Monthly Archives: December 2008

General, Uncategorized

Replacement Prognostication: Week 17

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So this will do it for the regular season.  I haven’t decided yet whether or not I will continue predicting for the playoffs.  Regardless, let me offer some reflections on this NFL year:

  • Never has one man’s profile dropped faster in my view than Brett Favre’s did late in summer.  It was a stark reminder, one more time, that the men who play these games are mere men (that is, they are but men; not mer-men, which would be something else altogether); none of them is made of anything more special than you or me.  Sure, they may be physically gifted, but I like to think everyone is gifted at something.  Certain gifts are just more profitable…
  • The Packers’ stock (not the ACTUAL Packers Stock, which has zero monetary value) has been dropping slowly since LAST December’s drubbing at Soldier Field.  Hopefully after this year, we’ll start pulling it back up again…
  • Despite the Dolphins resurgence, do not be fooled– not every single thing that Bill Parcells has ever touched turned to gold.
  • It has occurred to me that the Vikings only come up looking good on those occasions that the rest of their division utterly licked it.  Hence (if they get in), they will lose in the playoffs.  Again.
  • The mighty teams of the last 5 years have been taken down a peg, but no juggernaut has risen to replace them.  It could be an exciting and tough-to-predict postseason…

I am truly hoping for a return from Josh for the 2009 season, if for no other reason than his superior football-related wit.  Meanwhile, I have to be honest and say I had a pretty good record (a .660 percentage is fine no matter how you slice it), even though a number of these teams made it easy week to week with their ineptitude.

Going into the final weekend, a few of our weekly teams have something significant to play for, and some only have pride.  Some don’t even have that anymore.  No matter what, it’ll all be over in about 60 hours, so here are your predictions for this final Week 17.

SEASON RECORD: overall, 70-36; weeklies, 59-26; bonus picks, 11-10

  • Packers – win (oh please, let them not lose THIS game..)
  • Vikings – lose
  • Bears – win
  • Lions – lose (you can DOOOO it!!!!)
  • Chiefs – lose win lose win lose win lose
  • Seahawks – lose
  • Dolphins – win

BONUS PICKS!!!

  • Colts – win
  • Eagles – win
  • Ravens – lose
  • Chargers – lose

A Happy New Year to you all!

General, Uncategorized

This Is… [holiday] Comedy

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Last day of work in 2008.  Can’t tell you how nice it is that this is “Friday”– because yesterday was about the longest Monday in the history of the Gregorian calendar.  Tonight, despite the weather, Michelle and I are off to Madison to meet up with D-Slo and Andrea ((They got engaged, in case you missed it.)).

But yes, so: on the eve of Christmas Eve, I like to have our old friend Steve remind us once again that, while many holiday wishes will remain mere wishes, there’s no harm in dreaming.  Have a happy (and funny) and safe holiday…

Steve Martin – Five Wishes for Christmas ((transcript at whysanity.net))

If I had one wish that I could wish this holiday season, it would be that all the children to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace. If I had two wishes I could make this holiday season, the first would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing in the spirit of harmony and peace. And the second would be for 30 million dollars a month to be given to me, tax-free in a Swiss bank account. You know, if I had three wishes I could make this holiday season, the first, of course, would be for all the children of the world to get together and sing, the second would be for the 30 million dollars every month to me, and the third would be for encompassing power over every living being in the entire universe.

And if I had four wishes that I could make this holiday season, the first would be the crap about the kids definitely, the second would be for the 30 million, the third would be for all the power, and the fourth would be to set aside one month each year to have an extended 31-day orgasm, to be brought about slowly by Rosanna Arquette and that model Paulina-somebody, I can’t think of her name. Of course my lovely wife can come too and she’s behind me one hundred percent here, I guarantee it.

Wait a minute, maybe the sex thing should be the first wish, so if I made that the first wish, because it could all go boom tomorrow, then what do you got, y’know? No, no, the kids, the kids singing would be great, that would be nice. But wait a minute, who am I kidding? They’re not going to be able to get all those kids together. I mean, the logistics of the thing is impossible, more trouble than it’s worth! So — we reorganize! Here we go. First, the sex thing. We go with that. Second, the money. No, we got with the power second, then the money. And then the kids. Oh wait, oh jeez, I forgot about revenge against my enemies! Okay, I need revenge against all my enemies, they should die like pigs in hell! That would be my fourth wish. And, of course, my fifth wish would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace. Thank you everybody and Merry Christmas.

General, Uncategorized

Slow But Sudden

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I feel like I’ve had enough prep time for the holiday season, for the most part.  Have a few last-minute things to do, and Michelle has had to use my kitchen for cookie baking while her oven is on the fritz, but I’m not too stressed.

Work is going to the slow for the next couple days, and I definitely have no complaints there; might get some miscellaneous personal stuff done…

Over the weekend, our Bock fam Christmas at Jen and Joe’s was nice; the turducken was good for dinner, Uncle Bob bought me and Joe some cigars, I made a quarter or so at Sheepshead, and the Mark-Bock-fam kicked butt @ Guitar Hero.

Hope you all have a relaxing holiday, and if you’re around, we’ll see you soon!

General, Uncategorized

Replacement Prognostication: Week 16

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Well, the Packers are out of it.  I don’t *think* that I was what jinxed them ((Since I declared that they could conceivably run the table in Week 12, they have not won a game.)), but one can’t know for sure.  From here on out, for reasons that I outlined last week, I will be rooting for the Jets.

Let’s get this party started and rock out on Week 16.

SEASON RECORD: overall, 63-34; weeklies, 55-25; bonus picks, 8-9

  • Packers – lose
  • Bears – win
  • Vikings – lose
  • Lions – lose
  • Chiefs – lose
  • Seahawks – lose
  • Dolphins – win

BONUS PICKS!!!

  • Cowboys – win
  • Titans – win
  • Patriots – win
  • Giants – win

Hey– have yourself a merry little Christmas.

"Roll Your Own", General, Uncategorized

Fun With Sounds

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I think it’s fair to say that Dave and I try to maintain a modicum of weirdness non-normalcy uniqueness in our lives.  We were talking a little this morning about how I’ve updated the ringer on my phone to a naval general alarm you might hear on a surface vessel, and he was planning to use the “Cliff Hangers” song from the Price Is Right on his.  Then Dave struck gold on the UTubes!

"Roll Your Own", General, Uncategorized

Busted Stuff

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Kinda funny that it was just last week when I wrote about how satisfied I’ve been with WordPress this year, then over the last couple days, I’ve been frustrated with upgrading to version 2.7.

I should clarify: the software itself works great.  The issues that I’m having are strictly related to plugins that I’m using.  I suppose certain compatibility and seamless upgrading are the trade-offs you have to make when you start using a lot of 3rd-party extensions.  I was willing to roll with the upgrade and let one of my less oft-used plugins remain broken until it’s updated, but I’ve discovered I actually have 2 ((twitter tools and the DB backup plugin)) that aren’t working quite right, so I rolled back to WordPress 2.6.5 for now ((This new footnote plugin I installed seems to work fine, though.)).  Not that it matters much to you, Dear Reader, as everything appears exactly the same on your end.  (But the blog is sort of for my notes, too.)

At work, I was supposed to have a “day off” from seeing students today, but one of my colleagues called in, so I’m filling the gap.  Might prevent me from getting the newest podcast (which we recorded over the weekend) up this afternoon, as I’d intended.  I definitely need to do that today, though, since the rest of my evenings are booked up this week.  Dave invited me to an event at EAA on Wednesday night, and Thursday is our office holiday party.

Time to get some working done…

General, Uncategorized

Something Completely Different

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I am not generally one to take cheap shots at people, especially here on the Internet.  But in case you risk missing it, take a look at this video of President Bush in Iraq over the weekend. I was really impressed with the way W ducked that first shoe. Just weird, and funny, and… I don’t know what else to say.

"Roll Your Own", General, Uncategorized

Satisfactory

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Not a bad Saturday, even if the rest of it goes to hell.

It’s a rare thing for me to set some goals of wrestling with technology and actually manage to knock them all out in less than a day.  When I got up this morning, I wanted to fix some busted plugins on the blog, maybe upgrade to WordPress 2.7, get my desktop machine with a freshly installed copy of Ubuntu 8.10 fully rokkin with all my favorite software, and also make that second display work just like anyone could expect on Windows.

Finished everything by about noon and still had plenty of time to do some prep for this evening’s podcast, AND create an “album cover” for the Last 80’s Rewind show.

Carry on, and make good on your Saturday…

Sports, Uncategorized

Common Denominator

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While I always revel in the struggles of the Dallas Cowboys (as a rule), when I read the story from ESPN about a locker room at odds with itself down in Big D, I have to shake my head a little in pity.

Correct me if I’m wrong on this, but Terrell Owens, while having had a statistically fantastic career, has never won the Super Bowl.  However, he has managed to eventually alienate or otherwise piss off every team he’s ever played for.  Fans or coaches can make excuses, but the bottom line is this: what does every quarterback that T.O. has complained about have in common?

firing from the hip since 2002