Reason #453243 I'm glad to live in Nashville..

Parking Rules Defied in South Boston
Parking, snow..
This story has all the elements that make me glad I live here in Nashville now

NewsFlash! Men put off Christmas Shopping!

Is this really news to anyone?

Merry Christmas!

Click here for a very special Christmas greeting, made especially for you...

Damn you, J.J. Abrams...

Damn you to Hell!

5 Golden Tuques!

Snow Drift!

Caught this note from our local newspaper tonight:

A half-inch of snow is expected to accumulate in and around Nashville, Boyd said.

Whoop!! Whoop!! Battlestations!! we may have a half inch of snow coming in tomorrow night! You think I'm joking? Read on:

Tennessee Department of Transportation and Metro Public Works crews are standing ready to spread salt and possibly brine on area roadways.

"Remember the Mitchell Report"

I can't put my finger on it, but something in all the coverage the last two days of the release of the Mitchell Report is missing. There's just something not there.
Maybe this article by Howard Bryant on ESPN.com gets at it..

By not addressing the statistics produced during more than a decade of drug use, Mitchell left his report open to the notion that the sensation produced by the names in the report is more important than the long-term implications of how this period in history is interpreted.

I've not really composed my thoughts on this coherently.. and I've only scratched the surface on all the material that's been produced in the wake of the report..

But here, in very brief, are my basic reservations:
1) Bryant uses the phrase more than a decade of drug use... Does everyone think the 'doping' in baseball started only in 1997 or so? Does no one remember how people were talking about Jose Canseco as early as 1987? Remember the Bash Brothers? We all knew what was happening in that A's clubhouse. Maybe it goes back even farther than that year, but I can't recall anyone with that much muscle mass in baseball prior to that time. This has been in baseball, and noticeably so, for two solid decades. Period.

2) so much focus on the Yankees and the Championships. Are they tainted? Undeniably. More tainted than EVERY RECORD BROKEN SINCE 1987? No way. Not even close.

No Geoff, here's to you...

Spent a little time tonight watching Nashville's own Geoff Smith do a live Christmas 'party', courtesy of Cali Lewis's GeekBriefTV.com uStream feed..
Good times.. a few songs.. a few toasts... and some "Friends in Low Places..."
Nice work, Geoff. We're looking forward to making it out some night to Geoff's bar here in town, The Big Bang.

Rack him!

Frank Caliendo appeared on Mike and Mike this morning and he had me crying I was laughing so hard as I was driving Aidan to school this morning.. bless ESPN for putting this video up on their site today..


Love the Jim Rome impression... they don't keep it in this clip, but as he was signing off, Caliendo went back into his Rome voice and said "That was a good job by you, better job by me.. Rack me!" Priceless.

Follow me to freedom!

While we're on the topic of favorite commercials..

"Like a lawnchair..."

I still love this commercial from FedEx.. ever have days like this in the office? Man, I do..

Silly Nashvillians

Memo to East Nashville--

You want to live in an urban environment. You're disdainful of the suburban Brentwood soccer moms.. you like to think of yourself as hardened city dwellers. "My house has a fire escape on it," you think to yourself. You're tougher than the average pansie Nashvillian. Plus, the coffee shops are better.

Well, I've got news for you: living in a city means living with noise. It means living with planes flying over your heads.

You don't want to live under a flight path? Move to Lebanon. We can't keep the planes flying over impoverish, swarthy Antioch forever. And hey, I lived in Antioch for 8 years, with planes flying over 7 and 8 times a day. I know how it is. And I know how it is to tune that kind of white city noise out.

East Nashville, being urban is about more than funky cafes and rot-iron encircled herb gardens. It's time to put on your big-city britches... Then again, there are plenty of good homes available in Lebanon.

"I smell an astronaut!"

Hey Manundso.. don't ask me why, but when I saw this, I thought of you...

So long, Donnie Baseball...

So the Yankees have selected Joe Girardi as their new manager over 1st Base Coach Tony Pena and Bench Coach Don Mattingly...
I had misgivings about the Yanks cutting Joe Torre loose..
but nothing about this whole scenario has affected me as much as this:
the thought of Don Mattingly in any uniform other than Yankee Pinstripes..

Because, apparently now that the job is Girardi's, Donnie Baseball has told the Yanks that he's gone as well.. and speculation seems to be that he'll follow Torre wherever he may land-- currently that would appear to be in the LA Dodgers dugout.

Don Mattingly a Dodger?

Mattingly was a boyhood hero for me, growing up. He was everything that was right and humble and work-a-day about baseball. Go out, put the bat on the ball, help your team win.

I realized a few days ago that I just couldn't support Mattingly for the manager's job. He's got no management experience at any level. And the last thing I'd want would be a Mattingly tenue to go down in flames... so Girardi seems like the right choice.. for right now..
But there's a big part of me that hopes that Mattingly will be back in a Yanks uniform before too long.. in some capacity.. and at some point, running the show from the dugout.

(Photo credit: NY Daily News)

LSB: Tim Brown Interview

Legends of South Bend, Aaron Taylor's fairly new Irish website, Aaron catches up with Tim Brown for a pretty good (and quick) interview... makes you feel good to be ND..

Forecast

The forecast for Pound, VA where I'll be for the weekend..

October Frenzy and ND Reflections after 6 weeks

October always seems to be such a crazy month for us. There always seems to be a trip or two, along with SleepyMama's birthday, Halloween.. it just gets crammed.. and this year's edition is no different.
We led off the month last weekend with a trip to Louisville-- second time back there in three weeks-- for an old college friend's wedding-- a costume wedding. Okay, so it was a costume reception-- we didn't actually get to attend the wedding, itself.. but that may have been a good thing.
As it is, the boys are now spoiled on weddings. The first time we have to dress them up for a formal occasion, they're going to ask why they couldn't wear their knight and pirate costumes again.
It was a great time, though-- I've posted a bunch of pictures here and we're really grateful to all our friends up in L'ville once again for a good time visiting and letting our kids barge in on their weekend plans.

This was, of course, the first ND game of the season I didn't get to see. Not because of the wedding.. we were finished and back at the hotel by halftime.. but ABC aired the Ohio State game instead-- wisely, I'm sorry to say.
And this would be the week that the Irish pull one out.
By all accounts (and according to the stats), the didn't move the ball very well on offense. But the defense was apparently tenacious and ferocious about getting to the ball and ripping it out.



Go D!

So the Irish have avoided all the most worst case scenarios people in the press were starting to throw around-- worst losing streak in school history (it was bad enough, anyway), could go 0-8, or worse yet, winless for the season.... so all that chatter can quiet down now and the team can get on with the business of putting things in place, building a team, growing and strengthening with experience.

Well, I'm likely to miss this weekend's game as well.
I'm heading up into the Smokies in southern Virginia for a weekend at a cabin up there to hang out with some of those same college friends from Louisville.. We'll have the modern conveniences, I believe.. but no internet or cell service.. so possibly no cable or satellite. We'll see. I'm packing some layerable clothes and a few six packs of beer and hitting the road on Friday.

Video-gate: is this for real?

Okay, I've had a little time to get away today-- the family and I all went down to my mom and dad's house in Murfreesboro for a little early celebration of my Dad's birthday.
The weather's cooler and it's really enjoyable to be outside these days, so we had a great afternoon out in the back yard, eating some pizza and some really good carrot cake (courtesy of my lovely, talented sister)...

So now I'm back home, watching the last few minutes of the New England-San Diego ballgame-- the Sunday Night Football matchup this week-- and of course, all the talk is about the Belichick Videotape scandal. I mean, there are some people who are really coming down on the Pats and Belichick. There's clearly some kind of Patriots-dynasty back-lash at work here. People are sick of the Patriots success (still hard to believe for those of us who remember all too clearly the decades of futility the Pats suffered through before 2001) and are seeming to revel in this recent fall from grace. More than that-- they're venomous, calling for the Commissioner to take draft picks, impose fines, and to suspend Belichick for as long as a year. I even heard one caller to a local show propose that the Pats should lose two home games next year.

All this seems to go a bit far.

I've not really had a chance to talk about this-- and I'm sure this will reflect poorly on my character to someone-- but I've got to wonder:
What's all the big deal about?

Okay, so now before anyone starts screaming at me-- you support cheating? Balco! Balco!-- let me explain a little.

1) if coaches don't assume that they're being watched, why do they cover their mouths with their play sheets? Heck, even coaches up in the box have been known to hide their mouths while they're talking.
2) if they don't assume they're being watched or that the opposing team is trying to steal their signals, then why do they have three or four different guys sending in the signals to the defense?

With all that subterfuge on the field, I guess I just assumed that teams were probably filming each other like crazy. At a minimum, I would have figured there'd be a few lipreader 'staff' stationed in the press box, armed with high-powered binoculars trained on various members of the opposing team coaching staff.

I mean, why not?

Week 3 Reflection

There's not much to say. No point in talking about the Michigan game. No sense in going over the tape. There's not one thing to be learned from it.
Coach, I think it's time for some Batting Practice

Bizarro World

This is hard to believe, but today I find myself rooting for Ohio State (against Willingham's Huskies) and Nebraska (against the Trojans)..

Inevitability

I guess this was inevitable-- Demetrius Jones enrolls at Northern Illinois
I truly do feel badly for this kid. With the state of our offensive line in the early going this season, he really never had a shot.
And now with Clausen seemingly entrenched in the QB spot (and with Dayne Crist on the way next year), it's just not a good time to be a third string QB at ND...

Cupcake Watch: Week 3

Her Loyal Sons has got it covered here..

Can you even call it a mixed metaphor?

Charles Woodson says "When the ship is sinking, you've just got to keep playing."

My, they do mint them some scholars at Michigan..

Something to keep in mind this week..

Week 2: Penn State

Just back from a brief weekend trip to Louisville to visit some old friends from college. Pretty wiped out tonight-- don't really have it in me to stay out of bed much longer, but just had to bring myself to review some of the Tivo 'film' of the ND-PSU game from yesterday.
Sometime during the first half of the game, while we were all at dinner at our friends house up inKentucky and I'd lost all track of what time it was-- I wasn't planning on tracking the game at all during the day yesterday and just enjoy the visit-- I got a text message from a guy I work with. It just said "Go Irish! I can't believe I just said that."
Now that I'm watching the game, I can see what he was talking about. Through much of the first half, the Irish look.. well.. they look okay. Not great. Not particularly powerful. The offense is clearly waaay behind the defense. But they look okay. Clausen is throwing and running with some confidence. Armando Allen is still fast-- though he's having some trouble with his footing. And the defense is playing with some intensity.
Of course, I know what happens. Promising as the offense may look, they still can't put together an extended drive. They go three-and-out ALL THE TIME... and that saps the intensity from the defense.. and pretty soon they can't staunch the onslaught any longer.

But hey.. the Walls interception looked good. The forced fumble on the ensuing PSU possession was a good sign as well.

O-line needs to get straightened out and fast. So many false starts. Discipline. Chemistry.

Okay.. I can't take any more. I'm going to bed.

Georgia Tech Reflections

Week 1 of the new Irish footbal season didn't go so well.
And yet, I don't feel so badly about the loss.

Going down 33-3 to Georgia Tech should sting... not that it doesn't. It'll sting more on Tuesday when I go into the office and face my Ga. Tech Alum boss.

But here are a few observations on the game.
1) Offensive line looks pretty bad. From my admittedly uneducated perspective, the Tech D-line looked at times like it was just pouring into the pocket.
2) Demetrius Jones didn't have a chance. As the running QB, he seemed like the logical choice, given the expected weakness of the o-line. But he just couldn't get settled back there. He put the ball on the ground a few times, got flushed and out of control repeatedly and didn't seem to be able to put anything together. At first he was able to get to he corner pretty quickly and make some yards.. but once Tech adjusted, it was all over for him.
3) Evan Sharpley looked pretty good at first. Pretty good zip on the ball in the first few series, and he was getting rid of the ball quickly-- at first. But again, once Tech adjusted, he got into trouble and started getting sacked.
4) Travis Thomas just looked slow. Period.
5) Armando Allen needs to start. He's F-A-S-T.
6) Jimmy Clausen didn't look like a freshman. He may not have been playing against the 1st-line Tech D. I don't care. He looked poised. And his arm appeared to be just fine.

With Armando Allen, John Carlson, and Jimmy Clausen, if they can put it all together this season, we could have some interesting games. But it's going to be tough to be an Irish fan this season. It's going to be some hard going. But the future certainly looks bright!

CupCake Watch, Week 1:
USC takes on Idaho.
Ohio State beats up on Youngstown State.
Penn State tunes it up against Florida International.
Michigan takes on Appalachian State... and loses. Oops!

Here come the Irish!

Oh boy.. I get chills listening to this (clipped from an event ND held as part of its latest capital campaign)

Sing along

Honestly now.. is there anything funnier (or cuter) than listening to my three-year-old, Bryce, singing to himself, fumbling through the lyrics to Bennie and the Jets?

More post-BarCamp Nashville chatter...

Working from home this morning, having some problems with my VPN, my email client, the works.... pretty frustrating...

Soooo, I'm reading through some more of the post-BarCamp blogger chatter.
I'm just a so-so personal blogger.. an IT guy with an English degree in his back pocket.. so I don't always feel 100% qualified in either the blogosfera or the coder communities, but feel like I've just got to say:

Everybody chill!

I'm really glad I went to BarCamp Nashville. I'm really glad that Dave and Marcus had the (truly) bright idea to put it all together.. to say nothing of all the long hours and hard work that went into making it all come together.

So I'm really glad I went. My eyes have been opened to some new possibilities. I feel engaged in something. I feel energized to get involved. Like I said, I've worked in IT in this town for 10 years.. and there were-- of the 500+ attendees at that thing-- 498 people I'd never met before.

But I'm also disappointed in myself. Disappointed that I didn't get even more out of it. That I couldn't stay longer, meet more people, do more than just make snarky Twitter comments along the way.

It was a great event. A great first BarCamp for Nashville... kicking something off. Who knows what it could lead to. Or what the next gathering could be like. And I'm sure everyone has lots of ideas for how to refine and improve on what's been done so far.

BarCamp Nashville Recap

Kate O offers a recap of the BarCampNashville over at Music City Bloggers complete with a BarCamp picture-- the first I've seen-- in which Manundso and I actually make an appearance..

Sleepover Success!

Just got back from picking Aidan up from his sleepover.. and it was quite a success!
Apparently the boys all stayed up until about 10:30, laughing and giggling... this after an evening of pizza, cake, and Zathura.. then woke up this morning around 7:30 for Donuts and orange juice (and a hail storm of Nerf darts being fired back and forth across Ms. Brooke's living room)..
And when we arrived and Aidan met us at the door, he was in tears.. but not for having spent the night away from home.. he was upset because we were there to pick him up.

The boy didn't want to go home.
Didn't. Want. To. Go. Home.

As my dad said this morning, the flood-gates have opened.

As for us.. last night, we went and caught the 7:10 Superbad (which was amazing!) while Bryce visited with his aunt. Then we all slept like logs.

Social Bookmarking

One of many great videos from Common Craft explaining somewhat technical concepts in easily received terms. Why can't more of my folks at work think like this?

BarCamp Nashville

Spent a few hours at BarCamp Nashville this afternoon-- it was very interesting... though I'm not sure it was so unconference as everyone likes to say.
And it was, as expected, very warm. That was very unconference. They cranked up the A/C at the Exit/In (also unconference), I'm sure, but it just wasn't enough...

Brought Manundso along with me and, while I don't think he got quite as geeked out as me, he enjoyed the first several presentations. Presentations were mostly good. Mitch Joel stole the show, hands down.

Lots of marketing-speak-- I'm a little conflicted about technology seminars that turn out to be all about sales. But nothing here was as slimy as what went on at Oracle AppsWorld in 2003, for instance (i.e. mock-turtles and chunky eyeglasses as far as the eye could see; and not an analyst or coder in the crowd).

I'm also a little bothered by how 'planted' in my seat I felt. I'd have liked to be able to get up, move around, mingle a bit.. but space was at a premium, we didn't really know anyone as an entrypoint, and there was no real 'networking' space available-- with the possible exception of the bar.

Not able to stay much longer, unfortunately... the beer has started flowing, judging by the Twitter feed, but SleepyMom and I are planning to see a movie tonight while Aidan is at a sleepover (his very FIRST!) and Bryce spends some quality time with his aunt..

So I'm cleaning up a bit around here and making some notes about all the local talent I've been exposed to today. This BarCamp experiences really has gotten my entrepreneurial juices going.. maybe it'll turn into something.

Some of the names to note:
Dave Delaney
Marcus Whitney
Jackson Miller
Mitch Joel
Chris Houchens (the very Cluetrain presentation)

One take-away from BarCamp that I think will be valuable-- I look forward to getting more plugged into the local group here. Having worked here for 10 years, I've managed to get to know quite a few people in the technology sector around town.

What opened my eyes this afternoon is that not a single one of them showed up. So who are all these other people? And where the hell have I been? I'm looking forward to getting to know-- and perhaps working with-- many of them in future.

Fried Day...

Have you heard? Temperatures here have been Crazy Eddie, INSANE!
A solid week of temps in the 100's.
Forcast for today called for 97.. but it was more like 107 downtown today..

And so tempers are flaring all over the place.. well, mostly with the boys.
As I type this, they're shouting at each other about something...
[pause for this mediation break]

Okay, I can take my referee hat back off..
Bryce just told me that he had a dream last night
Me: "A dream? really?" Bryce has never admitted to having a dream before.
Bryce: "Yeah a dream. And you know what? There was a Grinch, and he was eating me!"
And then.. just when I'd have expected him to seem upset about that, he smiled at me, shrugged his shoulders and said "Well, he wasn't a very nice Grinch"..

It's 8:30 right now.. and still 92 degrees outside...

Heading to BarCamp Nashville tomorrow..
Hoping for something interesting.. hoping to meet some cool people, network a little bit, and get some business-idea juices flowing.
But mostly I'm expecting to sweat. That's pretty much the only thing I can be sure of.
Sweat.

More on the Scooter..

Buster Olney's got a nice piece on Rizzuto here

And a couple more pictures, via the NYT..

Photo: Associated Press

Photo: Vincent Laforet/The New York Times

The Scooter has passed

Read this sad news just now:
Phil Rizzuto, Yankees Shortstop, Dies at 89

The likes of Casey Stengel and Howard Cosell both told him that he'd never make it... but he was everything about watching baseball for me as a kid growing up. Watching Yankee games has never been the same since Rizzuto left the press box...

Mac Geekery for the week...

Reading Gruber's Daring Fireball and catching up on some of the good stuff out of the August 7 Mac event.. and the mini-controversy that ensued as a result of some of the questions asked by reporters in the Q&A afterward... well, really the controversy is more the result of the zealous blogosphere, as pointed out by Jason Snell at MacWorld. All the same, here are some good links--

Snell's recap of the whole thing-- dubbed "Stickergate"
audio of the "Stickergate" question and answer
audio clip of Jobs talking about why Apple doesn't make cut-rate PCs

Baby Einstein takes a hit

Another study and more stern proclamations from the medical community about how detrimental Baby Einstein and other video entertainment can be for babies and their language development.
Based on our anecdotal evidence, of course, between Aidan and Bryce-- two of the most verbal kids we know-- along with the testimonials of our friends and neighbors, most all of whom have youngsters now who were raised with the Baby Einstein catalog of videos, this is pure hogwash. Heck, we've joked for years that, if it weren't for that Baby Mozart video-- 27 1/2 minutes of calm in the morning-- my wife would never have gotten a shower in Aidan's first year of life.

No baby under 2 should watch any video or television whatsoever. So say the good doctors. Apparently, they can all afford nannies.

Ooooh.. new Mac Stuff!

Was a long, engrossing day at work, and only at the tail end of the day did I get to do a little browsing and.. lo and behold, what did I find but a bunch of announcements from Apple! Oh, that's right, it is Tuesday, isn't it?

New iMacs.. all aluminum and glass enclosure.. they're beautiful!
and... finally finally-- a new iLife!

Watching the Announcement video off the Apple site..
Have to say, Steve is rather overusing the phrase "taking it to a whole new level"..

From Steve's description of iPhoto, it's going to be hard to avoid running out to the Apple store and buying the damn iLife '08 tomorrow!

Bye bye Balsilly...

A few short weeks ago, it was looking like the Nashville Predators were goners.
Jim Balsillie, Captain Canada, and his sneering attorney, Richard Rodier, were crouching over the team, apparently putting all the pieces in place to move the team to Hamilton or Waterloo Ontario.
They were even selling season tickets for the "Hamilton Predators" up there...
Meanwhile, Rodier was telling us, via local sports talk radio "to chill."

Well, thankfully, Nashville didn't chill. A number of local businessmen and media luminaries got together and started rallying the city to sell season tickets and whip up support for the team. Since the lock-out, paradoxically, while the team's prospects have been consistently improving-- the new CBA that came out of the lock-out has really, I think, been a great benefit to smaller market teams like the Preds-- the 'lost' season a few years ago really set back ticket sales... and we've never quite recovered.

Now, I could be called something of a hippocrite here. I'm not a season ticket-holder.. and in fact, it's been a few years at least since I last attended a match. But it just does my heart good to see the city rise up and take hold of this hockey franchise and really get behind it.

And now, the dream scenario-- local ownership-- what seemed like such a long-shot a few weeks ago has turned the corner and appears to have a real chance at success, with news today of a binding letter of intent.

Forgive me if I revel a little as we watch the Canadian media tuck its tail a bit and wander back home.

Inbox Zero

Great presentation by Merlin Mann at Google on how to manage high volume email.
Several lessons for me in there..




"Don't let your Blackberry turn into exploding cats."

File this under..

A little off-beat news for your Friday afternoon.
File this one under "Well, what were they expecting to have happen?"

"The guy behind the guy"

Nice line from "The Rock" yesterday:

Having top front line players can make you good, but you don't get great
until the the guy behind the guy could be better than the guy.

Isn't Vince Vaughn an Irish fan?

A new fear

Funny note from John Gruber on Twitter...

Once you own an iPhone, a squirt gun becomes something to be deeply feared.

"Rickey Needs a Raise"

Too funny, this little article from Page 2 at ESPN.com

Moment of Realization

Realization: I've almost completely stopped listening to podcasts since my poor old iPod went kaput a few weeks ago...
I guess I could sit in front of iTunes and listen... but really, who does that?

Summer Slumber

Forgive me this long respite from any meaningful posting... it's summer time and I'm spending as much time outside, by the pool, as I possibly can!
On a positive note, both boys have been sleeping SOUNDLY thanks to all this activity.
We spent 4th of July out at the pool, visiting with some neighbors.. then grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers and had a make-shift picnic with a couple of friends out in a shady spot on the lawn...
and then it was time to see some fireworks downtown-- from the comfort of my sister-in-law's downtown office building. Her's, unlike mine, at least has a parking lot attached, so we were able to drive into town, park, have a snack, and then wait for it to get dark and for the show to start.
About an hour before the display started, though, a couple of F-16s flew overhead and the sonic boom hit right over our heads... at which point, Bryce completely melted down-- understandable when you're three and it sounds like the sky is cracking open over your head.
So the boys spent the rest of the evening upstairs, watching for fireworks safely behind a window on the third floor.
Today was all about recovery, and then getting lots of work done in cleaning up/out the garage. And I think we were laregely successful. Picked up a few organizational elements-- a shelving unit and some bins-- and I think we've about got it now to where we should be able to at least park one car in our two-car garage... success is measured in small increments around here, folks.
Plans for tomorrow: the boys are back to their summer school, so more time by the pool me, I think.. then my sister-in-law is coming to babysit so we can go (hopefully) to a movie and maybe dinner.. a sleepydad can dream, can't he?
Kids are soundly asleep now... here's hoping that lasts through the night (again).

Dog Days of Summer-- time to start buying ND Gear...

My neighbors are probably sick of seeing me in my endless series of ND t-shirts...
Hey, it's not my fault they're just the best, most comfortable casual shirts I own!

Anyway, the guys at HerLoyalSons.com have a pretty hilarious 'book review' of the new ND Bookstore catalog that arrived a week or so ago.

Money quote:

The reader turns over the cover of Sideline, and, ah, yes, there he is. The
man of the hour. The hero of our story, who will guide us through the twists and
turns of the pages ahead: Charlie Weis, looking so fashionable in a navy
colored, 97/3 poly/spandex blend golf shirt with white sleeve trimmings. It’s a
shirt that says it’s wearer can have fun, but kick ass while doing so.

Nice work, Roger.

I'm as skeptical as the best of them about Clemens' return to the Yankees and what a 44 year old pitcher can do for a team floating around 10-games out of first place.
But today, I must say it was good to see Roger come in, give 6 reasonably solid innings for the win.. and capping a 5-game winning streak and pulling the Yanks within 2 games of 500... hard to believe the hole they're having to dig out of, but it's still early June. Very early.

Greetings from Memphis

Just a quick note-- I haven't posted here in a while; it's been a busy May.
On the road for a one-night trip to Memphis-- doing a site visit evaluating a vendor's technology in the morning, then hopefully heading back home by the early afternoon.

Tonight for dinner, a couple of co-workers and I went down to Beale Street and stopped in at a Cajun spot and had some good Jambalaya (admittedly, I'm no great critic when it comes to Cajun) and fried shrimp. And then we sat out on the sidewalk and took a sampling of some of the plentiful live music out in the cool late spring air.
It was breezy and cool out and was really the perfect night out. And just as I was beginning to reminisce about the Deeney wedding of a few years ago..

And then we saw two girls swap shirts.
No idea what that was about. Just two women on the sidewalk-- they'd been talking as part of this larger circle of people-- and all of a sudden they've each whipped off their shirt and are handing it to the other...

So how does that come up? "Hey, I've got this great idea.. I really like that shirt you've got on.."

"Humbled and grateful..."

This is a really nice reflection on Chris Zorich from Blue and Gold.

Congrats, Chris Zorich

Chris Zorich was the first football lineman I knew by name, coming up as a kid, watching those Irish teams of the late 80's. And he was such a MAN. Embodied all the traits of toughness and work ethic, combined with a human integrity that, I believe, set ND apart.
To say nothing of the pathos NDNation felt when news came out of how he returned home to his Chicago home following the bowl game (Orange?) to find his mother had passed away in her chair while watching her son on TV.

Zorich was the prototype.

We need more guys like him now.

And now he's in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Here's the press release from UND.com

Draft Afterwash

So Brady goes at #22 to the Browns. A great story, in the end, but excruciating to watch, even worse to live through, I'm sure.

Must Read story here by Peter King at Sports Illustrated about the whole sequence of events, through the eyes of Phil Savage, the Browns GM.




Money quote:

Savage showed some decency on draft weekend, when lying and deception is
often the norm. That's why I admire him more today than I did Friday; and I had a world of admiration for him before the draft, believe me.
"On Friday,'' he said, "I called [Quinn's agent] Tom Condon. I'd heard some stuff in the press that he might be negotiating with the Raiders for Brady to be picked at number one. And I had so much respect for Brady through this process. He's a great kid, and he's worked so hard, and he's done everything through the draft process
exactly the right way. I told Tom I didn't know if the Raiders were going to
take Brady or not, but I wanted to let him know that we'd decided not to take
him at number three; so if he was talking to the Raiders, he'd know he didn't
have us to fall back on.
"I'd heard Brady talk about having two dreams -- being the No. 1 pick, or playing for the Browns," Savage said. "And I didn't want to see his heart broken twice. We weren't going to take him, so I wanted Tom to be able to do whatever he could to get a deal done with Oakland, if that's what was happening.''
That's class right there.

Walking back from the office

A couple of the sites as I was leaving the office last night at about 8:40pm:

Legislative Plaza

The Capitol Building

The Quinn Spin

The Rock says this: Quinn is like Obi Wan Kenobi-- by striking him down, you only make him stronger. Money quote:

Here's the delicious irony: they've (the Quinn Spin group) made him more
popular and a bigger name than if they just ignored him. In the quest to harpoon
Quinn, they've given him an exponentially large platform proving his endorsement
worth and making him rich long before the draft and Quinn has shined in the
spotlight . In other words, all of that hard work to tear Quinn down has made
him so much bigger than he would have been to this point and actually created a
undercurrent of support for him.

Trend Watching: is Starbucks falling out of favor

Witness this Twitter post from John Gruber... it seems to echo a sentiment I've been hearing from various corners..
As an enjoyer of Starbucks-- I probably stop by there twice a week, at most-- and not someone who claims to be some kind of coffee afficianado-- but I know some who would make that claim for themselves... and they must think this is heresy. I'm not with them.

Starbucks is, for me, a good, if expensive, alternative to the pretty crappy office coffee that's brewed here at work.

Frankly, I'm hoping Dunkin' Donuts puts a location back in downtown...

Corwin Brown: A teacher and a student..

A nice piece here posted on Blue Gray Sky from a guy who attended the recent ND Coaches Clinic about Corwin Brown.

"Who you say you are: that's your philosophy; who we see on film: that's your identity."

The Landlord..

Macs making inroads in the corporate sphere

Came across this article on Digg.I've been developing this sense in recent months-- after seeing a few of the displays on the tradeshow floor at OracleWorld last year, and looking at companies like www.joyent.com.. not to mention all the developers I've worked with who have adopted Macs for their own work...Slowly, slowly.. things are changing...



read more | digg story

Calacanis Rants

Jason Calacanis has an interesting rant here about the evolution (or is it the extinction) of the newspaper trade..

Nice work here..

See here for Ryan Williams' secret to domestic tranquility.. nice work, Ryan.

Last Day of Sweetlessness

It's the Saturday before Easter.
Bryce says he wants Easter to be today. He wants to write the Pope.
"Dear Benedict... for the first time in 2000 years, what do you say we celebrate Easter on a Saturday?..."

So it's the last day of mandated sweetlessness for me.
Haven't looked back to see if I can quantify the affect this Lent has had, but I can tell you this.. although I've had the occasional craving for a bowl of ice cream, I haven't really missed the candy, donuts.. etc. The one hard moment of this whole experience was little Blaine's third birthday party across the street a few weeks ago. Big ole pieces of Lightning McQueen cake being passed around... Cake from Publix is so good and it was hard to pass up.

So here's what worries me: that I'll go back to my old habits. That one thing will lead to another and I'll be eating cookies and ice cream like I always used to. I'm down to ~240 (from somewhere in the mid-260's around the Holidays) and I think I've got something sustainable going here.

220 is the goal. 210 is the "stretch goal" (abhorrent corp-speech). How can I modify my approach to keep this up? Remains to be seen.

Pancakes this morning. Everyone's eaten their share but me. Now Bryce tells me I can "never ever eat [my] pancakes." What a coach.

Joe listens to Rap

Thinking about Prof O'Rourke a while ago took me back to O'Rourke's links on the ND page..and
this article he wrote about his son, Joe's musical taste. When I was around the O'Rourke house, Joe was a pre-schooler, if that-- so it's amusing to me now to read this.. but it's also just a nice piece of writing about being a Dad.. and it teaches me that there are plenty of challenges still ahead of me.. even once I can get my boys to sleep through the night.

43 Folders

Still up... banging away on my work laptop... so late now the thing is trying to phone home for whatever middle-of-the-night updates/eavesdropping data exchange it normally does, I suppose. Frigging thing keeps chiming in with a dialog box, complaining that it can't find it's desired network path...

Reading this note about Google Desktop from Merlin Mann on 43Folders.com does my heart good. It's so nice to read a tech pundit who can use the English Language-- has fun with it, even.


I can remember, during a seminar in graduate school--back in the bad old dial-up days of the mid-90's-- William O'Rourke lamenting the affect he perceived email to be having on the average American's already insufficient proofreading habits: "It's all too easy to just hit Send," he said.

And sadly, with the advent of text messaging, and all the ascii short-hand that all the kids seem to be doing these days [insert basic example here]-- and my own sad examples of often downright poor usage here in this space, I fear curmudgeonly O'Rourke was right.

So while I think my friend, Dr. Funkhole, could give him a run for his money, all the same, it's a refreshing read, whenever I get the chance.

Also-- the more I read from Merlin about Quicksilver, the more I think I may need to look into it.
The thing to do the last couple of days-- following Merlin and John Gruber's example-- has been to install the new Google Desktop for Mac OS X.
I've always thought, much as I like Google's other offerings, that Google Desktop didn't present itself as anything much better than what I already get with Spotlight on my Mac. Of course, on a Windows machine (like this work laptop-- which is STILL trying to phone home, BTW), a better, more intuitive local search utility is MOST desired. But on my Mac? Thanks, but I think I've already got that.
And the reviews so far from both these guys seem to bear that out.
In fact, Gruber's latest note is more severe:

I don't think I could cover all the bets that would be placed on "Uninstalls Google Desktop before it finishes indexing"

But as I said, Merlin's thing is QuickSilver-- and as he says in his note-- if you think you've got everything you need in Spotlight, you haven't been exposed enough to QS.
So put it on the list of things to consider...
after wiping the drive and a cleain reinstall..
which will come after I buy a new, 320+ gig external hard drive so I can store at least one complete image of the hard drive...
which will probably come sometime after Leopard is release...
which may not happen until after the June WWDC... hmmm....

Up late...

Up late tonight.
I had the kids tonight while SleepyMom went out with some of the other Moms in our neighborhood (BTW, every day I love our new neighborhood a little bit more!). The boys were good as gold-- although I wish we could get Bryce to eat more lately. Aidan must be going through a growth spurt, but Bryce seems to be in a lull.. based on his appetite.

So we ate dinner, the boys played, and then put them in bath and bed-- finally around 9:00. I fell asleep with them after storytime (Charlie and Lola and Where the Wild Things Are) and just woke up around midnight, around the time that she came home.

Tried to go back to sleep, but to no avail.. so here I am, reading more about:

• the EMI/DRM story
• Leo LaPorte left Twitter today-- something to do with concerns over the name? Conflict or confusion with his TWiT network of Podcasts? Strange move. But then again, I don't own any trademarks.
• Took a look at Jaiku and I'm just not digging it. Doesn't have the same old-school, clunky feel to it that Twitter does.

When Reporters Set the Agenda

See this note from Michael Gartenberg and then tell me if you still think there's no bias in the media.

(Hat Tip: Merlin Mann)

ND Student Ticket System to Change

According to this story in the Observer, They're putting the student ticket lottery system on-line.. students can register themselves, singly or in groups, and tickets will be distributed accordingly.

This is all well and good and is, I'm sure, a modest cost-savings for the University.
But it's a little sad to see that ND kids will no longer have to sit out on the sidewalk outside the JACC (or I guess they sit outside the Stadium these days), getting there at some unGodly early hour of the morning.. so that Lou Holtz can come out and deliver coffee and donuts... those were some good times waiting on line..

More Apple/EMI DRM Comment

John Gruber this morning, in response to an article by Bill Thompson of the BBC:

When you’re wrong, just admit it. It’s easy, and it adds, not detracts, to your credibility.

Gruber also links to this note by David Weiss making the point I was working toward yesterday so much more elegantly and succinctly.. I really need to get my writing chops back...

Apple has decided that the enormous moat it has in DRM is not as valuable as making customers feel unlimited by their technology....

So what of Buffet’s moats and competitive advantage analysis? I think it
still holds, it’s just that Apple’s sustainable competitive advantage is their
deep trust in the inherent value of their products and the experiences they
provide. Almost no one has that these days.

Is the wall coming down?

Great post here by John Gruber about the announcement by EMI that, beginning in May, they'll be selling DRM-free versions of their licensed music on iTunes.

$1.29 USD for drm-free music with twice the encoding quality. And full albums stay the same price. And iTunes offers upgrades of existing purchased music.

The cracks in the wall really started back in February when Jobs wrote his (maligned in some corners) position paper on DRM and posted it to the Apple website. There were lots of people (Cory Doctorow chief among them) who questioned Jobs' sincerity in that move-- surely this was just another way for apple to increase it's monopoly.

So much for that conspiracy theory. Doctorow doesn't seem to understand that if you make things easy and high-quality, people are willing to pay for that-- not everyone, but a large-enough segment of the population to run a thriving business on. Leave the pirates be-- as Jobs pointed out, for every DRM scheme, there will be a 12-year-old kid who can break it in under 30 minutes. But making music cheap and easily available and easily manageable, once purchased-- not limiting the number of times you can burn your own music to CD, or laborious 'authorization' processes for your different devices-- wipe away all of that and let people pay for their music, and then leave them alone... the services that allow this to happen will be the big winners... Hopefully, Apple continues on this course.

Battlestar Office-ica

Sleepydad West Si'ee comes thru with another Youtube Winner...

Ferrell and a Ninja

I don't think I've ever seen Will Ferrell actually back on his heels.. this guy takes the comic initiative right away from him and I don't think he ever quite gets it back...

Must See Youtube

Hat Tip to Daddy Galindo (a fellow SleepyDad on the West Coast) for pointing me toward this great piece of TV nostalgia..

Soggy SleepyDad Workfromhome Wednesday

Rainy today. Good soaking rain.
But a pretty pleasant, working-from-home, day all the same.
Watched Bryce this morning while Mama gave her class and met with some students.
A couple of the neighbor kids came over (Blaine and Madison-- both right about Bryce's age) for a few hours and they all played great together.. it was incredible. Admittedly, Blaine's nanny (yes, nanny-- though so far as I've seen she doesn't fly on an umbrella-- har har) came with them and kept a good eye on them.. but they all really were on good terms today, despite the ugly weather. Lunched on grapes, PB&J's, and American cheese.. then everyone went home and had a nap.. including Bryce and Daddy!

Outstanding!

The boys are both still pretty tired-- catching up (or I wish they would) on all the sleep they lost the last 5 days or so while we worked our way through the latest cough/sniffle/sneeze bug that made it's way through our house... the turn of season allergies are making sure that those sniffles stick around a while longer-- Bryce has developed quite a little cough; good thing he loves his cough medicine... but suffice it to say, it's been a series of pretty groggy mornings around here while the boys have been waking 2 or 3 times a night each for one reason or another...

And yeah, while you're wondering, I did actually get some work done during all this activity today-- had the laptop setup in the kitchen while the kids were playing upstairs and was actually able to get quite a bit done. Not such a bad gig.

Just finished watching Monday's 24 on TIVO.. this season is faultering, I'm afraid. Not even the addition of Rick(y) Schroder seems to be saving the day here... did anyone really think it would? Powers Booth's Vice President is becoming entirely too over the top. Monomaniacal to the point, I expect they'll reveal next week that he's got a peg leg and likes to walk the deck...

Similarly puzzled by the Battlestar Galactica season finale-- watched that on Sunday night. It was trippy.. unlike 24, I think the last couple of BSG's may have saved an otherwise terribly plodding and ponderous season.. and yet I'm still just not sure what to make of this "All Along the Watchtower" business... I want to like it. But I'm a little annoyed with this manipulation they're playing with Starbuck.... and the 'we're all cylons' contrivance seemed pretty forced...

Wheelie Ban

Oh Lord help us.. a wheelie ban..

Moment of Coolness: The Unit

I'm slowly making my way through Season Two of the Unit.
And, as much as I've been enjoying it-- I think I mentioned that it gives me enough of a cloak-and-dagger dose to keep me reasonably happy-- I've been worried about it. The writing can be pretty uneven in places... and some of the plot-lines (as well as some of the script-lines) surrounding the Unit wives can be pretty forgettable.

But tonight, watching episode 12-- the opening scene has our fearless leader, Jonas Blane (Dennis Haysbert is a bad bad man!), being ushered into an apparently secret meeting-- in a basement closet-- with a White House 'undersecretary'.

Then William H. Macy shows up and things really get interesting...
Macy arrives, Haysbert is surprised (as are we).. and a few moments later we learn Macy is taking a turn as the President in this episode...

This scene may have just saved this show for me...

it's all over

ZeFrank has ended his show-- The Show.
I caught onto a link to one of the episodes-- his rant about procrastination-- a month or two ago.. but I have to admit, I didn't recognize the thorough coolness of this thing ZeFrank was doing..

And now he's ended it.

Is this just a case of absence making the heart grow fonder? constraining supply to generate demand? Like Beanie Babies?

And then, as Crash Davis would say, he hit his dinger and then he hung 'em up.

Hey Manundso.. speaking of in-jokes.. this guy uses them perfectly.. creating a little in-community... his sportracers...

I guess I'll need a few more readers before I'll get sponsorships from whiskey distillers...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Ed Holden has this very nice picture of Guinness on his Blog

"Can I at least get a clean goodbye?"

Give a listen as Bill Gates gets pissy after an interviewer asks him about the "Hi I'm a PC" Mac ads...

Zeroes

Watched the latest episode of 'Heroes' with my wife on Tivo last night.
It was an especially dark episode as they come down toward the end of Season 1.. introduced Malcom McDowell as 'Mr. Linderman'-- doing his usual menacing.. and Sylar getting the best of Suresh.. and Peter?? Oooh Cliffhanger.. and a grim one at that.

When it was over, my wife, who'd never seen the show, looked at me and said "I hate you. I'm never watching another show with you again."

This morning, the kids on Digg.com reveal that this Youtube video was actually created by NBC... good marketing, if you ask me.. is NBC on the Cluetrain?

Shocking!

This story from CNN this morning:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Parents of an alleged teenage bank robbing duo said on
national television this week they couldn't comprehend how their daughters could
have, as police and surveillance tape suggest, giggled behind fashionable
sunglasses as they robbed a Bank of America branch last week.
There also was shock at Shooter Alley, a nude dance club outside Atlanta, where co-workers say Ashley Miller and Heather Johnston, both 19, worked the afternoon shift.

Well, that tells me just about everything I need to know.

umm.. okay, Bill..

Nashville is #1...

Yes, the Predators are best in the NHL.. and that's a big deal here.
But almost more significant is that, according to Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Nashville is their #1 pick for 'Smart Places to Live'...

the sun is up!

Daylight Savings Time cannot get here fast enough!
The boys are getting up these mornings with the early sun.. which means that at 5:30am, we're getting "but the sun is up! it's day-time now! time to get up!!"

Notes Toward a Unified Theory of the Internet, Part I

The other day on the TWIT podcast, Leo LaPorte and his crew were griping about how all the latest start-ups are cutting the vowels from their company names-- Flickr, loopt, SoonR, Tumblr, just to name a few. John C. Dvorak blamed Flickr for beginning this trend. He's not going back nearly far enough. Look to James Gleick's book, Faster-- the book with the thesis (published in 1999) that we're all so busy, we can't help but multi-task all the time.. attention spans are getting smaller and we're packing more and more activity into each day. And judging by the cover, we're all packing more and more consonants into our book jackets..

SleepyDad definitely concurs with that.. but I always attributed that to the birth of my kids and all the attendant chaos that came with them.

And since we all have to pack more and more into the same 24 hour day, what better to do than to join all the latest social networking sites-- social networking, that thing basically invented by the guys at Amazon with their user comments and recommendations features-- so enter DIGG, MySpace, Technorati, Facebook, etc, etc.

This is the stuff of Web 2.0.
Blogging, Podcasting, RSS feeds, Pipes, mash-ups. We all cease to be readers or receivers. Now we're all producers of content. Bloggers. Podcasters, Parentographers. (Hey, I've done all three of those.) Taking in information, re-formulating, recombining, and then republishing on our own sites and feeds. Three billion little broadcast stations spread out over the globe, chatting about.. about.. whatever's on our minds-- or whatever we're reading about, or whoever we're listening to... and don't worry, the irony's not lost on me. I'm right in there with them.. "Hey Leo Laporte was just talking about this.."

Enter Twitter.. this beautifully simplistic little social web app that asks an easy, and oddly compelling question: What are you doing right now? Why do I want to answer? Why did I sign up and start putting silly notes in there about the cereal I ate the other morning? Micro-blogging. Where do I think it's going? Where is any of this really going? (is there anyone out ther?) What is this thing really for?

The ClueTrain Manifesto guys (click here to read the book), said years ago (I can't believe how many now) that the internet is a marketplace of ideas-- a cacophanous conversation. So is it just enough to get your voice out there in the wilderness? To say, "Hey I'm here andd this is what I'm up to." Does it matter if anyone's reading, listening, subscribing, downloading, mashing-up, piping...

Maybe it will all add up to something. The internet becomes, at worst, a hive mind-- and endless series of Top Ten lists and 'most popular stories'-- at best, it's an incoherent stream of collective consciousness.

The power of Weis

Behold, the power of Weis-- talking about the passing drills he ran for Quinn during yesterday's pro-day 'with representatives from every NFL team in attendance':

''We put him through every throw that any NFL organization would want to see,'' Irish coach Charlie Weis said. ''Now they have enough information to make a critical evaluation, if they didn't have enough on tape already.''

When the man talks about what 'any NFL organization would want to see', does it not just carry such weight? Who wouldn't want to play for a guy who can give you that at the end of your college career?

Yazoo-hoo! "Defy Mediocrity"

Finally.... finally..
I have been trying to find my way to the Yazoo Taproom for more than a year now, but circumstances never seemed to conspire in my favor.

But finally, finally, I managed to coordinate getting a couple of co-workers (my boss and another colleague) to head over there after work on Friday.

And Yazoo did not disappoint.
The taproom is squeezed into a corner at one end of a massive Industrial Revolution-era brick factory-- the old Marathon Motors plant. Accomodations are modest-- this ain't some restaurant-- the place is only open for a few hours, three days a week. This is about the BEER! Room for about 5 tables, a bar to handle 6-7 patrons, and standing room for those who can't find a seat.

Enough about the decor
On tap, they had:

• Hefeweizen
• Amarillo Pale Ale
• Dos Perros
• Roggen
• Onward Stout

Of these, I had pints of the Hefe, Pale Ale, and the Roggen. Here are my notes:

• Hefe: pure, honey golden, cloudy goodness. Yeasty and smooth-- Based on a very unscientific, eavesdropping survey of patrons that afternoon, this clearly the most popular. They serve it with a lemon-- screw the 'Man-law commercial'.
• Pale Ale: Dark and rich, with that tart, hoppy flavor. Better than the bottled Yazoo that's available locally.
• Roggen: like the Pale Ale, but with the knobs on the Hoppy Ale flavor turned up a few clicks.. maybe a few too many. Not my favorite.

As for snacks, one of the guys at the table ordered up the Cows Milk sampler-- an assortment of cheeses, fruit, and bread, served with a sampling of 4 or 5 different brews. Again, this isn't a restaurant, and we weren't a group that was too concerned with how 'each cheese is matched to a different beer'. So while the cheese and bread was good, I'll make dinner plans next time I go.

Back to the beer. On the way out, I ordered up two growlers, one of the Onward Stout-- which will wait til next weekend to crack open-- and one of the Sly Rye Porter, a brew they had just added to the chalk-board menu while I was in line to pay. On Saturday night, good friend John (a fellow sleepydad) and I opened the Porter and I have to say, it may be the best of the bunch. Dark as the stout, but smooth and delicious.

Good Morning, Sun!

Well, when I brought the boys home yesterday evening from Mom and Dad's, they were both asleep. It was 5:30 and they'd had a full weekend of a) playing waaaaay past bedtime with friends on Saturday, and; b) eating breakfast, playing boardgames, throwing a ball in the backyard, and generally just having a grand time (as we do most Sundays) with Gramma and Grampa on Sunday.

So I figured-- let 'em sleep a bit. Figured, based on past experience, they'd probably wake up around 6:30pm or so, have something to eat, then want to read some stories and go back to bed.

Well, I'm some kind of fool, I guess, because not only did they not wake up-- they let me change them fully into PJs, in the dark, still snoozing away the whole time.. and they slept through, with a waking spell or two, straight through to 5:00 this morning.

My wife, who slept with them most of the early part of the night, got up and got them breakfast.. but by the time I got up at 6:00, Bryce had already had two breakfasts more or less, and was practically ready to go back to bed!

So suffice it to say, it was a long, busy, but fun weekend.. and far too early a Monday morning for any of us.

I am, I must say though, very grateful to my wife, SleepyMom, for letting me get that extra hour of sleep this morning.

The end of analog..

Interesting post on Engadget today about 'The beginning of the end of Analog TV'.

Got a chance to watch most of an episode of Firefly on our neighbor's gi-normous HDTV last night.. and I have to say, it got the wheels turning.

I've been in awe of HD before, obviously.. but it's never been so attainable.. and it's getting more so, by the week it seems. Samsung 42" Plasmas are going for $1200 or so..

Ahh, maybe next year..

Gym Stat

33 minutes on the eliptical this afternoon and down to 246.

Quinn is STRONG.

Wrapping up the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, and all the buzz around Brady Quinn has been negative. How the media does lash back. And so Quinn, to hear the pundits tell it, is dropping in the draft.. Kiper thinks he should be happy if he goes at 9.

If anyone doubts his competitiveness or just raw strength, though, they should pay heed to his performance on the bench-press on Sunday (from Eric Hansen's article in today's SBT):

He vowed he would leave the physical testing for later, but then Brady Quinn's
competitive juices got the best of him Sunday.

The former Notre Dame quarterback, who has yet to throw for pro scouts, gave them a little bit to chew on at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, ripping off 24 reps at 225 pounds in the bench press.

That's better than more than half the linebackers at the combine,
better than nine of the defensive linemen who lifted, better than top tight end
prospect Greg Olsen of Miami (originally in Quinn's recruiting class at ND),
better than offensive line teammates Ryan Harris (22) and Dan Santucci (23) and
just four fewer than Wisconsin offensive lineman Joe Thomas, the workout darling
of the combine to date.

Sweet-less, Day 7

I'm a little surprised, honestly. I never thought of myself as being one of those guys who ate a lot of sweets. But I'm finding-- and perhaps this is just a case of absence making the heart grow fonder-- that I'm really craving them. Or perhaps it's just that box of left-over Valentine's candy on top of the refrigerator being in plain view whenever I go to get the Gatorade and cheese for the boys.

Heading to the gym today, so we'll see where I weigh in. I was around 248-250 about a week or so. I'll be interested to see what happens over these next 6 weeks.

Sweet-less Lent, Day 3

Still hanging tough. Had a near miss with some m&m's lurking in a bag of trail mix at the office this afternoon, but managed to avert disaster on that one.

Ash Wednesday

Lent, Day 1 with no sweets. Not 10 minutes after getting back to the office from Mass, a co-worker offered me a Girl Scout Cookie. Oh, this is going to be much harder than I expected.

Memo to the Girl Scouts-- either deliver the cookies in January, or push back the shipment to sometime in late April. Every year, the cookies arrive right at the start of Lent. What's up with that?

Freakin' brilliant!

Every now and then, you come across something so simple, yet so smart..



courtesy of Lifehacker

Updates, Updates, Updates!

A few Sleepydad updates, since I haven't done any in a while, and some random notes:

First-- Snow Day! We got about an inch and a half of snow here at the house on Friday and both boys' schools were called off for the day, so we all stayed home and made a snowman out in the front yard. Here's a link to a slideshow of some pictures we took during the day.

Second, mine is the house of Pestilence! My wife and the boys have all been fighting one kind of bug or another for a week now. Aidan spiked a 103 degree fever on Sunday night, stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday, then Bryce started coming down with symptoms. Took them both to the doctor on Monday and they've both got raging ear infections... so it's a round of Amoxicillin for everyone! Now today, Aidan was sent home early from school-- the fever has returned. So it'll be back on the phone with the Ped tomorrow to see what they think the next step should be-- "Boys, remember not to leave the house without your surgical masks!"

Next, the Cold! It's been FREAKIN' cold here the last week or so. And given that I grew up far north of here, that's going some for me to say that. The thermometer may read 25 degrees, but I'm not always sure it's even that warm!

Yesterday was National Signing Day for College Football programs. The Irish got 18 signed commitments-- a great class, by any measure. But as always, it's always about the ones that got away: Aurelious Benn, Chris Little (the guy who's Mama told him to commit to ND after he verballed to FSU a few weeks ago-- the had a "conversion by the fax machine light" yesterday morning and decided to send his letter to Georgia), Greg Little... 11th hour de-commits. So Charlie's points of emphasis for next year's recruiting effort (which began this morning at 6am)-- focus on the meaning of the word 'Commitment'. In his press conference yesterday, he said "If they're looking, we're looking."

For any parents of young kids out there who might be reading this (heellllloooo?)-- found a pretty cool little website a week or so ago called Parentography.com. It only launched a couple of weeks ago, so it's low on content at the moment-- but the idea driving the site is one of those excellent "why the hell didn't I think of that" kind of ideas-- an online community/social networking site for parents to write reviews of local places that are good for their kids-- caregivers, schools, playgrounds, restaurants, the works. Users can also wrap those places up into 'excursions'-- linking different places into little sequences, as suggestions to other users for things like day-trips, etc. And they've got (right now) Yahoo maps running through an API displaying the lay of the land for all of the places on a map. I just think it's a great idea. But it's just in the offing now-- definitely at the 'get out of it only what you put into it' stage... but as more users sign on and start contributing content (hello-- I'm talking to you again, you parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, etc etc), I think it could become a really useful online tool for parents... plus it's just kind of fun to blog, in a way, through reviews about places to take the kiddos.

Next: TV. Ah yes, the guilty pleasure. It's the dead of winter, so it's a good time for TV.. and I'm definitely keeping my TIVO warmed up. Guilty pleasures of the moment include
24-- but of course! A few weeks ago, Islamic groups were protesting the content of the recently started season, arguing that the show was confirming all kinds of negative stereotypes about Muslims-- your basic Italian-American argument against the Sopranos. Haha, well, I wonder if we'll be hearing from those folks anymore now that the last two weeks' episodes have revealed (yet again!) that the real villains of the story are just rich white guys from Orange County-- members of Jack Bauer's family, in fact! As Fox rebutted in a statement a few weeks ago, we should not forget that

Over the past several seasons, the villains have included shadowy Anglo businessmen, Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and even the (Anglo-American) president of the United States...

to say nothing of "Day 2" when the blonde cutie from SoCal turned out to be the bad guy.

Other guilty TV pleasures include Battlestar Galactica (a decent 3rd season so far, but a bit plodding and ponderous), Boston Legal (also a bit of a meandering season, but still appointment television) and a new one-- The Unit. I've been lacking, it turns out, my quotient of spy-thriller recently and so far, of the two episodes I've seen so far, The Unit just might fit the bill for that. I'm going to slowly start working my way through Season One, hopefully this weekend.

And lastly-- Pooh! we have a reluctant guest in our midst-- a little kitty named Pooh. Brought here by my brother-in-law, Ross, Pooh's staying with us temporarily while Ross relocates to Austin. So far, Pooh and our 13-year old cranky tabby, Sylvie have NOT been getting along.. but in recent days, the war seems to have gone from hot to Cold... as in, cats issuing long, declaritive stares across great expanses of the house, with the occasional hissing and spitting... but no hairy furball fights of late. So we're taking it one day at a time.

Best of luck, Jeff

Best wishes to Jeff Samardzija in the Big Leagues next year-- he announced earlier this week that he'll play pro baseball exclusively from here on out, forsaking any chance of riding that projected first-round draft status into the NFL..

Well, remember this?

As expected..

So the press conference yesterday had one big unexpected announcement-- Darius is gone.

The announcement that was never made-- the one everyone was expecting, however-- was that Rick Minter, the Defensive Coordinator, is gone.

No word, no announcement about changes in the staff, nothing. Lots of rumors flying, lots of conjecture. But nothing concrete.

And then, all of a sudden, up pops the rumor-- supported by a published article in the South Bend Tribune, citing reliable sources, late this afternoon-- that Corwin Brown, secondary coach of the New York Jets, is about to be hired as the DC.

Wait a minute.. has Minter been fired yet?

Then I read this in the Daily News tonight--

Eric Mangini suffered six losses during the regular season, one in the playoffs and now he appears to be on the verge of suffering his first loss of the offseason.

Highly respected secondary coach Corwin Brown has interviewed for the defensive-coordinator vacancy at Notre Dame, the Daily News has learned. Nothing is official, but Brown is in South Bend, Ind., today - a strong indication that his hiring is imminent.

Brown, 36, who joined the Jets in 2004 as a member of Herm Edwards’ staff, did a terrific job with the Jets’ defensive backs, especially Kerry Rhodes. This had to be a tough decision for Brown, who is close to Mangini.

But Brown also has a relationship with Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis. Brown played for the Patriots and Jets from 1993 to 1998, when Weis was an assistant in those places.

Obviously, Weis is looking for a bright, young coach who can rebuild the Notre Dame defense, which allowed 41 points to Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl.

the Defensive Coordinator spot is vacant?
Have I missed something here?

That said, from everything I've read, if this hire happens, it's a good and exciting choice by coach Weis. Bright, young, aggressive coaches.

Rumor also has it that Ron Powlus will be promoted to Quarterbacks coach. Word is that young Powlus is a masterful recruiter.

With Darius departing and prospects for a down year next year, I guess we need a few developments like this to look forward to.

Carroll is gone!

You heard it here first.. or maybe second.
Pete Carroll is as good as gone. He's going to take the Miami job, I guaran-damn-tee it!

"I'm thrilled to be here," he said. "As I've been the whole time, I haven't
wavered. I know that being curious about it has helped me appreciate what we
have here.
"I absolutely expect to be here."

He's thrilled to be there, but...

"It was a major statement he made finding me out there," Carroll said regarding
the meeting. "In a situation where you have an alternative, it's worth finding
out what it is.
"This was the only time I've even thought about talking with
anybody [from the NFL]. Here's a situation where a guy would give a head coach
the opportunity to do anything he wanted to do. He's an awesome guy."

Huizenga is an awesome guy?
Oh, Carroll is so totally gone!

Done deal...

It's official.. Walker is gone...
But this line at the tail-end of the story on WNDU should have some ominous soundtrack playing behind it..

An NFL executive expressed surprise at Walker's decision saying that few,
if any, teams in the league had any idea that Walker was contemplating such a
move.

Is now the right time for Walker to be heading to the NFL?
Was last season really the best showcase of his talents??
Seems to me-- not like I'm an NFL scout or anything-- that Walker still has some learning and developing to do.
This all just seems a shade premature.
Is there something else going on here?

Walker to the NFL?

Well, now this was unexpected...

According to Jeff Jeffers, our old buddy (well, Galindo used to shout at him from the Student Section) at WNDU: NewsCenter 16’s Jeff Jeffers spoke to a source very close to Darius Walker.

“That source told me Darius will very likely test the NFL waters, and enter
April's draft,” Jeff Jeffers explains.

When news of a press conference being scheduled came out earlier this week, everyone in the ND Blogosphere naturally presumed (esp. since the Giants coaching deal appears to have sealed up) this would be the announcement of some coaching changes..
And those announcements may well be coming as well-- Jeffers makes reference to other items about the future of ND Football being on the agenda-- but now it appears the lead story may something different and considerably more surprising...

Press conference is at 4:00 ET...

Sour Grapes.. and renewed Playoff jibber-jabber..

Good post here from the Extra Point about the outcome of the National Championship game-- the most unlikely Florida blow-out. Just what I was wishing for-- though I have no great love for the Gators, of course. Any misgivings I have about them are far outweighed by my grave dislike for the Buckeyes...

He also makes some notes about how problematic this is for the promoters of the 'be-all end-all' Plus-One system.. and other easy fixes. So who exactly would Florida play in a Plus-one scenario? Well said.

Of course, I also throw the great elixir of the Playoff system into that category of 'Easy Fix'... it's so fashionable these days around college football to argue that a playoff system would cure all these ills. I'd disagree..

For one-- if not for the arguing, what would college football have? What would owners of sports bars do for money in the Fall?

For another-- everyone points to the NCAA basketball tournament.. does anyone actually watch regular season college basketball? and besides, college basketball is entirely too button-down, quiet, white-collar for my taste. I'll take no lesson from that sport on this question.

And finally, a distinction to draw-- are we looking for a champion? or are we looking for the best team? If we're looking for a champion-- well, by golly, the BCS gives us that. In fact, back when the Schedule Strength was a larger component of the calculation.. I think the BCS even came close to giving us the Best Team, as well. But is anyone going to argue that the 'best team' wins March Madness every year? Surely not. Any college football playoff would be rife with very familiar controversy-- arbitrary rankings, spiteful 'Top Ten teams' (albeit #'s 9 and 10) teams left out of the 'big dance'.. and of course, there's always the chance for game-changing officiating...

So what have we got?
Still the most compelling distraction for a Saturday afternoon in the Fall. So compelling, in fact, that I can't wait for next season to start.