Monthly Archives: December 2008

Sports, Uncategorized

Replacement Prognostication: Week 15

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Let’s call this the “Anxious-for-next-year-when-Schneider-will-be-back-to-doing-this” Edition.

The Packers are out of it.  Not technically speaking yet, but let’s cut through the crap, OK?  I read something in the Journal-Sentinel earlier today that said they had only held a lead for a total of like 8 minutes in the last 3 games.  Pitiful.  Meanwhile, the Vikings are on the verge of clinching the division, and with Gus Frerotte at quarterback.  Unbelieveable.

My apathy about the football season is rapidly spiraling out of control.  At this point, I am (sorry, Lorch) pulling for the Jets to do big things down the stretch, but not because I’m a Favre-zealot.  The further the Jets go in the playoffs, the better that draft pick is that Green Bay gets in exchange.  So here’s hoping we see a subway Super Bowl!!!

Outside the NFC North, the fates of our weekly predicted teams could hardly be less relevant.  Who would have thought the Miami frakkin Dolphins would have the best record in this group?  Anyway, enough pretending to care, here are your predictions for Week 15.

SEASON RECORD: 49-24, BONUS PICKS: 6-7

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

BONUS PICKS!!!

  • Falcons – lose
  • Jets – win
  • Ravens – lose
  • Giants – win

Have you ever heard of the Amero?  Sounds like a load of crap to me…

"Roll Your Own", Uncategorized

Swallow It

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In case anyone was curious, I thought I would offer an update on the issues I was having recently with a mandated switch to web-based mail at work.  To sum up: it means I have to give up Thunderbird as my mail client, and also choose a new RSS delivery system.  I ended up going with the Netvibes option after I discovered an easy way to import an .opml file that had feed information.

As I play around with netvibes a little more, I’m coming to realize that it really is a powerful and flexible system for aggregating syndicated web content.  I was previously using the bare minimum of options, and just checking out a few of the other possibilities helped me to think through still MORE content I could move to this page (beyond my RSS feeds).

If I discover anything exceptionally fantastical or noteworthy, I’ll probably let you know (even if you haven’t asked, because that’s what blogging is about).

"Roll Your Own", Uncategorized

Twelve Months In, All Good So Far

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It was about a year ago now that I started testing out a WordPress implementation of my blog.  For those of you who were with me in the aesthetically marginal days of tikiwiki (and the relatively abysmal incarnations that preceded that), I appreciate your willingness to “hang.”

I was reflecting on this change today, and I can say with certainty that it was the right move– I’ve been completely satisfied with this software, haven’t had any significant performance or data issues, and I was able to address all the things that were on my blog wishlist as I considered the switch, through a combination of updates to the software and the extensions that are available.

Also can’t believe that on the cusp of 2009, I am entering my 7th year of blogging.  Who the hell would’ve thought that this phemomenon would last that long?  Anyway, thanks again for your attention; here’s to another blogtastic year…

General, Uncategorized

Some Notes For Your Calendar

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So this weekend, Michelle and I will be at a shindig on Saturday evening, and we are planning to go skiing on Sunday (there were some free lift tickets being offered for Cascade Mountain).  December can get booked in a big fat hurry, so here are the dates that I already have plans for:

  • 12/13: “housewarming” party in Bayview
  • 12/14: Day ski trip to Cascade Mtn
  • 12/20: Bock family Christmas at the Mundschau’s
  • 12/23: Evening trip to Madison for visit w/ D-Slo & Dre, and/or others
  • 12/25: Christmas @ Mama Mia’s house
  • 12/27: Christmas @ Grandma’s house
  • 12/28: Abe’s baptism
  • 12/30: Dinner w/ some couples (Wordy & Jessica included) at the Safe House
  • 12/31: New Year’s Eve festivities

Packed, as usual!  If I missed something, or if you’d be interested in joining any of these events, give a holler…

Hollywood, lists, Uncategorized

The Time of Year For Lists

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Each December, children are asked to submit their lists for Santa Claus (some of these requests are made in more terrifying fashion than others), media outlets compile lists of just about any inane bit of information you can think of from the prior year, and we blissfully and innocuously debate the merits of each item on those lists.

Sunday night, I was out for dinner with Jen and Joe, and Jen commented that her top three TV shows, EVER– were Friends, Seinfeld, and Heroes. It was an off-the-cuff compilation, and I try never to be so rash in assessing my opinions; that’s part of my frustratingly tedious charm.  Here, submitted for your consideration, is my Top Ten All-Time List of TV Shows.  Period.

  1. Star Trek: The Next Generation
  2. Seinfeld
  3. The X-Files
  4. Star Trek
  5. Arrested Development
  6. The Office
  7. Cheers
  8. Alias
  9. Andy Richter Controls the Universe
  10. Quantum Leap
General, Uncategorized

Dodging That Bullet, To the Best of My Knowledge

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Caught ‘The Opinionator’ column in the NYT today, which talked a bit about the dilemma of Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau (not that Jon Favreau).  Apparently there were some unsavory photos of him on a social networking site, engaged in shennanegans with a cardboard cutout of Senator Hilary Clinton.

My point here is not to weigh in on the electronic vetting process of the upcoming administration, but to wave my flag one more time in favor of STAYING AWAY from Facebook.  Also, if you’ve ever been denied my personal blessing to put pictures of me on the Internet, this story is basically a gold-plated case study to justify my feelings on that.

To everyone under 25 years of age posting idiodic, drunken, stoned, naked picutres of yourself on the web: I know it doesn’t seem like this could ever be a bad idea right now, but believe me when I say that 10 years is going to grant you a tremendous amount of insight.  When I was your age (can’t believe I just invoked that phrase), we had only “hard copies” of those embarrassing photographic moments, and for the most part, they stayed in the trusted hands of friends and lovers.  It was a vastly superior arrangement.  If you can maintain control of those photos, all the better.

So, the next time you’re uploading pics from your phone to Flickr, you may want to step back for a second and think about whether or not you’d like your future spouse, boss, mother-in-law, or child to see that one of you sprawled out on the porch, spread eagle and barely conscious at the end your housewarming party.

Because I know I wouldn’t.  And so it’s not there.

Sports, Uncategorized

Replacement Prognostication, Week 14

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My home team has taken to disappointing me week in and week out.  The worst part about the situation in the NFC North (a scant 2 weeks after I boldly declared that the Pack would prevail in the end) is that the Vikings are the team in the lead.  Two major problems here: (1) the Packers have no games remaining against the Vikings (so they have to count on other teams to help them catch up), and (2) it’s the goddamned Vikings.  Man, I hate that team.  A lot.

It’s going to be tough for me to pick a post-season horse if Green Bay craps out.  One of our division rivals?  Please.  A team from the powerhouse NFC South?  Too easy.  The Fish?  That would be like admitting Lorch was right about something.  Brett and the Jets?  At least death by INT would feel familiar…

Anyway, “have at thee!” for Week 14.

SEASON RECORD: 45-22, BONUS PICKS: 5-4

  • Packers – win (seriously this time)
  • Bears – win
  • Vikings – win (bastards)
  • Lions – lose (bastards!)
  • Chiefs – lose
  • Seahawks – lose
  • Dolphins – lose

BONUS PICKS!!!

  • Falcons – win
  • Buccaneers – win
  • Eagles – lose
  • Ravens – win

Only 20 shopping days til Christmas, and just 71 until spring training opens.

General, Uncategorized

Another Unintended Milestone

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I have to be on campus tomorrow (Saturday) morning for a presentation; won’t take very long, but it’s an obligation, y’know?  So I’m getting ready for that, making sure I have the handouts I’ll need for the students, a copy of the presentation that I’m giving, the computer hardware and all that…

I set a list out on my desk and grab a handful of business cards to toss in the box, too.  I’m getting low on the ones in my tray on the desk, so I open the credenza behind me to pull some more out of the stash.

Shit.

I am very low on business cards.

…

I didn’t intend to stay here long enough to NEED a second box of business cards.

…

Time really flies.  And the more time that passes, the faster it goes.  Better go put in an order.

General, Uncategorized

No Worries Here

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I have occasionally picked up a story here or there over the last couple months referring to how Americans are really “cutting back” as a result of our fragile economy.  Y’know, they’re doing things like getting rid of their landlines or considering downgrading their cable package, or even *GASP* skipping the $30 bottles of wine and buying the $10 bottle.  Yeah, times are EXTRA tough…

Makes me glad that I live in an already pretty thrifty and economically conservative part of the country here in WI.  I’m not saying that no one around here has any problems, but I think there are probably a lot more folks in this state that were living within their means to begin with.  Makes these times of uncertainty a lot easier to stomach.

Nobody WANTS to see a global economic collapse, but if we as a society can weather this storm, I don’t see anything wrong with giving people who had to have everything at the moment that they wanted it a little wake-up call.