment (or a better name if you can come up with one) we will add it to the counter. Anyone who knows about html coding and/or knows of one that exists already, please feel free to forward it along to me. You get a link in exchange and a G-mail account if you want one.
How did you score on the quiz?
No1ofConsequence
You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.
What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com |
This quiz pegged me perfectly. I am a cultural creative as they define it. I do believe in the divine, but I also believe in the ability for humanity to charter its own course through collective responsibility. I don’t mean communism. I mean community. One person reaching out, whenever possible to help his fellow man, even in small ways is the type of responsibility I am talking about. The problem is being conscious of the opportunities when they present themselves. I recently had an opportunity to reach out to someone and failed. It has really bugged me ever since. I was driving to the airport to pick my brother up. I stopped to fill my gas tank before jumping on the highway. As I was waiting in line I noticed a man standing near the register, having an animated conversation with what could only have been a belligerent credit card company. There was some sort of problem with the account, he needed to pay for his gas and he was having a problem. I doubt this was a poor person, based on his clothing and general stature, but he was clearly a man having a rough night. I could easily have eased his burden, in the hope that he would in turn ease the burden of someone else. I chose not to. It is still not entirely clear to me why. It is kind of a Pay It Forward philosophy, but a continuous one.
Let’s make it a running theme here. I will try and find a cool custom counter to code into the blog and each time one of my readers comments with a Community Moment (or a better name if you can come up with one) we will add it to the counter. Anyone who knows about html coding and/or knows of one that exists already, please feel free to forward it along to me. You get a link in exchange and a G-mail account if you want one.
How did you score on the quiz?
No1ofConsequence
Community Mindedness with a Homosexual Twist
Something cool and at the very same time sad is taking place today in my new hometown. On my ride into the office in the morning I listen to The Bert Show on the radio. Howard Stern isn’t on down here and I don’t have my Sirius Satellite Radio hooked up yet so my options are limited. Bert and his gang are kind of a watered down imitation of Howard. They aren’t bad to listen to, but I wouldn’t say there is anything edgy about them. They are non-political, kind of a decaf latte version of a morning show. However, they do some really good work around the city. When Hurricane Katrina flattened New Orleans, Georgia was flooded with refugees. Approximately 7000 children from Louisiana entered Georgia schools over a one month period of time, many of them had lost everything. The Bert Show organized a backpack drive to make sure that all the kids who came into the state had brand new school supplies, and a little money to buy new clothes with. They did an outstanding job on it. They also do something called Bert’s Big Adventure where they take sick and physically challenged children to Disney World. It is another very noble pursuit that has a lot of community benefit. That brings us to today.
One of the cast members, Melissa Carter, is an openly gay woman. Tonight she is hosting a Holigay party at a club here in Atlanta. They are hosting this party because the holidays are an especially troubling time for homosexuals who are not out or able to be out at their offices. She recently talked on the show about how homosexuals are still routinely discriminated against in the workplace and how coming out, or being open about their lifestyle can lead to the unemployment line. So it is a cool thing they are doing, to make a safe and enjoyable holiday event for the gay Atlanta community to bring their significant others to, but at the same time it makes me sad that this is necessary. Imagine it was still OK to fire people because they were Jews, or black, or whatever. It reminded me of something I wrote during the original incarnation of this blog. In relation to today’s topic I thought it was poignant to reprint it.
The gay population
Depending upon the statistics you believe, between 6% and 10% of the population of the United States considers themselves gay. At a population of 290 million that means that between 17,400,000 and 29 million gay people reside in the United States. For the sake of discussion let's say it ranges to the low end and the number of gay Americans comes in at a flat 20 million. That makes the homosexual community the third largest minority in this country behind African American and Latin American ethnic minorities.
How can we stomach discrimination against them? As a society that has grown and advanced socially and tried desperately to rise out of our own intolerance how can suggest that gay couples shouldn't be allowed to marry? How can we suggest that domestic partners don't deserve the same kind of social security and insurance protections that hetero couples do? How can we try and adopt a constitutional amendment that would define marriage and make homosexuals less than full citizens of our country? Wouldn't that be the same sort of legislative discrimination as counting slaves as 2/3 of a free person? Judeo-Christian ideas about marriage have no place in politics. I am a Jew, but I don't care what the Torah says about homosexuals. Society is a lot more complicated now than it was then and we understand a lot more about humanity. We should behave in a just and humane way towards our fellow citizens and that is the only ideology from the Old and New Testaments that matters. All men and women were created equal. All deserve equal protection under the law. All deserve equal protection in our hearts.
Prejudice is the child of ignorance, we need to get enlightened.
No 1 of Consequence
One of the cast members, Melissa Carter, is an openly gay woman. Tonight she is hosting a Holigay party at a club here in Atlanta. They are hosting this party because the holidays are an especially troubling time for homosexuals who are not out or able to be out at their offices. She recently talked on the show about how homosexuals are still routinely discriminated against in the workplace and how coming out, or being open about their lifestyle can lead to the unemployment line. So it is a cool thing they are doing, to make a safe and enjoyable holiday event for the gay Atlanta community to bring their significant others to, but at the same time it makes me sad that this is necessary. Imagine it was still OK to fire people because they were Jews, or black, or whatever. It reminded me of something I wrote during the original incarnation of this blog. In relation to today’s topic I thought it was poignant to reprint it.
The gay population
Depending upon the statistics you believe, between 6% and 10% of the population of the United States considers themselves gay. At a population of 290 million that means that between 17,400,000 and 29 million gay people reside in the United States. For the sake of discussion let's say it ranges to the low end and the number of gay Americans comes in at a flat 20 million. That makes the homosexual community the third largest minority in this country behind African American and Latin American ethnic minorities.
How can we stomach discrimination against them? As a society that has grown and advanced socially and tried desperately to rise out of our own intolerance how can suggest that gay couples shouldn't be allowed to marry? How can we suggest that domestic partners don't deserve the same kind of social security and insurance protections that hetero couples do? How can we try and adopt a constitutional amendment that would define marriage and make homosexuals less than full citizens of our country? Wouldn't that be the same sort of legislative discrimination as counting slaves as 2/3 of a free person? Judeo-Christian ideas about marriage have no place in politics. I am a Jew, but I don't care what the Torah says about homosexuals. Society is a lot more complicated now than it was then and we understand a lot more about humanity. We should behave in a just and humane way towards our fellow citizens and that is the only ideology from the Old and New Testaments that matters. All men and women were created equal. All deserve equal protection under the law. All deserve equal protection in our hearts.
Prejudice is the child of ignorance, we need to get enlightened.
No 1 of Consequence
Monday, December 12, 2005
Weekend at No1's
One of the tough things about moving out of the state you have lived in your whole life is that suddenly, 34 years into the existence you are without support structure. Friends and family are very happy for your success but are suddenly hundreds of miles away. I am a pretty easy going person, but it isn’t really easy to get to know me. In my new company people kind of defer to me because I am a member of the senior staff, but I wouldn’t say making friends is something I have done. I can’t hang out with the people that work for me, obviously, and the other senior staff members are a bit different demographically. I think I make them uncomfortable. What does all this mean? It means when my brother flies in unexpectedly to visit, I am one very happy No1. We had a fantastic visit with much laughter and silliness that culminated in me taking Monday off and visiting the new Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. It is absolutely spectacular. As with most tourist destinations a season pass is only the price of a couple of visits so I purchased a season pass and anticipate visiting many times over the course of the year. Unfortunately my digital camera wasn’t behaving properly, so next time I go (New Year’s Day) I will take some pictures for your enjoyment.
The highlights:
The Ocean Voyager exhibit is truly amazing. To enter the exhibit which contains a 6.5 million gallon seawater tank you must walk through a 100 foot acrylic tunnel which essentially puts you inside the exhibit. The exhibit contains almost 100,000 fish, including whale sharks, huge grouper, saw fish, hammerhead and nurse sharks and one of the only bow mouthed guitarfish in captivity. The exhibit contains the largest viewing window in the world and as I sat there, drinking in the serene sights, it was impossible not be humbled. The majesty of the whale sharks is hard to describe. They are named Norton and Ralph after the Honeymooners characters.
The Cold Water Quest Exhibit was also very cool. We really enjoyed the Beluga Whales. There are five of them. They have their own tank and are very playful, swimming toward the large viewing windows and then dodging away. They swam around on their backs and did little flips in the water. They were a lot of fun to watch. We spent about 30 minutes watching them swim and I could have stayed an entire day, just enjoying them enjoying themselves. Two of them had been rescued from a Mexican aquarium where they did not have access to expert medical care or enough space to really thrive.
One of the more interesting things was that there was an entire Georgia Explorer exhibit dedicated to the life off the coast of Georgia. Most museums, despite being located somewhere try and be universal in their scope. It was nice to see that they decided to pay some attention to the “local” wildlife. Also, this exhibit had a sea turtle and this blogger is a huge fan of the sea turtle. It makes me sad they are endangered.
The other two exhibits are River Scout and Tropical Diver. They both contain magnificently colored fish and are quite cool in their own right, but pale in comparison with the other three exhibits.
There are five main corporate sponsors of the aquarium. I will link to all of their sites here because I really believe in what they did. Home Depot, BellSouth, Suntrust, AirTran, and Georgia-Pacific all sponsored one of the main exhibits. This is the kind of corporate responsibility and attention to community that can really advance us as a society. When corporate America stands up and pours money into its communities we really have a chance. I would have loved it if they underwrote the entire education budget of Atlanta instead, but we can consider this a victory and hope for the future. As I get into a writing groove again we are going to talk more about corporate community, collective responsibility and sacrifice. I am still working my way back there.
Other tidbits:
A real live knucklehead conversation overheard between me and my brother this weekend:
Him: I hate Black Eyed Peas.
Me: The band?
Him: No, the legumes.
Same old Jets… they could lose and make sure they have a really high draft pick and a shot at Reggie Bush but instead they whipped up on the Raiders and sentence us to about the 5th pick in the draft barring a long winning streak by the Packers and Texans. Just brutal, brutal, brutal. Being a Jets fan sucks. Being a Jets fan that has to pay for Direct TV in order to watch the games is just masochistic.
I will be slowly rebuilding the blog. Links will be coming again soon.
No1ofConsequence
The highlights:
The Ocean Voyager exhibit is truly amazing. To enter the exhibit which contains a 6.5 million gallon seawater tank you must walk through a 100 foot acrylic tunnel which essentially puts you inside the exhibit. The exhibit contains almost 100,000 fish, including whale sharks, huge grouper, saw fish, hammerhead and nurse sharks and one of the only bow mouthed guitarfish in captivity. The exhibit contains the largest viewing window in the world and as I sat there, drinking in the serene sights, it was impossible not be humbled. The majesty of the whale sharks is hard to describe. They are named Norton and Ralph after the Honeymooners characters.
The Cold Water Quest Exhibit was also very cool. We really enjoyed the Beluga Whales. There are five of them. They have their own tank and are very playful, swimming toward the large viewing windows and then dodging away. They swam around on their backs and did little flips in the water. They were a lot of fun to watch. We spent about 30 minutes watching them swim and I could have stayed an entire day, just enjoying them enjoying themselves. Two of them had been rescued from a Mexican aquarium where they did not have access to expert medical care or enough space to really thrive.
One of the more interesting things was that there was an entire Georgia Explorer exhibit dedicated to the life off the coast of Georgia. Most museums, despite being located somewhere try and be universal in their scope. It was nice to see that they decided to pay some attention to the “local” wildlife. Also, this exhibit had a sea turtle and this blogger is a huge fan of the sea turtle. It makes me sad they are endangered.
The other two exhibits are River Scout and Tropical Diver. They both contain magnificently colored fish and are quite cool in their own right, but pale in comparison with the other three exhibits.
There are five main corporate sponsors of the aquarium. I will link to all of their sites here because I really believe in what they did. Home Depot, BellSouth, Suntrust, AirTran, and Georgia-Pacific all sponsored one of the main exhibits. This is the kind of corporate responsibility and attention to community that can really advance us as a society. When corporate America stands up and pours money into its communities we really have a chance. I would have loved it if they underwrote the entire education budget of Atlanta instead, but we can consider this a victory and hope for the future. As I get into a writing groove again we are going to talk more about corporate community, collective responsibility and sacrifice. I am still working my way back there.
Other tidbits:
A real live knucklehead conversation overheard between me and my brother this weekend:
Him: I hate Black Eyed Peas.
Me: The band?
Him: No, the legumes.
Same old Jets… they could lose and make sure they have a really high draft pick and a shot at Reggie Bush but instead they whipped up on the Raiders and sentence us to about the 5th pick in the draft barring a long winning streak by the Packers and Texans. Just brutal, brutal, brutal. Being a Jets fan sucks. Being a Jets fan that has to pay for Direct TV in order to watch the games is just masochistic.
I will be slowly rebuilding the blog. Links will be coming again soon.
No1ofConsequence
Friday, December 09, 2005
Get calls, text message, detect cancer?!?!
Read this
So an Israeli psychologist, using infrared technology, can transform the average cell phone into a breast cancer detection unit. This, my friends, is innovation. However, you know, some drunken guido is going to end up arrested for groping someone on a dance floor and end up using the, “I was just trying to check her for breast cancer,” defense. Also, as I understand it, psychologists don’t have medical training, so how this guy came up with this is pretty amazing.
Innovation is something that we are going to talk a lot about here in No 1’s world. It is only through innovation that we will be able to rid ourselves of a lot of our socio-economic problems and through innovation that our economy and society evolves. One of the most beautiful things about humanity is it is ever changing. What was important 10 years ago is not important today and what is important today is probably not going to be that important tomorrow. How we adapt our ideas and change core assumptions about our existence over time is fascinating.
Forgive me if I sound like some sort of cryptic philosopher. I am trying to find my voice again, so please bear/bare with me.
No 1 of Consequence
So an Israeli psychologist, using infrared technology, can transform the average cell phone into a breast cancer detection unit. This, my friends, is innovation. However, you know, some drunken guido is going to end up arrested for groping someone on a dance floor and end up using the, “I was just trying to check her for breast cancer,” defense. Also, as I understand it, psychologists don’t have medical training, so how this guy came up with this is pretty amazing.
Innovation is something that we are going to talk a lot about here in No 1’s world. It is only through innovation that we will be able to rid ourselves of a lot of our socio-economic problems and through innovation that our economy and society evolves. One of the most beautiful things about humanity is it is ever changing. What was important 10 years ago is not important today and what is important today is probably not going to be that important tomorrow. How we adapt our ideas and change core assumptions about our existence over time is fascinating.
Forgive me if I sound like some sort of cryptic philosopher. I am trying to find my voice again, so please bear/bare with me.
No 1 of Consequence
Thursday, December 08, 2005
No 1 Returns
Return of the product…..
I am back, yes, that’s right, little old addle brained me. It’s blogtacular. The Jersey Jew with the slightly interesting take on the world. It has been about a year since my words have graced this space. A year. A lot can happen in a year so I will give you the extremely short version. As you may, or may not, recall I was laid off from my old company last October. One night, in a fit of depression over another lost job I e-mailed my resume to every company that competes with my old one. Lo and behold my current CEO calls me up, we meet in NYC the following week, hit it off famously and before I know it I am once again employed. Not just employed mind you, but in what could almost be considered a dream job. I currently have a team of 7 employees and growing and we are the belles of the ball.
Belles you say?
Well, it’s interesting you mention that, because this new employment (not so new anymore) has taken me to the ATL. Atlanta, as in Georgia, as in, the south. Red state hell. Can we talk sports? Not so much, being a Yankees and Jets fan and having no real affinity for college football. Can we talk politics? I don’t think we can because I believe some markedly different stuff than most of the known universe to begin with. You magnify that with the southern conservative microscope and you end up with some heinously different ideas. Can we play poker? Eh, they still play things like guts and Chicago.
A majority of my time right now is spent diabolically planning the downfall of my old company. I already stole a significant member of their international team and am heavily courting their number one sales guy. He knows he needs to come over to the light side and get off the Titanic. He knows my company will crush his over the long term, but he is still trying to convince himself of the truth. Yesterday I presented my company’s services to one of the Titanic’s biggest clients. They loved it. I can’t wait until I sign them and we make our announcement.
I am coming back out of the ether, so for the uninitiated I write about a number of different things. I am interested in sports, politics, movies, TV, whatever odd thought causes me to have a deep introspective moment throughout the day. I try to write once a day, but I have a tremendous amount of responsibility in my current position so I am not sure if this is going to be possible anymore. That I am writing again at all makes me incredibly happy and I am very thankful to return to blogging.
Some quick hits:
Ø The Jets suck, being a jets fan is one of the most infuriating things in sports. I had to get satellite TV in order to watch the Jets every week. Now, of course, I want to send the Jets the bill for the NFL Sunday Ticket. I went to see them play in the Georgia Dome on Monday night in October. It was one of the odder experiences of my life. Giants Stadium, despite its age, is a great place to watch a game. Jets fans are rude and crass and loveable. They sit in their seats and when something happens they jump up and cheer like maniacs and then when the moment has passed they sit back down and go back to watching the game. Here in Georgia, the fans stand the entire time. I mean the whole game. 2 and 6 plenty of time in the game, run up the middle for a marginal game, they are standing. Are they cheering? Not really. Are they booing? No way. They are just standing. This makes watching a game at the Georgia Dome a pain in the ass. I never thought I would say this, especially growing up watching the Jets at Giants Stadium, but southern football fans are rude as hell. No fan etiquette whatsoever.
Ø I am a little disappointed in the Yankees off season. They haven’t really addressed some of their needs and some players that could have helped them have slipped by. I am very happy that Brian Cashman and Joe Torre are staying with the Yankees. The Yankees blew the Leo Mazzone negotiation. Allowing him to go to a team in their division was doubly stupid. They should have showered him with money. The guy is like Rain Man for pitchers. Everyone on the Yankees could have used him. The fantasy baseball value of every Orioles pitcher has skyrocketed in my mind. Mazzone is worth a run to a run and a half on the team ERA.
Ø The political climate of this country sickens me. I don’t really want to get into it right now.
Well, I think I have written quite enough for my first foray back into the blog world. Talk to you again soon.
No 1
I am back, yes, that’s right, little old addle brained me. It’s blogtacular. The Jersey Jew with the slightly interesting take on the world. It has been about a year since my words have graced this space. A year. A lot can happen in a year so I will give you the extremely short version. As you may, or may not, recall I was laid off from my old company last October. One night, in a fit of depression over another lost job I e-mailed my resume to every company that competes with my old one. Lo and behold my current CEO calls me up, we meet in NYC the following week, hit it off famously and before I know it I am once again employed. Not just employed mind you, but in what could almost be considered a dream job. I currently have a team of 7 employees and growing and we are the belles of the ball.
Belles you say?
Well, it’s interesting you mention that, because this new employment (not so new anymore) has taken me to the ATL. Atlanta, as in Georgia, as in, the south. Red state hell. Can we talk sports? Not so much, being a Yankees and Jets fan and having no real affinity for college football. Can we talk politics? I don’t think we can because I believe some markedly different stuff than most of the known universe to begin with. You magnify that with the southern conservative microscope and you end up with some heinously different ideas. Can we play poker? Eh, they still play things like guts and Chicago.
A majority of my time right now is spent diabolically planning the downfall of my old company. I already stole a significant member of their international team and am heavily courting their number one sales guy. He knows he needs to come over to the light side and get off the Titanic. He knows my company will crush his over the long term, but he is still trying to convince himself of the truth. Yesterday I presented my company’s services to one of the Titanic’s biggest clients. They loved it. I can’t wait until I sign them and we make our announcement.
I am coming back out of the ether, so for the uninitiated I write about a number of different things. I am interested in sports, politics, movies, TV, whatever odd thought causes me to have a deep introspective moment throughout the day. I try to write once a day, but I have a tremendous amount of responsibility in my current position so I am not sure if this is going to be possible anymore. That I am writing again at all makes me incredibly happy and I am very thankful to return to blogging.
Some quick hits:
Ø The Jets suck, being a jets fan is one of the most infuriating things in sports. I had to get satellite TV in order to watch the Jets every week. Now, of course, I want to send the Jets the bill for the NFL Sunday Ticket. I went to see them play in the Georgia Dome on Monday night in October. It was one of the odder experiences of my life. Giants Stadium, despite its age, is a great place to watch a game. Jets fans are rude and crass and loveable. They sit in their seats and when something happens they jump up and cheer like maniacs and then when the moment has passed they sit back down and go back to watching the game. Here in Georgia, the fans stand the entire time. I mean the whole game. 2 and 6 plenty of time in the game, run up the middle for a marginal game, they are standing. Are they cheering? Not really. Are they booing? No way. They are just standing. This makes watching a game at the Georgia Dome a pain in the ass. I never thought I would say this, especially growing up watching the Jets at Giants Stadium, but southern football fans are rude as hell. No fan etiquette whatsoever.
Ø I am a little disappointed in the Yankees off season. They haven’t really addressed some of their needs and some players that could have helped them have slipped by. I am very happy that Brian Cashman and Joe Torre are staying with the Yankees. The Yankees blew the Leo Mazzone negotiation. Allowing him to go to a team in their division was doubly stupid. They should have showered him with money. The guy is like Rain Man for pitchers. Everyone on the Yankees could have used him. The fantasy baseball value of every Orioles pitcher has skyrocketed in my mind. Mazzone is worth a run to a run and a half on the team ERA.
Ø The political climate of this country sickens me. I don’t really want to get into it right now.
Well, I think I have written quite enough for my first foray back into the blog world. Talk to you again soon.
No 1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
