Things That Crack Me Up

Heading into the Labor Day weekend, I started thinking about some things and was wondering why some things are the way they are. And then I started thinking about the fact that many of these things just crack me up.



So, Things That Crack Me Up.....



The fact that we park on driveways and drive on parkways. Drive and Park are 2 totally different things!

Being Anti-Death Penalty and Pro-Choice. Isn't there a vastly huge fundamental difference between the 2?

Being a vegetarian but eating animal crackers. At least when I have a steak I am not biting the heads off, they're already chopped off and gone!!

Being Anti-Patriot Act but Pro-Gun Control. "My rights are being infringed, My rights are being infringed! Take away all the guns, take away all the guns!"

The Office. "QUESTION?! What is the funniest show on TV? FACT?! The Office"

Protestors that only protest in nice, warm weather. Nothing shows conviction and dedication more than being a fair weather fan.

Saturday Night Live. Yes the pickings of been slim, but they still do awesome parodies of pop culture.

Rules to blogging. I've already ranted on that here. But it has got to be one of the stupidest things I've heard of.

Watching Sports Bloopers. True poetic justice.

Being Anti-Church but Pro-Jesus. Didn't he command to go make disciples of all peoples? So where are the disciples to go from there? Oh that's right, he also said, "Upon this rock, I will build my church." Whew...clears that all up.

Deal or No Deal. Those people are idiots who get lucky. But I cannot stop looking at their train wreck. I love it when they turn down $90,000 and $125,000 and then have to take $1,000 because they chose their "lucky" number and it was disasterous. HAHA

Being Anti-Racist and listening to rap music. A huge, very huge double standard.

People who discredit country music, but you better listen to their crappy indy rock crap because it is true emotion and not selling out, even though all commercially liscensed art is selling out and these crappy artists are crappy narcissists wallowing in their own crap. ("But I resonate it with it!!". yeah and I resonate with the Redneck Yacht Club and I really resonate with Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy).


The fact you can be born with genes that make you prone to alochol and drugs and can decide to not want to be an alcoholic or drug addict, but if you are born with the genes that make you prone to homosexuality...you had no choice, you were born that way.



*Editor's note - The views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of My Perception, it's authors, it's editors, or any of it's sponsors.

Poetry

Overpay + Raise Taxes = Michigan (Democrats)

A couple of days ago the Mackinac Center for Public Policy issued "The Effects of Michigan's Prevailing Wage Law" study.

Guess what?

Construction unions don't like to hear that there's an interest in dumping the state's expensive and ineffective prevailing wage law because it forces them to be competitive in the market.

Marty Mulcathy, editor of the Building Tradesman, the publication of the Michigan Building and Construction Trade Council in Lansing, regurgitated the expected recently when the Mackinac Center reported that the state is speding (wasting) $250 million more than necessary because of the law.

"When you're paying $8 or $10 or $12 an hour, you don't know what skill level you're getting," he told The Detroit News. You may be paying the unionized people a little bit more but you're getting a more skilled worker."

A little bit more is a fallacy. Try three times as much, if not more than that. Also, let's apply his "skill" argument to the roads, as an example. Apparently all that skill hasn't helped keep the potholes from returning each year or entire stretches of road from crumbling (spare me the freeze and thaw cycle argument, lots of states suffer drastic weather changes).

This isn't about skill. It's about paying off the state's unions and Michigan can't afford to pay that premium.

And then to piggy back on that, there is this....

Dems apparently have plenty of discretionary income.

An analysis of zip codes that are the top sources of campaign loot: Dems hauled in $32 million compared to the GOP's $13.8 million. I thought the Dems were for the little guy?

Click here to read the article from USA Today. What you'll notice is, besides all the money that's enough to make you sick (on both sides)......

No Michigan zip in the top 50.

Why?

We're cheap. Or broke, given high taxes (both income and sales), to pay for all that "high skill" work.

I'll say it again - You really want government to run healthcare?

Really....

Oh Yeah!!

The best show in television returns in less than a month!!




And here is a recap of where we left off after last season



If you've never seen this show before, catch up while there's time and get ready to laugh every Thursday night.

Headlines - Democrats Perform Exorcism

Democrats have long said Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales were obstructionists (among other things) and much to blame for all that ails America. Now that they're gone, it would follow that the world will be a better place, right?

If not for those two guys, Dems and Republicans would be holding hands in Congress, right?

There'd be no need for spy programs and our enemies around the world would look upon us more kindly. Right?

Wrong.

But there are now two fewer excuses for the Dems so they can make those things happen. I await the change. It should be swift and fundamental...at least until another nemesis is identified.

The Last 5....(08.28.07)

The Last 5

.....songs played in shuffle mode on my mp3 player

• Dierks Bentley - What was I thinking
• Chris Tomlin - Indescribable
• Pearl Jam - State of Love and Trust
• Pearl Jam - In Hiding
• P.O.D - Boom

.....blog entries I read

• Final Thoughts on Eternal Punishment
• Might Need it Someday
• The Go-Away-Guy Award
• The Joys of Mini-Church
• Not Good News, but at least they won 16-0 last night

.....cards on the flop, turn, river Sunday night (I held Ace, Ace...he held 8, 3 off-suit...)

• Ace
• Eight
• Three
• Queen
• Eight

.....News Stories from the AP's "Odd News" category

• Doggie Paddle
• Wal-Mart and the Emu
• What a Hack!
• Deep Fried, Chocolate Covered, Roast Beef could be next.
• Skippi the Kangaroo

Do the Opposite in Full Effect - Fantasy Football Draft Results

Following my own advice, my draft could not have turned out much better than it did. If you remember in my previous post I made the claim that you do not need to take rb-rb (and maybe even rb again in the 3rd) to win fantasy football. After the first 3 big guns were off the board (LT, S-Jax, and LJ) take Peyton and go WR-WR in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. From round 4-8 draft all the "sleeper" backs and if one of those guys strikes it big...payday is yours. Too many "can't miss, must have in the first, second, or third round" running backs are a bust every year. While guys taken in the mid to late rounds (or not drafted at all) blow up and become top 10 producing backs. Meanwhile, the QB and WR positions stay consistent every year.

It's worked for me in the past, and I very confident it works for me this year.

Here are my draft picks in order taken (I had the 5th pick in a 10 team league, standard snake draft).

Peyton Manning
Torry Holt
Roy Williams
Thomas Jones
Adrian Peterson
Fred Taylor
Ladell Betts
Braylon Edwards
Jacksonville DST
Donte Stallworth
DeShaun Foster
Jake Delhomme
Randy McMichael
Devin Hester
Gostkowski (New England's kicker)

I'll roll most weeks

QB - Manning
WR - Holt
WR - Williams
RB - Jones
RB - Peterson
FLEX - Taylor
TE - McMichael
K - Gostkowski
DEF - Jaxville


And my depth is pretty amazing too....Braylon and Stallworth with a huge flyer on Devin Hester. Chicago is claiming he's going to start at WR this year, with as fast as he is, he could be a Lee Evans type guy. It's a flyer...big deal.

Ladell Betts and DeShaun Foster as backup RBs are solid 4th and 5th backs to have and in the past 2 years, have themselves put together quality seasons. When Portis gets hurt this year, Betts will step in and carry my team.

This could not have worked out better for me.

I'll try and provide updates as the season progresses.

Do Global Alarmist Cheer for Big Storms?

It didn't take long for the global warming alarmists to twist Hurricane Dean into their propaganda machine.

"The big picture is that global warming is putting hurricanes on steroids," writes Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. She goes on to warn the faithful that, as the oceans continue to warm in the decades ahead" (bold added) the storms will continue to get stronger than ever.

Any devestation and death incurred from natrural disaster is tragic not to be taken lightly.

But the alarmists predicted massive and numerous storms last year that never materialized and they blamed Katrina's destruction on climate change too (never mind the levee problems and people living below sea level). Hurricane Dean was a Category 5 storm off the Gulf Coast and slowed to a Category 1. It could have kicked back up, but scientists say it won't reach the intensity it had over the open waters.

Of course that's not important to those whose crusade is absolute. We'll wait to see what the next cause-and-effect relationship will be and there will be one, for sure.

Ethics, Morality and this whole terrible mess

Corey's recent posts (one, two, and so far just 3. I am sure there will be more so pay attention) and subsequent discussion with Gary (who can be very confusing) on ethics and morality has had me thinking all day yesterday and today. Most of us are aware of the problem in Darfur. My purpose on all this isn't political, it is philosophical. Please remember that if you choose to leave any comments. But I am going to try and tie them together. Because a discussion about ethics and morality and using sex, adultery, and dogs as the visuals (not all in one act...gross) doesn't cut it when our souls are in the balance.

You can read most of what is below in italics at the following link if you want to, but I have chose to have it here to keep you here.

******************************************

Sudan is the largest country in Africa, located just south of Egypt on the eastern edge of the Sahara desert. The country's major economic resource is oil. But, as in other developing countries with oil, this resource is not being developed for the benefit of the Sudanese people, but instead, for an elite few in the government and society. As much as 70 percent of Sudan's oil export revenues are used to finance the country's military.

Darfur, an area about the size of Texas, lies in western Sudan and borders Libya, Chad and the Central African Republic. It has only the most basic infrastructure or development. The approximately 6 million inhabitants of Darfur are among the poorest in Africa. They exist largely on either subsistence farming or nomadic herding. Even in good times, the Darfuri people face a very harsh and difficult life; these are not good times in Darfur.

The current crisis in Darfur began in 2003. After decades of neglect, drought, oppression and small-scale conflicts in Darfur, two rebel groups - the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - mounted a challenge to Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir. These groups represent agrarian farmers who are mostly non-Arab black African Muslims from a number of different tribes. President al-Bashir's response was brutal. In seeking to defeat the rebel movements, the Government of Sudan increased arms and support to local tribal and other militias, which have come to be known as the Janjaweed.[1] Their members are composed mostly of Arab black African Muslims[2] who herd cattle, camels, and other livestock. They have wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, and
systematically murdered, tortured, and raped hundreds of thousands of Darfurians. These attacks occur with the direct support of the Government of Sudan's armed forces.

No portion of Darfur's civilian population has been spared violence, murder, rape and torture. As one illustration of how Khartoum has waged its war, the Sudanese military paints many of its attack aircraft white - the same color as UN humanitarian aircraft - a violation of international humanitarian law. When a plane approaches, villagers do not know whether it is on a mission to help them, or to bomb them. Often, it has been the latter.

This scorched earth campaign by the Sudanese government against Darfur's sedentary farming population has, by direct violence, disease and starvation, already claimed as many as 400,000 lives. It has crossed over into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic. In all, about 2.3million Darfuris have fled their homes and communities and now reside in a network of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur, with at least 200,000 more living in refugee camps in Chad. These refugees and IDPs are completely dependent on the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations for their very livelihood - food, water, shelter, and health care.

Another 1 million Darfuris still live in their villages, under the constant threat of bombings, raids, murder, rape and torture. Their safety depends on the presence of the underfunded and undermanned African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, numbering just 7,400 troops and personnel. However, the so-called "AMIS" force, in Darfur since October 2004, lacks a civilian protection mandate as well as adequate means to do stop the violence; its sole mandate is to monitor and report ceasefire violations and it has done little more, due to its limited mandate but also because of its anemic capacity.

******************************************

It can be difficult to understand the fact that some place like this exists in the same world as Lincoln Park, MI. This situation and current state of affairs is absolutely terrible. Terrible, horrible, macbre, etc. Hundreds of thousands, probably millions dead. Whole familes gone, wiped out. Whole villages of women being raped, repeatedly. Maybe I misspoke myself, it isn't difficult to understand, it's impossible to process and comprehend that these actions are happening...probably right now! *Cold Shivers*

So how do you get your mind around that?

It's at that point that you begin to wonder to yourself about yourself. You can't comprehend it because you cannot find it within you to do something like that.

Can you?

In your thought process you ask yourself, "Am I capable of rape or murder or any of the other stuff going on over there?"

"No way! Nothing in me is capable of that. " Is most of us would repsond.

So what makes me/us different than them? After all, they are human and I am human. Why such the difference? Why am I better than them?

But, honestly, who is better?

See, if I say I am not better than them, then that makes me capable of those atrocities and would make me evil, but if I answer no, it would suggest I believe I am better evolved than some of them men in the Sudan. And then I would have some explaining to do.

So am I capable of those things? Are we all capable of those things?

How do you answer that?

How should we answer that and how we want to answer that are probably at opposite ends of the spectrum.

What it does is give credence to the ole fundamentalist Christian saying of a "sin nature." We're all born flawed and something inside of us is broken. It's easier to do bad things than good things. And there is something in that basic fact, some little clue to the meaning of the universe. But yet we all know people who do great things and appear to be actual living saints.

Regardless of our own "living saints", the flawed nature of our existence is everywhere.

Why do we have to train a child to not lie about cleaning up his toys or admitting when they break something? We have to be taught to be good, it doesn't come natural. But it doesn't stop at childhood. We get to adulthood and we have bosses and cops and judges. Without them there'd be anarchy. Complete anarchy.

Don't think so? Go back to the beginning of this post and read the intro again.

However, I was taught right from wrong as a child, and I am fairly confident I would be just fine without cops. But know this, I drive completely different when a cop is behind me than when there isn't.

And this sad fact is true. It is hard for us to admit we have a sin nature because we live in this system of checks and balances. If we get caught, we'll be punished. But that doesn't make us good people, it makes us subdued. Just think about the Congress and the Senate and the President (present leader probably excluded). The genius of the American system is not freedom; it is checks and balances. Nobody gets all the power. Everybody is watching everybody else.

It is as if the founding fathers knew, intrinsically, that the soul of man, unwatched is perverse. I wonder where they got the idea to begin with?

The Last 5...(08.21.07)

The Last 5

.....songs played in shuffle mode on my mp3 player

• Van Halen - Panama
• Counting Crows - Einstein on the Beach
• Jet - Roll Over DJ
• The White Stripes - Blue Orchid
• Toby Keith - Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue

.....coolest, brand new websites I have found in the last couple weeks that I really like visiting

• Wrestling Gone Wrong (Hilarious)
• Detroit Sports Rag (A bunch of idiots talking sports...idiots)
• KFAN AM 1130 (Only because it is fantasy football time)
• Heartland.org (I am warning you now...)
• Deadspin (been around awhile, but I've only discovered recently)

.....blog entries I read

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

.....teams left off the AP Top 25 Preseason College Football Rankings

• 26 - Missouri Tigers
• 27 - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
• 28 - Boston College Golden Eagles
• 29 - Oregon Ducks
• 30 - South Carolina Gamecocks

Political Funnies

Fantasy Football Draft Time - Do the Opposite

The mantra of Fantasy Football over the years has been RB-RB in the first 2 rounds of your draft. Well this year, unless you hold a top 3 or 4 pick, stop doing that. Stop being a clone. Zig when others are zagging. Do the Opposite!!

LT and S-Jax are the top 2 Rbs and top 2 players in all of Fantasy Football. After that, things are up in the air for the other RBs mentioned as "elite"

LJ - Contract, no other offensive threat, inferior o-line ravaged by injuries
Alexander - that majic age of 30 is upon him, the foot injury, and he lost his top o-line teammate
Gore - Broke his hand (Clinton Portis of this year)

So what if you grab one of those guys and what I mentioned above happens?

I hold that after LT, and S-Jax the next 4 RBs in no particluar order are:

Joe Addai
Rudi Johnson
Frank Gore
Willie Parker

But who is better than other? Will Rudi finally break down? Can Addai handle all the workload himself? Will the broken hand really affect Gore? Will other teams put 8 guys in the box and stop Willie Parker every game?

And then there is Peyton Manning. Year in and year out he performs. He still has Marvin and Reggie. A top o-line and you can chalk in a passing TD or 2 every week.

So you take Peyton in the 1st round. Rounds 2 and 3? Go elite WR.

Torry Holt
Marvin Harrison
Terrell Ownes
Chad Johnson
Steve Smith
Marques Colston
Roy Williams
TJ Whosyourdaddy
Reggie Wayne
Javon Walker
Larry Fitzgerald
Anquan Boldin
even Antonio Gates

could and will all be available to you in rounds 2 and 3.

So you start with this

QB - Peyton
WR - Holt
WR - Boldin

BUT I HAVE NO RB!!!

So what! Big Deal!. You clean up everyone's "sleeper" rbs in rounds 4 - 8. Or, with so many Running Back by Committees (RBBC) nowadays you take the guy who is still left behind. Consider that the final 4 of last year in the NFL all employed the RBBC mode.

Indy - Addai and Rhodes
Bears - T. Jones and Ced Benson
Patriots - Dillon and Maroney
Saints - Reggie Bush and Deuce

All were serviceable and performed well enough to play on their own.

So, all you need is one of these guys to strike it big and you're already cleaning up at QB and both WR spots and now one of your running backs hits it big and you got 4 guys ROLLING every week.

Who'd stop you.

Think sleeper backs do not strike it big?

Consider this.

Maurice Jones Drew
Frank Gore
Joe Addai
Laurence Maroney
Marion Barber
Ladell Betts

They were all "sleeper" running backs last year (taken after the 3rd rounds or not drafted at all last year for most leagues) who struck it HUGE and became #1 backs.


Meanwhile

Clinton Portis
Lamont Jordan
Shaun Alexander
Edgerrin James
Warrick Dunn

were all backs that "had" to be taken in the first couple rounds last year that bombed out...BIG TIME.

So in rounds 4 - 8 you grab all the other running backs. And there are a laundry list of guys you can grab here:

Marshawn Lynch
Duece McAllister
Adrian Peterson
Thomas Jones
Brandon Jacobs
Deangleo Williams
Jerious Norwood
Julius Jones
Cadillac Williams

You'd probably be able to get any of these guys you want in the middle rounds and if one guy hits it big....I'll see you in December with the championship trophy, just as I have doen myself.

And, I can tell you from experience, you'll get mocked for taking the QB first and nearly laughed out of the draft if you go WR in the 1st round, and then laughed at again for the WR or QB in round 2, but then in round 3 when you take another WR and people start crapping the bed because they realize you cornered the market, they'll start reaching for their QBs and WRs and sometimes a real good RB falls to you in the 4th round.

2 years ago (2005) I got Rudi in the 4th round, last year (2006) I got Brian Westbrook in the 4th round.

This was after drafting Torry Holt and Steve Smith with my first 2 picks in 2005 and Marvin Harrison and Holt again with my first 2 picks last year (I held 9th pick in 2005 and 11th pick last year). In 2005 I grabbed Palmer in round 3 and last year Bulger in round 3. Manning was gone before I could get him every year...so I am hoping with the 5th pick this year I get him and continue by Do the Opposite strategy.

I'm telling you, Do the Opposite works. You just need the "sac" to do it.

DO THE OPPOSITE, I've employed it for 4 years now and never once regretted it.

Out of Thin Air - Sheer Genius

Click on the link below to watch a video from the newscast of Fox2 news here in Detroit. It's just a 3 minute or so video but it is pretty educational and kind of cool.

Click here to see it. I cannot find just the text form of this for you to read, so sorry that you have watch the video. But go do it and then come back here, or be like most people, ignore that, continue reading this post and then go watch the video if you want to after you read what I have to say.

Now this is pure genius. To quote the video, "amazing technology that is the wave of the future."

Electricity right out of the thin air, the most primitive of elements. Powering all the electricty your home could need.

But did you cacth that price:

$13,000 bucks. That's a lot. But it does pay for itself over time. It can lower your electric bill by 30% - 70% a month!!!

So an initial investment for long-term savings into the future.

Pretty basic, every month I'm saving money. I'm being more "green". I'm cutting edge and I'm a total idiot.

Do you realize how long it'll take to pay that thing off?

Most of us would probably have to finance a purchase like that. Which means interest and thus paying more than $13,000 for it. But it will save us 30% - 70% off our monthly electric bill.

Consider the following printout:

Are you serious! It would take over 22 years for someone with a $70/month electric bill to make back the $13,000! And that's assuming they get the maximum optimization out of the thing.

22 years?

22 years!?

22 YEARS!!!!

I'll be in my 50s, could be a great grandpa, could be looking at the 5th President since W and probably not living in the same home on the same half acre of land (half acres of land are readily available to all of us as it is, right) I would install it in.

This is the kind of crap that cracks me up about these environmental people. The sheer cost of a movement like this is absurd. You're going to pay $13,000 so that in 22 years you can say you start saving money and helped eliminate 0.000000000001% of a coal plants energy production?

Puh-lease

Also, this family, living in Monroe, MI gets their power from the Nuclear Powerplant located in South Michigan (Fermi). Not even from a coal factory. People in the big cities, where most of the supposed "death to the planet" is taking place couldn't even get one of these anyways. That's where the impact should be made if one needs to be made.

However, I am sure people will champion this cause and spread their fearmongering ways about the death of of our planet and expect us all to be drones and dish out $13,000 bucks for a high-tech windmill rather than feeding the poor or giving money to the my daughter so she can attend college and get her, for real, MRS. degree. Do not forget, they'll also bring the vehemence of the Crusaders when you start to poo-poo their ideology.

Wake me and waste my time when you've got something economical and hits home and addresses the real needs of the planet. Not a windmill for a farmhouse out in the country.

The Last 5... (08.14.07)

The Last 5

....songs played in shuffle mode on my mp3 player

• Soundgarden - Outshined
• Foo Fighters - All My Life
• Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You
• The Verve Pipe - Wonderful Waste
• Kenny Chesney - Keg in the Closet

....Jobs I held (including present day)

• Manager Network Analysis and Engineering - Insight Network Logistics, Auburn Hills, MI (02/05 - present)
• Operations Supervisor - DHL, Southfield, MI (02/02 - 02/05)
• Marketing Coordinator - Imperial Marketing, Southfield, MI (summer 2001)
• I do not even know the title I had but I worked at Gordon Foods in Gaylord, MI (summer 2000)
• Closing Manager - Little Caesars Gaylord, MI (04/96 - 08/99)

.... TV Programs TiVo'd

• Days of our Lives (NBC)
• Sportsworks on Fox 2
• The Wire Season 3, Episode 2
• So, You Think You Can Dance
• Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel

.... States Added to the Union

• Oklahoma (11/16/1907)...after both Dakota's and Utah...yikes
• New Mexico (01/06/1912)
• Arizona (02/14/1912)
• Alaska (01/03/1959)
• Hawaii (08/21/1959)

.... Blog Entries I read

• This one is good...really good
• This one not so good
• Nor is this one
• This is the last entry in a daily read for me
• As is this one (when it actually gets updated)
  

What the H?

Corey, where are you, I thought you'd be all over this one by now.

Do you believe in God now?


Rove is out

It'll Never Work

Injured David Beckham hasn’t managed to play in a game that counts yet, but he has already drawn criticism from the last guy ordained as the savior of American soccer. Pele, in a interview last week, warned Beckham about the glitz and glamour of off the field Los Angelas and called the Brit more of a “pop-star” than a “footballer.”

Actually, Pele, Beckham is more of a ghost than a pop-star. At least pop-stars at some point make a record. Beckham hasn’t even practiced yet. His wife is more visible than he is (unless she turns sideways). As for his impact on American fans? Oh, he’s had impact. He’s ticked them off. Why else would they have bought tickets to his 3 no-shows? It’s like going to the red carpet and seeing…carpet.

Every 5 years, people predict soccer could “take off” in America. Every five years, it doesn’t happen. Why? Because Americans don’t want to watch anything less than the best possible athletes. That’s why the USFL and Arena Football failed as TV sports, that’s why the CBA doesn’t have a TV contract, and that’s why ESPN2 doesn’t show minor league baseball every night.

Pro soccer can’t become a major American sport when 99.7% of the quality players play overseas. It’s a fact.

So what’s my silver lining? That people keep stupidly perpetrating the “every kid grows up playing soccer – those are the kids who become adults and who might buy tickets” argument. You know what else I did as a kid? I gave myself a Muslim name. I ate my own boogers. I seethed because Wile E. Coyote never caught the Road Runner. I checked my closet every night to make sure an evil clown wasn’t there. I left my baby teeth under my pillow because a fairy gave me money for them. None of these things has any correlation to my life now. The fact remains: Americans will never care that Beckham is playing soccer in a league of half-decent guys, just like English people wouldn’t care if they had a mediocre baseball league and the London team had A-Rod.

In time Beckham will actually kick a ball, but the circus has moved on. The NFL is around the corner and so is baseball pennant chases. And soccer elitist will once again have this lesson slapped across their black and white checkered cheeks: Just because the rest of the world loves it, doesn’t mean we have to.

But here is a tip for the next guy you want to hand $250 million to as the savior – make sure his ankles are healthy you’re putting a lot of weight on those babies.

The Last 5.....(08.07.07)

Everyone is into lists and random musings and whatever comes to their mind and then putting the daily munitia of their life on their blog, so here is my turn.

So I introduce:

The Last 5

....songs played in shuffle mode on my mp3

• John Cougar Mellencamp - Rockin' in the USA
• P.O.D. - Boom
• Sublime - Wrong Way
• Collective Soul - Gel
• David Crowder Band - There is No One Like You (Live)

....books I read

• The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
• Samson and the Pirate Monks - Nate Larkin
• Safely Home - Tom Eldredge
• American Gospel - Jon Meacham
• Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris

....movies I watched (home or theatre)

• The Day After Tomorrow
• The Godfather I
• The Godfather II
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
• Forrest Gump

....other blog entries I read

• This one
• As well as this
• #3
• This one too
• And last but not least

....meals I ate (in no particular order)

• Ham Salad
• Creat your own pasta bowl at Macaroni Grille
• Shish-Ka-Bob with Corn on the Cob
• Bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
• Fruit Salad

Pandora, Paperbacks, and......sorry no 3rd "P"

Just a posting on a couple websites and links I really like and want to share with y'all.

I know this link made its way through some of our blogs a couple months ago, but none the less, I really, Really, REALLY like this site. Pandora radio - Music from the Radio Genome Project is a website I "hit" everyday while at work.

You start by entering a band or song you like and the website begins to play music that matches elements of that entry. You then rate the songs whether you like or do not like and the program continues to play music to match your liking. It takes awhile to get started as many of the songs in the beginning you may not like, but the more you rank the better it becomes. I registered for the "free" site and it is great. And I like the rating because it is I like it or I do not like it, no middle ground. And if you do not like it, the song quits playing!.

Another great element is that you can create multiple "radio stations" and then mix them together. A radio station is created by the song or artist you enter. So you can listen to just your "Miles Davis" station or just your "Pearl Jam" station or you can mix them together and hear multiple songs from both genres. The site is really worth you checking out if you haven't already or go back to it or keep at it. This site got better the more I ranked songs. One more great feature is that a song will repeat itself on your station once and awhile. If you get sick of it, you can tell the site so and it won't play that song for a month!

Another great website, especially for those of us with either huge libraries or really like to read is Paperbackswap.com. You can get books for free. You start by registering and providing 9 books you do not mind parting with. After doing so, you immediately get 3 "credits" Using those credits you can order books for free from other members! Everytime someone gets a book from you, you earn a credit. So you got to want to part with some of your good books. Or get lucky and hope some of your not so good books are wanted by others. You pay for nothing except the postage (when you are the sender) to send the book. When someone orders one of your books, the website even provides the printouts and address labels for you to printout and attach to the packaging.

The downside is that getting newer books isn't very likely. But it does happen sometimes. For instance, you can set up wishlists for books you'd like (which I think is one of the best features of the site). A waiting line is then established based upon who added the book first. What happens is that if you are first on the list, and someone posts it for you to order, you are made aware of the listing first through email. You then have 48 hours to respond, if you say yes, you get it, if you say no, it goes to the person next in line. So for insatnce, I just ordered my copy of Slip and Fall by Nick Santora (which was published in June 2007) this morning, but I have heard nothing about Sex God by Rob Bell (which was published in March of 2007). I was first in line for Slip and Fall, but I am currently 40th in line for Sex God. Some "lines" move fast and others move slow. I'll probably eventually have to buy Sex God if I want to read it. But having saved $25 on Slip and Fall (which I will read and then re-post on the site and earn another credit for another book) I could buy Sex God, and still save money. Most everything is done by the ISBN number for each book. That's what makes this legal. The book has already been paid for, the author got their royalties and you are just trading the book away. Everything is legal about the book switching hands.

If you sign up, let me know, please, if you reference me, I get a free credit!!

Sorry couldn't find a 3rd link that begins with the letter "P"

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It's Officially Time to Talk About.....

August 1st the last 5 or 6 years has taken on a new meaning with me lately. It makes it official to start talking about (drum roll please).................................








































Fantasy Football!!!!!

HEE-HAW!!!!

Draft is in T-Minus 23 days.

10 team this year and I hold the #5 pick. There has already been a lot of chatter throughout the office since we picked our draft order a couple weeks ago. And here is what people are saying:

Team 1 - LT
Team 2 - S-Jax
Team 3 - Shaun Alexander (because LJ is a hold out and Gore hurt his hand yesterday)
Team 4 - Peyton (we are a QB heavy league...more on that later)

What am I going to do, who will be there for me to take at 5. Take a chance on LJ? Joseph Addai? Brian Westbrook? Rudi Johnson? Carson Palmer even?

Now considering the assumptions above and I am not naive enough to think teams 3 and 4 are 100% sure this is who they will take. They may just be throwing rumors out there. If LJ actually does hold out, then he will be available at 5 I am sure. But I would assume the Big 3 will be gone. That being LT, LJ, and S-Jax. Gore with a broken hand will not go unless some kind of miracle happens. Gore will make it pass me as well. I am very sure that Peyton is going to go off the board at 4. As I said, we play in a QB heavy league where each TD is 6 points and you get bonus for length of TD pass. So a 27 yard TD pass is 9 points. 1 point for every 20 pass yards, 6 points for the TD and 2 point bonus for the TD being between 20 and 30.

I would have thought Alexander would be to me at 5 and I'd swoop him and get him, but this LJ thing could throw a monkey wrench in.

But I did say I am considering Palmer in the 1st. Sounds crazy I know. But consider this. LT, S-Jax, Alexander, and Peyton are all gone. LJ is holding out, Gore broke his hand. That leaves 3 guys in the next group of RBs. Westbrook, Addai, and Rudi. Which one do you take? Who is better than anyone else? That's why I think Palmer. But I do think Palmer could fall to me in the 2nd round on the come back. So I flip a coin and hope to grab the RB who will be better than all the rest.

Maybe I go crazy and take Palmer in the 1st round, a stud WR in the 2nd AND 3rd rounds (Holt, Harrison, Johnson, etc.) cornering the market on top notch QBs and WRs. Then in the 4th - 7th rounds I pick up all RBs and figure out which 3 to play every week. Guys like Julius Jones, Marion Barber, Duece McAllister, Jerious Norwood, Cadillac Williams, etc. would all be available. We start 2 rbs and 2wrs and 1 UTL player. I could plug in a top tier Qb and 2 Wrs every week and play musical chairs with my rbs. 2 of them are bound to break out from the pack in the middle of the season and if I strike gold with even one of them, I can ride them to the championship.

What team looks better.

QB - Carson Palmer
WR - Chad Johnson
WR - Roy Williams
RB - Julius Jones
RB - Cadillac Williams
UTL - Jerious Norwood

or

QB - Drew Brees
WR - Chad Johnson
WR - Plaxico Burress
RB - Rudi Johnson
RB - Edgerrin James
UTL - Jerious Norwood

I think I'd go for team 1.

I think this may be my strategy this year. But there is a lot of time to go and a lot of preseason football still to go. I can change my mind easily.

By the way, to find out how I decided which players for the above scenarios, there is a web-site that runs mock drafts 24 hours a day all day long. It is a pretty sweet site and you can get a pretty good idea on what guys will be available at what time.

Check it out at fantasyfootballcalculator.com

It isn't exact science as they have some guys rated pretty high and others pretty low. But it's still cool to have a live mock draft and see how things unfold. You can pick an 8, 10, 12, or 14 team size league and participate yourself.

Great way to blow a lunch hour!!!

Enjoy and good luck to all of you in fantasy football this year.