Adam has successfully won the holiday.
*golf clap*
Awesome.
Archive for October, 2008
We Have A Winner
Friday, October 31st, 2008Senators? Really?
Thursday, October 30th, 2008Apparently, the most pressing issue current facing the US Senate — despite the struggling economy, the upcoming election, and two wars — is the number of NFL games being shown to people outside the direct environs of a franchise city.
It’s this sort of idiocy that makes me want to vote for a wackjob like Bob Barr.
CNC
Thursday, October 30th, 2008This is how Real Men carve a pumpkin. Way better than those “can’t cut your child’s finger, nor can it cut pumpkin flesh!” devices of our childhood.
I can’t wait until I can buy CNC gear at Harbor Freight for fifty bucks. Chicago Power brand, indeed.
Chanel no. 4
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008I’ve got my new HDTV antenna, sitting in the box on my desk, fresh off of the FedEx truck. Naturally, channel 4 is back on Time Warner as of this morning, so I don’t really need it.
Awesome. I should have bought this thing a couple weeks ago. Everyone who missed CBS: You’re Welcome.
Naming Rights
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008Naming rights for buildings and rooms at the college used to be simple. For example, I work in the Wehle Technology Center; the guy who gave the money to renovate the building was named Richard Wehle. Last name, then the building purpose. Sort of like our dorms (Bosch Hall, Frisch Hall, Dugan Hall).
Then they started using full names and graduation years, as our Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center.
Now they’re using full names, families, and years: the Nelson D. Civello ’67 Family Financial Markets Lab.
I want to get something with our full names and years: The Matthew and Suzanne Gracie ’99 ’01 ’08 ’08 Computer Lab. Yeah, that’s got a nice ring to it. I’ll need a real big plaque, though. And probably another job to get that kind of money.
Walmart Growth
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008It’s not just _like_ a plague any more!
Stevens Convicted
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008Ted “Series of Tubes” Stevens, the senior Senator from the great state of Alaska, has been found guilty on seven counts of failure to report $250k in gifts from an oil company. He maintains that his wife handles all the money, and that he honestly believed that the $160k he spent was enough to convert his mountain cabin into a two story home with all the modern amenities.
I haven’t priced it out, but I would think it would cost more than that to have my house lifted with a crane and another floor built beneath it. Then again, I haven’t been a Senator for 40 years, so I still have some small grasp of how much things cost in the real world.
The best part of the story? There’s nothing in the Constitution barring a convicted felon from running for Senate, so he’s headed back to Alaska for his reelection bid. Of course, he won’t be able to vote for himself, but since he’s an absolute master of appropriations (on par with Byrd in WV), he’s wildly popular in his state. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins, even with this hanging over him.
This country is completely insane sometimes.
HD Addition
Monday, October 27th, 2008I ordered an HDHomerun and an amplified HDTV indoor antenna this morning to add to the tuners in my MythTV box; hopefully, if everything works as planned, I’ll be able to watch the local stations over-the-air including the local CBS affiliate that I can’t get from Time-Warner. It doesn’t look like that particular stalemate is ending any time soon, and I’m sick of having to go out to watch the AFC games on Sundays.
Besides, the same contract negotiations are coming up for ABC and NBC in the next few months; I’m sure the cable company will drop the ball on those, too. Might as well be prepared.
Thoughts on Bills/Dolphins
Sunday, October 26th, 2008I just came back from watching the excruciating 25-16 rout of the Bills at Miami. I had to watch it at my in-laws’ house, because Time Warner and Channel 4 (the local CBS affiliate) haven’t managed to end their ridiculous argument over broadcast rights and fees yet. Thankfully, Marge and Charlie have DirectTV.
A few quick thoughts:
- On a positive note, Dick Jauron got his contract extension today, before this fiasco of a game.
- I think Trent Edwards can kiss his “best fourth quarter quarterback” status goodbye.
- I know it isn’t happening often, but it seems like the three or four times a game that Jason Peters muffs a block are always the most critical plays. Like, for example, that safety in the fourth quarter where Porter just blew him off the line.
- We didn’t take as much damage from the “Wildcat” offense as some teams have, but it’s still amazing that the Dolphins line up a running back under center and we still can’t stop the obvious run play.
- I really hope that our D line is back for next game; by the end of this one, we were missing Schoebel, Stroud, and Kelsay. Not good at all.
- Terrence McGee rushed his return. He got burned, bad, on five or six critical plays; they should have benched him for McKelvin, Greer, or Corner in the first quarter.
- The Jets won today, and we lost to a team we should have beaten. Hopefully when they come to the Ralph next week the rebound will give us an edge.
- James Hardy seems to be coming along, although that missed catch down the left sideline was a real knucklehead play.
- So much for being along at the top of the AFC East; we’ve got the same record as the Pats now, since they beat the Rams in a close one. Looks like the meeting in two weeks could be a lot more important than anyone thought at the beginning of the season.
I’m now 43% (3/7) on my predictions from the beginning of the season, and the Bills are 5-2.
Robbery Gone Wrong
Sunday, October 26th, 2008Two nights ago, at about two in the morning, a fifteen year old on the city’s East Side tried to rob a man in the parking lot of a mini-mart at the corner of East Delevan and Grider streets. He pulled his hat down over his eyes, a bandanna over his face, and put a gun in the man’s face. If he’d been paying attention, he might have noticed that the chosen victim was wearing a police uniform under his coat; he was an officer who’d just come off duty and was getting something to eat at the mini-mart. He shot the would-be robber several times with his service weapon, killing him.
After the fact, it came out that the weapon was a BB gun, not a real handgun. And that the robber had a history of mental problems, including ADHD and “oppositional defiant disorder”. Naturally, the family is all crying about it now, saying that the officer shouldn’t have used deadly force, that their poor little snowflake was a good kid at heart. I can’t wait until the poverty pimps get their hands on this one, and start complaining about the Evil Police and their squashing of another promising young life, blah blah blah.
I’m not generally the reactionary type, really. I vote for the Green Party candidates, for crissake. But this little hoodlum got just what he deserved. If I was in the officer’s situation, with a masked man waving a gun in my face and demanding I empty my pockets, I would have done the same thing. Maybe the next idiot teenager will stop and think for a second before he tries to stick it to the man by robbing someone in a parking lot. And maybe the people in that neighborhood will realize that the reason they live in a crime-ridden dump is because they keep supporting the criminals and lashing out at the people trying to help.
(As a side note: “Oppositional Defiant Disorder”? Being a disrespectful, contemptuous lowlife is a “disorder” now? I’ve had my issues with authority, too, but it’s not a disability. I’m just abrasive.)