Where the heck have I been?

Good question. I have been working like a dog. I was actually in the United Kingdom for a week in the middle of my absence for work. Traveling on business has a lot of bad points and only a couple of good ones.

Bad points to business travel:

Long airline flights
Being away from the family
Not sleeping in my own bed
Working twice as many hours as normal (this is time zone related and kind of unique to European travel, because half of the US day or more remains when I get back to my hotel)

Having conversations like this over skype:

Me: Tell the baby I love him
Her, to the baby: Daddy loves you
Her, to me: He said, "Who's daddy?"
Me: Ouch

It was said in jest, but the fact remains that traveling is as hard or harder on my wife and kids than it is on me. As I said there are some good points to business travel for me and NONE for my family.

The good points to business travel:

Per Diem expense policy: If you are on a per diem expense policy and you are willing to sacrifice on accomodations or dining you can make a lot of extra cash. On my UK trip I got a hotel that was approximately 100 dcollars less than my per diem allotment and I brought enough food that I was able to eat about 75% of my meals without spending money. I profited close to $1200 on the trip and that money is basically paying for our family spring break vacation back to NJ. I also learned some valuable lessons about bringing food on trips and will be able to make even more money next time. If I had been willing to really sacrifice and stay in a youth hostel I could have made double the profit on the trip, but I am not a young man anymore and a youth hostel is not on the agenda.

The plush hotels: I have travelled twice to Europe in the last 6 months and stayed in 3 hotels. They were incredibly plush. The last one I stayed in was so sweet I felt guilty being in it alone.

Broadening my horizons: I like to experience new things and it is nice to be able to say I was here, I was there. I probably would never have travelled to the UK or Switzerland if not for my job, so that is nice too, even though there was no real time for sight seeing.

_______________

Work has gone from breakneck to dangerously close to killing me in terms of intensity. We have launched one new product in the last couple of weeks that I have a LOT of responsibility for and will be launching the biggest new undertaking since the company itself took flight back in 1999. I have major responsibility for getting it ready.

______________

I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule. I don't like not writing and I am not going to let the blog slip away. I just have to be more disciplined and take time that I spend watching TV to decompress at night to generate content for the blog.

Keep checking back. More to come.

No 1 of Consequence

This week in the world of no one.

This week I am learning an advanced software testing package as part of my new job responsibilities. I have never really worked in an information technology role so this is all new to me. I am a bright guy, but a LOT of this is beyond me. Things like custom scripting and regression testing are beyond my current skill set. I am ramping up quickly, but trying to learn an entire new profession ini 5 days is like... well, trying to learn an entire new profession in 5 days. It is as daunting as it sounds.

Some of the people in the class are very senior programmers. One interesting thing I found is that I am finishing the exercises a lot faster than they are and with few if any mistakes. I couldn't figure this out until this afternoon. It turns out being an IT dummy is actually helping me in these situations. I follow the instructions in the book to the letter and make no mistakes, they try and do fancy IT stuff and ignore the interface and screw it up. Being dumb in this instance is cool. :-)

No 1 of Consequence

Sometimes being a parent sucks

While I had planned on doing a lot of reading over the last week or so, I truthfully didn’t get much done at all. I spent a majority of my free time, doing laundry, changing diapers and trying to comfort my sick little baby. I have three children and while they have all been sick at any given time, neither of the other boys has EVER been as sick as the baby was this week. Between the vomiting, diarrhea, trips to the emergency room for IV fluids, and about a million diaper changes I was probably as scared as I have ever been for one of my children. He just didn’t seem to be getting any better at all. Thankfully it the illness seems to be behind him at this point.
I have a newfound respect and appreciation for people who have a chronically or catastrophically ill child. I cannot imagine having to endure that permanently. The powerless feelings of not being able to help or in some cases even comfort the little guy are terribly painful. The thoughts, however brief, that we might lose him aged me ten years. Having to live with that feeling full time would be crippling to me. I can’t imagine how parents survive it.

Some lowlights of the last week:

I had to hold my little guy down while they gave him an IV. Since he is a bit of a chubby baby they had trouble finding a vein. So, they had to stick him three times. One of the times they jiggled the needle around inside him a bit to try and get the vein. He screamed. He screamed a lot. It wasn’t pleasant.

That of course, came in a close second to having to pin him down while they gave him a catheter to get a clean urine sample. Now, I held him for his circumcision, but this was something completely different. I can’t imagine something more unpleasant. He just cried and cried. Thankfully it was brief, but if I never see the inside of an emergency room with one of my children again I will be OK with it.

Overall it was probably one of the worst experiences of my life and I am drained just thinking about. I will tell you this though, coming home last night and seeing him smiling and giggling while splashing in the bathtub was one of the more uplifting experiences I have had in a long time.

4 books I intend to finish before Feb 12

Why on Earth is February 12th the goal? Well, I have accepted a role on the global management team of my company and I am starting some intense training on that date. After that, things are going to be a whirlwind with multiple trips to Scotland on business, countless hours working, and very little time to focus on any leisure reading outside of news and keeping up with my various fantasy baseball teams. So this is the goal I have set for myself.

I have a legitimate shot to finish three out of the four, mainly because I have already started reading three of them. The 4th is over 1000 pages long and apparently the beginning of a rather intricate tale.

So let’s begin the latest installment of what is No 1 Reading:

Watchdogs of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps and How it has Failed the Public. By Helen Thomas

This work is extremely critical of the White House press corps and the press in general, essentially accusing them of being complicit in the abrogation of our constitutional right to know what the hell is going on with our government. She accuses them of being fearful of falling out of favor with a bully of a White House and not asking the tough questions. Helen is a long time Washington correspondent and has been continually snubbed by the President and his handlers during press conferences because of her desire to find the truth for the people.

Why am I reading this? Well, I have been making a similar argument for a long time. No Best Man of Consequence works in the media and I often challenge him and the industry by proxy when I see what I feel are significant injustices taking place in the world. He always comes back at me with the “people don’t care about anything anymore argument,” which I partially agree with and we usually move on to something else. (I have a partial post about our distracted society and how we all suffer for it, but that is a different discussion for a different day.) Anyway, he usually has me outclassed in the argument because I don’t have anything empirical to back me up when we talk about it, so I am trying to broaden my mind in this particular area.

Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book – By Phil Gordon

This is considered by many to be the best poker book ever written. I am only a couple of chapters in and am already enthralled by his simple and concise style. Annoyed and No Brother both recommended this book very highly and since I respect their opinions and their poker abilities I definitely want to finish this book.

Why am I reading this? I want to be a better player. I do well in my home game here in GA and I do well online. I, hopefully, am going to be in Atlantic City in late February and am definitely going to be in AC in early April and I want to be at the top of my game. Digesting the information in this book and integrating it into my personal strategy of play is one good way I can do that.

Now I Can Die In Peace – Bill Simmons

Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a big fan of Bill Simmons. I read anything he writes and I enjoy about 80% of it. The odd thing about my liking this guy is that he is a huge Red Sox fan and this book is a collection of articles and associated commentary leading up to the Red Sox defeat of the Yankees in 2004 and their World Series championship. I have been reading the book for awhile and I am really enjoying it. I am planning a detailed post related to it because it offers such a unique perspective to a Yankees fan. Also, for a Red Sox fan Simmons has a very good understanding of the mentality of Yankees fans even though he calls rooting for the Yankees the same as “rooting for the house in blackjack.”

Why am I reading this? You have to support people who have entertained you that much in your life. Even though the subject matter is not something I am terribly interested in the writing is good and I have been entertained throughout.

Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin

This book is the first in a significant series. HBO is turning it into a TV series. When they made the announcement, No Accountant of Consequence, who is an expert in this particular genre, was very excited. He highly recommended it so I picked it up.

Why am I reading it? The recommendation is a big reason, plus HBO’s de facto endorsement of the content carries a lot of weight with me. Of all 4 books I have going right now though, I will probably not get this one finished by my deadline.

_____________________________________

Some quick hits not related to what I am reading.

I have about 10 posts in draft and this causes me to be significantly irritated with myself. I really want to write more, but I won’t just throw anything up and a lot of the topics I want to cover require research because as most of you know, talking out of my ass is something I don’t really like to do.

Pitchers and catchers report to spring training imminently. (Feb 14) I am very excited for the coming baseball season.

Work has taken a lot of interesting twists and turns this year. This is my 24th month with the company and if you had asked me in my 4th month if this is the way it was going to go I would have told you that drugs were bad and you should really get your head checked.

Projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea from your almost one year old baby is not really fun. There is just something about a very sick little baby that is especially pathetic. There is also an acute feeling of powerlessness that happens when your child is sick. My little man has the flu right now. He can’t keep anything down and he is just miserable. It just sucks that there is nothing we can really do for him.

Disney World is an incredible amount of fun, but while it may be the most wonderful place on Earth, it isn’t even the 1000th most relaxing place in Florida. I still have blisters on my feet.

The Last Day of the Month

The last day of the month is an interesting time at my office. My company is doing very well financially and while it hasn't been as much fun for me lately as it was when I started, this is a great place to work.

The last day of the month though is about one thing at any company that is driven by the sales team. Booking revenue. The sales team is a bunch of young hungry guys and they walk in the last day prepared for battle. The office smells like toasting bagels in the morning and catered whatever around noon. If you walk over to the sales bullpen you can feel the buzz. The phones are ringing or keypads are being pounded. Voices are raised as the team passionately tried to close deals. Everytime someone walks to the board to put up a sale there are high fives. It isn't a boiler room environement per se, but there is that kind of a feel. The energy is burning in the room. Cans of Red Bull are pounded as the day goes on to keep energy levels up. The rest of the month, sales styles clash and tensions run high but on the last day of the month, when team bonuses and records are in reach there is one goal. As headsets are tossed aside and beers are opened at the end of the day, the sales team has almost always crossed the finish line victorious.

No 1 of Consequence

Funny Commercial

I can't endorse Kyocera products, being as I haven't used any, but this is pretty funny.

Out of the carnage... Life will find a way

This is the story of six fish. The story of six little fishies that had the fortitude, the guile and the will to live. Six fish that bucked the odds, apparently hid under something and survived the Christmas carnage. Just the other day, when the winter weather here in Georgia abated and the temperatures climbed into the 70's I heard a rousing cry from the kitchen. I walked in to see what the ruckus was about and there, in my beloved koi pond were six survivors.

I didn't believe it at first. There had been a rumor that one survived, but I did not have personal visual confirmation. Then, just the other day, the six fish that survived the apocalypse showed themselves and proved once again that life will find a way. Turns out Jeff Goldblum was right.

Credit where it is due

Our internet access at home is completely screwed right now. We have Bellsouth DSL and for whatever reason we cannot access any websites save the Bellsouth home page. This, of course, is a significant problem, because both No Wife and I are wired people. We communicate with friends and family through the internet. We get our news from the internet. I work for an internet company and when I work from home I work on the internet. We are wired and right now we are disconnected. Our issues began yesterday at some point in the early afternoon. After I got home from basketball practice I called Bellsouth customer service and a rep named Jim spent over 2 hours on the phone with me trying different fixes. He was incredibly patient and extremely knowledgable. He was also reasonable and logical. We had a disagreement about the source of our DSL nightmare, but when I took him through the sequence of events that clearly laid the fault at the feet of Bellsouth he did not get belligerent or try to obfuscate. He simply said, "I have exhausted things on my end. Let's set up an appointment for a technician to come out to you." We set a time and hopefully things will be fixed on Thursday morning. It might have been the best customer service experience of my life. So I say bravo Bellsouth. Bravo!!

UPDATE: Apparently, it was a dns error that could have been fixed over the phone. I still give credit to Bellsouth, because the guy who came in fixed it immediately, but damn 2 hours on the phone for something that should have been a 30 second fix. Ouch!!

No 1 of Consequence

Bad luck in Atlanta

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I am a HUGE fan of the Georgia Aquarium. We had season passes last year and would definitely consider them again in the future. I can't say enough about the place as detailed in my original review here. Unfortunately two of the most popular animals in the aquarium have passed on in a relatively short amount of time. Gaspar the Beluga Whale and Ralph the whale shark have both died in the last month. Gaspar had been significantly ill before he ever came to the aquarium so his death was not a huge surprise, but Ralph's death was sudden and has thrown the aquarium staff for a loop. Here are a couple of pictures I took of them last year.

Bye big guys. I'm gonna miss you.

Gaspar Ralph

No 1 of Consequence

They're dead to me #1

In an homage to my man Annoyed and his "People I can do without series." I am starting a posting series of my own, called "They're dead to me." This term originated in my vernacular when Chilis took their tuna steak sandwich off the menu. This pissed me off to no end and I have only eaten there under protest since. However, since Chilis being dead to me is old news we will dedicate this initial post to another restaurant that crossed the line.

The death of a fun restaurant franchise.

Every chain restaurant is basically the same. You walk in, are seated, place a quick drink order, order appetizers, are served appetizers, order food, are served appetizers, eat appetizers, are served food, eat food, order dessert, are served dessert, eat dessert, get check, pay check, leave. This happens, obviously, in varying degrees. Aside from menu items and style of food, there is very little variation to this. In fancier restaurants this is spread out over a couple of hours. In cheaper places you can be in and out in 30 minutes or less.

One way for a restaurant to differentiate itself is with its branding or style. The Cheesecake Factory, for example, has developed a concept that drives people to order dessert. How can you go to a restaurant called The Cheesecake Factory and not order a slice of cheesecake? Higher end places are carried by their name, Jean Georges, Nobu.

Another restaurant that formerly had a significant differentiator is the Rainforest Café. The food was decent, as good as any other chain, but the atmosphere was something special. The incredible fish tanks and décor, reflecting the sights and sounds of rainforests including animatronic animals and mock thunderstorms made it a really fun place to go. It was pricy, but not ridiculous and it was worth an extra couple of bucks an entrée when you factored in the user experience.

Last week No Family of Consequence dined at the Rainforest in Orlando, and while the décor, staff, and food were what they always were. The prices had skyrocketed. An average price of over 25.00 an entrée, 2.50 for a soda and 7.99 for a kids meal tells me that the restaurant is dying and in an effort to save itself it is raising prices to try and suck as much money as possible out of its guests one last time.

It is disappointing that sometime corporate America can be so uncreative. I love tilapia, as we know from this post, but 26.99 for a tilapia dinner at Rainforest means I will never be darkening their door again. Cute frog mascot and nice fish tanks or not, they are officially dead to me. Never to be spoken of again.

No 1 of Consequence

Chad Pennington / Chris Burke (Corky) separated at birth?

Bill Simmons wrote the following after watching the Christmas night Jets - Dolphins game, which, if you didn't see it, was one of the most boring NFL games on record. Two of the announcers, Tony Kornheiser & Joe Theismann spent 80% of the game bashing the Jets QB.

On an unrelated note, if there's a hell -- and I'm pretty sure there is -- part of the eternal sentence of damnation should involve an ongoing conversation between Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser about Chad Pennington's arm strength. Good golly. The only person who enjoyed that Christmas night broadcast was Tiki Barber's TV agent.

Here is the thing about that commentary. It was incredibly annoying. It did drain enjoyment from what was an already mediocre football game. However, it was 90% accurate. The Jets would probably be finishing the season 12-4 if they had a quarterback with a cannon for an arm. Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery have evolved into an elite receiving tandem despite Pennington, not because of him. Not to mention Pennington routinely hangs his receivers out to dry. In a four play span during Monday night's game he got two of his receivers absolutely obliterated by Dolphins defenders by throwing little floater passes instead of rocketing the ball into his receiver's arms. At one point I remarked that Pennington was going to get someone killed. About 5 seconds later the phone rang. No Wife answered it and the first words out of No Brother's mouth were, "Pennington is going to get somebody killed." She made some comment about us sharing a brain, but if you watched that game you know the New York Jets are not going to win a super bowl with Chad Pennington at the quarterback position. The main point being, he had no choice but to throw the floater passes because the words "rocket arm" and Chad Pennington are mutually exclusive.

No 1 of Consequence

Does homeowner's insurance cover this???

When searching for a house in Georgia we had a lot of fexibility. We had a small bi-level in NJ and because we lived in a fairly deisrable neighborhood with good schools, when we sold the house we received a significant premium over what we paid for it.


This allowed us to get a house that would probably be worth close to 800K+ if we had purchased it in NJ and if it was in a more desirable locale than Sussex County where we resided (Mendham, Livingston, etc) it would be worth well over a million dollars. However, since we are living in Georgia we payed a good deal less than we sold our little house in NJ for.

One of the reasons I loved our house in NJ is because there was an actual river running through our backyard and I really enjoyed looking out the kitchen window and seeing the river or spending time on the deck and enjoying the view and the sound of the gently rushing water.

Here in Georgia, everything is broken down by subdivision and since we have children, living on a lake was pretty much out of the question. However, the house we decided on has a koi pond. We found this pretty appealing. The pond is located right outside the kitchen windows and when they are open you can hear the little waterfall that splashes into the pond. Also, when you look out the window you have a great view of the fish swimming around and I found myself routinely looking out at the fish. The first summer we were here there were frogs that had taken up residence in the pond as well and this was amazing.

There were two frogs and they would sleep in the waterfall, apparently enjoying the water rushing over them constantly. On very sunny days they would sun themselves on the rocks that the pond was built out of and routinely dive into the pond for a swim. I remember one day sitting at the kitchen window for over 30 minutes, just enjoying the little frogs playing in the water as the koi swam around them. They didn't return this summer and I really missed them.

Yesterday was Christmas here in Georgia and the weather was miserable. It was cold and dank and fairly depressing. No Dog of Consequence was kept inside as the weather was not conducive to his usual days of lazing around the backyard and sunning himself on our deck. I only bring up No Dog, because if he had been outside yesterday, the tragedy I am about to describe might never have happened.

No Family of Consequence was hanging around the living room as presents were opened and holiday merriment was enjoyed. However, No Baby, butt wiggling. as he crawled made a beeline for the kitchen. He was quickly scooped up by Mommy who let out a loud, "Oh my G-d!" followed by an equally loud, "Holy Crap!" I quickly got up from the couch to see what was happening and as I did I noticed a very large bird flying away. Apparently I missed the carnage.

It was a gigantic heron and it ate all of our koi. All of them. Gone. The waterfall continues to gently splash into the now empty pond and I feel like I was a bystander to a bad Discovery Channel documentary.

Mature koi cost between $30 and $100 apiece. So yesterday's birdy buffet cost me between $500 and $1500 worth of fish. My question remains, can I put in a homeowner's claim?



No 1 of Consequence

John Corzine, friend of gay Americans

Today the governor of the great state of NJ signed a bill that effectively allows gays to marry. I applaud New Jersey for its progressiveness and hope the rest of the United States will get its collective head out of its ass and stop one of the last forms of legal discrimination.

Read some of my thoughts about New Jersey and Jim McGreevey's homosexuality here.

Read some of my thoughts about homosexuality in general here.

More baseball. Yes, I know it is December

I read this very sad article about Mark McGwire last week and wanted to wrtie about it, but I have been absolutely swamped at work. The article is long, but the general gist is that Mark McGwire has faded completely out of the lives of everyone he ever knew before the steroid scandal. He doesn't see his old friends from home anymore. He doesn't talk to his former teammates, agents, or coaches anymore. He lives in a gated community and plays golf and is trying to live as quiet an existence as possible.

This is only relevant because he recently became eligible for the baseball Hall of Fame. There has been great debate lately on blogs, on the radio, on ESPN etc as to whether McGwire should be elected to The Hall, whether he will be elected to The Hall and what is going on in the minds of the voters.

Most people I know don't think about this or care about this. I am not sure I particularly care either, I just hate hypocrisy when I see it. For all the talk about cheating and degrading the great game of baseball the facts seem to support that the press and MLB management knew about the steroid problem long before the ridiculous congressional hearings. They knew about it before BALCO. They knew about it before Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth's home run total. They knew about it before McGwire was humiliated in front of the nation. The press and management knew and collectively did nothing.

Why?

The 1994 baseball strike crippled the business of baseball. It alienated the fans and tarnished the game for a LOT of people. The 1995 season saw significantly depressed attendance. merchandise sales were way down, television and radio ratings were off and ownership was in a panic. Things started to come back in 1996 and 1997. Then we reached the golden summer of 1998 when baseball recaptured America's sporting heart. Mark McGwire & Sammy Sosa's home run title chase became the only story of that summer. McGwire's fist pumps and Sosa's heart and finger kisses were on Sportscenter every night, in every magazine, on every newspaper. As McGwire got closer to 61 home runs the brought out Roger Maris' family to celebrate in pomp and circumstance of a sport reborn.

Sure, McGwire weighed about 65 pounds more than he did when he was a rookie and looked to be bursting out of his uniform. It was true Sammy Sosa looked like he had been inflated with an air pump. Yeah, Barry Bonds looked like a human bobble head doll. Who cared? Sportwriters wrote about the glorious romance of baseball's resurgence and the ownership breathed a collective sigh of relief as fans flooded back to the stadiums and people turned on ball games in record numbers.

Any baseball writer who wrote about the glory of the summer of 1998 who deson't vote for McGwire's candidacy is a hypocrite. Any baseball owner who talks about how steroids soiled the game are also hypocrites. That Mark McGwire has been humiliated to such a degree that he can't even talk about baseball with his neighbors is an absolute shame. It is a crime against baseball and baseball fans.

In the grand scheme of things is this important? Not remotely, but the article made me sad for the big guy.

No 1 of Consequence

Strawberry, the voice of reason.

You have truly reached a bizarro reality when Darryl Strawberry is a voice of reason. Essentially the linked article talks about how Derek Jeter needs to embrace Alex Rodriguez and make him feel welcome after his rough year last year. You can make a valid argument that A-Rod is making 25 million dollars and he should stop his girly crying and play up to his abilities. However, I tend to believe that we are all human beings and even those seemingly above it all can be affected by significant negativity in their surroundings.

I also heard an insider story that A-Rod showed up at Jeter's house and basically begged forgiveness for the 2001 article in Esquire that caused friction between them to begin with and was turned away.

A-Rod was quoted as saying: "Jeter's been blessed with great talent around him. He's never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. And he hits second -- that's totally different than third and fourth in a lineup. You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie [Williams] and [Paul] O'Neill. You never say, 'Don't let Derek beat you.' He's never your concern."

Competitors like Derek Jeter have egos the size of small planets. They aren't going to take something like that lightly. Especially when the guy doing the talking has never won jack squat in a team environment. Rodriguez has been a significant individual achiever in his career, but his teams have done nothing in the playoffs. Hang on, I feel myself meandering off point here.

My point is this, Strawberry is correct, Jeter needs to let it go. He needs to publicly step to the microphone and say something to the effect of, "Alex Rodridguez is one of the greatest individual performers in baseball history. He has shown himself to be a great team mate and contributor to the New York Yankees. His selflessness in switching to 3rd base when he arrived in NY is evidence of his commitment to the continuing greatness of the Yankees franchise and to our incredible fans. I am proud to call him my teammate and proud to run out on to that field next to him every day. What's past is past, the only future that matters is bringing the 2007 World Series championship to New York and paying back our loyal fans for their tremendous support."

Then, he needs to act like he meant it. No one will boo A-Rod again. A-Rod will hit about 75 home runs and drive in 150 and the Yankees will win the World Series, which is all that matters. Leadership by work ethic and example are all well and good. Sometimes you need to lead with your words. This is definitely one of those times.

Unintentional Comedic Moments in Parenting

This is a story of a boy and a mask. I have been a dad for a long time now and if there is one thing that is absolutely awesome about being a parent aside from the unconditional acceptance and love, it is the kids will absolutely make you cry laughing at least once a week.

My middle son, six year old bundle of energy that he is, received this Darth Vader voice changing mask for Chanukah. Now while my six year old is a gigantic bundle of energy you have to understand he is not the largest of lads. He isn't very tall and he is super skinny.

Why is that particularly relevant?

It isn't, but when the kid wears his Darth Vader mask he looks like Rick Moranis from Spaceballs. This, if you are unaware, is high comedy all by itself.

The mask is far too big for the little guy's head. He looks like he could fall over at any moment when he is wearing it. Also, I am 99% certain he can't see a damned thing while he has it on his head.

Saturday morning he was bopping all over the house, making Darth Vader's breathing noise into the microphone that contains the voice synthesizer. I hear him bound up the stairs, thump down the hall, thump back down the hall, and start back down the stairs. Curiously the trip down the stairs is going a lot more slowly than the trip up. All of a sudden there is a great crash at the bottom of the stairs and I hear molded plastic hit hardwood.

Then, moments later, from down the hall, Darth Vader's deep childlike voice booms out:

"I'm OK!"

I am still laughing about it.

No 1 of Consequence

The NFL, Tivo, and me.

After absolutely taking it to Green Bay on Dec 2. The Jets reverted to their regular pathetic under achievinig form this past Sunday. However, there was one ray of sunshine about this game. It is the first time I have ever watched a sporting event that was either completely or partially recorded with Tivo. I coach youth basketball on the weekends and this week's game fell during the Jets sad performance against the bills. I set my Tivo to record the game and went about my business.

You never realize how much wasted time there is during an NFL game. The walking around, the incessant commercial breaks, the unbelievable amount of time in between plays. Tivo gets rid of all of that. I walked in the door to my house about midway through the second quarter and by halftime I caught up with the live action. It was awesome.

I have so much I want write about and NO time right now. I promise more content soon.

No 1 of Consequence

J - E - T - S Jets Jets Jets?

The Jets won on Sunday, absolutely blasting the Green Bay Packers on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. The victory brought the Jets record on the season to a surreal 7 wins and 5 losses. ESPN's headline was The Jets improbable run continues. If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that my own prediction for the Jets success this year was that there would be none. In fact, after looking at the Jets schedule I predicted the Jets would be 4-12 at best. No Brother of Consequence had them at a pathetic 6-10 and No Dad of Consequence, who doesn't use the schedule to make his predictions picked them to go his usual 2-14.

There have been a couple of moments this season that have led me to believe that these might not be the "same old Jets." The fact that the Jets did not collapse against the Packers. Despite playing an appalling 3rd quarter which saw the Packers score 10 points and appear to regain momentum while the Jets fell over themselves, the Jets regained their footing in the 4th and really focused, putting the game away.

Against the Texans, Chad Pennington took a serious hit. It appeared that he landed on his surgically repaired shoulder in such a way that NoBro called me immediately and we were both of the opinion that he was done. He has had two surgeries on that shoulder and the blow looked really bad. To our surprise Pennington picked himself up off the turf and jogged over to the sidelines. He waved his arms in the air, pumping up the crowd which was invariably thinking the same things we were.

"At least he can raise his arm," said NoBro, who promptly hung up.

Both critical incidents that in other years would have spelled doom for the Jets season.

Another bright spot has been the fact that the Jets seem to have found a good running back combo with Cedric Houston carrying the load, Leon Washington as a change of pace back and Kevin Barlow carrying the ball in short yardage situations.

Some things to be worried about if you are a Jets fan:

- 0 pass rush. You can't win playoff games if you can't pressure the quarterback. It is a major problem that a defensive back leads the team in sacks.

- Ahman Green absolutely shredded us. If the Packers had gotten a lead and could have run the ball at all we would have been dead. Every time they gave him the ball he rushed for about 15 yards. 14 carries for 102 yards. Giving up 7.25+ yards a carry is not winning football.

- Pennington missed some wide open receivers. Justin Mchowever you spell his last name beat Charles Woodson badly and Pennington under threw the ball which allowed Woodson to catch up and make a good defensive play on it. All you heard Phil Simms talking about was that Woodson's speed has come back and he was able to close on McCairens when the video clearly showed that the ball was under thrown and McCairens had to slow way down and wait for the ball.

The good news is we don't play a team with a .500 record the rest of the season although a loss to the Dolphins on Christmas night is a mortal lock and it would be just like the Jets to blow the last game of the season against the hapless Raiders to miss the playoffs.

No 1 of Consequence

I hate methamphetamine

It's true. I hate methamphetamine, and not for the reasons you might think. (That it is a scourge on society and is destroying families in both America's heartland and cities) Nope, I hate meth because it ruined NyQuil. NyQuil, the greatest, most effective night time cold remedy there is. NyQuil, the drug that inspired one of the funniest stand up comedy bits of my generation. NyQuil, the ONLY F-ING THINGS THAT LETS ME SLEEP WHEN I AM SICK!!!

How did meth ruin NyQuil? Good question. NyQuil used to contain a decongestant. Apparently, the decongestant is the thing that would knock you out. Now, NyQuil has removed the decongestant in order to prevent freaking meth addicts from making meth out of the decongestant in NyQuil. If they left the decongestant in, NyQuil would have to be sold from behind the counter at the pharmacy and not out in the aisle with all the other ineffective night time cold remedies. People would have to specifically ask for it. Guess what jackasses at VICKS? I would ASK FOR IT BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY F-ING THINGS THAT LETS ME SLEEP WHEN I AM SICK!!!

Instead of sleeping last night, what did I do? I am glad you asked. After flipping channels for about an hour finding nothing remotely entertaining to watch I settled on Bloodrayne. Bloodrayne is a vampire movie based on the video game of the same name. I have never played the video game, but I was willing to give it a shot because Michael Madsen and Sir Ben Kingsley were in it. I watched the whole thing because I couldn't sleep. It may have been one of the five worst movies I have ever seen. (Congo, Sphere, The Vanishing, and Last Man Standing being the other 4) The acting was horrifying. The combat was weakly choreographed and the plot resolution made no sense whatsoever. The only good thing about the movie was almost everyone in it died. I BLAME METH!!!! IF NOT FOR METH I WOULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING LIKE A BABY!! A baby who snores, but a baby nonetheless.

So do me a favor, today on National Methamphetamine Awareness Day, punch a meth addict in the face and thank him for ruining NyQuil the last pure good in this world.

Yes, this is what happens when I don't sleep.

No 1 of Consequence

An issue I care about

This is a picture of Myanmarian children who were rescued from a child slavery ring in Asian. The kind of life these children were headed for is unknown to me. They could have been bound for a life of slave labor or unspeakable sexual exploitation. Either way, the innocence that they were graced with at birth was stripped from them.

These kind of surrealistics horrors take place every day in every country, including this one. This article is about a murdering scumbag who ignored the cries of the 19 people stuffed in his trailer as they suffocated and died while trying to reach the U.S.

This is a link to the yearly Trafficking in Persons Report that our government is legally bound to prepare every year since the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 was passed. It is long, it is terrible, and for some reason I feel compelled to read it every year. I am not saying you should read it, I just wanted you to know that we live in a world where Human Trafficking is so prevalent that our government, and many others are statutorily obligated to track it.

No 1 of Consequence

Woo hoo Showtime rules!!

Showtime has given me my first blog notoriety. They linked to my website because of my post about Dexter. So because they gave me some respect I will once again talk about how unique and entertaining Dexter is. I recommend everyone give it a try. Episodes one and two of Dexter can be streamed for free from the Showtime website.

No 1 of Consequence

The week to come

I am taking off from work starting tomorrow through the Thanksgiving holiday. I plan on writing, networking, and hopefully, sleeping. Check back, because I plan to change the blog a bit, as well as add some interesting content... you know, more than flash games about beating defenseless animals.

No 1 of Consequence

Knucklehead Time Wasting Fun

I am a pretty hard working guy, but links like this one can cause me to lose hours of productive time at the office. You click your mouse and the little penguin jumps off the tree stump, as he gets close to the sasquatch you click the mouse again and the sasquatch hits the penguin with his club.

The penguin flies through the air and lands in the snow and the website gives you a distance of your hit. I have 488.1 feet on the fly and 533.4 feet on a skidder. Fun for the whole family. How far were your hits?

For you PETA folks no actual penguins or sasquatches are harmed during this game.

No 1 of Consequence

I just had to share this one

I don't have a huge amount of time because I am about to finish up the training I came to Switzerland for, but I saw this story on Drudge and I had to share it.

I don't even know what to say about it. You have to read it to believe it. Apparently the pair to the left may need to be called back into service, except in real life and in the UK. Those wacky Brits.

_______________________________________

One other thing that I can seriously do without about Europe. Everyone smokes. I mean... everyone. Luckily the guy who is acting as my host does not, but a lot of people in the office do and it is still legal to light up in restaurants so when we go out together I end up smelling like crap afterwards.

Overall, everyone I have come in contact with in Switzerland is incredibly gracious and very pleasant and I have learned a ton on my trip. I am taking French lessons in the U.S. and I really need to ratchet up my studies. I have felt very much like the stereotypical American and I have really tried, in my life, to not be like that when I travel overseas.

No 1 of Consequence

Live, from Geneva, it's No1 a go go

Yes, it's me, your favorite blogger away from my beloved country in Geneva, Switzerland. This is my first trip to western Europe. I have travelled in eastern Europe and the Middle East, so I am not culturally deficient, but this has been an experience.

Some quick reasons Switzerland is cool. The people are super friendly. Even though I am right near France I am not feeling any of the French, "we hate America" attitude you hear a lot about.

Every light has a motion sensor attached to it. You walk into a hallway, a light comes on, you walk into another part of the hallway, the first light goes off and others go on. It saves a tremendous amount of electricity. Also, in your hotel room, your hotel key activates the electricity in the room. So when you leave and take your key, everything automatically turns off.

Everything is beautifully clean. The countryside in Switzerland is gorgeous and the alps... Wow. You can see Mont Blanc right from the office where I am working this week and it is truly magnificent. Unless you live in Colorado you can't imagine. Waking up to such beauty every morning is both humbling and empowering.

Pay one price salad buffets. In the US, if you go to a salad bar (Sweet Tomatoes notwithstanding) you pay by the pound. Here you pay by plate. So you can get a nice hearty salad for lunch and not pay through the nose for it. Of course it is the only thing you don't pay through the nose for.

However, not place is perfect and there are some major downsides for an extra large American like myself. Everything is tiny, from the cars to the chairs to the hotel rooms. My ass has been in pain for about 72 hours straight.

Hotel rooms are ridiculously expensive as are most meals. They wanted 50 Euro in the hotel for breakfast. I actually laughed out loud before I walked out of the hotel restaurant. My gracious host paid about 25 dollars for me to eat a small plate of dark meat chicken & mushrooms and a roll last night with a small bottle of sparkling water. A meal like that goes for about 12 bucks in the U.S.

Swiss/French TV sucks. I tried to watch How I Met Your Mother online last night and the CBS site said the programming was not available for viewing outside the US. Same for the NBC and ABC sites. Yuck.

Being out of touch sucks. I am a husband and a dad. Not coming home at the end of the day is something I can seriously do without. Not much as lonely as arriving back in a hotel room at the end of a super long day and not being able to talk to anyone or get pounced upon by the little ones. Double Yuck.

Overall the trip is going very well, but I am really looking forward to coming home.

No 1 of Consequence

Have you ever experienced, deja vu...

Have you ever experienced, deja vu...

Have you ever experienced, deja vu...

Have you ever experienced, deja vu...

Guess what, election shenanigans have started early this year. Yup, that's right, in Tennessee, some cards that can be programmed to wreak havoc on electronic voting machines have been stolen.

___________________________________

This story is almost equally bizarre. It appears the government of Mexico has banned itself from doing business with FedEx for three months. You have to wonder about a government that acts without explanation in a way that could affect the livelihood of 275,000 of its citizens. That is pretty messed up. I wonder why they are doing it.

No 1 of Consequence

Fishy fishy in the sea, won't you come and play with me?

A study was published that says there will be a global seafood collapse by 2048.

I think this is going to be the one that actually comes true. The global fishing economy is too huge and impacts too many people for there to be a global consensus on fish conservation.

The article says:

"Joshua Reichert, head of the private Pew Charitable Trusts' environment program, pointed out that worldwide fishing provides $80 billion in revenue and 200 million people depend on it for their livelihoods. For more than 1 billion people, many of whom are poor, fish is their main source of protein, he said."

In a six billion person world that is about 16% of the globe that depends on fish for its main source of protein.

What are the repercussions of a global seafood collapse. Mass starvation in third world coastal communities? An explosion in thirdworld brith defects and still birth as protein deficient mothers are unable to produce healthy babies? I don't know if either one of those things are true, but they easily could be.

No 1 of Global Environmental and Socio-Economic Consequence

Some new stuff that I am watching and reading and listening to

What am I watching?


I am a TV guy. I enjoy shutting my brain down for a few hours a night after long days at work where I am forced to make about ten thousand decisions. Also, work has not been nearly as much fun as it was when I started with this company so TV in the evenings is my escape. There are three new shows I have been watching this year with great enjoyment and I wanted to share them with the three people who still read this blog regularly.


The first one is Dexter on Showtime. Michael C. Hall, plays a forensic blood spatter specialist who moonlights as a serial killer. He only kills evil people, which is explained through a series of flashbacks. It is well written and unique. The uniqueness of it is what I find really compelling. An original idea is SO rare these days, so when I find one I really treasure it. I want to really give Showtime some credit. It took them awhile to get their act together, but they have stepped it up. Sleeper Cell was amazing last year and they are bringing it back. Weeds makes me laugh out loud every week. Brotherhood, which I have not seen is on my must rent list as soon as it comes out on DVD. They have really tried to pick up the gauntlet that HBO has thrown down over the last few years.



Of course, being the Aaron Sorkin devotee you all know my to be, I am watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip diligently. The writing is as good as ever, but I find myself not embracing Studio 60 the way I loved Sportsnight or revered The West Wing. I think a lot of it has to do with something that the Annoyed guy and I discussed awhile back. He postulated that the show, unless it was a mega hit would not be around for long because the cost to produce would be absolutely staggering. I could find no fault with this argument and I think that has been nagging in the back of my mind through each episode and knowing I could lose the show at any moments has really prevented me from loving it.




Lastly and perhaps most guiltily Heroes has made it on to the MUST SEE agenda. I grew up a comic geek and this show is literally and figuratively a comic book come to life. It isn't star studded like Studio 60 and it isn't socially important like The Wire. However, it is as well written a show as I have seen in my lifetime. It is mysterious and thoughtful. It is as unique an idea as Dexter is in its own way and I am finding it absolutely enjoyable.

That's some of what I am watching. What are you watching?

________________________________________________

What am I reading?

I just wanted to call out a couple of new blogs I have been reading religiously and share them with you.

1. Is everybody crazy, or is it just me? A thoughtfully written toe dip into the blogosphere by No Wife of Consequence. In her first three posts she has lamented about our adopted home state of Georgia and its marked lack of Italians, called me a retard because of my lack of musical knowledge, and bashed the US government for banning online poker. Stay tuned, it is only going to get better.

2. From the neck up - Another well written jump into the e-journaling medium by the better half of the esteemed author of People Places and Things that tend to Annoy me . She is honest and smart, two of the key ingredients of a good blog. Definitely check her out.

3. Why don't we get drunk and blog? The guy is funny. There is no getting around it. He also posts often, which more than I can say for myself these days. I have made him a twice daily check in because I usually laugh each time I pop on over there.

I terms of my literary pursuits, I don't usually have a lot of time to read. However, the last business book I read, Blue Ocean Strategy is the best thing I have read in a long time. It is uniquely presented with real world examples of marketing success. I am not in the marketing field, but anyone with even a passing interest in business will appreciate it's cerebral insights and case studies.

What are you reading?

_____________________________________

What am I listening to aside from Sirius Satellite Radio?

I am not one to write much about music, save for how little I know about it or how I don't have as much an apreciation for it as a lot of people I know. However, after reading about this Israeli rapper named Subliminal, I asked NoWife to download a bunch of his stuff onto my MP3 player. My ability to speak Hebrew has atrophied to the point where I can barely understand a word here or there, but there is no mistaking the guy is talented. I have absolutely enjoyed listening to his stuff over the last couple of weeks. Check out his website. It is hip hop mixed with this middle eastern sitar flavor and I think it is awesome. The website has two tracks embedded in it. You can get a sample, just by navigating over there. There is some bad language in English, so I wouldn't do it at work or around children.

What are you listening to?

No 1 of Consequence

Democracy - Rest in Peace

I read this article today. If you don't have time to look at it, the short version is that despite a lot of raw polling data that says the republican party is in trouble come the mid term elections in a few weeks President George Bush and his minion Karl Rove are bopping around Washington inexplicably upbeat. They don't believe they will lose the house and although statistics indicate that as many as 25 house races are in jeopardy for the GOP the evil dynamic duo are laughing it up.

Why?

Good question. The answer could very well be that the races have been pre determined with the republican candidates coming up victorious.

I am not a conspiracy theorist. There is some hinky stuff going on with our electoral system lately and NO ONE is really talking about it.

No Wife of Consequence hates when I link to things in my blog but I emplore you to read this Rolling Stone article by Robert F Kennedy Jr. Your first question should be why are articles like this in Rolling Stone and not in, you know, Time, Newsweek, USA Today... mainstream press?

Our press has failed us in very much the same way our government has failed us. The sheer vastness of the failure is what makes it so daunting. The United States of America is as much an idea as it is anything else. A government, by of and for the people that was once within our reach is now a distant memory. The idea of this country has become a distorted mess cloaked in false patriotism, religious fundementalism, greed, and outright lunacy.

Why wouldn't the press of this country seize on the massive voter irregularities in Ohio in 2004 and if nothing else drive the government to investigate itself? Wait a minute, the government did investigate itself. This 107 page report from the GAO confirms massive voter fraud in 2004. Our own government's oversight office, stepping up and saying, "Hey, umm, the guy who is in the White House, technically, not the president."

In general the people who read this site are well informed and intelligent. How come nothing happened? Our country, for lack of a better term, suffered a coup d'etat and collectively the people and press shrugged their shoulders and said, "oh well."

Where is the action? Where is the outrage? Where is the press, defender of the people? These stories are relegated to "free press" internet sites and magazines few people read. One of the fundamental organizing principals of the United States is the right to vote. That right was usurped in Florida in 2000, it was usurped in Ohio in 2004 and now, when things are looking bleak for the GOP, Pinky and the Brain are skipping around like nothing is wrong.

Are they going to screw this country again? Are they going to disenfranchise legitimate voters and fraudulently shift election results? Based on what I have read and the overwhelming evidence in support of that hypothesis I say they are.

Will anyone stand up? Will our press or any of the men and women with the power to do so that have sworn an oath to The Constitution of this nation step forward and act to protect the people. Will they protect our right to vote, our quintessential freedom? I don't think they will.

Democracy, if not dead in the United States, withers before our eyes.

No 1 of Consequence

SuperTeam, no more

For all of my lamenting as a sad sack Jets fan, I also have the pleasure of rooting for the New York Yankees in the baseball world. My Yankees fandom started early in the 70's. For some reason my father, a lifelong National League fan, began putting the games on for me on my transistor radio. Many nights of my youth were spent listening to Phil Rizzuto give the play by play as Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles, Mickey Rivers, Reggie Jackson etc, went to the World Series in 1977 and 1978. I was imprinted with the pinstripes at that time and my love of them has never waned.

There have been some lean times. 1982 to 1993 were awful. The Yankees were a pathetic mess. 1994 was ashame because they Yankees were awesome and were on a collision course with the juggernaut Indians in the playoffs. Also, the Montreal Expos had the best record in the National League before the strike and I was very excited for their long suffering fans. 1995 marked the Yankees return to the playoffs and I was lucky enough to witness one of the greatest playoff games of all time which included Don Mattingly's only postseason homerun and a game winning home run by Jim Leyritz in the bottom of the 15th inning. The Yankees ended up losing to the Mariners because Randy Johnson was an assasin and Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey Junior were absolutely unstoppable, but there was no denying that Yankees were back. The return to glory was imminent.

Joe Torre took over the team in 1996 and the Yankees won the World Series. A fresh faced Derek Jeter was the rookie of the year and it was like Camelot for Yankee fans. 3 more World Series championships followed in 4 years and it was an embarrassment of riches. The New York Yankees were the kings of baseball and all was right with the world as far as me and baseball were concerned.

Yesterday the New York Yankees completed yet another series in which they choked very hard against an opponent they should have dispatched. I am not going in to a deep analysis of the series, but there is no way they should have lost to that Tigers team. The Yankee pitching imploded and their vaunted bats went silent. It has happened to them far too often in recent years at critical times. We have become the Atlanta Braves of the American League and the Yankees need to be fixed.

The Yankees manager in 1995 was Buck Showalter. In 1996 Joe Torre took over and the Yankees got over the hump to win the World Series. 10 years later, with a heavy heart, I think the Yankees have no choice but to part with Joe Torre. There are rumors Lou Pinella would replace Torre and while I don't think he is a great choice, there are worse ones. His personality is almost the diametric opposite of Torre's and I think the Yankees need a kick in the ass.

I am going to try and put together a "Fixing the Yankees" series of posts, but work is as insane as ever and I don't know how much time I am going to have to write.

No 1 of Consequence

The unbearable lightness of being a Jets fan

The Jets lost to the Colts this week in a game that could only be described as exciting. After falling behind early the Jets charged back and tied the game and then held the lead multiple times in the second half before losing in the final moments because Peyton Manning is clutch during the NFL regular season and the Jets just aren't that good.

Here is what makes being a Jets fan so difficult. At no time during the game did anyone who truly understands the Jets think they were going to win. Yet, at various points during the game, glimmers of hope arose in even the most jaded and cynical Jets fans. (Me and my brother for those keeping score at home) In the end our hearts were broken, yet again.

There was a crucial situation. The Jets had the ball near the Colts goal line. They didn't get it in and soon it is 4th and goal. Eric Mangini, the Jets young head coach decides to go for it on fourth down instead of kicking a chip shot field goal to take the lead. They failed. At the time I thought it was a bad move, but as No Brother pointed out to me that wasn't the turning point of the game. The turning point took place late in the 4th quarter when the Jets defense failed to stop Manning and the Colts offense on two consecutive drives despite yeoman performances by the Jets offense and special teams to retake the lead in critical situations.

At one point in the second half when the Jets took the lead my phone rang. (My phone rings about 20 times a game and 18 of those times NoBrotherofConsequence is on the other end of the line. The other two times are usually telemarketers who get an earful. I have even considered learning Hindi so I can annoy these people in their native language, but that is a different post for a different day) My brother starts to say that if the Jets win this game they would be 3-1 and could really be considered a playoff contender. I stop him mid sentence because it is midway through the 3rd quarter and I can't even fathom such an event and even if it were true saying it outloud isn't something you want to do. Football karma can be a difficult thing to navigate.

When the Jets special teams ran a kick back late in the 4th my phone rang again. All I could say after looking at the clock was that there was too much time left and Manning would beat us. There was and he did. It is the lot of being a Jets fan. Not only do you have very little hope of victory you can almost script your own doom before it takes place.

I remember going to see the Jets play the Patriots with my father some years ago. The Jets jumped out to a huge lead, 21-0 in the first half.

At halftime I turned to my dad and said, "Can you believe this?"

He laughed and said, "They have us right where they want us."

Of course, they did, and the Jets blew the game.

J - E - T - S

JETS
JETS
JETS

No 1 of Consequence

American Airlines is anti-gay

Just read this. It is a story about how a flight attendant on an American Airlines flight instructed a gay couple that they were not allowed to kiss or touch each other on an airplane. The couple balked at the racist treatment. The crew threatened to divert the plane if they didn't stop complaining. That they threatened to divert the plane is total crap. Talk about a massive over reaction to what is a customer service problem. Racism disguised as security consciousness. I won't be flying American Airlines anytimes soon.

Have a pluralistic day,

No 1 of Consequence

I guess Bob's wife wasn't that happy.

I just read this story about the CEO of the company that makes Enzyte being indicted for fraud. here is a blurb from the article if you dont have time to read the whole thing.

A federal indictment names Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, its owner and president, Steven Warshak, and five other individuals, including Warshak's mother, on charges that include conspiracy, money laundering, and mail, wire and bank fraud.

Is anyone surprised? Look, I understand that the public at large is gullible and what guy doesn't want a bigger schvantz, but come on. A pill that you can buy by calling an 800 number and giving your credit card is not going to make you a better lover. As a matter of fact if you were a good lover the size of your penis would not be especially important.

We men are pathetic creatures, truly.

No 1 of Consequence

As a Jew, I would like to thank Pope Benedict

If you haven't seen this nonsense, recently the Pope, when quoting a 14th century text, offended the world's Islamic population.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

The Pope enraged Muslims in a speech a week ago in Germany quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet Mohammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

Whoa doggy, talk about grabbing the tiger by the tail.

Why am I thanking the Pope today, you ask?

A reasonable question. I am thanking the Pope because he made history. For the first time in a LONG time Muslims may actually hate Catholics more than they hate Jews.

Have a pluralistic day.

No 1 of Consequence

Jeter for MVP

I recently had this discussion and thought I would migrate it here to the blog because I have zero time to write at the moment and I didn't want the blog to die. For you Yankee haters out there, this ones for you.

Should Jeter win the MVP, I don't know. I think there is a strong argument that there is an east coast bias in the voting and that is why he will probably win. If the Red Sox hadn't complete imploded as the Yankees ass raped them for 5 consecutive games the argument would be moot because the loveable David Ortiz would win hands down.
I will make a couple of arguments on Jeter's behalf because hey, he's da captain and all, plus I have had him on my fantasy baseball keeper league team for ten years.

First thing, he hits in the two slot, while Morneau and Dye (other legitimate candidates for the MVP) hit in RBI slots and Jeter is probably going to drive in over 100 runs. The last player to drive in 100 runs from the 2 slot is Derek Jeter, but the last guy to do it before that was Mike Devereaux in 1992. I think that should get him some bonus points.

2nd, in an era of musclebound guys jack the ball over the wall he consistently hits for a high average and is incredibly productive. If you look at the runs created stat which is (runs+rbi)- home runs you find that Derek Jeter is actually a more productive player than both Morneau and Dye. Morneau has 175 runs created, Dye has 167, and Jeter leads them both with 183.
Jeter is batting .396 with runners in scoring position. Morneau is hitting .333 w/risp. Dye is hitting .356.

Jeter leads in almost every key production staistic. Then you get to the intangibles. They are truly hard to quantify but I will give you an anecdotal example of leadership on the field.

A couple of weeks ago the Yankees were playing a double header against the Tigers and were down by two runs late. They scratched out a couple of hits and with one out they had runners on second and third and Jeter came up to the plate. He scorched the first pitch down the line and drove in both runs to tie the game. Jeter ended up on second.

A-Rod came up and this was right in the middle of him forgetting he was A-Rod and having a period of time where he thought he was Alex Karras. Every time he came up to the plate he would be looking for Webster and totally forgot how to hit for about 6 weeks.

Jeter stole third on the first pitch of A-Rod's at bat, giving his struggling lover & team mate the opportunity to drive in the go ahead run while still being completely incompetent at the plate. Pudge Rodriguez was the catcher at the time, only the most dangerous defensive catcher in my lifetime. (By the way, Jeter has 30+ stolen bases and neither Morneau or Dye are a factor on the basepaths) The inevitable dribbler to short followed the stolen base and Jeter scored on the out.

I can't define intangibles or leadership if you ask me to, but I know them when I see them. I am not saying Morneau and Dye don't have those same qualities, but I am saying that Jeter deserves to be in the discussion whether he wins the MVP or not.

No 1 of Consequence

Where have I been? Working my ass off motherf*****!

I have really wanted to post, but I have just been completely slammed at work. We are very close to a record month and it is incredibly busy. I was recently describing the upcoming situation to my staff and I said something to the effect of, "I am looking at the calendar here... and umm, yeah it is going to get busy next week and not slow down until June of 2007."

I absolutely have no time at all to post but then I saw this article. It is from the Shreveport Times. Apparently some black students were told to move to the back of their bus so some white students could sit up front. I read this. After I threw up I thought about it for a long time.

Racism is right there folks, bubbling under the surface in a lot of different places. Anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-immigrant hatred is boiling again in a lot of different places. Pat Buchanan has the top selling book on Amazon.com. Suddenly my gut is roiling again.

Real problems are not solved with reactionary responses and protectionist views. Our social problems and our economic problems will never get better unless we begin to look at them in a different way. One that isn't colored by hatred, ignorance, and petulance. We need a new social theory that is unifying, freeing, and collective.

I am going to paraphrase this quote because I can't seem to find it but Buckminster Fuller basically said this, "We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth much longer if we don't start to look at ourselves as one planet of people and our destiny as collective." Our ideology and strategy needs to be inclusive. It needs to be compassionate and it needs to start now.

No 1 of Consequence

Oh Canada

Victory.... ouch

Yesterday my company received the largest single project it has ever had to process. It is really more than we can handle, but my people are putting in a major effort to get it done. I am trying to help but upon my return from lunch yesterday I was afflicted with some of the worst lower back pain I have ever felt.

It has pretty much crippled me. Walking to the bathroom is an exercise in torture. I really need to spend a couple of days on my back resting, but I am so busy right now I can barely take a breath. I guess this is a good thing because breathing hurts.

Ugh!

No 1 of Consequence

Guess what, the Jets suck

You have to read this article by Dave Hutchinson of the Newark Star Ledger. My best man sent it to me a couple of nights ago and I wrote a really long post about it which blogger promptly ate. Essentially the article talks about how Curtis Martin told the Jets they needed to look at drafting a running back because his knee was a mess and he didn't know if he was going to be able to play this season.

As my loyal readers know, back in May I absolutely lambasted the Jets for not drafting LenDale White with their second round pick. If you read the Hutchinson article three things will become very clear. First, Curtis Martin is a gentleman, the likes of which we don't see often enough in this world. Second, the Jets are searching for a trade opportunity that would land them a starting running back for the coming season. The price of this running back will be a second round draft pick most likely. The same scond round draft pick they could have used to draft LenDale White. One of the opportunities they are considering is Chris Brown who is no longer Tennessee's starting running back. The reason he is no longer Tennessee's starting running back is because LENDALE MOTHER F***ING WHITE is Tennessee's starting running back.

The last thing that is eminently clear from this article is that I wasted 200+ dollars on the NFL Sunday ticket, yet again.

No 1 of Consequence

So busy... and then, not so busy

Work has been kicking my ass the last couple of weeks as we are ramping up for the fall and what will basically be the coming out party of my company on the national stage. My job is as exciting as ever and even though it has been frustrating for me the last couple of months I can still say with much delight that I have never awakened since taking this job with the thought that I didn't want to go to work. In this day in age, that is saying something. So, of course, when I came in this morning everything was so crashed I am going to have about 3 hours to kill. Maybe I should go to the DMV and get my license changed over from NJ to Georgia. I mean, it has only been a year.

No 1 of Consequence