A Mind Stretched

Clean energy

2011-12-20T12:27:00.001-06:00

I believe more people would be for clean energy if instead of power lines running across the fields every town generated their own electricity. Since most of that is from coal, most towns would have a lot more pollution than they have now.

NFL 2011 Week 14 picks

2011-12-11T11:25:00.001-06:00

My posting is coming Sunday morning, but I'm including Thursday night because I picked all of my teams on ESPN Pigskin Pick'em before the game was played.

Browns @ Steelers - Pick Steelers
Falcons @ Panthers - Pick Falcons
Texans @ Bengals - Pick Texans
Vikings @ Lions - Pick Lions
Saints @ Titans - Pick Saints
Colts @ Ravens - Pick Ravens
Chiefs @ Jets - Pick Jets
Eagles @ Dolphins - Pick Dolphins
Patriots @ Redskins - Pick Patriots
Buccaneers @ Jaguars - Pick Jaguars
Bears @ Broncos - Pick Broncos
49ers @ Cardinals - Pick 49ers
Bills @ Chargers - Pick Bills
Raiders @ Packers - Pick Packers
Giants @ Cowboys - Pick Cowboys
Rams @ Seahawks - Pick Seahawks.

This may be the worst Monday night game of the season. The NFL really got screwed with these two teams killing the national spotlight on Monday night. I am already not watching any games on Thursday nights because I don't have and won't pay extra to get the NFL network. I won't be watching the Monday night game this week either.

NFL 2011 Week 13 picks

2011-12-01T08:37:00.001-06:00

I took last week off. It was Thanksgiving. I mentally made my picks, but didn't take the time to post them.

Back to normal this week.
Eagles @ Seahawks - Line PHI by 3 - Pick Seahawks
Titans @ Bills - Line BUF by 3 - Pick Titans
Chiefs @ Bears - Line CHI by 7 - Pick Bears
Raiders @ Dolphins - Line MIA by 3 - Pick Raiders
Broncos @ Vikings - Line MIN by 1 - Pick Broncos
Colts @ Patriots - Line NE by 21 - Pick Patriots
Bengals @ Steelers - Line PIT by 7 - Pick Steelers
Panthers @ Buccaneers - Line TB by 3 - Pick Buccaneers
Jets @ Redskins - Line NYJ by 3 - Pick Redskins
Falcons @ Texans - Line ATL by 3 - Pick Falcons
Ravens @ Browns - Line BAL by 7 - Pick Ravens
Packers @ Giants - Line GB by 8 - Pick Packers
Cowboys @ Cardinals - Line DAL by 5 - Pick Cowboys
Rams @ 49ers - Line SF by 14 - Pick 49ers
Lions @ Saints - Line NO by 9 - Pick Saints
Chargers @ Jaguars - Line SD by 3 - Pick Jaguars

NFL 2011 Week 11 picks

2011-11-17T18:36:00.000-06:00

When it gets to this time of the season picks get harder to make. There are more injuries both reported and not reported. The bye week affects some teams by giving them the rest they need and other teams by taking them out of their rythm. Despite the odds, other than the really good team versus the really bad teams, every game is essentially a toss-up.

Last week I had 8 wins. Not a great week. Nothing to be excited about, but I didn't get to pick the Thursday game either because I forgot they moved up the first Thursday game this year. I'm used to Thursday football not starting until Thanksgiving.

Jets @ Broncos - Line NYJ by 7 - Pick Jets.

Jaguars @ Browns - Line JAC by 1 - Pick Browns

Panthers @ Lions - Line DET by 7 - Pick Lions

Buccaneers @ Packers - Line GB by 14 - Pick Packers

Bills @ Dolphins - Line MIA by 1 - Pick Bills

Raiders @ Vikings - Line OAK by 1 - Pick Raiders

Cowboys @ Redskins - Line DAL by 8 - Pick Redskins

Bengals @ Ravens - Line BAL by 7 - Pick Ravens

Seahawks @ Rams - Line STL by 1 - Pick Rams

Cardinals @ 49ers - Line SF by 10 - Pick 49ers

Titans @ Falcons - Line ATL by 7 - Pick Falcons

Charges @ Bears - Line CHI by 4 - Pick Bears

Eagles @ Giants - Line NYG by 5 - Pick Eagles

Chiefs @ Patriots - Line NE by 15 - Pick Patriots

NFL 2011 Week 10 picks

2011-11-13T09:27:00.001-06:00

I forgot to get my picks in time before the Thursday night game started. So I'll just skip it and pick the rest of the games this week.

Saints @ Falcons - Line NO by 1 - Pick Falcons.
Steelers @ Bengals - Line PIT by 3 - Pick Steelers
Rams @ Browns - Line CLE by 3 - Pick Browns
Bills @ Cowboys - Line DAL by 6 - Pick Cowboys.
Jaguars @ Colts - Line JAC by 3 - Pick Colts
Broncos @ Chiefs - Line KC by 4 - Pick Broncos
Redskins @ Dolphins - Line MIA by 4 - Pick Dolphins
Cardinals @ Eagles - Line PHI by 14 - Pick Eagles.
Texans @ Buccaneers - Line HOU by 4 - Pick Texans
Titans @ Panthers - Line CAR by 4 - Pick Panthers
Ravens @ Seahawks - Line BAL by 7 - Pick Ravens
Lions @ Bears - Line CHI by 3 - Pick Bears
Giants @ 49ers - Line SF by 4 - Pick 49ers.
Patriots @ Jets - Line NYJ by 1 - Pick Patriots
Vikings @ Packers - Line GB by 14 - Pick Packers

NFL 2011 Week 9 picks

2011-11-06T08:23:00.001-06:00

Last week I was 8 and 5 again.

My record for the season is now 77 and 39.

Here are my picks for this week.
Jets @ Bills - Line BUF by 3 - Pick Jets
Seahawks @ Cowboys - Line DAL by 12 - Pick Cowboys
Falcons @ Colts - Line ATL by 7 - Pick Falcons.
Dolphins @ Chiefs - Line KC by 5 - Pick Chiefs.
Buccaneers @ Saints - Line NO by 9 - Pick Saints
49ers @ Redskins - Line SF by 5 - Pick 49ers
Browns @ Texans - Line HOU by 11 - Pick Texans
Bengals @ Titans - Line TEN by 3 - Pick Bengals
Broncos @ Raiders - Line OAK by 8 - Pick Raiders
Giants @ Patriots - Line NE by 9 - Pick Patriots
Rams @ Cardinals - Line ARI by 2 - Pick Cardinals
Packers @ Chargers - Line GB by 6 - Pick Packers
Ravens @ Steelers - Line PIT by 4 - Pick Steelers
Bears @ Eagles - Line PHI by 8 - Pick Bears

NFL 2011 Week 8 picks

2011-10-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

Colts @ Titans - Pick Titans
Saints @ Rams - Pick Saints
Dolphins @ Giants - Pick Giants
Vikings @ Panthers - Pick Panthers
Cardinals @ Ravens - Pick Ravens
Jaguars @ Texans - Pick Texans
Redskins @ Bills - Pick Bills
Lions @ Broncos - Pick Broncos
Patriots @ Steelers - Pick Steelers
Browns @ 49ers - Pick 49ers
Bengals @ Seahawks - Pick Bengals
Cowboys @ Eagles - Pick Cowboys
Chargers @ Chiefs - Pick Chargers

NFL Week 7 Results

2011-10-26T18:36:00.000-05:00

8 wins - 5 losses.

Thoughts on the week.

1. The Seahawks and Browns both suck.

2. The Lions are starting to fall apart. They may not have had their last win, but I think the chances at the playoffs are slipping fast.

3. The Titans gave up last week.

4. Tim Tebow got lucky, and even though I picked the Broncos, I think they looked very bad against a week Dolphins team. I believe that Orton would have won the game bigger and sooner.

5. Phillip Rivers can throw the ball, but he's not a smart QB.

6. The Bears are looking stronger than I thought they would. The change to the offensive style is working. It's not often that you can have a QB with a 60 rating and still think that he did well.

7. Sadly Grossman may be the better QB right now in Washington. Not that Beck won't be better, just that he's not better.

8. Cam Newton has revived Steve Smith to his youthful days.

9. The Raiders are in trouble without better play from the QB. Also they are pretty much stuck with this team for the next 2 years so they better figure it out.

10. Andy Reid was right to let Kevin Kolb go.

11. I'm not sure exactly where the Cowboys running game came from, but it dominated the Rams.

12. Ponder already has the Vikings looking better than McNabb did. They don't look like they are quitting anymore, except for that last punt, but that's more on the coach than the players. Leslie Frazier, not a good coach. It's time for the GM to start looking for a replacement.

13. The Saints showed the world why Payton Manning should always be the MVP. Does anybody think that the score would be the same with Manning there, heck, the Colts may have won even. The GM here needs to start looking for a new coach too. Maybe a defensive minded guy like Bill Cowher?

14. I've said it before. Joe Flacco, not a good QB. In a game where he has to be good enough to win, they lose to a bad team. Flacco = bad. I'm sick of ESPN and their praise for him, he's not good.

NFL 2011 Week 7 - picks

2011-10-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

Seahawks @ Browns - Line CLE by 3 - Pick Seahawks
Falcons @ Lions - Line DET by 4 - Pick Lions
Texans @ Titans - Line TEN by 3 - Pick Texans
Broncos @ Dolphins - Line DEN by 1 - Pick Broncos
Chargers @ Jets - Line JYJ by 1 - Pick Jets
Bears @ Buccaneers - Line CHI by 2 - Pick Bears
Redskins @ Panthers - Line CAR by 3 - Pick Redskins
Chiefs @ Raiders - Line OAK by 6 - Pick Raiders
Steelers @ Cardinals - Line PIT by 4 - Pick Steelers
Rams @ Cowboys - Line DAL by 14 - Pick Cowboys
Packers @ Vikings - Line GB by 11 - Pick Packers
Colts @ Saints - Line NO by 14 - Pick Saints
Ravens @ Jaguars - Line BAL by 9 - Pick Ravens

NFL Week 6 Results

2011-10-23T09:12:00.001-05:00

11 wins - 2 losses.

61 wins - 29 losses for the season.

I'm right in the middle of the NFL Experts. If I would have been a little more conservative the previous week I may have the best record.

Since the week is about to start anew I'll save my thoughts for a week and comment after week 7 games.

NFL 2011 Week 6 - picks

2011-10-16T08:56:00.001-05:00

Panthers @ Falcons - Line ATL by 4 - Pick Falcons
Colts @ Bengals - Line CIN by 7 - Pick Bengals
49ers @ Lions - Line DET by 5 - Pick 49ers
Rams @ Packers - Line GB by 15 - Pick Packers
Bills @ Giants - Line NYG by 3 - Pick Giants
Jaguars @ Steelers - Line PIT by 13 - Pick Steelers
Eagles @ Redskins - Line PHI by 3 - Pick Redskins
Browns @ Raiders - Line OAK by 7 - Pick Raiders
Texans @ Ravens - Line BAL by 7 - Pick Ravens
Cowboys @ Patriots - Line NE by 7 - Pick Patriots
Saints @ Buccaneers - Line NO by 7 - Pick Saints
Vikings @ Bears - Line CHI by 3 - Pick Bears
Dolphins @ Jets - Line NYJ by 7 - Pick Jets

NFL Week 5 Results

2011-10-16T08:48:00.002-05:00

5 Wins and 8 Losses

It was a really bad week for me with picks.

NFL 2011 Week 5 - picks

2011-10-09T09:10:00.001-05:00

Eagles @ Bills - Line PHI by 3 - Pick Bills
Chiefs @ Colts - Line IND by 3 - Pick Colts
Cardinals @ Vikings - Line MIN by 3 - Pick Cardinals
Seahawks @ Giants - Line NYG by 10 - Pick Giants
Titans @ Steelers - Line PIT by 4 - Pick Titans
Saints @ Panther - Line NO by 7 - Pick Saints
Bengals @ Jaguars - Line CIN by 1 - Pick Bengals
Raiders @ Texans - Line HOU by 5 - Pick Texans
Buccaneers @ 49ers - Line SF by 3 - Pick Buccaneers
Chargers @ Broncos - Line SD by 4 - Pick Broncos
Jets @ Patriots - Line NE by 8 - Pick Patriots
Packers @ Falcons - Line GB by 6 - Pick Falcons
Bears @ Lions - Line DET by 6 - Pick Lions

NFL Week 4 results

2011-10-05T18:36:00.000-05:00

13 wins - 3 losses

Season total.
45 wins - 19 losses

According to the Experts picks at ESPN I was tied for the best this week, and am only 1 game off the best for the season.

I had an exceptionally good week and was lucky that several of my upsets were right. As the bye weeks start things always start getting out of whack with my picks.

Thoughts on week 4.
1. The Bears may struggle to a winning record, but they are not my pick if they are on the road.
2. The Bengals blew one against SF, but they rebounded to eek out a win over Buffalo. The Bengals are scrappy this year.
3. I'm not sure how to read the Titans still. Hasselbeck has been impressive as their leader.
4. Romo had another horrible 4th quarter, which I always expect from him.
5. McNabb is hindering the Vikings. I think it's time for them to consider their backup quarterback.
6. Jim Harbaugh has the 49ers working better.
7. Drew Brees is possibly the best qarterback in the game. I think there's a 3 way tie between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
8. Pittsburgh is not going to have a good year.
9. The Packers have a chance to be one of the highest scoring teams in history.
10. Atlanta at home = AWESOME! Atlanta on the road = all so rands.
11. Oakland has found some good chemistry with their team.
12. I still don't like Joe Flacco, he tends to not screw things up, but the Ravens don't win because of him.
13. Peyton Manning doesn't play defense, but he gives his defense a rest and wins the field position battle for them. Everything on defense works better when Peyton is running the offense. They've always been a team that could outscore their opponents, not a team that could keep their opponents from outscoring them.

NFL 2011 Week 4 - picks

2011-09-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

So far this season I haven't had a week that I have imploded. This may just be that week.

Panthers @ Bears - Line CHI by 7 - Pick Bears
Bills @ Bengals - Line BUF by 3 - Pick Bengals
Titans @ Browns - Line CLE by 1 - Pick Titans
Lions @ Cowboys - Line DAL by 1 - Pick Cowboys
Vikings @ Chiefs - Line MIN by 2 - Pick Chiefs
Redskins @ Rams - Line Even - Pick Redskins
49ers @ Eagles - Line Even - Pick Eagles
Saints @ Jaguars - Line NO by 8 - Pick Saints
Steelers @ Texans - Line HOU by 4 - Pick Texans
Giants @ Cardinals - Line NYG by 1 - Pick Giants
Falcons @ Seahawks - Line ATL by 6 - Pick Falcons
Broncos @ Packers - Line GB by 13 - Pick Packers
Patriots @ Raiders - Line NE by 5 - Pick Raiders
Dolphins @ Chargers - Line SD by 9 - Pick Chargers
Jets @ Ravens - Line BAL by 4 - Pick Ravens
Colts @ Buccaneers - Line TB by 10 - Pick Buccaneers

NFL Week 3 results.

2011-09-30T06:36:00.000-05:00

10 wins - 6 losses

Season total.
32 wins - 16 losses

I had a few wins that I expected that didn't happen this week.

Some additional thoughts about my week.
1. I still can't believe the Bills beat the Patriots.
2. I'm not sure how the 49ers are winning, but it's ugly out there.
3. The Dolphins continue to play to the level of their competition and lose.
4. I'm not sure what to think of the Broncos or the Titans.
5. The Lions are fun to watch.
6. The Vikings are fun to watch implode.
7. I don't know what to make of the Seahawks beating the Cardinals, are the Cardinals that bad, or was it a bad week.
8. The Falcons have sucked on the road.
9. I think the Redskins should have won the game. Romo played a tough game for the Cowboys, but in the end he couldn't help his team score a single touchdown.

NFL 2011 Week 3 - picks

2011-09-25T08:56:00.001-05:00

Patriots @ Bills - Line NE by 9 - Pick Patriots

49ers @ Bengals - Line CIN by 3 - Pick 49ers

Dolphins @ Browns - Line CLE by 3 - Pick Dolphins

Broncos @ Titans - Line TEN by 7 - Pick Broncos

Lions @ Vikings - Line DET by 4 - Pick Lions

Texans @ Saints - Line NO by 4 - Pick Saints

Giants @ Eagles - Line Even - Pick Giants

Jaguars @ Panthers - Line CAR by 4 - Pick Panthers

Jets @ Raiders - Line NYJ by 4 - Pick Raiders

Ravens @ Rams - Line BAL by 4 - Pick Ravens

Chiefs @ Chargers - Line SD by 15 - Pick Chargers

Packers @ Bears - Line GB by 4 - Pick Packers

Cardinals @ Seahawks - Line ARI by 4 - Pick Carinals

Falcons @ Buccaneers - Line TB by 1 - Pick Falcons

Steelers @ Colts - Line PIT by 11 - Pick Steelers

Redskins @ Cowboys - Line Even - Pick Redskins

NFL Week 2 results.

2011-09-25T07:42:00.003-05:00

11 wins - 5 losses

Consistent with week 1, but not exactly what I had expected.

Some additional thoughts about the NFL.
1. The Bills and Raiders are both stronger teams this year.
2. The Chiefs are horrible this year.
3. The Ravens defense is strong but Joe Flacco is a weak quarterback.
4. The Saints are strong on both sides of the ball.
5. The Jaguars will be looking for a new coach at the end of the year.
6. The Steelers are who I thought they were and they had a bad week to start the year.
7. Washington is a middle of the pack team, better than the weak teams and good enough to upset some of the better teams.
8. Cam Newton and the offense in Carolina is strong, they need some help from their defense.
9. Tony Romo proved me wrong the week after I ripped him. I knew he was tough, I just have a problem with how he finishes games, but this week he definitely worked hard to win it.
10. The Broncos are not as strong as I would like (as a fan).
11. I like the Texans.
12. The Patriots offense is really good.
13. The Eagles defense has not looked good yet this year.

NFL 2011 Week 2 - picks

2011-09-17T22:25:00.001-05:00

Raiders @ Bills - Line BUF by 4 - Pick Bills

After last week's offensive output by Buffalo I'm going to hope that they can do it again.

Chiefs @ Lions - Line DET by 9 - Pick Lions

KC really sucked it up and Detroit is my sleeper team this year, this was an easy pick.

Ravens @ Titans - Line BAL by 7 - Pick Ravens

It's hard to pick against the Ravens after they had such a strong showing against the Steelers.

Browns @ Colts - Line CLE by 2 - Pick Colts

Both teams looked bad last week, but I think at home and with the embarrassment that last week gave them, they will rebound. Kerry Collins is not Peyton Manning, but he's a good QB.

Buccaneers @ Vikings - Line MIN by 3 - Pick Buccaneers

Both teams took a loss last week, and the Vikings are at home, but until McNabb can show something on offense the Vikings will not win.

Bears @ Saints - Line NO by 7 - Pick Bears

This may just be because I'm a Bears fan, it may not be though. The Bears defense looked really strong last week, and if they can pressure Brees like they did Ryan they will get turnovers. The Saints defense gave up a ton to Green Bay last week, so I think the Bears offense has a good chance to score points.

Jaguars @ Jets - NYJ by 9 - Pick Jets

Sanchez looked good. And the Jaguars were weaker to start the season than I had expected.

Seahawks @ Steelers - Line PIT by 15 - Pick Steelers

It's hard to pick against a team when they have a 15 point line. And the Steelers will not look as bad as they did against the Ravens last week. Plus Seattle will be one of the weaker teams this year.

Cardinals @ Redskins - Line WSH by 4 - Pick Washington

I get in this mode where I think that when teams are fairly even that the better coach will win. I'm not sure statistically how often that's true, but I seem to always pick the team that I think has the better coach. Shanahan is one of the best.

Packers @ Panthers - Line GB by 11 - Pick Packers

The packers offense will be too much for the Carolina defense, and the Panthers offense will not repeat it's great performance from last week.

Cowboys @ 49ers - Line DAL by 3 - Pick Cowboys

The Cowboys looked pretty good last week, and the 49ers didn't look very good other than Ted Ginn returning kicks. If the Cowboys special teams can stop Ginn they will win.

Bengals @ Broncos - Line DEN by 4 - Pick Broncos

I like Orton leading the Broncos, but last week he was shaky, it wasn't what I expected for a veteran QB that's taken the reigns before, maybe he does feel the breath of another QB on his neck. I still think the Bengals are a weak team and that Denver is a great home field advantage.

Texans @ Dolphins - Line Hou by 3 - Pick Texans

I've been a Texans fan since they came into the league. Schaub is a very good QB and they have a solid defense. The Dolphins gave up staggering passing numbers, sure it was to one of the games best, but they still gave up yards almost like they weren't even on the field. Henne showed he's got the stuff to be more of a QB than Miami has let him be so far, maybe they'll give him a little more freedom in the passing game.

Chargers @ Patriots - Line NE by 7 - Pick Patriots

The Patriots look strong, the Chargers can't run the ball, and the game is in New England.

Eagles @ Falcons - Line PHI by 3 - Pick Eagles

If the Eagles get pressure on the Falcons like the Bears did, then they have a lot to look forward to during this game. I was a little shocked that Michael Vick didn't pass for more yards last week, I expect that will change this week, but he will probably also lead the team in rushing as he makes the Falcon defense look foolish for several big plays.

Rams @ Giants - Line NYG by 7 - Pick Rams

Neither team looked good last week, but my upset pick this week is the young Rams upsetting the Giants who I think looked completely out of whack last week.

NFL week 1 results.

2011-09-14T06:36:00.000-05:00

Week 1 results.

11 Wins - 5 Losses.

Not a bad first week. Some things stood out to me about a few of the games I watched.

1. The Broncos hurt themselves.
2. The Patriots offense is great, but their defense can be beaten.
3. Tony Romo seems to fade in the 4th quarter.
4. Mark Sanchez appears to have a lot of poise and that bodes well for the Jets.
5. Alex Smith is not a good NFL quarterback. The 49ers need to look for something better.
6. Rex Grossman can still have good games.
7. Kevin Kolb is better than I thought. I figured the Eagles made him look good, he proved that he is decent NFL QB.
8. McNabb is washed up and the Vikings are going to regret having picked him up.
9. The Ravens defense has not fallen off at all and will dominate most games.
10. The Colts faced a lot of shell shock in week 1. Don't expect them to be this bad just because Manning is gone.
11. Edging the Titans does not mean you are a strong team, the Jaguars may end up near the bottom.
12. The Lions starters are good this year. I don't think they have the depth, but without injuries they are going to be a good team.
13. Matt Cassel is not a great QB. KC is going to be hurting this year.
14. The Eagles look like they will remain on top.
15. The Bears are better than people thought they were.
16. Bengals vs. Browns is always fun. End of year the Browns have a better record.
17. The Packers have everything going for them and will be right on top of the NFC North all season.

I am a Bears fan.

2011-09-11T14:09:00.001-05:00

I am a Bears fan. I grew up near Chicago, and I like football, so naturally I liked the team that I always got to watch. It probably helped that I was a kid watching when Walter Payton was settting the rushing record and Mike Singletary and Gary Fencick were punishing people on defense. I grew up sitting in front of the TV with my dad, bonding, learning about the game. Now I sit with my kids on Sundays and I try to teach them about football.

NFL 2011 Week 1 - picks

2011-09-08T18:11:00.005-05:00

I've taken a hiatus for the past few years from picking teams, but I decided today that I wanted to do this again, so I'm going to just list the games and make my picks. I'll list the line, but I just pick straight up.

Saints @ Packers - Line GB by 5.0 - Packers
Falcons @ Bears - Line Atl by 3.0 - Bears
Bengals @ Browns - Line Cle by 7.0 - Browns
Bills @ Chiefs - Line KC by 6.0 - Chiefs
Eagles @ Rams - Line Phi by 5.0 - Eagles
Lions @ Buccaneers - Line TB by 1.0 - Lions
Titans @ Jaguars - Line JAC by 3.0 - Jaguars
Steelers @ Ravens - Line BAL by 1.5 - Steelers
Colts @ Texans - Line HOU by 9.0 - Texans
Panthers @ Cardinals - Line ARI by 7.0 - Panthers
Vikings @ Chargers - Line SD by 9.0 - Chargers
Seahawks @ 49ers - Line SF by 6.0 - 49ers
Giants @ Redskins - Line NYG by 3.0 - Redskins
Cowboys @ Jets - Line NYJ by 5.0 - Jets
Patriots @ Dolphins - Line NE by 7.0 - Patriots
Raiders @ Broncos - Line DEN by 3.0 - Broncos

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

2011-07-01T18:36:00.000-05:00

I received this as a forward in email. Some of the ideas are interesting.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

If you forward this to 20 people then in three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below..

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

AT&T buying T-mobile is a bad idea.

2011-03-22T18:36:00.000-05:00

There are currently 4 large wireless providers. AT&T has agreed to purchase T-Mobile for 39 Billion. You've no doubt read about this in many other places.

There is a good breakdown of the pros and cons of the merger from Tim Karr.

Here's a few thoughts I have about it.

1. The merger is guaranteed to cost people jobs. Practically all T-Mobile stores and kiosks will be put out of business, in favor of already existing AT&T stores and kiosks. Many of the admin and support staff that perform the same function at the two companies will end up being cut from T-Mobile, because there is already someone to do that at AT&T.

2. AT&T worked real hard to brag about how 95% of the country was already covered by their network when Verizon was pointing out that it has better coverage of 3G than AT&T. T-Mobile will not increase the amount of coverage that AT&T has.

3. T-Mobile uses a different technology than AT&T, so the fact that more towers will be in the same area will not increase the bandwidth available for AT&T customers.

What I believe this actually comes down to is that AT&T is buying the customers that T-Mobile has. When there is enough competition in the market this is not an issue, because the customer that didn't want service with AT&T in the first place and went to a competitor can just leave AT&T and do it again. This time however I'm not sure they will be able to. T-Mobile has historically been the cheapest wireless provider which has drawn in many price conscious consumers. Now those same people will be tied to AT&T with the cheapest option off the table when looking to leave. They will be forced to pay more.

I'm sure I'm not the only one asking this, but are those customers worth $39 Billion? Is that a good price to pay for that many wireless customers? I expect a percentage to leave, my guess is that between 25% and 50% of them will leave as soon as their contract is up. Anyone whose contract runs out between now and the merger may already jump ship and choose a different provider.

Would the $39 Billion be better spent upgrading the 4G network? Isn't that enough money to cover the entire country in 4G? Doesn't the 4G network stem the tide of customers already leaving and open the doors to new customers looking for faster service? Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know what's going on behind closed doors, I don't know for sure what happens in those meetings. An invest and be the best strategy is a slow way to get customers. However, it pays to be the leader, to be the best. Those are the things that keep customers longer. Retention is cheaper than earning new customers, and I have a feeling that AT&T is going to lose in the retention battle. It may jump out in front with a big purchase of customers, but it will also have $39 billion less to invest in improvements, which just means that they will leave.

Verizon, I think you've got it right. Continue to invest in improving your network and stay better on price than AT&T, many of these customers will be yours, and when they are, they will stick around.

Diet - Week 4

2011-03-22T06:36:00.000-05:00

The slow carb portion of my diet is completely gone. I have continued eating healthier. My breakfast is still for the most part carb free. I've found that I am full longer when I don't eat toast or cereal at breakfast time.

My lunches and dinners are still low in carbs. I've cut bread except for once a week subway night. I've gotten used to eating soups without any crackers. That's probably huge considering I used to eat an entire sleeve of Ritz with a bowl of soup. I did have nachos one night, and I had a DQ blizzard on Sunday, which is not a cheat day. I'm still trying to keep all soda out of my diet. I've started drinking green tea during the day. I haven't had a craving for the carbonation like I used to have. I don't think the green tea is doing that, but that has been what I've started drinking in place of diet pepsi.

In line with the 4-Hour Body I'm fine with my calories fluctuating and not being the same every day. Since I'm not on board with basically using laxatives on my cheat day to make sure all of my extra food is gotten rid of I've decided that my cheat day is bigger than a normal day, but I won't let myself eat just as much of anything as I can. I have let myself eat any types of food without concern on that day, just not to an absurd quantity.

I have continued to try and work in more exercise. I'm trying to use muscle building as a way to make me stronger and look better. I used to be a running machine, and I still love and want to run, but I am trying to do more with weights than cardio. I'm sort of following the minimal workout to biuld muscle that is listed in the 4-Hour Body. I'm pushing myself to max for shoulder press, pull downs, leg press, and bench press. I've definitely been pushing hard because my muscles ache for days after a hard workout. As the weather has gotten nicer I'm also trying to get out and do more outside. Sunday for example I took the kids to the park and ran for about 15 minutes. I'm not sure how long it was, but it felt good.

Today was another weigh-in day. I still have not had a big drop in weight. However it's down another pound. In 4 weeks I'm only down 4 pounds, however, I'm down 6 inches total, and 2 of those are from my waist.

I'm happy that progress is still moving in the right direction. My plan for the next week is to eat well, exercise well, and drop 2 pounds. It would be the first 2 pound drop in weight, but I'm going to see if I can make it happen.

Slow Carb diet - Week 3

2011-03-15T18:36:00.000-05:00

I am no longer following the slow carb diet strictly. I interpret that as a good thing though. The purpose of the 4-Hour Body is to experiment with your body. I have been eating much less white carbs. I have had a few sandwiches, but not any toast by itself. I have only had pasta on cheat day.

For the most part breakfast still consists of eggs, onion, beans (red, black, or pinto), spinach, and peppers. I find that when I eat a nice breakfast of this stuff I'm full all the way until lunch without needing a snack. I also have been feeling very much awake with this as my food.

I have cut most soda out of my diet. I occasionally have a diet pepsi, or diet mountain dew, but usually only if I'm going to drive. I have not bought a case of either in over a month.

I am not a caffeine free nut. I drink coffee every morning, and I will have an occasional cup of tea.

I am trying to include more exercise. Every Monday my kids go to gymnastics at a gym, and I get to work out when they are there. I am also trying to get another workout in during the week.

This past week I ran about 3/4 of a mile on Saturday, the first running I've done in a while. Monday I lifted a few weights and then ran on a treadmill for 15 minutes.

Today is my weigh in. I've done OK. I'm only down 1/2 an inch total, but it's all in my waist. My pants are starting to fit me a little better, instead of me spilling out of them. I expect that in the next 2 weeks I'll need to start wearing a belt. That is awesome. I am also down 2 more pounds. I'm thinking it was close to 3. I got on the scale and it teetered back and forth between the two numbers. I weighed myself several times and each time it teetered on the number. I decided to go with the more conservative number. I'd rather be honest about how much I'm losing than lying to myself.

Where I'd like to go

2011-03-10T18:36:00.000-06:00

There's not really a reason for this post. It's just a thought that crossed my mind.

There are places in this world that I would like to visit. Kind of a travel bucket list. I'd like to get to all 50 states, but that's only kind of a like to.

I definitely want to get to:

Alaska
Hawaii
Brazil, something about Sao Paolo has always interested me.
Ireland
Greece
Germany

There are several more that would be nice, but these are the ones that really have a hold of me somewhere deep inside.

No more slow carb

2011-03-09T06:36:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the 2 week weigh in. And although I'm disappointed that I didn't lose more, I'm not giving up on losing weight. I've just decided to move on from the strict slow carb diet.

My planned changes include adding fruit back into my diet. I'm not a huge eater of fruit, but I plan on eating it occasionally, the way I did before. I do still plan on keeping out white carbs as much as possible, no rice, pasta, or bread. My breakfast of eggs, spinach, beans, and onions has made me feel full until lunchtime. I plan on keeping this as often as possible.

I am going to continue getting exercise when I can, and weighing/measuring myself every Tuesday. I may not lose weight as fast as the Slow Carb diet was preaching, but I already wasn't losing weight like that.

Slow Carb diet - Week 2

2011-03-08T18:36:00.000-06:00

Week 2 weigh in was today. I was looking forward to it. Week 2 went a lot better for me than week 1 did. I cheated less throughout the week, I exercised and did a little more than week 1. I cut almost all diet soda out too. I even feel better. I thought this is going to be a good week to weigh-in.

It turns out I am down another 1.75 inches in measurement, but I didn't lose any weight. Is it just water weight hanging on me? Did I actually grow enough muscle to offset the measurement differences? Am I doing something wrong?

I know that weight is not the only measurement to take into account. My waist size dropped again, and one of the biggest reasons that I am doing this is because it has gotten too big, but still I want to see the weight number go down too. I have enough fat to lose that I expected at least something. I weighed myself 3 times, the same number came up all 3 times. I don't get it.

Slow Carb cheat day.

2011-03-05T23:00:00.000-06:00

This is the first day that I'm actually counting as a cheat day. I haven't actually been 100% true to the plan so far, but I've been holding mostly true.

I haven't had bread, potatoes, rice, or noodles, except for the one meal out. I did have ice cream twice. Not the best way to follow the plan. I also had half an apple one day because my son only wanted half of his.

I had planned on not being too bad on cheat day, but I may have overeaten a little bit. I wanted to get all my cravings out of the way.

Slow Carb diet - Day 13

2011-03-04T23:00:00.001-06:00

Breakfast
I made a scrambled egg concoction again. This is by far my favorite thing to eat in the morning. I definitely prefer it to the cereal that I used to eat. I feel full longer, and more awake each day.
Today I sauteed 1 cup of spinach, chopped onion, kidney beans in a non-stick pan with a little cooking spray to prevent it from sticking. I then added 2 eggs with red pepper flakes and a bit of cayenne pepper.

Lunch
I had a salad with iceberg lettuce, spinach, kidney beans, turkey breast, onion, and a little western dressing. It's not oil or vinegar based, but I hate those types of salad dressing, so that is one place that I have to compromise with the slow carb diet. It's not the normal Ranch dressing that I would have used anytime in the past 10 years.
I also had 3 stalks of celery and a handful of baby carrots.

Dinner.
Erin made an awesome stir-fry for dinner tonight, it was amazing.

Tomorrow is the cheat day and I'm looking forward to chips and salsa and Mexican food from Chevy's

Slow Carb diet

2011-03-03T06:36:00.000-06:00

I haven't had an opportunity to blog about my current diet this week. I will try to wrap up several days into one post.

Monday
I had a good breakfast, eggs and beans. Lunch was not good. I had a lunch meeting at work and ate a sub like sandwich with some chips. After work the kids had gymnastics and we had to run to Menards to pick up a Wardrobe, so dinner was a horribly fatty Frisco burger from Hardees with a medium fry.
I walked on the eliptical for 30 minutes while the kids were in gymnastics. According to the machine I burned 400 calories.

Tuesday
I weighed in and took my measurements. After yesterday I am very happy that I did well.
I did really good eating today. Breakfast was beans and eggs. Lunch was chili, and dinner was a subway sandwich with a few chips. I'm a little disappointed that I had bread at dinner.

Wednesday
Another good day. I had to be at work half an hour early today, so I got up a little earlier to get breakfast and lunch ready. Breakfast was eggs and beans. Lunch was left over turkey breast and some frozen veggie mix of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower. Dinner was an omellete with beans and onions and green pepper. I also had about 1.5 cups of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. I had some dessert tonight, a couple of scoops of Moose Tracks ice cream.
I did a set of 10 curls with 30 pounds of weight.
I did a set of 30 squats no weight.

Thursday
Breakfast I had eggs and black beans. Lunch I had Campbell's vegetable beef soup I took out all of the potatoes and added half a can of black beans to it. Dinner was a big salad with iceberg lettuce, spinach, yellow pepper, onion, kidney beans, cashews, and chicken breast. I also added a little Fat Free Western salad dressing.
I did 1 set of pushups to failure with a 5 down and 5 up cadence. Much slower than I normally do pushups, I think I was at 17 with I couldn't move anymore.

Slow Carb diet - Week 1

2011-03-01T06:36:00.000-06:00

Week 1 of the slow carb diet came and went. I started it on Sunday, but have decided to make Tuesday my weigh-in and measurements.

As far as the slow carb diet officially goes, I'm not going to follow it 100%. For the first week I was terrible at following it because I was on vacation and ate carbs on about half of the days. I skipped fries and baked potatoes several times, but I did have some bread. I did no extra exercise this week at all. Which in case you are curious means I did almost no exercise.

Weight. Down 1 pound.
Inches. Down 2 inches.
Waist. Down half an inch

I am excited that I was able to make progress in the first week despite eating out for 5 days in a row. I believe that being more aware of the food I'm putting into my mouth has as much of an effect as removing the white carbs does.

A couple things I've noticed. Without breads, potatoes, and noodles in my diet I've had less of a sweet tooth. I have consciously had less diet soda to drink, but I've also had less of a craving for it. I have increased my water intake to more than 2 liters a day, (I refill a 1 liter bottle and drink it more than twice). I did lose half an inch from my stomach, but it feels like even more than that. I feel a lot less bloated than I did before.

I am continuing to read through The 4 Hour Body and plan to start adding more exercise in for Week 2.

Slow Carb thoughts - Part 2

2011-02-23T09:39:00.001-06:00

Last night Erin expressed concerns for me being on this diet. She's worried about me, and my previous post that stated that she was upset that we couldn't do the diet together was just me misreading the situation, something I do fairly frequently.

This morning I got an email from my ex-wife also concerned for me being on this diet.

I am very blessed to have people concerned about what I'm eating, and even concerned that I'm choosing the wrong diet.

I woke up this morning with a killer headache, as bad as when I've had caffeine withdrawal headaches, in the past, only I haven't stopped drinking caffeine.

The rest of this week I will not be eating the slow carb way. I'll be out of town and know that I want to treat myself to a couple of restaraunt meals that include carbs. I'm going to re-evaluate my food intake and maybe stop the slow carb diet. I was always told not to give in to peer pressure, but my wife holds a lot more sway over me.

Slow Carb day 3

2011-02-23T06:36:00.004-06:00

I had a decent night sleep. I didn't get up until 6:45 this morning, I was hoping to be up at 6:20, but I was so tired that I started hitting snooze.

Breakfast - 7:20 AM

2 egg whites, 1 egg, a handful of black beans, about 1/4 diced yellow onion, a handful of spinach.

I made myself a scramble. I used more black beans today than yesterday. Further reading about the slow carb diet says I shouldn't be snacking, and my nutty snacks are really high in calories, so I'd rather fill up more at my meals than be hungry between meals if I can. I also am drinking coffee without creamer for the 2nd day. Today I used a little more vanilla than yesterday and it tasted better. I still added my Sweet and Low, I don't think I'll be able to get away from that.

Snack - 10:30 AM
I was still hungry around the normal time that I snack, but not as much as before. I brought one hard boiled egg and a handful of baby carrots. They did the trick and filled me up until lunch.

Lunch - 12:00 PM
I brought some of the left over chili from last night for lunch today. It has more broth in it than the Cambpell's chili I had yesterday, but I didn't mind not having the crackers.

Dinner - 7:20 PM
I was really hunger by the time I got home from work at 6, but I still had to make dinner. Erin had marinaded some chicken breast, so I threw them in the oven for 45 minutes and cut up some veggies for a salad. It had iceberg lettuce, spinach, red peppers, onion, black beans, kidney beans, about 10 almonds, and some Lite Western Dressing. I ate the chicken breast on the side. My wife concocts the best marinades, especially for a garlic lover like me.

The long amount of time between lunch and dinner is hard to do. It seems like forever, and even if I bring a snack to work to have in the afternoon, I'm usually hungry enough at lunch that I eat it. This was always the case, even before I started the slow carb diet. It's only day 3, but my drooling over chocolates and other things that I can't have has already lessened, although I am craving a plate of Nachos from Moe's

Slow Carb thoughts

2011-02-22T18:36:00.000-06:00

As I started reading the 4 Hour Body I wanted the results he has been talking about and it excited me enough to jump right into the diet before I had finished reading about it. At the least I will be eating more healthy than before, but I may not it quite right to start with.

My biggest concerns going into this is cutting carbs. I am a carboholic. There was a skit, I don't remember if it was SNL or MadTV, but it was about a carboholic who ate spaghetti sandwiches. That could have been made about me without being a joke. I could eat spaghetti with Garlic bread and potatoes. So switching to a low carb diet is being a huge change.

Starting this was actually a big problem for my wife too. She's upset that we aren't doing the same diet. I'm all for doing the same diet, but I wanted to try this one. She is mad because she doesn't want to do a no carb diet. And I think she's right that anyone can definitely lose weight with almost any diet. And maybe I'm being duped by Tim Ferris and how he's able to sell the results in his book. The only other thing I've read that made me want to try it as much as this is the Body For Life plan. I loved everything about the Body For Life plan, except my body couldn't take the strenuous workouts that it called for, I broke down and couldn't make it 90 days.

The timing for starting the diet is odd, it may even be bad. I decided that I wanted to start getting the benefits and weight loss now, even if i have to stop following it for a short time, I want to get in the habit of doing it. I started on Sunday, but this week I'm going on a mini-vacation with my wife. Three days on the road I expect that I'm going to break some rules. I'm going to do my best to make good conscious choices, but most likely I will break the rules more than once.

Eating on the road is another concern of mine. Every other Friday I drive to pick up my son and I'm gone for at least 4 hours after work, so I grab fast food on the way. However the fast food places don't have slow carb options. I read about a Chipotle diet yesterday that sounds like a good eating out option. There is a Chipotle and a QDoba in town where I work, but they aren't good to eat and drive. I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do on those days. I may bring myself a second smaller meal to work and eat late in the afternoon before I leave, then find a good slow-carb option at a restaraunt a few hours later when I'm in the town where I pick up my son.

Slow Carb day 2

2011-02-22T06:36:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I did finish making my pot of chili for today. I also hard boiled 4 eggs. I'm hoping the eggs work better as a snack for me, especially since I don't have a problem eating them without salt.

I had to be up and at work by 7 today, instead of my normal 8, after yesterday's big deployment. I was up at 5:45 to get ready and make breakfast.

Breakfast - 6:20 AM

I had 2 egg whites, 1 egg, black beans, and half an onion. I tried making it like an omelette, but it fell apart a bit so I ate it out of a bowl like a scramble.

I also tried doctoring my coffee different than normal. Instead of using creamer I used a little bit of Vanilla extract and cinnamon for flavoring. I still had to use my two pink packets of sweet and low. I tried to go without it, but I really need the sweetness to get the coffee down. This won't be something I'm able to do all the time. I don't know that mentally I could drink the coffee this way without a lid. However on work days I cover my cup and can maybe trick myself into believing that it has creamer in it. Also when I have my second cup in the day I'll use creamer because I don't carry the other items to work with me.

Snack - 10 AM
I was hungry earlier than normal today. I'm going to attribute that to my abnormal morning today. For snack I grabbed 4 mushrooms, Mushrooms take up a lot of space to pack, but don't fill me up a lot. I also had 2 hard boiled eggs. I was planning on keeping the 2nd for an afternoon snack, but I was too hungry.

Lunch - 12:30 PM

I brought a can of Campbell's Firehouse chili to work with me today. It's not too expensive, it's pretty thick and it tastes good. In the past soups have basically been a delivery mechanism for crackers. Most of my soups end up being a crackery paste. Eating all these soups without crackers is going to be a big change. Heck the simple act of cutting out potatoes, bread, and crackers from my diet will probably save me a lot of calories. The chili worked well for me for lunch. The thickness of it prevented me from wanting crackers. I also liked not having to pick out anything from it.

Snack - 5:45 PM
A handful of cashews and a few carrots.

Dinner - 8:20 PM
After work we had things to do tonight, the kids had Gymnastics and we had an hour drive we had to make before dinner. I ate 2 bowls of chili. I added a little shredded cheese to the first bowl, but my wife talked me out of adding any sour cream.

I didn't drink any soda today. I had been drinking 1-2 cans a day. At one point in the afternoon I craved it a little, but I didn't give in.

I'm not sure how or if sleep will affect this, but I went to sleep somewhere around 11 PM.

Slow Carb diet

2011-02-21T06:36:00.000-06:00

I've been reading "4 Hour Body" by Tim Ferris. Yesterday I decided to start the slow carb diet. It turns out that most of my food is carbs, and although I don't eat lots of high fat food, I do eat tons of carbs. This diet will definitely be a challenge for me.

Without being sure how it will go my original goal is 2 weeks. I want to do my best to stay on it for 2 weeks and post about it every day.

On Sunday I went to Flat Top grill for breakfast. It is something my wife and I have both been wanting to do for a while, and I was excited that we were finally able to. My first meal of the day however I broke the carb rule. I had some potatoes, pinapple, and a mini-muffin. The majority of my breakfast was an omellette with a lot of spinach, broccoli, black beans, and onion. I had two turkey sausage links on the side.

I had to work on Sunday so lunch was going to be something easy, however, work didn't go the way it was supposed to and it dragged on from 1PM until 7PM. My lunch ended up being a lot of snacking. I ate mushrooms, and baby carrots with hummus. I also had some lunch meat by itself.

Since work took so long dinner plans also did not work out. Originally I was going to make chili for supper but we didn't have all of the ingredients. Then by a stroke of luck we were invited to my wife's Aunt's house for dinner. She is a good cook so I was looking forward to it, but work was not done yet. Erin went without me.

I only snacked on things until after 7. My stomach was growling hungrily at me, but I was too busy to take time out to make a meal. I grabbed a handful of peanuts, cashews, carrots, and mushrooms trying to hold me over. Finally I ate dinner. I had a can of Campbell's vegetable beef, and I pulled out all of the potatoes. I think half of the content is potatoes. Not surprisingly I was still hungry afterwards. I ended up eating some more lunch meat.

I definitely need to plan meals better. With this rather drastic change in eating I don't want to leave it until the last minute to figure out what I can eat. If I do then I'll be more likely to cheat and eat carbs.

Charter schools better than public schools.

2011-02-11T18:36:00.000-06:00

I read on FoxNews another story about charter schools outperforming public schools. By now the problem should be clear. The way public schools are run does not measure up. There needs to be changes and they need to happen soon.

The no child left behind legislation has ruined schools. Once the school is ruined enough it can be taken over by a private charter that does better.

Don't wait for things to be ruined. Fix them now. Do things the way charters are doing them and make that the standard. Clearly they have a proven method for performance. If the no child left behind legislation actually stood for anything it would not only allow schools to change to the same model as charters it would force them to. The numbers don't lie, there is a better way and it's being done in the same area with the same students and winning.

Football 2010

2010-09-08T18:36:00.001-05:00

I'm excited that it's football time, mostly because I've given up on the White Sox. Sure they are only 4.5 games out, but they've been outmatched all year and here at the stretch run they are all starting to get hurt.

On to football. This is my take with a completely uneducated guess. I haven't been watching pre-season closely. I haven't watched the offseason trades. Teams for the most part remain who they are. Football is not like baseball in that a team can completely change with free agency, or basketball in that a team can have a single player make a huge impact. Sure the draft helps, but only marginally, coaching and schemes have a lot to do with it, as do the players who are still there.

First and foremost I'm a Chicago Bears fan. I will watch every game this year cheering for them, but I only expect them to win 5 games. The defense in the pre-season has not looked good against opponents, but it has looked great against our own offense. To me that says that our defense is weak and our offense is weaker. 5 wins may be a stretch. The good thing that should come from that is that Lovie Smith and the crappy Tampa 2 will be gone. He can say that there is nothing wrong with the scheme as many times as he wants, but the fact is that a Tampa 2 really has only ever had 3 a few good seasons on teams. It does work if all of the right players are at their peak and working perfectly, however any weakness in the players and the system is crap. We do not have premier players in all of the positions, so get over yourself and switch to a scheme that can work with the talent we do have. You've been coaching too long to be this stupid, so stop being stubborn.

As a backup, I'm picking the Houston Texans to be the sleeper team to watch this year. San Francisco is the team that everyone else is watching, and with Singletary as the coach and the team in a weak division I think they will win the division, but when everyone expects a team to be the sleeper, they really aren't the sleeper, they are expected to be good. The San Francisco offense will be the only real throwback offense that tries to pound it out in a throwing league, but they have the defense to allow that to happen.

Houston on the other hand has a lot of talent on defense and Andre Johnson for a wide receiver. They picked up Matt Leinart as a backup after Arizona unexpectedly cut him. Leinart may stick around a few years as a servicable backup, but I think he's already proven that he'll never be a solid starter. Houston's running back core led by Steve Slaton will be interesting. I thought he was overrated at West Virginia and he's been somewhat of a bust already, but maybe this year he will show more.

Division Winners

NFC East - Dallas Cowboys

Romo is not a star quarterback and will never be Brett Farve or Peyton Manning, but he is on a very good team and he's a good quarterback.

NFC North - Minnesota Vikings

I think the Vikings with this division even without Farve. Green Bay is their only real competition, but Adrian Peterson is a far better back than Ryan Grant. I love watching and cheering for Grant since he came out of Notre Dame and has performed better than anyone expected.

NFC South - New Orleans

I don't think the Saints will repeat as Super Bowl champs, but they kept almost the entire team together and Drew Brees is a star quarterback. He will can carry the team late in the 4th quarter all by himself. This is the strongest division.

NFC West - San Francisco

San Francisco will be the team with the worst quarterback in the playoffs. Alex Smith is not the answer for them, but they also haven't had many other options. I like that they are building a very solid team and they have the ability to plug in a better quarterback later. Teams can win the big game without a quarterback. Most recently the Ravens did it with Trent Dilfer, and Delhomme, Hasselbeck, and Rex Grossman even took teams to the superbowl. Anything is possible.

NFC Wild Cards - Green Bay, Atlanta Falcons

Green Bay I think is the strongest team to not win a division. The 2nd wild card was really a toss up. I went with my gut and picked the Falcons.

AFC East - NY Jets

New England is finally knocked from their pedestal. New England's defense cannot slow other teams down enough to allow their own offense to win. Brady throws for 4,000 yards, but it's not enough. The Jets win ugly, but a win is a win.

AFC North - Cincinnati Bengals

There will be drama, everywhere that TO has ever been there has been drama. But winning keeps it at bay until the team falls apart in the playoffs. If TO can finally take responsibility then they may go all the way, but if he continues to point fingers at others this team will not make it past the first round. TO will leave pouting and nobody will pick him up next year, everyone is tired of his drama, even if he can still perform they are tired of dealing with it.

AFC South - Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis wins again, but they don't run away with the division. Peyton Manning is probably the best quarterback to every play the game. He'll need to be. The new rules hurt the Colts offense more than any other team. I predict the change will cost the Colts 2 wins this season.

AFC West - San Diego Chargers

San Diego makes sense to repeat despite letting one of the better running backs in history go. LT was definitely past his prime and didn't help a lot last year. That's ok though, because the Chargers will have the fewest rushing yards for a playoff team. Their offense will be completely based on the pass, even their "running" plays will be quick dump passes or pitch plays. Ron Rivera's defense is what makes the difference. The same defense that managed to take the Bears to the Super Bowl brings wins in SD. I don't understand why he isn't given more credit for what happened in Chicago, the defense hasn't even been good since he left, and the new defense that he's running is good, not great, but good.

AFC Wild Cards - Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins.

There are about 6 teams that you could pull out of a hat and any of them would be a good choice. Oakland without Jamarcus Russel will actually be a fun team to watch this year. Denver with Orton being a solid quarterback and 2 intriguing backups behind him will probably cause some drama at some point. I look forward to seeing a very hard hitting Baltimore Ravens defense. Pittsburgh is a good team, but being without big Ben to start the season puts them out too far to overcome late in the season. New England has enough that they could be here, I think that coach Belichick is finally not able to get enough from his players. The talent has gotten too thin and the help at coaching has also thinned out. This is a rebuilding year, not for player talent, but for coaching talent, he needs to be able to relinquish some control again to focus on development more. Miami with the wildcat, and two strong running backs will plow through teams and win with ball control.

Kindle Sells Out: 5 Reasons Amazon Shouldn't Celebrate - PCWorld

2010-07-28T18:36:00.000-05:00

Kindle Sells Out: 5 Reasons Amazon Shouldn't Celebrate - PCWorld

This article was somewhat confusing to me. His points don't make sense to me.

1. Watch out for falling profits.

It's true that the Kindle price has dropped from it's initial price of $359, but that does not mean that the company is making $170 less on each one. It means the revenue has dropped by that amount, but profit is based on the cost to produce the product. The $170 drop in price may not be any less profitable. It may will be less than it was the day before the price was dropped, but I would expect that there was a sliding scale. At first the product cost x to produce and they sold for $359. Over time the price to produce dropped and their profit margin rose, until they dropped their price. I think it's true that they dropped their price due to the competitive price from the Nook, but I don't think that they are eating cost on each one. That information is not known to me, but it doesn't mean that Amazon shouldn't celebrate. Jeff Bezos knows what's going on there, and he knows whether or not he can celebrate.

2. Is $189 Still Too Expensive?

If Amazon was fine selling their device for $359 why would they care if $189 is too expensive? Studies may show that the best seller price for e readers is in the range of $50 to $99, but that doesn't mean that's what Amazon is after. BMW isn't. They don't build cheap cars, it doesn't stop them from making money. Also if $189 is eating into their profits, wouldn't $99 eat into that even more? Amazon has reported that they've tripled sales since dropping to $189. It may not be low enough for everyone, but it has clearly crossed some kind of threshold that's let them extend their cusomer base by quite a bit.

3. Sales Stats Unknown.

While it's true that I don't know the sales stats or the profit of a single Kindle, that doesn't make it a reason for Amazon not to celebrate. Amazon knows that information. I don't know if I should celebrate, Amazon knows if it should celebrate.

4. About the iPad

I have never considered an e-Reader as a competitor to a tablet. The iPad has blown me away with what it's capable of doing and having seen it in action I want one. But I don't want it as a replacement for my eReader. They are separate for me. I love the e-ink solution of the Kindle, the battery will last for weeks with wireless turned off. I can take my notes and buy books directly from the Kindle when I want to, but I don't have to synchronize. There is no power saving package that I could turn on with the iPad that would let the batter last more than one day. The iPad is awesome, but just like reading on a computer screen my eyes hurt after a while. I'd rather read on the Kindle than the iPad. With both devices I would definitely choose to only take the iPad in some instances and use it to read my books. However, that doesn't hurt Amazon, because it's still a eBook that they sold to me. I'm not even sure that the Kindle DX is a competitor to the iPad, at least not yet. It may be made somewhat obsolete by the iPad, if newspapers can provide a new medium that take advantage of the interactivity of the iPad. If that were to happen the Kindle DX would be useless, but for now it's not. I'm really not sure what the future of the Kindle DX is.

5. Beware the Multifunction Devices.

I own a Kindle and a Droid. I have the Kindle app for the Droid. I don't consider it a replacement for the Kindle. If I'm somewhere without my Kindle (which is rare), I can pop open a book real quick and take advantage of a few minutes to read. I would never consider my phone a replacement though. The screen being on drains the battery way too fast, and I'd rather keep that life of my batter for things like phone calls and text messages. Besides, it's rare that I have time to read when I don't also have emails that I need to follow up on. I can use my phone to do those other things and wait until I am back near my Kindle to read on it. But in a pinch it does work. And I like that I can keep a copy of my favorite book with me on my phone for referencing.

My disappointment lies in every argument. None of them show that there is a problem with the Kindle. And they don't provide a single reason that Amazon shouldn't celebrate.

A real triple crown candidate?

2010-07-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

Miguel Cabrera may be a real triple crown candidate. I've not seen a triple crown in my lifetime, and there have been a few times in the past that I thought there was a chance, but this year Cabrera has a very high average and that seems to be the one category that the home run hitters lack.

I think there is a very good shot at triple crown with him and if it's still a possibility at the end of August the mainstream media will start talking about it.

Chocolate may cause depression

2010-07-02T18:36:00.000-05:00

Chocolate may cause depression | Psych Central News

The article is more detailed than the heading. The heading alone would make one think that Chocolate is the cause of depression, when it is more likely that chocolate is just a comfort food that depressed people turn to.

It could be that the body wants a certain amount of good feeling in it, and if it's not getting it then it may cause cravings for a food that does provide that. Chocolate just happens to be that food. The more depressed you are, the more you need to chocolate.

Studies like this are interesting, but when the results can be interpreted in different ways you have to take them with a grain of salt. All we really know is that depressed people are eating chocolate. Why is open for interpretation.

Lebron James

2010-07-01T18:36:00.001-05:00

The Lebron James race has begun. NBA teams are falling over themselves to get Lebron James to come to their team. Money is not going to be the selling point. There are several teams that have enough salary cap room to offer him the max amount possible, so other than staying where he is in Cleveland the possibility of earning more money won't be enticing.

How do you sell your team to Lebron James? First you have to have the pieces to compliment his game in order to win a championship. Second I think you need a track record of being able to at least make the playoffs. Third you need intangibles. The city, the fans, the arena, the amenities. I think these actually have something to do with where he will play. I've given up on watching basketball since Jordan left the Bulls, but Lebron coming to Chicago would be enough to make me interested in catching a few games again.

I don't know the NBA well enough to know which team has the inside edge. I don't think it's Cleveland because even though they can offer him more money individually I don't think he has as many of the intangible opportunities in Cleveland. And the team may have been the best in the division last season with him, but without him they would not have been very good, he elevated that team a lot. It also does not sound like Cleveland is planning to do much to bring one of the other big free agents in to help them get over the hump and win that elusive championship.

I think Lebron James is more like a game of roulette at the moment. Each team has different intangibles to offer. Place your bets and wait for the ball to stop bouncing.

Is Greece different than California?

2010-06-19T18:36:00.001-05:00

The Greek debt crisis and now the Spanish debt problems have me thinking a lot about the debt problems that states have in the U.S. I'm not sure how different the scenarios are. To me, and average person, I just see that the states don't have the money to pay their bills. The options, borrow against the future, or borrow from the federal government, which is borrowing against the future. Either way, the amount of money we are spending continues to be more than the amount that we are generating.

At what point does the complete failure of world economies force us to re-evaluate our local governments role in society and how we can scale it back to a size that the taxes can afford?

Budget inaction leaves Illinois adrift - STLtoday.com

2010-06-18T18:36:00.000-05:00

Budget inaction leaves Illinois adrift - STLtoday.com: "As a result, for the moment, about $6 billion in state bills are simply going unpaid."

Illinois is not paying it's bills. The state legislature cannot find a way to fund all of the programs that it wants to run, and refuses to be the bad guy and cut things, so they passed the buck to the governor. I understand why. Nobody wants to be the bad guy that had to cut funding for education, although with the hole that the state is in, it is going to happen. This way the fault lies with a single person. The governor. The state legislatures are hoping that it saves them their own jobs at the next election. I hope people wake up and see that it's those people who cannot manage the money that the state has and they all need to be replaced.

The sad fact is that governments at every level are paying for public projects that are beyond what the government should be about. The government needs to remove itself from as many of those extra areas as it can and stick to providing only the basics that we need. A smaller government needs less money, which balances the budget. Yes that means that there are programs, lots of them, even things that are good, that should go away. Unfortunately many of these are essentially charities being run by the government. Instead charities should run these. They will do a better job than government will anyway.

Quinn plan would save trooper jobs, but not posts � Evansville Courier & Press

2010-06-17T18:36:00.000-05:00

Quinn plan would save trooper jobs, but not posts � Evansville Courier & Press

The plan is to take up to $10 from the money that goes into the county funds currently and put it into a special account for the state police.

I did not know the break down of the fees for tickets, but it's a little shocking that tickets were not already partially being used to fund police activities directly.

The bigger problem I see with this is that every level of government is out of money and not able to pay their bills, this will pull an additional $10 from every ticket away from counties making it even harder on local governments.

Happy National Doughnut Day

2010-06-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Happy National Doughnut Day.

I hope you enjoy a few and think of the Salvation Army and the men and women of the US Military in World War I, who not only won the war to protect our freedom, but also gave us a holiday as tasty as this.

Volunteers to simulate 18 months on Mars.

2010-06-03T18:36:00.001-05:00

Volunteers to begin Mars500 isolation. I love the psychological sides that this can bring. I expect that there is down time. The only communication with the outside is email, and an email has a 20 minute delay. I wonder if they are allowed anything for entertainment. I expect that cards would be useless with a more weightless environment. Can they use a Kindle? The e-ink lasts a lot longer and uses very little battery, it could provide a very small item that has limitless content to be read. Many books could be stored on it to start with, but new ones could also be emailed I would think.

I expect that there is also a power limit on what they can use. Has e-ink made it into any actual computing devices yet? I read an article the other day that showed a demo of it on a flexible screen showing color images. If it's not there yet, I expect that in the next 5 years that e-ink will be in use on some high end laptops with extreme battery life because the screen will use a lot less and the hard drive will be a solid state drive.

AT&T to end unlimited wireless-data plans - MarketWatch

2010-06-02T18:36:00.001-05:00

AT&T to end unlimited wireless-data plans - MarketWatch:

"Starting June 7, AT & T plans to drop its unlimited $30 Internet plan, which includes email. Instead, customers would pay $25 a month for 2 gigabytes of data under AT & T's "DataPro plan. That's the equivalent of 4,000 Internet page views, 10,000 emails without attachments or 200 minutes of streaming video.

....

The cheaper option, DataPlus, offers 200 megabytes of data for $15 a month. That's the equivalent of 1,000 emails without attachments, 400 Internet-page views or 20 minutes of streaming video.

DataPlus customers who exceed their limit would be charged an additional $15 for another 200MB. AT & T said 65% of its customers use less than 200MB a month."

I don't understand the pricing scheme. For $25 a month I can get 2 GB or for $30 a month I can buy the smaller plan and cover overages that gives me 400MB. That's more money for less than one quarter the data usage. I think this plan sucks. I think the limit on data for the iPhone will cause some people to jump ship to Droids on Verizon. Verizon has a limit of 5GB, but that's still more than twice what AT & T is offering. At the very least, AT & T should be able to offer the cheaper plan for $15, but since they have one that covers 2GB for $25, going over the 200 MB limit should automatically charge an additional $10 to up the coverage to 2GB for that month. After all if you sign up for the 2GB plan it's only $10 for each additional GB, not $15 for an additional 200MB. I don't like the differences in the overage prices.

I do understand that AT & T is looking to make some more money and try to curb the use of some of it's heavier users. Someone who uses 5 GB will now pay $55 a month. There's probably not a lot of those people out there, but the iPad may increase that number with it being a better platform to stream videos to than the iPod is. I expect that heavy data users of the iPad will end up spending a lot more than just iPhone users.

Google Fonts

2010-05-28T09:40:00.000-05:00

Google Fonts was announced. It lets you include fonts from Google's servers and use more than just the standard browser supported fonts. This should make web pages more exciting if you are a fonts person. I'm not a fonts person, but I do occasionally like to change things up.

I am a little shocked that they have not updated the editor here at Blogger to support the new fonts from their own site. Google is usually pretty good at incorporating their own enhancements into their other products. Maybe over time they get that in place and I can write my blog posts in a Tangerine font.

School answering machine message

2010-05-27T09:40:00.001-05:00

This school apparently got tired of the parents.

Puma's 'Clever Little Bag' Slashes Sneaker Packaging

2010-04-14T18:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/04/13/puma-clever-little-bag-slashes-packaging?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Greenbuzz+(GreenBiz+Feed)

This article talks about all of the environmental savings that happen because of Puma changing it's packaging from all cardboard to a reusable bag. I think what's more important is that by using so much less in materials, Puma will actually be saving a lot of money too. Hello bigger profit margins.

France using people to generate energy

2010-04-13T16:45:00.002-05:00

France is going to be testing a process where people walking generates electricity. The goal is to generate enough electricity to run the street lights.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/04/13/french-city-use-sneaky-sidewaks-generate-power?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Greenbuzz+(GreenBiz+Feed)

I've read about this same technology before used in a disco to generate the electricity for the lights. I wonder when the next logical and probably higher energy gathering step of generating the energy from vehicles driving will take place. Already a form of it happens when a hose is run across the road and as cars drive over it air is used to move a counter or ring a bell. When will that turn into something that generates enough power for a capacitor or charges a battery that is then used to run traffic lights. Cars weigh a lot more and heavily congested areas have more potential for generating electricity.

At the Peoria Rivermen vs. Chicago Wolves

2010-01-23T21:44:00.001-06:00

Rivermen vs. Wolves

Waiting for food

2010-01-01T11:26:00.001-06:00

Scarlet likes having a baby around.

The end and start of a decade

2009-12-31T07:53:00.002-06:00

The 2000's are over. Now is the perfect time to think back on the last 10 years. And to think ahead to the next 10 years.

What were you doing 10 years ago. What have you done in the last 10 years. Did you think you would have done those things?

Where will you be in the next 10 years. What are your dreams, aspirations, goals. What will you do for investing? Vacations? Where will you work, where will you live? Will you get a degree, another degree?

I love this time of year. I love looking back at the past and looking forward to how things could be.

Take the time to reflect and set new goals

Mr. Incredible on Halloween

2009-10-31T19:57:00.001-05:00

He tied his sister down.

2009-10-01T18:15:00.001-05:00

I got her.

Michael Crabtee should get what he deserves

2009-09-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

I believe that Michael Crabtree should get exactly what he deserves, which is not what he thinks he deserves.

What Michael Crabtree has done is get drafted 1oth and turned down money for 10th. He's still holding out and may possibly re-enter the draft next year.

I think there should be a new rule that a player who holds out an entire season cannot be drafted in the same round that they were drafted in previously. That would make the 2nd round the highest he could be drafted, and his pay after next years draft would reflect a 2nd round pick. That would deter these college athletes who haven't done anything to prove that they can play in the NFL from being able to turn down $20 Million offers in the hopes of $30 Million offers. That's just flat out wrong. Ask the millions of people who will never see that kind of money.

Suck it up dude. Take the $15 Million or so being offered to you and get to work. After all, don't you have to make some money so you can make a living, or did your college find a way to pay you under the table?

Cutler is to blame

2009-09-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Bears lost the first game, and I think everyone last night was clear on what the problem was. Jay Cutler made mistake after mistake. However, listening to 670AM "the score" this morning the radio guys are ripping on the defense secondaries.

My take is this. In a game where the offense lost the field position battle big time by giving away the ball on 4 interceptions and a fake punt, the defense still managed to get a safety, and keep Green Bay to very few points. The defense played so good that with as bad as the Bears played they still won the time of possession battle and had more yards offense. That's pretty impressive.

The Bears lost simply because of Jay Cutler. Sure I think Ron Turner is partly to blame for calling so many pass plays when the quarterback was clearly not settled. But even with a pass play being called Cutler consistently threw off of his back foot and threw to his "favorite" receiver despite him being double, triple, and even quadruple covered. Throwing to someone else, checking down, or throwing the ball away would have been a better decision many times yesterday.

Bears, any receivers coming?

2009-09-10T17:07:00.002-05:00

The Vikings release Bobby Wade, their best receiver the past 2 years and Marvin Harrison is still unemployed. Any chance the Bears pick up a receiver with some quality and experience?

First day of school

2009-09-09T11:06:00.001-05:00

His first day of preschhool. He's such a big boy now.

Funny faces

2009-09-03T16:29:00.001-05:00

Maybe I can be in the next nightmare before christmas.

Watch me dad

2009-09-03T16:26:00.001-05:00

I put my hands like this to help me hop (on one foot)

Look what fun we are having at my first sleep over.

2009-08-29T17:09:00.001-05:00

First sleep over

Unique

2009-08-28T23:11:00.001-05:00

He is unique and we love him for it.

Funny faces

2009-08-21T16:30:00.001-05:00

A smiling boy.

Weight Loss Workouts continue

2009-08-18T21:24:00.001-05:00

I did not give up on my weight loss workouts, between them, working overtime, and trying to keep up with my wife at Farm Town on Facebook, I haven't had the chance to blog much. Plus I haven't had anything exciting to say.

I have been running more consistently. Today I even ran 2 miles. I have occasionally ridden the exercise bike. And I have been in the mood for weight training so I have done some light free weight and body weight exercises. Nothing extensive and I'm not following a program, but I am still feeling good about losing weight and being consistent with doing something.

Harpists playing people to death

2009-07-27T08:44:00.002-05:00

I remember cartoons with harpists floating along the dismembered soul floating up to heaven, but do we really have to play people to death?

What would it be like if you were in the hospital, and the guy next door had a harp start playing for him, would you think "Oh crap, I'm going, I'm not ready to die!!!" That's what I'd think.

Ontario Announces Rebates of Up to C$10,000 for Plug-in Electric Drive Vehicles

2009-07-15T12:30:00.002-05:00

Ontario Announces Rebates of Up to C$10,000 for Plug-in Electric Drive Vehicles, but more exciting is that they have a goal of getting 5% of the vehicles on the roads to a plug-in hybrid or all electric vehicle by 2020. To help this 20% of all new government purchases will be one of these forms of electric vehicles.

Since there are currently no mass produced plug-in hybrids, I'm guessing this is going to be a backloaded goal, however, the rebates will just about guarantee good sales of the first plug-in Prius in Canada.

Weight loss week 3

2009-07-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Weight 241
I'm disappointed that all of the additional exercise this week did not translate into weight loss. I'm not sure of the reason. I didn't eat more junk food, but I may have had larger portions of food. I definitely felt hungrier. I'm satisfied with the amount of exercise, but I need to control my food intake better.

Sunday - I rode the exercise bike for another 15 miles.
Saturday - I rode the exercise bike for 15 miles today, and then before bed I ran 3 miles. It was a ton of exercise, but I really needed to get the distance in for the lazy man I am doing.
Friday - I took a day off after a couple of good days of exercise.
Thursday - I rode the exercise bike 15 miles. It was a great exercise with lots of sweat.
Wednesday - I got up early and rode my bike 3 miles, then ran 1 mile.
Tuesday - I got up early and ran 3 miles
Monday - I didn't do anything on Monday, I was a little disappointed in myself.

Weight loss week 2

2009-07-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Erin signed me up for a Lazy Man's iron man in July. I have to run 26.2 miles, bike 112 miles, and swim 2.4 miles. I did the same thing last year, and despite worrying about the swimming, it was actually the easiest part last year.

Weight: 240 - Down one pound from last week.

Sunday - I put Jaden in the bike trailer and pulled him for 4 miles. That was a lot harder than just getting myself over the distance. Plus the heat, I felt sick for the next hour afterwards.
Saturday - I ended up going in to work today to get caught up on things and didn't exercise.
Friday - I stayed home and spent most of the day working on the computer. I didn't exercise.
Thursday - I was able to get up early today and run/walk for 2 miles before work. My legs are a little tired, but I felt really good.
Wednesday - First day of the Lazy Man. I meant to get up and run in the morning, but I was up too late last night. I walked 1 mile at lunch.
Tuesday - I got up early and rode the exercise bike for 15 minutes, not much but something. I walked 1 mile in about 20 minutes at lunch time.
Monday - I left for work at 7:30 AM and didn't get home until 11 PM. I did not get to exercise.

Palin resigns early

2009-07-03T15:57:00.001-05:00

Sarah Palin has resigned, I don't understand the reason, but this is definitely putting her in my do not vote for President pile. At the very least I want a President that will finish out the office that they were elected for, when the Presidential election will not happen in the middle of that term.

The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building

2009-07-02T19:00:00.000-05:00

The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building: Redefining the Practice of Sustainability (Sustainable Design) has been released to help builders learn how to make buildings greener.

I find it ironic though that this 416 page tome is not offered in an electronic format. They'll tell us how to make our buildings green, but they aren't offering a way to help us cut down on the paper, and all of the water and energy that goes into producing a physical book.

Stop providing public smog

2009-06-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

I think all of the major cities should switch their trains and buses to Fuel Cell vehicles. Fuel cells already work and are viable in larger vehicles (although not cheap). However, one of the biggest issues with large cities is air quality. The government should not be another contributor.

No public transportation should be emitting these pollutants. This comes with the benefit that since major cities will be using hydrogen on a larger scale, there will have to be refueling stations in the cities. The refueling stations will provide a place for consumer purchased fuel cell vehicles to fill up.

I also think the new vehicles should not be fuel cell only. We know that hybrids reduce the amount of fuel that is used, that should not change with fuel cells. The hydrogen may be cleaner and not produce pollutants, but it will still need to be filled up. Using hybrid technology that is already being used should be able to be used in conjunction with the fuel cells to make the vehicles travel farther on the same amount of hydrogen. This will also help to alleviate the amount of hydrogen that needs to be produced to fuel the public transportation system.

Once the large cities have it working, the medium sized cities could then also get on board.

C'mon government. You want to say you are building an energy driven economy and fighting global warming at the same time. Stop taking useless 3 or 5 mpg increases over 10 years, and jump into removing all gasoline use from public transportation. Get the buses, public, then school switched over. Then mandate Tractor Trailers switch and get the biggest fuel hogs immediately off of gasoline. The smaller vehicles will continue to get more efficient, or will make the jump to fuel cells. Make that happen!

Summer weight loss

2009-06-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

I've let myself get fat. Too fat. I've moved up a pants size and if it weren't for expandable waist pants, I would be up two sizes.

I plan on posting a once a week update on where I'm at and what I did in the previous week to exercise.

Today: 241 pounds.
Previous week.
Sunday: 3 mile bike ride. 1.5 mile run.
Saturday: Some pushups.
Friday: Walked to the library and back about 1.75 miles
Thursday: Funeral in the morning. Run at night about 1.5 miles.
Wednesday: Visitation - standing around for 5 hours, no exercise.
Tuesday: On vacation at waterpark. Walked some.
Monday: On vacation at waterpark. Walked some.

My goal is for next week's exercise to look a lot more consistent.

What smarter grid?

2009-06-22T08:33:00.003-05:00

Everything I've read about a smart grid is based on houses being able to run without electricity, with the electricity being supplied by a PHEV. However, if I'm driving a PHEV and lose power at my house, I don't want to use my car to power my house, then also run my car dead. I want to be able to take my car and leave without it causing my house to break down again.

Instead, the smart grid technology should be giving houses their own battery. Then my house is not broken if I need to go somewhere in my car. Also houses could be cycled and not all run off the grid at the same time. If every house has their own battery, then only half would have to be on the grid charging at a time. This would immediately cut the electricity need in half. It's much more realistic to have clean energy generated when the demand is only half of what it is now.

If you take RMI's approach and make houses even more efficient, then we wouldn't even need half the power that we need now.

Let's get some of the battery technology that we have been trying to build for cars, and take advantage of the cost improvements, in order to make houses able to run without the grid.

Baseball game 5

2009-06-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

Game 5 and the 3rd this week.

The kids did good again. We got another putout on the bases. And Chloe, the youngest on the team, nearly got a hit. She it the ball and ran to first. But the other team was able to beat her there and get the putout. I was so excited and hollering "run, run, run" I may have scared her some, she's the 2nd fastest on the team and was slowing down as she got to first, she was also still holding the bat. It was awesome, and sad at the same time. If she'd have dropped the bat and ran then she would have made it.

We hit the ball well, but were unable to score. We just couldn't get enough hits in a row. Zion, the oldest on the team had two rips into the outfield (actually on the grass), the first was a double, the second was on the first base side so he only got a single out of it.

I'm still waiting for Ady to get a hit. Her swings tonight were a little weak, she moved her arms through the motion, but the bat pointed straight down. I definitely need to work with her more on how to swing the bat.

Baseball game 4

2009-06-10T22:38:00.003-05:00

Game 4 from 7:30 PM tonight.

Wow! My kids going into 1st and 2nd grade vs a team that is 7 and 8 year olds. I chatted with the other coach and 8 of his 10 kids were in the 8 year old category, while my team is all 6 and one 5 year old.

We lost, and we only played 3 innings in the one hour time limit. The other team scored 17 runs.

However, our team scored 4 runs, and we hit the ball a ton. We didn't make any outs on the bases, but we came close a few times. The older girls were just too fast for us.

The lowlight of the night was before the game started and Ady was taking batting practice. She hit the ball twice really well, then hit it with her finger. It smashed her finger, the same one she had smashed previously.

Fortunately I was blessed with many highlights. A couple kids got hits that haven't been hitting. We scored 4 runs. And Ady played really well, even after having smashed her finger before the game. I am a very proud coach.

Baseball game 3

2009-06-10T08:33:00.001-05:00

Game 3 was tonight at 7:30 PM. We lost.

Last week the pitching machine went bad enough that the other coach and I agreed to pitch to the kids ourselves. That was probably the biggest mistake. Despite pitching to the kids all the time in practice, I could not get them a good pitch to hit, and the limit of 3 strikes was really a problem.

We did get our second putout of the season when the pitcher picked up a short hit ball and ran home and touched the plate before the running attempting to score. The very next batter she had a second chance to do it again, but didn't because the umpire had moved in front of the plate to remove the dropped bat for safety. She was visibly upset that she could not make another out at the plate.

While game 2 was great because all of the kids were focused, game 3 was riddled with distracted and tired kids. I was constantly telling kids to stand up, something I have not had to do yet this season, and telling them to put their gloves back on. I even moved the girl playing pitcher out of pitcher after having told her several times to keep her glove on. Pitcher is probably the only position that a ball will get to on a fly, and I didn't want her to get hurt.

Sadly, one of my parents called and said her daughter would not be playing softball anymore. She wasn't having fun and they aren't going to make her go to it. My team now officially has 10 kids on it.

Game 4 is tomorrow night at 7:30 PM. Hopefully the kids are a little more alert.

Repaying TARP

2009-06-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

I've read that there are up to 10 banks that will be repaying TARP funds. This seems to be generating quite a bit of excitement as these banks which were not stable very long ago have now quickly turned around their fortunes.

What I haven't read, and can't find anywhere, is what is the profit to the government. These funds were being "invested" in banks and were going to pay back more than was loaned over the long term. Is the government actually following through on having them repay the amount plus some amount of interest?

I also can't find what happens to the TARP money. Congress basically gave a blank $750 billion check to the treasury. Once they've spent it and money comes back in as these banks repay it, when does it go back into the congressional coffers? When is that money no longer just an extra $750 billion for the treasury to play with? They have already purchased GM, which they are now running and subsidizing both. I don't like the nationalization of any business, and I don't like when the government subsidizes that business at the same time.

Ford is out there right now struggling through the tough economy working through it's own turnaround without a penny from the government. GM is now owned by the government. In order to make sure people can get money, the government handed over billions to GMAC to guarantee financing for GM vehicles. When GM declared bankruptcy the government also started helping GMs suppliers. As it stands now, basically every business related to Ford is being run as a business with no intervention, while everything that is related to GM is getting handouts from the government.

I prefer that tax incentives are used to entice people/companies to do things, rather than money just being handed out. Since there is the new CAFE standards, I think that for each 5% that a company betters the CAFE standards they should get some kind of tax break. It's like setting the standards up as a C- on the grading scale, and rewarding companies for getting A's.

Fortune cookies

2009-06-06T22:00:00.002-05:00

The kids and I went to Chinese for dinner tonight. I think one of the reasons that they like chineses so much is that they get the fortune cookies. Ady and Jonas now read their own.

Today our fortunes went like this.
Me: Leaders are readers.
Jaden: To be content with little is true happiness. (Obviously written by a woman)
Jonas: Know and believe in yourself, and what others think won't disturb you.

Ady: Anyone can "start", only the tortured will "finish"
(it actually reads Anyone can "start," only the thoroughbred will "finish!")

Ady read hers over and over, but kept saying tortured instead of thoroughbred. After having run a marathon, I think tortured may be just as correct.

Baseball game 2

2009-06-04T20:23:00.001-05:00

In our second game of the season we played well.

We faced an odd spring loaded pitching machine that made it more difficult for the kids to hit than before. At the end of the game we had 6 hits, and no runs. We outdid our opponents who only had 4 hits and no runs.

The most exciting moment came in the second inning when we recorded our first putout at first base. Savanah moved to her right 3 steps, picked up the ball and ran back to the base to make the out. There were two other times during the game that we nearly had a putout at first, Savanah was just late on one time, and Kailyn was just late once.

Sadly our last out was made with the bases loaded, one more hit would have given us a win. Three of our team did not make it to the game.

After the game the other coach and I talked for about 10 minutes. Neither of us like the pitching machine. It's not consistent in how it's throwing and the kids are having a hard time getting hits, we both would prefer to have coaches pitch to our own kids. Hopefully a conversation with the woman in charge will allow us to switch from the pitching machine to coaches pitch. Hopefully then the kids will have more fun and success hitting the ball.

Our next game is not until next Friday.

Baseball game 1

2009-05-30T20:30:00.000-05:00

Wow. After two rainouts we played a make up game. The electric pitching machine was not the greatest, but something about it clicked with the kids. They could see the ball and get their timing (for the most part).

Ten of my eleven kids showed up. We had hits every inning and scored 4 runs. It was awesome!

Saturday afternoon games with a temperature of 85 made it hot to play. I ran around in the field reminding kids to be ready and trying to continually show them how to be ready. I felt really bad for the kids that cycled through playing catcher though. It was really hot and none of them wanted to do it a second inning.

$3 for one song?

2009-05-20T07:00:00.001-05:00

The new Green Day album is out, and I want it, even though I haven't heard a single song from it. I love Green Day, despite not caring for most of the music on the radio stations that they play. So I don't hear their songs very often when new ones are released.

I got my newsletter from Amazon and noticed in it that there are two Green Day albums that are in the top 10 best selling. So I went to look at them. The first one I noticed was the Amazon exclusive. Awesome, one you can buy only from Amazon and get a great deal on...

$11.99 for a new album with 19 songs on it. That's a pretty good deal vs. buying them for $0.99 each.

Then I checked the other album.

This one is only 8.99, with 18 songs. I went through and looked, it's got all the same songs as the Amazon Exclusive, except for the last one. And it's $3 cheaper. So I could buy this album, and spend the $0.99 for the extra song and still save $2. I don't understand why the Exclusive album costs so much more.

** Updated post (6/10/2009) I noticed that the difference in price is now $1, I doubt that this blog post was the reason, someone probably complained more directly to Amazon, but I can think that my blog may have persuaded them to fix the pricing.

Saddened by CornBelters

2009-05-19T08:58:00.003-05:00

The Normal baseball team has had a name voted for them. Honestly the name choices were lame. Apparently it's completely wrong to have a team with any native history (Indian) assigned to it, and animals have become a hard sell anymore as well.

I guess all new teams are going to some name that indicates the area they are from. The Lakers are a great example of that. Everyone knows L.A. for it's lakes..... Maybe when the team moves it needs to also come up with a new name to reflect the current area. The Lakers could be renamed to the rioters.

Here in Central Illinois an Independent league minor league baseball franchise is going to start next year. I'm excited about it and hope to make it to several games. It's a very minor league though. these are players that were never drafted by a pro team to be in one of their 5+ minor league systems, or players that were in there and didn't cut it.

Now to the name. The choices were lame. One was the Coal-Bears (in honor of Stephen Colbert). Originally it was winning, but the voting had to be started over due to ballot stuffing. Second was my favorite the Nutz, in honor of Beer Nuts which started and continues to make it's home here in Bloomington (the sister city to Normal). At least of the bad name choices this one would have had some sense of character. And the winner, the CornBelters. As if Central Illinois is the home of corn. Sure we have a lot of corn, and are in the corn belt, but that's pretty lame.

A team mascot and name should be able to be used as a source of pride. Something to focus on and an attitude to take on in order to be one. If you play for the Bulls you want to be a Bull. You want to be ferocious and attack head first. If you are a Bear you want to rip apart your opponents. If you are an Indian you want to use cunning and skill to defeat you opponents. If you are a CornBelter you can use... I don't know, the thought of popcorn?

I hate that team names are becoming this nondescript thing. They don't provide a rallying cry, or a sense of unity and pride, they are just there because teams need a name. In my town the school is the Maroons. Which the kids are fond of labelling themselves the morons. The lack of a good name is not lost on them.

Happy Birthday to me

2009-05-12T22:32:00.003-05:00

I am now 33. An age that amazes my kids as old, and my niece as surprisingly young. Apparently I look old for my age.

I didn't expect to get anything. Erin had told me that the kids wanted to get me flowers. They got a couple of annuals for me to plant in the yard.

There was a huge surprise coming for me. Erin got me a Kindle. It's a pretty neat piece of technology and I'm looking forward to saving paper and not having as many books on my bookshelf. I bought my first book today too. I bought Making it All Work by David Allen. I love Getting things done and look forward to reading his new book.

Letter to the garbage man

2009-04-29T09:59:00.002-05:00

Dear Mr. Garbage man.

I would like to start with an apology. It dawned on me today that for the past nearly 4 years I have not been meeting your expectations with my garbage. I have continually gone out of my way to make sure that my garbage was bagged and in garbage cans sitting upright, with lids on them.

I realize that this was a mistake. I should have noticed the hints that you had given me sooner.

You've made it excessively clear that lids on garbage cans only get in your way, that must be why when you are finished with my garbage that you go out of your way to throw the lids away in the garbage cans so as to remove them from any future hindrances. I should not have been taking them out and putting them back on top. I finally got the point 3 weeks ago when you decided to run over one of my lids and leave it in broken useless shambles.

I also apologize for standing my garbage cans up. If you wanted them in a standing position you would obviously put them back that way to make it easier on yourself, but you clearly want them laying down and half in the alley, that must save you from having to walk the extra step to get it. If it were an occasional occurrence I may think that the wind just blew them down. However with them laying down nearly every time for 4 years I understand that you prefer them that way. I have also deduced this by paying attention to the neighbors garbage cans when you are done with them. Every one of them is laying down. Thank you for making it clear to all of us that this is how we should present our garbage to you.

I apologize for thinking that the purpose of my throwing garbage away was to actually get it to you in a bag that is in a garbage can with a lid. I mistakenly assumed that you didn't want rodents, raccoons or dogs tearing through it. I also figured that a garbage can half full of water would be hard to deal with, so I kept putting the lid on it. I guess that leaving the garbage can lay on it's side results in the same outcome.

So next week, when you get to my house, my garbage cans will be full, but I'll make sure that they are already laying down with no lids on them, to make your job easier.

Earth Day Challenge

2009-04-22T21:58:00.002-05:00

The challenge: What 10 things do you/we do to help the earth.

Sounds simple enough but there is a catch, Erin and I are both posting the challenge on our blogs so we need to have 10 different items.

Since we were coming up with the list and she started first, she got some of the easier ones that we do. However, I have managed to come up with a pretty good list.

1. Compact Flourescent light bulbs. - We have one light in the kitchen that has 4 40 watt bulbs with the very narrow base. Within the next year we plan to replace this light fixture to one that we can also use the CFLs in.

2. Recycling - I have been big into recycling my entire life. I recycle all cardboard, paperboard, newspaper, magazines, plastic (1-7), tin, and aluminum cans that we get as packaging.

3. We have a high efficiency toilet that uses less water.

4. Reuse plastic bags - When we do go to the store and end up getting plastic bags we get more than one use out of them. We use some to throw out dirty diapers, and others as the garbage bags for the small bedroom garbage can. Mostly I try to recycle them at the grocery store though.

5. Reuse clothes - We try to re-use things as much as we can. We get hand-me-downs for our kids from our friends and then pass them on again. We also buy a lot of the clothes that the kids from garage sales.

6. Garden - We are tomato lovers. and tomatoes are used a lot in our house when they are fresh, but we don't care for canned tomatoes. We took our love of tomatoes and have planted a garden each year. Last year we expanded our garden from tomatoes to include green beans, peeas, cauliflower, and green peppers. Some did better than the others, but we were able to grow some of our own food.

7. Compost - Our yard happens to be only half a lot, there is very little grass and no trees. This year we have started composting. There's not much yard waste to add to the compost pile, but we throw all of our fruit and vegetable scraps (apple cores, pepper cores, onion skin, potato skins if we happen to be peeling the potato, orange peels, kiwi peels, etc.) into the compost pile

8. We only run the dishwasher when it is full.

9. We just bought a new washing machine that is Energy star rated.

10. Last year our TV died. We replaced it with an energy star LCD TV.

Ok, that's the 10 for the challenge. I have a few items left though, so here they are.
11. We use reusable plastic containers for lunch and eat leftovers instead of frozen meals that have lots of waste.

12. We set the Air conditioner to 80 in the summer time. The heat isn't too bad, we just try to get the humidity out of the air.

13. We have been cutting out High Fructose Corn Syrup from our diet. I'm not sure what impact this has, but I expect that using foods that are less processed is better for the environment.

14. Generally we try to avoid buying water bottles, because we drink tap. Sometimes we are on the road and need a drink so we'll pick one up. When we do, we re-use the bottle with tap water quite a few times before we put it in the recycles.

15. Finally an earh friendly and romantic one. Erin and I shower together. In about the same amount of time as a single shower we both get washed, cutting down on the water usage, and the load on the hot water heater. Plus it's fun.

Erin threw out an added challenge to me. Come up with two things that I want to work on doing better next year.

1. When I take cans of soup to work, I throw away the can because there is no place to recycle soup cans at work. I've decided to open cans of soup at home, take the soup in a reusable container, and recycle the can immediately. This will recycle another 1 or 2 cans a week.

2. Walk instead of drive. We live within less than a mile from 2 grocery stores, a Wal Mart, a few gas stations, and several fast food restaraunts. I want to try and walk to these places when using them more often over the next year.

3. I plan on moving as many of our Vampire technologies as I can to power strips that we can turn off at night.

Happy Easter

2009-04-10T08:25:00.002-05:00

I got an awesome card in the mail from my son yesterday. He wrote that he's sad that he couldn't be with me this Easter and I nearly cried.

Holidays as a divorced parent are hard. Holidays are when the most planning has to be done in order to make sure that you can spend time with your kids and family. Getting little things like this card when you aren't expecting them make any pain that you go through as a parent completely worth it.

This Easter we are being blessed with another baby. It's not ours directly, but my sister-in-law is in the hospital right now bringing into the world her second daughter.

Four years ago on Easter Sunday, my wife's best friend gave birth to a boy. And March/April is the largest concentration of extended birthdays that we have. It's a great time to celebrate.

Trying to keep my head up in down times

2009-03-30T21:48:00.002-05:00

The economy, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel. This is nuts. What's next, is China going to invade someone?

Companies keep trimming their employees in hopes of staying ahead of the economic curve. But less employees means less people who can afford someone else's product, and it's those people that are buying yours. It creates a chain reaction.

People temporarily stopped buying cars to save money, car companies laid off thousands of workers, which caused lots of other businesses to need to cut back so they could stay open, and that caused people to not be able to buy cars. Next thing you know almost nobody is working for car companies, and nobody is buying cars. I'm not advocating employing people and losing money, but if companies keep trimming their staff to stay ahead of the curve, they are going to keep adding to the curve.

I've been blessed. At my job I've not been laid off. I've been given a nearly impossible deadline to meet, which will cause endless hours, but at least I'm being paid for it, and I'm very grateful for that. I like the challenge, but stress a lot about the outcome. Even now I'm working, I'm just waiting for my server to restart, and it's nearly 10 PM.

Normally I turn to work in stressful times, but when the work is stressful I turn to family. I'm blessed to have a great family with 3 wonderful kids and an awesome wife. Coming home to them makes me feel good.

Do your best to keep your head up.

What do teachers make?

2009-03-11T11:41:00.002-05:00

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.

He argued, 'What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?'

To emphasize his point he said to another guest; 'You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?'

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, 'You want to know what I make?

(She paused for a second, then began...)

Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents

can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

You want to know what I make?' (She paused again and looked at each

and every person at the table.)

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write.

Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math. They use their God-given

brain, not the man-made calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to

know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say

the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under God, because we

live in the United States of America .

I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given,

work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.'

(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)

'Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing

money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no

attention because they are ignorant... You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?'

His jaw dropped, he went silent.

Generally I just delete forwards that I get, but with this one I liked it enough that it's worth sharing with more than my contacts. Everyone should be able to read this. Enjoy.

Book Review: The Little Book of Ruby

2009-03-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

SaphireSteel.com gave away the free book The Little Book of Ruby and I took advantage of it. Due to some things I was working on I had to restart the book several times. Now that I've finally finished it I thought I'd write up my thoughts.

The Little Book of Ruby does a decent job of explaining the very basics of Ruby. It does not delve into detail or give best practices on things, however, it's enough that a Ruby Beginner can read through the 85 page eBook and be able to figure out mostly what's happening in Ruby code that they look at.

It's a better start to Ruby than Why the Lucky Stiff's into. Why is an interesting character, but he gets too sidetracked, The Little Book of Ruby is a much better starting place.

When is enough enough?

2009-03-04T20:16:00.002-06:00

McLean County Woman awarded 2.6 Million for asbestos exposure. She died at the age of 93, 44 years after the exposure to asbestos.

I feel bad, but at 93, even with the cause being listed as asbestos related, at some point you have to chalk it up to natural causes.

If I were on that jury I would not have agreed to award anything to them.

Book Review: Shooter

2009-03-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

Shooter is a good book talking about the trip that Sgt. Jack Coughlin took on his way to Baghdad during the Iraq War. It's an entertaining book to read, and lets you see through the eyes of a sniper at a very high level.

There are no secrets revealed, and his descriptions of shooting aren't very graphic. I enjoyed reading about the life of someone from the front lines during those first days in Iraq when America went in and removed Saddam Hussein from power and sent him into hiding.

Reading this book is very similar to what you could imagine hearing if you sat around drinking beers and talking with him about it. Not too much detail, but enough to let you know what was happening. Not too much about his emotions, but enough to let you know that he has them.

What makes you effective?

2009-02-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

I've been studying myself. What makes me effective? What do I spend time getting lost in?

I get all philosophical when I get into these kinds of thoughts. What is effectiveness? Is it only my effectiveness or those of my team? Is effectiveness limited to my project or does my taking time to help another department and upltimately the company also count?

I think there is a balancing act that must be done. I need to be open and available to help others, but not let myself get pulled too far off of what my main task is, in order to help the company both directly and indirectly. My paycheck and job depends on me doing what's best for the company, which may not always be what's best for my current project.

GTD would have me shut off email and instant messaging, however, I must be available to respond to issues that crop up, and those are the notification mechanisms. GTD isn't the only program out there telling you to turn off email. Sure it's great when you can do it, but me, and my co-workers can't do it, and most other office workers can't either. However, you can make email work more effectively for you. I use the notification for Outlook, despite being told not to. Probably 80% of the email I get, I don't need. When I see one of those pop up with the notification, I take advantage of the delete button and send it straight to the trash. I'm still notifitied, but I spend 5 seconds or less removing that email from my life as soon as it happens.

Instant messages happen, and they need to. I can chat effectively on the side while still focusing mainly on my task, and still help someone else solve a problem. It may slightly slow me down, but I don't work for myself. I work for my company, and me being able to work non-stop for 30 minutes while someone else is stuck waiting for me is not useful. Instant messaging is a much more effective way of interupting me without taking me completely away from my thought than just walking over to my desk. I think this is part of why telecomutters tend to get more done.

I find that I'm effective when I already know how to do what I want to do. I'm not talking just needing to copy and paste, but having done something similar to what I'm working on will help me get results a lot faster. That's why I spend a lot of time at home reading and playing with code. I will push myself to solve problems and try things that I haven't needed to do at work, and that I'm not doing for anything in particular. Each time I do this it adds one more tool to my effectiveness toolbox.

I'm at least 50% more effective with music on to help drown out the background noise. Even when I'm working with someone that I'm talking to, if there is music on that I enjoy I'm more effective. I've tried it in total silence, and even tried wearing headphones to help block out the sound and work in silence. When it's too quiet the chaos in my mind takes over and I have a harder time focusing on the task at hand, music helps drown out both background noise and inner noise.

TV is a huge distraction. Probably because it's visual. At home my office is in the bedroom, and when I'm lucky enough to work from home during the day, the TV never comes on, but at night my wife goes to bed with the TV on. Even though she turns on something that I don't like, and I want to sit at the computer and work, I am still extremely distracted. I hate the TV, and wish I could have an automatic TV off button when I sat in my chair, I doubt my wife would like that one though.

But where do I get distracted? There's a ton of things that I want to do, but most of the normal time sinks don't apply to me. I'm almost never on mySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social networking site. I have accounts, but only rarely stop by for any kind of update. I find that a majority of my time on the internet is actually usefully spent learning about something new related to what I'm working on. The few exceptions are News and blogs that I read. However, I don't try to keep up with Digg or any other extremly busy news site, I just take in the headlines at new.google.com Then I read the blogs of people that I follow. Total those take less than 30 minutes a day. Internet distractions are rather small for me, and I like that.

Oddly, being such a computer nerd and not a people person, I find that my biggest time sink is talking with co-workers. It always starts about work, but when the problem is solved the conversation turns to chit-chat and continues. I noticed the other day that I spent nearly 40 minutes talking to the same person about almost nothing. It's awesome that I can connect with people like that. Growing up I was such an odd duck that I couldn't spend that much time with almost anyone, now I could drop an hour on conversation with just about anyone.

My effectiveness is best when I'm available to help others, but technology keeps me at enough of a distance from them that I can answer without getting sidetracked with banter about life.

Power Generating shocks

2009-02-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

MIT has been working on building Power Generating shocks that can be used to improve fuel efficiency of the vehicles. I've been waiting for this kind of thing for years.

A while ago someone invented a similar thing for shoes that could recharge a battery. Anything and anywhere that there is a natural bouncing motion we can attach a device to generate electricity.

Maybe next is a smaller shock absorber for the drivers seat, harnessing the power of the driver bouncing?

Why banks don't get it.

2009-02-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

Banks keep defending the decisions that they are making to send employees on retreats, and for other expenses. Their defense always states, "we aren't using bailout money for those costs".

What they aren't understanding is that the bailout money is keeping the entire business running. Every penny they have is all in one pot, it's not separate. If the bailout money were not there, then they would not be able to do these things because they'd need to use it to keep the real business going, it should be the same way now. The bailout should not be getting used as the only thing keeping the business running while the rest of the money goes to other niceties.

Book Review: The Five Love Languages

2009-02-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

The Five Love Languages is a good book that anyone in a relationship should read. My wife and I both think our relationship is good, and yet we still both chose to read it.

It's better to figure out all the things that work in a relationship and to nurture those early than it is to try to repair a broken relationship later. I like the car metaphor with this. A car will run for a long time with standard maintenance, but if you never change the oil or rotate the tires or wash it, then in a fairly short time the car will fall apart and not be fixable. Relationships can be the same.

The Five Love Languages helps you to understand what makes your spouse or loved one tick. Maybe you were naturally doing something early in the relationship during the "in love" phase that you aren't anymore. This book will help you to recognize those things that mean the most to your relationship so you can nurture it and help to remain strong.