I like Scrubs. It's a funny show. But tonight they did something on the show (a repeat on Comedy Central) that kind of annoyed me. It's not the only show that is guilty of this but since I like it, I was disappointed. Basically J.D. sleeps with Eliot while her boyfriend is temporarily unavailable because she realized J.D. was there for her. Granted it didn't work out due to the boyfriend returning 90 seconds after they had sex and Eliot leaping into his arms. Obviously they did a whole episode where J.D. was upset about this not necessarily because he had feelings for her but just the way it ended up. But my problem arises from the fact that the show in its script makes it a point that this is J.D's fault. Because he wasn't being her friend. Let me point out why I have a problems with this.
1. First, I'm analyzing a goddamn sitcom. DAMMIT WHO PUT THAT THERE!!!! *Sacks editor Monty Python style.
1. Let's try this again. It was Eliot who pushed the situation because she saw J.D. was "being there for her". Hell he was trying to watch Judge Dredd and she started stroking the side of his face!
2. So right after she sleeps with him she immediately goes back into her boyfriend's arms after cheating on him but tells J.D. to please not say anything.
3. As I said, it's made a point that it is J.D. who is in the wrong because he's not being a friend. You know, after she led him on by sleeping with him.
I'm disappointed in you Scrubs. And I don't watch you religiously so maybe this was an isolated instance on the show and perhaps the whole situation was later explained in a story arc that I missed (Dammit I don't have Netflix! So alone. So al....). But shows like Scrubs tonight and others like Sex and the City and Grey's Anatomy...well every fucking night are being totally disingenous. The guys are always to blame. And the women are always in the right. If a show switches the role, then it's decried for being chauvinistic and stuck in the past. If it does it in the way I described then it's "empowering" and "showcasing strong female characters". Personally, I call it hypocrisy. But that's just me.
I'm glad to see that Sarah Silverman is getting her own show on Comedy Central. She is great. Adorable but the filth that comes out of her mouth is extraordinary. The things she says I could never say. But yeah. Hopefully it will be good.
Demetri Martin is a great comedian. That is all.
Actually it's not all.
Or is it?
Yes it is.
For now.
Bye.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Ding Dong The Horse Is Dead
Barbaro was finally euthanized today. It is sad, but I'm glad because it's finally the end to one of the most overplayed sports stories of the year. Also for laughs, you should check out some of the message board posts wishing Barbaro a speedy recovery. Some of these people are crazy? Do they honestly think a horse can read their posts? My God!
Little Miss Sunshine won a Best Picture award at the SAG last night. That could give them a little momentum for the Oscar race. Remember the SAG chose Crash last year. Of course they've also chosen The Birdcage before. That's a true WTF moment.
I might have one or two more posts today. But I'm leaving tomorrow for William & Mary so I may not have any more posts for a few days. Unless I can post on Blogger from my cell phone. I could when I used LJ but I haven't tried yet. I'm sure you'll all miss me. As I said I'll try to leave a post or two to keep you occupied just in case I can't update on the road.
Little Miss Sunshine won a Best Picture award at the SAG last night. That could give them a little momentum for the Oscar race. Remember the SAG chose Crash last year. Of course they've also chosen The Birdcage before. That's a true WTF moment.
I might have one or two more posts today. But I'm leaving tomorrow for William & Mary so I may not have any more posts for a few days. Unless I can post on Blogger from my cell phone. I could when I used LJ but I haven't tried yet. I'm sure you'll all miss me. As I said I'll try to leave a post or two to keep you occupied just in case I can't update on the road.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Anyone up for a game of tennis?
Now I think most would realize I'm not a huge tennis fan. Not that I don't respect people who are good at it but it's just not my thing like say college basketball. And sure I fawn over Maria Sharapova but that's not why I'm talking about tennis. No I'm here to talk about my favorite athlete in any sport. And that's Roger Federer. He won the Australian Open today which gives him 10 Grand Slam trophies. So he's only four away from the record by Pete Sampras of 14. But consider this...it took Sampras 12 years to win those 14. It's taken Federer 3.5 years. That's right. He's won 10 Grand Slams in less than 4 years. Seeing as there are only four Grand Slam events each year (Australian, U.S., French, and Wimbledon) that's pretty damned impressive. What's really funny is how the American press keeps trying to act like Andy Roddick is getting close to being a rival to him. I've seen several finals where they talked about it but I've watched...Roddick is clearly outmatched. It's truly a man among boys. Even this year, everyone was suggesting that with Jimmy Connors helping Andy Roddick that the gap had been closed. Uh....no. Federer beat him in straight sets. But don't feel bad Andy. Federer beat everyone at the Australian in straight sets. That's right. He didn't lose one stinking set. That's astounding at a major.
The only knock on Federer is his performance on clay. He has yet to win the French Open and it won't be easy as his best competitor Rafael Nadal is a true champion on clay courts. We'll find out at the next major though. Personally I can't wait for another Federer-Nadal final rematch on clay. But I have a feeling Federer is ready to end that sole blemish on his resume. Should be interesting.
The only knock on Federer is his performance on clay. He has yet to win the French Open and it won't be easy as his best competitor Rafael Nadal is a true champion on clay courts. We'll find out at the next major though. Personally I can't wait for another Federer-Nadal final rematch on clay. But I have a feeling Federer is ready to end that sole blemish on his resume. Should be interesting.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Iona can't catch a break
Iona lost again today by 10. Now they're 0-20. Next chance for victory is against Canisius on Monday. Go Gaels!
Also, I said earlier that Nevada was the biggest upset of last year's tournament in the first round. I forgot about Iowa losing to Northwestern State. My mistake.
Also, I said earlier that Nevada was the biggest upset of last year's tournament in the first round. I forgot about Iowa losing to Northwestern State. My mistake.
I'm a Liar
Yeah, no Star Wars Holiday Special Running Diary yet. It's really awful so I had to take a break halfway through. You don't know what I do for you people.
We had some Jehovah's Witnesses stop by today. Oh boy! Needless to say the copy of Awake! didn't last long before meeting Mr. Trash Can.
North Carolina plays Arizona today. That should be an exciting frenetic game. I don't know if Arizona can play up to Carolina's speed though for 40 minutes with their weak bench. Carolina should pull away late.
Iona plays Loyola (MD) today. I don't think this is when the Gaels get their long-awaited win but it's not impossible. Go Gaels!
Appalachian plays 6-14 Citadel today. They're probably the worst team in the Southern Conference. I figure the Mountaineers win pretty easily.
Looks like Serena Williams trounced my future wife Maria Sharapova yesterday. I'm sure she's crushed. Don't worry Maria. I shall comfort you.
Memphis has seemed pretty quiet this year. They probably won't be a #1 seed like last year. But this time if they make my List of 8 I may not take them off. They currently top my list of who the best non-BCS conference teams.
1. Memphis 16-3
2. Air Force 19-2
3. Butler 18-2
4. Missouri State 14-7
5. Gonzaga 13-7
No Nevada here. They're vastly overrated. Maybe I'm just bitter that I had them in the Sweet 16 last year and they lost in the biggest first round upset. Whatever.
We had some Jehovah's Witnesses stop by today. Oh boy! Needless to say the copy of Awake! didn't last long before meeting Mr. Trash Can.
North Carolina plays Arizona today. That should be an exciting frenetic game. I don't know if Arizona can play up to Carolina's speed though for 40 minutes with their weak bench. Carolina should pull away late.
Iona plays Loyola (MD) today. I don't think this is when the Gaels get their long-awaited win but it's not impossible. Go Gaels!
Appalachian plays 6-14 Citadel today. They're probably the worst team in the Southern Conference. I figure the Mountaineers win pretty easily.
Looks like Serena Williams trounced my future wife Maria Sharapova yesterday. I'm sure she's crushed. Don't worry Maria. I shall comfort you.
Memphis has seemed pretty quiet this year. They probably won't be a #1 seed like last year. But this time if they make my List of 8 I may not take them off. They currently top my list of who the best non-BCS conference teams.
1. Memphis 16-3
2. Air Force 19-2
3. Butler 18-2
4. Missouri State 14-7
5. Gonzaga 13-7
No Nevada here. They're vastly overrated. Maybe I'm just bitter that I had them in the Sweet 16 last year and they lost in the biggest first round upset. Whatever.
Friday, January 26, 2007
An assortment of news
The sheriff of our county has terminal cancer. My grandmother originally called me at 4 to tell me he had died. However, according to my sources (Charlotte Observer) he is not dead yet. It does look bleak though. It's very sad. I think you remember me making fun of the sheriff's race in my county because the accusations were so baseless and ridiculous. Makes it look worthless now. And anybody who continues talking trash about the man in this bleak time, well they don't even deserve a comment.
I'll do the long-awaited (only by me) Star Wars Holiday Special Running Diary after I post this entry. I'll have to watch it and take notes though so don't expect it immediately.
And yes I am single. Why do you keep asking me that.
Got my haircut today. I'm so ready for William & Mary.
I think if you initiated a short sale in Google this week, you may have made a wise decision.
Do I need professional help when I'm trying to play my mandolin to "What You Know" by T.I. Be honest.
The ACC said there were some timing errors in last night's Duke-Clemson game.
I'll do the long-awaited (only by me) Star Wars Holiday Special Running Diary after I post this entry. I'll have to watch it and take notes though so don't expect it immediately.
And yes I am single. Why do you keep asking me that.
Got my haircut today. I'm so ready for William & Mary.
I think if you initiated a short sale in Google this week, you may have made a wise decision.
Do I need professional help when I'm trying to play my mandolin to "What You Know" by T.I. Be honest.
The ACC said there were some timing errors in last night's Duke-Clemson game.
She must be busy
I finally got an appointment to get a haircut. I was a little concerned. I wanted one before I left for Williamsburg Tuesday and I was starting to run out of time. But my official person finally answered the phone and I have an appointment at 4:30. And yes I have a woman cut my hair normally. I only allow women and gay men to cut my hair.
Remember when I bored everyone to tears talking about stocks yesterday. Remember I said CDW reported earnings today. I wish they hadn't. They missed by a nickel and so are currently down by 7.5%. How sad.
I can't remember if I mentioned that Google is coming to my hometown. But now I have. Apparently they're going to build a data center/server farm mainly because since most of the furniture companies have left, these huge power grids are empty and quite cheap. Everyone is getting excited because Google is going to save Lenoir. They could help. But there are a few problems.
1. My grandfather told me that the county government has basically given too much of. I haven't seen the numbers so I can't make a judgement that would be valuable at this time...(and on another note if the MySpace song I'm listening to doesn't stop skipping, I'm going to shoot the computer)...but I wouldn't be surprised. it seems local governments always give ridiculous tax incentives to companies because they're so desperate to bring in additional revenues. I mean granted even at discounted rates they're getting more then they were before. But you also have to take into account the property tax rates of the land that was sold of which the houses were recently burned down. So I'd have to at least see some numbers or let someone who has calculate them and listen to their conclusion.
2. Google is also not singlehandedly going to save Lenoir and Caldwell County. I think it's bringing 200 jobs which is nice. But thousands have lost their jobs just from Broyhill closures in the past couple of years. So it helps but not a tremendous amount. Or does it? This is for a data center /server farm job. I'm not totally familiar with what goes on at these. I understand it's mainly to help the internet and the company's sites run smoothly with thousands upon thousands of computers. These are jobs that require a lot of technical know-how if I'm not mistaken. I looked at the qualifications for a few of the jobs on Google's website yesterday. I'm definitely not qualified and I have an economics degree. And since the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro is in the bottom five of the 200 largest metro areas in Educational Attainment according to Forbes, I would venture to guess that not many in this area do meet the qualifications. Keep in mind, the furniture companies used to come into the high schools of this area and tell them not to bother going to college that they could just come to the furniture factories and work and make a living. 10.4% of this county aged 25 or older has a college degree. Compare that to the city of Raleigh which is over 50%. The rate in the U.S. is over 27%. So this county doesn't stack up well. Finally, Google gets 1300 resumes a day. That means they have to reject 99.5% of them. I'm not saying people from this county can't get jobs at this server farm. But they're competing with a hell of a lot of people.
Remember when I bored everyone to tears talking about stocks yesterday. Remember I said CDW reported earnings today. I wish they hadn't. They missed by a nickel and so are currently down by 7.5%. How sad.
I can't remember if I mentioned that Google is coming to my hometown. But now I have. Apparently they're going to build a data center/server farm mainly because since most of the furniture companies have left, these huge power grids are empty and quite cheap. Everyone is getting excited because Google is going to save Lenoir. They could help. But there are a few problems.
1. My grandfather told me that the county government has basically given too much of. I haven't seen the numbers so I can't make a judgement that would be valuable at this time...(and on another note if the MySpace song I'm listening to doesn't stop skipping, I'm going to shoot the computer)...but I wouldn't be surprised. it seems local governments always give ridiculous tax incentives to companies because they're so desperate to bring in additional revenues. I mean granted even at discounted rates they're getting more then they were before. But you also have to take into account the property tax rates of the land that was sold of which the houses were recently burned down. So I'd have to at least see some numbers or let someone who has calculate them and listen to their conclusion.
2. Google is also not singlehandedly going to save Lenoir and Caldwell County. I think it's bringing 200 jobs which is nice. But thousands have lost their jobs just from Broyhill closures in the past couple of years. So it helps but not a tremendous amount. Or does it? This is for a data center /server farm job. I'm not totally familiar with what goes on at these. I understand it's mainly to help the internet and the company's sites run smoothly with thousands upon thousands of computers. These are jobs that require a lot of technical know-how if I'm not mistaken. I looked at the qualifications for a few of the jobs on Google's website yesterday. I'm definitely not qualified and I have an economics degree. And since the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro is in the bottom five of the 200 largest metro areas in Educational Attainment according to Forbes, I would venture to guess that not many in this area do meet the qualifications. Keep in mind, the furniture companies used to come into the high schools of this area and tell them not to bother going to college that they could just come to the furniture factories and work and make a living. 10.4% of this county aged 25 or older has a college degree. Compare that to the city of Raleigh which is over 50%. The rate in the U.S. is over 27%. So this county doesn't stack up well. Finally, Google gets 1300 resumes a day. That means they have to reject 99.5% of them. I'm not saying people from this county can't get jobs at this server farm. But they're competing with a hell of a lot of people.
I Wish I Worked At Subway
My friend Matt Craig, works at the Subway in Granite Falls. Nice going with that computer science degree. Anyway, I'm jealous of him for this. Why? Because apparently all the celebrities go to the Subway in Granite Falls. Such as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Ric Flair. Or tonight's guest, the Kentucky basketball head coach, Tubby Smith. Granite Falls is the new Los Angeles. Well without the fake boobs and vicious street gangs.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Goddamn do I hate Duke!
I was going to save my 100th post for my Star Wars Holiday Special Running Diary (coming soon I promise). But I fucking hate how Duke steals wins every goddamn time. Clemson tied it up with about 2-3 seconds left but there were some clock mistakes. And they gave Duke 4.4 seconds. Which if you watch the replays is absolutely ridiculous. The clock was at 5 seconds. Josh McRoberts throws it right to a Clemson player who drains a three pointer to tie it. There were two problems.
1. The clock didn't start for at least 1-2 seconds when Clemson got the ball.
2. After the shot went in, the clock ran for at least 2-3 seconds.
By this logic the refs gave Duke 4.4 seconds. So they said the play took 0.6 seconds. Bullshit. I knew what was going to happen. I've seen it too often. When Duke threw ridiculous passes all the way downcourt for a layup in transition at the buzzer, I didn't even blink. What a surprise that the clock messed up like that at Cameron. Shit like that happens all the time. A similar thing happened at the last Virginia Tech game that nearly cost them in Cameron. It happened last year when they had "trouble" with the clock against Virginia Tech that basically gave Duke 10 fucking minutes to plan what to do to try to win which they did with Dockery's ridiculous halfcourt shot. That crap happens all the time in Cameron. And the ACC should be fucking ashamed that that they don't investigate this. Because they try to steal every game and many times they succeed.
1. The clock didn't start for at least 1-2 seconds when Clemson got the ball.
2. After the shot went in, the clock ran for at least 2-3 seconds.
By this logic the refs gave Duke 4.4 seconds. So they said the play took 0.6 seconds. Bullshit. I knew what was going to happen. I've seen it too often. When Duke threw ridiculous passes all the way downcourt for a layup in transition at the buzzer, I didn't even blink. What a surprise that the clock messed up like that at Cameron. Shit like that happens all the time. A similar thing happened at the last Virginia Tech game that nearly cost them in Cameron. It happened last year when they had "trouble" with the clock against Virginia Tech that basically gave Duke 10 fucking minutes to plan what to do to try to win which they did with Dockery's ridiculous halfcourt shot. That crap happens all the time in Cameron. And the ACC should be fucking ashamed that that they don't investigate this. Because they try to steal every game and many times they succeed.
Isiah Thomas hasn't totally destroyed the Knicks...
...yet.
Here's the total list of rankings
Charlotte ranks 24th.
Even though the Knicks are the highest at $592 million that pales in comparison to other sports. In baseball there are three teams higher valued. The New York Mets are worth $604 million, the Boston Red Sox are $617 million, and the New York Yankees are valued at a whopping $1.026 billion. My beloved Pirates are worth a paltry $250 million. Believe it or not the Yankees aren't the most valuable franchise. The NFL is far and away the most successful America professional sports league and in Forbes' last valuations, there were five NFL teams valued at a billion or more. The Philadelphia Eagles didn't edge out the Yankees $1.024 billion. But the others did. The Houston Texans at $1.043 billion, the Dallas Cowboys at $1.173 billion, the New England Patriots at $1.176 billion, and the Washington Redskins are the most valuable American franchise at $1.423 billion. Two soccer teams are also more valuable than $1 billion. Real Madrid at $1.012 billion. Manchester United used to be considered the most valuable franchise in the world but for now will have to settle for second at $1.373 billion.
Which franchises have changed the most in value over the last measuring period. I won't check soccer because there are so many teams worldwide that it'd be hard to measure. I will mention that Arsenal increased in value by 37%. I would have checked hockey too, but the stats only included a two year value change (probably because of the fairly recent lockout). It's already slightly inaccurate because all the reports are done at different times, but it wouldn't be fair to compare two year valuations to one year. So which have been the best and worst performing "investments" in the major 3 American pro sports leagues?
Five Best Performing Sports Franchises
5. Anaheim Angels +25% As you'll see baseball teams were the big winners of the three main sports leagues. My guess is due to the success of the last few postseasons and relatively little drama (outside of the steroids scandals). Also the average baseball team is less valuable than the average NFL team so they had more room to grow. They're actually the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Now that they have an L.A. name that may have increased their value.
4. Oakland Athletics +26%: Always been a small market franchise but they continue to win and sabermetrics continues to sweep the sport thanks to Moneyball written about the Oakland A's general manager.
3. Kansas City Royals: +28% Surprised to see them here because they've been terrible. I guess a rising tide raises all ships. And the bad ones even more so.
2. Toronto Blue Jays: +34% Might be wrong, but did their value increase so much because they're now the only non-NHL team located in Canada since the Expos left? Just a thought.
1. Washington Nationals: 42% No doubt due to the fact that they moved from the Montreal area which didn't care about them anymore to the Washington D.C. metro.
Five (actually Six) Worst Performing Franchises:
Three way tie for 4th: New Orleans Saints, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies: +3% Fair disclosure. The football report was done before New Orleans' magical run this year. But this was right after Katrina and New Orleans always sucked. When your entire populace is either killed or displaced, that kind of hurts market value. Colorado and Seattle have just been painfully mediocre and perhaps have reached a fair value. No clue though.
3. Minnesota Timberwolves: +2% They're terrible and considering trading their only superstar in Kevin Garnett. If he is ever traded 2% will look like a great increase.
2. Portland Trail Blazer +1% Terrible and the team's criminal problems have turned the population mostly against the franchise.
1. Charlotte Bobcats: -8% Congratulations Charlotte. You're the only non-NHL team to decrease in value. Not surprising though. The fans are still pissed the Hornets left. And the Bobcats are just a couple of years old and still not very good. They're just not going to increase in value until they start winning. It may be coming soon but for now, they lost 8% of their value since last year.
Here's the total list of rankings
Charlotte ranks 24th.
Even though the Knicks are the highest at $592 million that pales in comparison to other sports. In baseball there are three teams higher valued. The New York Mets are worth $604 million, the Boston Red Sox are $617 million, and the New York Yankees are valued at a whopping $1.026 billion. My beloved Pirates are worth a paltry $250 million. Believe it or not the Yankees aren't the most valuable franchise. The NFL is far and away the most successful America professional sports league and in Forbes' last valuations, there were five NFL teams valued at a billion or more. The Philadelphia Eagles didn't edge out the Yankees $1.024 billion. But the others did. The Houston Texans at $1.043 billion, the Dallas Cowboys at $1.173 billion, the New England Patriots at $1.176 billion, and the Washington Redskins are the most valuable American franchise at $1.423 billion. Two soccer teams are also more valuable than $1 billion. Real Madrid at $1.012 billion. Manchester United used to be considered the most valuable franchise in the world but for now will have to settle for second at $1.373 billion.
Which franchises have changed the most in value over the last measuring period. I won't check soccer because there are so many teams worldwide that it'd be hard to measure. I will mention that Arsenal increased in value by 37%. I would have checked hockey too, but the stats only included a two year value change (probably because of the fairly recent lockout). It's already slightly inaccurate because all the reports are done at different times, but it wouldn't be fair to compare two year valuations to one year. So which have been the best and worst performing "investments" in the major 3 American pro sports leagues?
Five Best Performing Sports Franchises
5. Anaheim Angels +25% As you'll see baseball teams were the big winners of the three main sports leagues. My guess is due to the success of the last few postseasons and relatively little drama (outside of the steroids scandals). Also the average baseball team is less valuable than the average NFL team so they had more room to grow. They're actually the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Now that they have an L.A. name that may have increased their value.
4. Oakland Athletics +26%: Always been a small market franchise but they continue to win and sabermetrics continues to sweep the sport thanks to Moneyball written about the Oakland A's general manager.
3. Kansas City Royals: +28% Surprised to see them here because they've been terrible. I guess a rising tide raises all ships. And the bad ones even more so.
2. Toronto Blue Jays: +34% Might be wrong, but did their value increase so much because they're now the only non-NHL team located in Canada since the Expos left? Just a thought.
1. Washington Nationals: 42% No doubt due to the fact that they moved from the Montreal area which didn't care about them anymore to the Washington D.C. metro.
Five (actually Six) Worst Performing Franchises:
Three way tie for 4th: New Orleans Saints, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies: +3% Fair disclosure. The football report was done before New Orleans' magical run this year. But this was right after Katrina and New Orleans always sucked. When your entire populace is either killed or displaced, that kind of hurts market value. Colorado and Seattle have just been painfully mediocre and perhaps have reached a fair value. No clue though.
3. Minnesota Timberwolves: +2% They're terrible and considering trading their only superstar in Kevin Garnett. If he is ever traded 2% will look like a great increase.
2. Portland Trail Blazer +1% Terrible and the team's criminal problems have turned the population mostly against the franchise.
1. Charlotte Bobcats: -8% Congratulations Charlotte. You're the only non-NHL team to decrease in value. Not surprising though. The fans are still pissed the Hornets left. And the Bobcats are just a couple of years old and still not very good. They're just not going to increase in value until they start winning. It may be coming soon but for now, they lost 8% of their value since last year.
New Investment
I bought a new stock the other day. KEMET is headquartered in Simpsonville, SC and they make capacitors. Exciting stuff huh? It looks overvalued at first because it had a P/E over 800 (according to Yahoo it's now 945.) but if you look closer it seems to be because they had been struggling recently with an acquisition and other things. It's actually very reasonably priced if you look at Price/Sales which I have been using more often lately. They released earnings today and it looks like I bought at a good price as they beat the Wall Street estimates. So my investment in them is already up 9.46%. Bonus! If I'm still holding them in May, I may go to their annual meeting because it's in reasonable driving range. It would be my first shareholder's meeting. I've had opportunities before when I owned fairly local companies (Family Dollar, Krispy Kreme) but I was always in school. So we'll see how that goes.
My other investment this year, Lenox, has finally calmed down some from the massive volatility. If any big news comes I'm sure it'll move quickly though. But I'm still up 12.74% so I won't complain.
In fact, Cogent is still my only loser at present. It lost another 4.34% today so now I've lost over $400 with them in just a couple months. I'd hate to sell though, because it looks even more attractively priced than when I bought in. I'll just have to accept that I paid too much for it.
I've had 6 down days in the last 8 but it's still been a good start to the year. Here's how I compare to the major indices since the start of the year.
Dow Jones Industrials: +0.32%
Nasdaq Composite: +0.78%
S&P 500: +0.39%
Wilshire 5000: +0.71%
Jeb's Portfolio: +2.45%
So the nearest competitor to me is the NASDAQ and I'm beating it by 1.67 percentage points. Not bad. And because I've not bored you enough as it is, let's see how all my positions have done so far since the beginning of the year.
American Eagle Outfitters: +3.78% Still going strong
Activision: -0.70% Had a bad day today, but my all time longest holding has been one of my best investments.
Bed Bath & Beyond: +7.17% Doing quite nicely. Maybe my patience is finally paying off. Rumors of a buyout are constant
CDW: +0.61% They release earnings tomorrow so this could change drastically by the end of the day.
C&D Technologies: +7.81% Not really any news, but it's just been rising every day it seems.
Cogent: -5.90% We're not on speaking terms.
Deltathree: +11.90% Very good start so far. No news out though so I don't know if it will last.
Global-Tech Appliances: +9.82% Same as above. Not a lot of daily trading, so one trade can shift the price substantially.
Harbor Bond Fund: -0.51% I've been a little underwhelmed by my first mutual fund pick so far. Hopefully the rest of the year will be better.
JAKKS Pacific: -9.98% This is the stock my brother has a partial investment in. That looks bad, but it had a big run-up late last year so maybe the gains are just being trimmed. At least I hope so.
Joy Global: -3.25% Pretty volatile. I'm not really concerned about the movements lately.
KEMET: +9.46% Just bought them this week so it's a great start.
Lenox: +12.74% Bought them after that massive sell-off. Same as KEMET.
Navteq: -3.86% I've done pretty well with them. Tech has been volatile (as always) so short-term not real concerned.
Pacific Sunwear: +2.96% My other clothing retailer. Not done quite as well as American Eagle but I'm still pleased.
Yahoo: +10.45% Probably doing so well because it couldn't have gotten worse. Haha. I was surprised it's been my second best performer among stocks I had at the start of the year. At least it's beaten Google. If only I could say that for when I bought Yahoo in August. I've said Google was overvalued. Since I bought Yahoo, it's up 5.12%. In the same timeframe, Google is up more than 30%. Can't win them all.
My other investment this year, Lenox, has finally calmed down some from the massive volatility. If any big news comes I'm sure it'll move quickly though. But I'm still up 12.74% so I won't complain.
In fact, Cogent is still my only loser at present. It lost another 4.34% today so now I've lost over $400 with them in just a couple months. I'd hate to sell though, because it looks even more attractively priced than when I bought in. I'll just have to accept that I paid too much for it.
I've had 6 down days in the last 8 but it's still been a good start to the year. Here's how I compare to the major indices since the start of the year.
Dow Jones Industrials: +0.32%
Nasdaq Composite: +0.78%
S&P 500: +0.39%
Wilshire 5000: +0.71%
Jeb's Portfolio: +2.45%
So the nearest competitor to me is the NASDAQ and I'm beating it by 1.67 percentage points. Not bad. And because I've not bored you enough as it is, let's see how all my positions have done so far since the beginning of the year.
American Eagle Outfitters: +3.78% Still going strong
Activision: -0.70% Had a bad day today, but my all time longest holding has been one of my best investments.
Bed Bath & Beyond: +7.17% Doing quite nicely. Maybe my patience is finally paying off. Rumors of a buyout are constant
CDW: +0.61% They release earnings tomorrow so this could change drastically by the end of the day.
C&D Technologies: +7.81% Not really any news, but it's just been rising every day it seems.
Cogent: -5.90% We're not on speaking terms.
Deltathree: +11.90% Very good start so far. No news out though so I don't know if it will last.
Global-Tech Appliances: +9.82% Same as above. Not a lot of daily trading, so one trade can shift the price substantially.
Harbor Bond Fund: -0.51% I've been a little underwhelmed by my first mutual fund pick so far. Hopefully the rest of the year will be better.
JAKKS Pacific: -9.98% This is the stock my brother has a partial investment in. That looks bad, but it had a big run-up late last year so maybe the gains are just being trimmed. At least I hope so.
Joy Global: -3.25% Pretty volatile. I'm not really concerned about the movements lately.
KEMET: +9.46% Just bought them this week so it's a great start.
Lenox: +12.74% Bought them after that massive sell-off. Same as KEMET.
Navteq: -3.86% I've done pretty well with them. Tech has been volatile (as always) so short-term not real concerned.
Pacific Sunwear: +2.96% My other clothing retailer. Not done quite as well as American Eagle but I'm still pleased.
Yahoo: +10.45% Probably doing so well because it couldn't have gotten worse. Haha. I was surprised it's been my second best performer among stocks I had at the start of the year. At least it's beaten Google. If only I could say that for when I bought Yahoo in August. I've said Google was overvalued. Since I bought Yahoo, it's up 5.12%. In the same timeframe, Google is up more than 30%. Can't win them all.
Victory is mine!
I finally beat Twilight Princess today. What a great game. Now I'm going to spend time and try to find all the secrets. I'm such a loser.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Iona is Cursed!
Update on Iona. They went to 0-19 last night. And as the title says, I really think the Gaels are cursed this year. Did they wake up some mummy or something? Their last four games have been decided by a total of 18 points. Three of them were in overtime! Fortunately, they get a couple home games (so Ashley you should go and support them. You're in the area!) so maybe they can finally get off the schneid. They get to play conference leading Loyola (MD) at home followed by a game against Canisius. Although Loyola leads the conference currently, I don't think they're the best team. To me, Siena and Marist are the best teams in the MAAC this year. But their next two games, Iona should have a fighting chance, because after that they go on the road against Siena which I don't think they'll win. So Go Gaels!
Since we're talking about crappy basketball teams, I should mention that on Ken Pomeroy's site
a new team has fallen to last place. I like his ratings the best because they try to measure offensive and defensive efficiency instead of just using points per game as the stat. But anyway, now North Florida is the worst team in college basketball not Iona. Although they are an incredible 2-17, both those wins came against non-Division I teams. They were Concordia (NY) and Skidmore. So they have the same number of D-1 wins as North Florida. 2-17 Prairie View A&M also has no D-1 wins. Here's a list of some web sites and their power rankings of worst teams in college basketball.
Iona 0-19
North Florida 2-17: Last by Ken Pomeroy and Jeff Sagarin's ELO-Chess ranking (doesn't take into account margin of victory)
Maryland- Eastern Shore 3-16: Last by Jeff Sagarin's Predictor (does take into account margin of victory)
Western Illinois 4-16: Last by RPI
Since we're talking about crappy basketball teams, I should mention that on Ken Pomeroy's site
a new team has fallen to last place. I like his ratings the best because they try to measure offensive and defensive efficiency instead of just using points per game as the stat. But anyway, now North Florida is the worst team in college basketball not Iona. Although they are an incredible 2-17, both those wins came against non-Division I teams. They were Concordia (NY) and Skidmore. So they have the same number of D-1 wins as North Florida. 2-17 Prairie View A&M also has no D-1 wins. Here's a list of some web sites and their power rankings of worst teams in college basketball.
Iona 0-19
North Florida 2-17: Last by Ken Pomeroy and Jeff Sagarin's ELO-Chess ranking (doesn't take into account margin of victory)
Maryland- Eastern Shore 3-16: Last by Jeff Sagarin's Predictor (does take into account margin of victory)
Western Illinois 4-16: Last by RPI
Those jerks at Krispy Kreme!
I noticed that on news they had achieved some refinancing help, Krispy Kreme was up 5% to close at a 2.5 year high. I hate them. I hope I get a big settlement from the class action lawsuit to recover some of my 62% loss. And I hope that Dunkin' Doughnuts or whoever bombs their headquarters. I'm not filled with wrath.
Our Congressman is pathetic
Seriously
No offense, but the Democrats did everything they said they were going to do. Whether it's right or wrong they did so. Patrick McHenry is whining that the "100 Hours Clock" started at "irregular" times. I'd like to ask Mr. McHenry how successful the "Contract with America" was. And they had 12 years. Congressman, are you just disappointed that you foolishly hitched your star to Tom Delay and that your chances of promotion are slim to none?
No offense, but the Democrats did everything they said they were going to do. Whether it's right or wrong they did so. Patrick McHenry is whining that the "100 Hours Clock" started at "irregular" times. I'd like to ask Mr. McHenry how successful the "Contract with America" was. And they had 12 years. Congressman, are you just disappointed that you foolishly hitched your star to Tom Delay and that your chances of promotion are slim to none?
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
State of the Union Analysis
Just to get it out of the way, NBC had 62 applauses. I came up with about 59. They're probably right though.
I saw our crappy little Congressman Patrick McHenry in the aisle shaking Bush's hand. Please can we get someone to run against him. I won't be old enough in 2008, but I'm open to suggestions.
The President started by saying we needed to balance the budget and cut earmarks by 50%. The Republicans have mostly been in power in Congress since 1994. Why the hell is this just being mentioned now? He did say that entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security need to be addressed. He's right, but there's not a chance in hell meaningful changes will be passed now that Democrats are in power.
Strengthen No Child Left Behind. It's been a rousing success. Blah Blah Bullshit. It should be abolished ASAP. Along with the Dept of Education.
Bush advocates giving tax breaks to help families afford health insurance. And then proposes giving federal money to states to help them with their health care plans. Cut taxes. Spend money. Didn't we say we wanted to balance the budget?
Immigration reform. That will be a dicey issue. Wants a temp worker program. Which is amnesty. And doesn't go far enough. Wants to hold employers accountable for legality of their workers and secure the borders. Probably needs to be done but it's gonna be tricky.
Proposal to develop alternative energies such as ethanol. You know how I feel about subsidies. Does want to decrease gas usage 20% in 10 years which is laudable but I don't have much faith. Wants to strengthen CAFE standards. Not a big fan of that. I agree with my former professor Dr. Whitehead. Read his blog
Also wants to double the strategic petroleum reserve. Wouldn't hurt.
In a plea to Democrats, urges to allow an up or down vote on judges. They'll probably give him one now since they're in control. Haha.
Iraq Iraq Iraq. I had a big post on that recently. Read it.
Fighting HIV/AIDS. My brother says "Yeah let's beat the shit out of AIDS!"
Heroes section: We have Dikembe Mutombo (with 3,154 blocked shots to his name), the creator of Baby Einsteins (every parent in America wants her dead), the Subway Hero, and a soldier or two. He doesn't weave in the heroes as gracefully as Clinton. It's kind of an afterthought at the end.
The State of the Nation is strong. Thank God!
We have the Democratic response coming from new Senator Jim Webb. The one who beat George Allen, he who ran the worst campaign in my lifetime. He's an interesting guy. Navy graduate. Served in the Reagan administration, novelist, screenwriter, etc. He's concerned about disparities in pay to workers and managers, and in globalization. I have concerns as well, but I think he's more of a populist (like that miserable John Edwards....how I enjoy bashing Edwards!). Not a real rebuttal. Just expressing concerns and hopes. He is criticizing the Iraq situation. But really, that's a popular dead horse to beat. He's namedropped Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower. Impressive.
And I'm spent.
I saw our crappy little Congressman Patrick McHenry in the aisle shaking Bush's hand. Please can we get someone to run against him. I won't be old enough in 2008, but I'm open to suggestions.
The President started by saying we needed to balance the budget and cut earmarks by 50%. The Republicans have mostly been in power in Congress since 1994. Why the hell is this just being mentioned now? He did say that entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security need to be addressed. He's right, but there's not a chance in hell meaningful changes will be passed now that Democrats are in power.
Strengthen No Child Left Behind. It's been a rousing success. Blah Blah Bullshit. It should be abolished ASAP. Along with the Dept of Education.
Bush advocates giving tax breaks to help families afford health insurance. And then proposes giving federal money to states to help them with their health care plans. Cut taxes. Spend money. Didn't we say we wanted to balance the budget?
Immigration reform. That will be a dicey issue. Wants a temp worker program. Which is amnesty. And doesn't go far enough. Wants to hold employers accountable for legality of their workers and secure the borders. Probably needs to be done but it's gonna be tricky.
Proposal to develop alternative energies such as ethanol. You know how I feel about subsidies. Does want to decrease gas usage 20% in 10 years which is laudable but I don't have much faith. Wants to strengthen CAFE standards. Not a big fan of that. I agree with my former professor Dr. Whitehead. Read his blog
Also wants to double the strategic petroleum reserve. Wouldn't hurt.
In a plea to Democrats, urges to allow an up or down vote on judges. They'll probably give him one now since they're in control. Haha.
Iraq Iraq Iraq. I had a big post on that recently. Read it.
Fighting HIV/AIDS. My brother says "Yeah let's beat the shit out of AIDS!"
Heroes section: We have Dikembe Mutombo (with 3,154 blocked shots to his name), the creator of Baby Einsteins (every parent in America wants her dead), the Subway Hero, and a soldier or two. He doesn't weave in the heroes as gracefully as Clinton. It's kind of an afterthought at the end.
The State of the Nation is strong. Thank God!
We have the Democratic response coming from new Senator Jim Webb. The one who beat George Allen, he who ran the worst campaign in my lifetime. He's an interesting guy. Navy graduate. Served in the Reagan administration, novelist, screenwriter, etc. He's concerned about disparities in pay to workers and managers, and in globalization. I have concerns as well, but I think he's more of a populist (like that miserable John Edwards....how I enjoy bashing Edwards!). Not a real rebuttal. Just expressing concerns and hopes. He is criticizing the Iraq situation. But really, that's a popular dead horse to beat. He's namedropped Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower. Impressive.
And I'm spent.
Well I think my first mandolin lesson went pretty well. Neil (my instructor) taught me some chords and we mostly talked. But he gave me some stuff that I can practice and helped me tune my mandolin. The G string is still out of tune but I'll work on that. I won't meet with him next week because I'll be in Williamsburg. But hopefully I can meet with him weekly so I can start learning better how to play. I think this could be good for both of us.
Almost forgot...
The State of the Union is tonight. If you don't watch it, you should be deported to Bangladesh. Afterwards, I'll post with some of my analysis of the important issues and any humorous moments. I'll also try to keep track of applause, standing ovations, and scowls from Ted Kennedy. Should be fun!
101 Dumbest Moments in Business
This is always a fun annual list. Wal-Mart did so poorly they made the list SIX TIMES including the #1 spot. #1 was hiring PR firm Edelman to turn around the company's image. In case you wondered, it hasn't worked. A few of my favorites just glancing through the list.
#2 Northwest Airlines: When they laid off some employees they gave them a helpful manual called "101 Ways to Save Money." These included "...dumpster diving ("Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash"), making your own baby food, shredding old newspapers for use as cat litter, and taking walks in the woods as a low-cost dating alternative."
#5 Kazakhstan misspells "bank" on their currency. Take that Borat!
#11 Starbucks gives free lattes to friends and family members of employees through e-mail. E-mail can be copied and sent repeatedly though. Starbucks cancels the deal.
#14 Vonage IPO: Just a disaster in every sense of the word.
#32 TradingMarkets: One of these professional stock advising services that charges money. They invited 10 Playboy Bunnies for a contest. 40% of the Bunnies beat the S&P 500. The number of actively managed mutual funds is 29%. So handing those dollar bills to naked women with big breasts may actually be a sound investment.
#80 News Corp: The O.J. Simpson "If I Did It" Special. I remember hearing about this months before the controversy and thought it was just a dumb joke. Well I was wrong about the joke part.
#86 Wal-Mart's DVD web service: Customers who look at Charlie and the CHOCOLATE Factory and Planet of the APES are steered towards similar items such as a Martin Luther King documentary and Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. In other news, it's been a great year for Wal-Mart.
#2 Northwest Airlines: When they laid off some employees they gave them a helpful manual called "101 Ways to Save Money." These included "...dumpster diving ("Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash"), making your own baby food, shredding old newspapers for use as cat litter, and taking walks in the woods as a low-cost dating alternative."
#5 Kazakhstan misspells "bank" on their currency. Take that Borat!
#11 Starbucks gives free lattes to friends and family members of employees through e-mail. E-mail can be copied and sent repeatedly though. Starbucks cancels the deal.
#14 Vonage IPO: Just a disaster in every sense of the word.
#32 TradingMarkets: One of these professional stock advising services that charges money. They invited 10 Playboy Bunnies for a contest. 40% of the Bunnies beat the S&P 500. The number of actively managed mutual funds is 29%. So handing those dollar bills to naked women with big breasts may actually be a sound investment.
#80 News Corp: The O.J. Simpson "If I Did It" Special. I remember hearing about this months before the controversy and thought it was just a dumb joke. Well I was wrong about the joke part.
#86 Wal-Mart's DVD web service: Customers who look at Charlie and the CHOCOLATE Factory and Planet of the APES are steered towards similar items such as a Martin Luther King documentary and Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. In other news, it's been a great year for Wal-Mart.
Oscar Nominations
A few thoughts...
1. I'm pretty surprised that Dreamgirls wasn't nominated for Best Picture. The buzz was that it would be one of the leading contenders.
2. I'm disappointed that Children of Men wasn't. But I'm not surprised.
3. I'm happy that Little Miss Sunshine was nominated. I don't think it should win but it is a delightful film.
4. No nomination for Jack Nicholson in The Departed? Heresy!
5. At the moment, I'd say The Departed is the heavy favorite. One because it was nearly universally regarded as the best film (which I thought it was). And even if it wasn't, it's high time to reward Scorsese. Although Brokeback Mountain was a big favorite last year and was surprised by Crash. Who could be this year's Crash? I say Babel. But I haven't seen it so I won't judge.
6. A lot of times the Best Director award is the same as Best Picture so you can see some interesting omissions or additions. Only one this year but notice what it is. Paul Greengrass was nominated for United 93 but his movie was beat out by Little Miss Sunshine for Best Picture. Why? Because the Academy is a bunch of cowards and they try to make "safe" picks. That's why Brokeback Mountain lost last year. Everyone knows it was better than Crash. But they were afraid to award the top prize to the "gay cowboy" movie. United 93 was a quality film and no disrespect to Little Miss Sunshine, they were afraid to nominate something that so movingly portrays the September 11 attacks.
7. No Borat for Best Picture/Actor?
8. I'll end with this little fact. Eddie Murphy could win an Oscar. Just thought you should know.
1. I'm pretty surprised that Dreamgirls wasn't nominated for Best Picture. The buzz was that it would be one of the leading contenders.
2. I'm disappointed that Children of Men wasn't. But I'm not surprised.
3. I'm happy that Little Miss Sunshine was nominated. I don't think it should win but it is a delightful film.
4. No nomination for Jack Nicholson in The Departed? Heresy!
5. At the moment, I'd say The Departed is the heavy favorite. One because it was nearly universally regarded as the best film (which I thought it was). And even if it wasn't, it's high time to reward Scorsese. Although Brokeback Mountain was a big favorite last year and was surprised by Crash. Who could be this year's Crash? I say Babel. But I haven't seen it so I won't judge.
6. A lot of times the Best Director award is the same as Best Picture so you can see some interesting omissions or additions. Only one this year but notice what it is. Paul Greengrass was nominated for United 93 but his movie was beat out by Little Miss Sunshine for Best Picture. Why? Because the Academy is a bunch of cowards and they try to make "safe" picks. That's why Brokeback Mountain lost last year. Everyone knows it was better than Crash. But they were afraid to award the top prize to the "gay cowboy" movie. United 93 was a quality film and no disrespect to Little Miss Sunshine, they were afraid to nominate something that so movingly portrays the September 11 attacks.
7. No Borat for Best Picture/Actor?
8. I'll end with this little fact. Eddie Murphy could win an Oscar. Just thought you should know.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Jack Bauer going for the record
I hadn't watched 24 in awhile. Tonight was the first time in several years. After the episode (exciting as always) I checked the Bauer Kill Count. This is a site that tracks how many people Jack Bauer has killed in every season. I counted 138. That is classic.
Gap fired their CEO today. You know you've not been doing to well when after your departure is announced, the stock goes up 2.5% Similar thing happened with Pacific Sunwear (which I own) in October. Their CEO left and the stock rose more than 7%. Don't let the door hit you on the way out! But it's nice to see that American Eagle (which I also own) has eaten Gap for lunch the past couple of years. Pacific Sunwear is up too but I think mainly because it has gotten so bad by the time that I bought my shares that everyone feels a turnaround is imminent.
I have my first mandolin lesson tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.
The Super Bowl will decide if I finish over .500 against the spread. Wish me luck.
As I said, I plan to do Running Diaries for the Super Bowl and the Grammys. I'm looking forward to it. But just to prep up, I'm going to do the Running Diary of the Star Wars Holiday Special sometime this week. Hopefully by Monday. And if you've never seen it, please pick it up cheaply on eBay sometime. It's so dreadful it's worth it.
I'm thinking of buying another mutual fund. I have one that invests in bonds but I'm probably going to get one that invests in international stocks because I don't really have much exposure there currently.
Gap fired their CEO today. You know you've not been doing to well when after your departure is announced, the stock goes up 2.5% Similar thing happened with Pacific Sunwear (which I own) in October. Their CEO left and the stock rose more than 7%. Don't let the door hit you on the way out! But it's nice to see that American Eagle (which I also own) has eaten Gap for lunch the past couple of years. Pacific Sunwear is up too but I think mainly because it has gotten so bad by the time that I bought my shares that everyone feels a turnaround is imminent.
I have my first mandolin lesson tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.
The Super Bowl will decide if I finish over .500 against the spread. Wish me luck.
As I said, I plan to do Running Diaries for the Super Bowl and the Grammys. I'm looking forward to it. But just to prep up, I'm going to do the Running Diary of the Star Wars Holiday Special sometime this week. Hopefully by Monday. And if you've never seen it, please pick it up cheaply on eBay sometime. It's so dreadful it's worth it.
I'm thinking of buying another mutual fund. I have one that invests in bonds but I'm probably going to get one that invests in international stocks because I don't really have much exposure there currently.
The Legend of Zelda Compendium
As you may have guessed, The Legend of Zelda is one of my favorite game series. That's the main reason I haven't been posting much lately. I've been busy trying to solve all the puzzles and dungeons. So since I've been in that mode for the past several days, I decided to do a ranking of all the Zelda games I've played. Now I never played them all so some like Wind Waker, Zelda II, Minish Cap, and the supposedly godawful CDi games I never played. But I'll be ranking the rest. Here we go.
8. Oracle of Seasons- Gameboy- Released with Oracle of Ages. To totally beat the game(s) you have to beat both. This one isn't quite as great as Ages but it's very good. The gimmick is you can control the seasons and cause snow to melt, leaves to fall, etc.
7. Majora's Mask- Nintendo 64- The second N64 version. In this, you have three days to save a world from destruction. Interesting features as you must go back in time before the world ends and keep doing things over and over to save everything.
6. Link's Awakening- Gameboy- My favorite for a long time. It's not quite as classic as the remaining five. You wake up on an island and have to solve the mysteries of the Wind Fish.
5. The Legend of Zelda- NES- Can't shortchange it because it started the series. Is a classic, but I still think it's nearly impossible to understand. Doesn't give the great story the others do.
4. Oracle of Ages- Gameboy- Released with Oracle of Seasons. You can control time in this one. The puzzles are really tricky.
3. Ocarina of Time- N64- At one time I thought a 3-D Zelda would never work. How wrong I was. Astounding in every way.
2. Twilight Princess- GameCube- Right now I'd put it above Ocarina of Time but that might change. The Wii version is supposed to be even better but I don't know if I'd want to play Zelda on the Wii. Maybe the best dungeon designs and innovative boss fights in any Zelda. Not too difficult in fighting though which is disappointing. I've died very few times and have yet to die against a boss. Which is unusual in a Zelda game.
1. A Link to the Past- Super NES- My favorite game on my favorite system. Best overall everything: Story, dungeons, bosses, etc. If Nintendo can ever top this classic I'll be amazed.
8. Oracle of Seasons- Gameboy- Released with Oracle of Ages. To totally beat the game(s) you have to beat both. This one isn't quite as great as Ages but it's very good. The gimmick is you can control the seasons and cause snow to melt, leaves to fall, etc.
7. Majora's Mask- Nintendo 64- The second N64 version. In this, you have three days to save a world from destruction. Interesting features as you must go back in time before the world ends and keep doing things over and over to save everything.
6. Link's Awakening- Gameboy- My favorite for a long time. It's not quite as classic as the remaining five. You wake up on an island and have to solve the mysteries of the Wind Fish.
5. The Legend of Zelda- NES- Can't shortchange it because it started the series. Is a classic, but I still think it's nearly impossible to understand. Doesn't give the great story the others do.
4. Oracle of Ages- Gameboy- Released with Oracle of Seasons. You can control time in this one. The puzzles are really tricky.
3. Ocarina of Time- N64- At one time I thought a 3-D Zelda would never work. How wrong I was. Astounding in every way.
2. Twilight Princess- GameCube- Right now I'd put it above Ocarina of Time but that might change. The Wii version is supposed to be even better but I don't know if I'd want to play Zelda on the Wii. Maybe the best dungeon designs and innovative boss fights in any Zelda. Not too difficult in fighting though which is disappointing. I've died very few times and have yet to die against a boss. Which is unusual in a Zelda game.
1. A Link to the Past- Super NES- My favorite game on my favorite system. Best overall everything: Story, dungeons, bosses, etc. If Nintendo can ever top this classic I'll be amazed.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Postgame Analysis: New England: Indy
Yeah I'm not sure what the hell happened. I stopped watching when the Patriots were up 21-3 to play some more Twilight Princess. And when I got back, it was a dogfight. All I know is some halftime adjustments certainly were made. And thanks New England for blowing the lead and bringing me back to .500.
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Field: 5-5
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Field: 5-5
Postgame Analysis: New Orleans-Chicago
Sorry there was no Halftime Observations. My brother was on the computer so I decided to skip for that game.
The Saints were doing well in the second half. But after an inopportune safety put the Bears up by 4, Chicago smelled blood and piled it on the rest of the way. The Bears will be a tough out for either Indy or New England if the defense plays as well as they did today and if Rex Grossman continues to play decently.
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 5-4
The Saints were doing well in the second half. But after an inopportune safety put the Bears up by 4, Chicago smelled blood and piled it on the rest of the way. The Bears will be a tough out for either Indy or New England if the defense plays as well as they did today and if Rex Grossman continues to play decently.
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 5-4
I'm slacking
Yeah I didn't post yesterday. I was busy and really didn't have anything to say. I know both of you missed me.
The tragedy of Iona continues. they lost by one measly point to Niagara. Niagara scored with 13.1 seconds left to keep Iona in the winless column. Up next is the ever dangerous 5-15 Fairfield.
So Hillary is in. As you know I think she will be one of the serious if not THE most serious contender for the White House no matter how many people down her. I'm not particularly fond of her but hey she's better than John Edwards (editor's note- Hopefully nobody who reads the site is a passionate Edwards supporter. Because I'm really trying to drive people away if that's so.)
Also, the other day when I said that America was ready for a woman President and used Germany's Angela Merkel and France's potential Prime Minister, Segolene Royal. Well, I totally forgot about Great Britain's Margaret Thatcher. And that was during the Reagan era! So yet another example why it wouldn't be that unheard of. Another reas I have some doubts about Obama. Quick! Name a black leader in one of the G8 Nations. At any time in history! I can't think of one.
Twilight Princess is a great game. Probably the most cinematic Zelda game ever. The boss fights are a tad on the easy side but they've been pretty innovative so far.
Well I'm gonna go see if anyone interesting is on Meet the Press. Bye.
The tragedy of Iona continues. they lost by one measly point to Niagara. Niagara scored with 13.1 seconds left to keep Iona in the winless column. Up next is the ever dangerous 5-15 Fairfield.
So Hillary is in. As you know I think she will be one of the serious if not THE most serious contender for the White House no matter how many people down her. I'm not particularly fond of her but hey she's better than John Edwards (editor's note- Hopefully nobody who reads the site is a passionate Edwards supporter. Because I'm really trying to drive people away if that's so.)
Also, the other day when I said that America was ready for a woman President and used Germany's Angela Merkel and France's potential Prime Minister, Segolene Royal. Well, I totally forgot about Great Britain's Margaret Thatcher. And that was during the Reagan era! So yet another example why it wouldn't be that unheard of. Another reas I have some doubts about Obama. Quick! Name a black leader in one of the G8 Nations. At any time in history! I can't think of one.
Twilight Princess is a great game. Probably the most cinematic Zelda game ever. The boss fights are a tad on the easy side but they've been pretty innovative so far.
Well I'm gonna go see if anyone interesting is on Meet the Press. Bye.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Energy Subsidies
Democrats in the House this week voted to take away many of the tax breaks that America's oil companies have enjoyed for several years. Bravo! I just hope they don't plan to give subsidies to the alternative energy industries. Why? Because we don't know which industry is the best solution. Is it ethanol? Wind? Solar? Nuclear? I don't know. You don't know. And I don't think the government knows either. We should let the market decide which is the best solution for energy needs in the future. Don't give any of these companies subsidies and see who is best. of what I have read, nuclear is probably the most efficient "clean" power. Ethanol takes a hell of a lot of energy just to produce, takes corn out of the food supply, and is actually not that efficient. I just hope we don't waste taxpayer money on something that turns out to not be that great a solution.
NFL Conference Championship Picks
Time for the weekly coin flip....er.....picks!
Chicago (-2) over New Orleans: Can the miracle season for the Saints stay alive? It will be tough because they have to travel to take on the mighty Bears. Rex Grossman did well in his last game. How will he respond against the Saints? I'd love to pick the Saints in this game because I'm pulling for them this postseason. But the home-field advantage added with the Bears' ferocious defense plus the fact that the Bears are only favored by 2 makes me have to go with Chi-Town.
New England (+3) over Indianapolis: Indy has never beaten the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick led Patriots in the playoffs. It won't happen this year either. The Colts' defense has looked strong so far. It will break this game. Even though this is Indy's home field I think this is an easy pick for the Patriots.
Chicago (-2) over New Orleans: Can the miracle season for the Saints stay alive? It will be tough because they have to travel to take on the mighty Bears. Rex Grossman did well in his last game. How will he respond against the Saints? I'd love to pick the Saints in this game because I'm pulling for them this postseason. But the home-field advantage added with the Bears' ferocious defense plus the fact that the Bears are only favored by 2 makes me have to go with Chi-Town.
New England (+3) over Indianapolis: Indy has never beaten the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick led Patriots in the playoffs. It won't happen this year either. The Colts' defense has looked strong so far. It will break this game. Even though this is Indy's home field I think this is an easy pick for the Patriots.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Will the agony never end?
My new favorite college basketball team played again tonight. Mighty 0-16 Iona took on the nearly invincible 7-10 Canisius. And the game went to overtime! Sadly, this was not Iona's day as they went down to defeat for the 17th time this season. I'm starting to be fascinated so I will try to track the Gaels as the season continues. This Saturday they travel to the unstoppable 9-10 Niagara. Will the dream continue? A team hasn't lost every game in the season since....two years ago when the truly awful Savannah State pulled of this feat. Ok so it's harder to go unbeaten because that hasn't happened since 1976 Indiana I believe. But it's no less of a feat. C'mon Iona! Make me proud!
A mash-up I liked
This is probably pretty old, but I thought it was still cool. It mixes one of my favorite Beatles songs with the song that got me interested in Nine Inch Nails. I think it's called "Come Closer Together"
Done and Done!
Second dungeon completed in Twilight Princess. I'm so proud of myself.
Me and Will watched Total Recall today. What a gloriously ridiculous movie!
I might have a mandolin tutor. There's a guy who works at my mother's school as a janitor. I think he's a little mentally handicapped. But I understand he's very talented musically. My mother talked to him and he seemed pretty thrilled about teaching me. Hopefully I can get a schedule going with him.
I don't even watch 24 anymore but this is a brilliant Fark headline...
Muslim groups complain about portrayals of Muslims on "24", again. Producers say the they'd like to include positive images of Muslims but THERE ISN'T ENOUGH TIME
Curses! Third straight down day for my portfolio. I hate losing streaks Especially as it was coming off a five session winning streak. I might be buying another stock shortly though. And if I do, I promise I'll mention it here so I can continue driving away readers.
And why don't I just mention it now? Because I don't want the 4 people who read the blog to rush out and drive up the price before I get in silly!
Here's a story that just tugs at your heartstrings...
Ford exec grounded from corporate jet
You know...if he's going to take on a position like this at Ford, why doesn't he just move his family to Detroit with him? Oh that's right. Detroit sucks. Sorry. But seriously, no wonder Ford is in such bad shape.
Me and Will watched Total Recall today. What a gloriously ridiculous movie!
I might have a mandolin tutor. There's a guy who works at my mother's school as a janitor. I think he's a little mentally handicapped. But I understand he's very talented musically. My mother talked to him and he seemed pretty thrilled about teaching me. Hopefully I can get a schedule going with him.
I don't even watch 24 anymore but this is a brilliant Fark headline...
Muslim groups complain about portrayals of Muslims on "24", again. Producers say the they'd like to include positive images of Muslims but THERE ISN'T ENOUGH TIME
Curses! Third straight down day for my portfolio. I hate losing streaks Especially as it was coming off a five session winning streak. I might be buying another stock shortly though. And if I do, I promise I'll mention it here so I can continue driving away readers.
And why don't I just mention it now? Because I don't want the 4 people who read the blog to rush out and drive up the price before I get in silly!
Here's a story that just tugs at your heartstrings...
Ford exec grounded from corporate jet
You know...if he's going to take on a position like this at Ford, why doesn't he just move his family to Detroit with him? Oh that's right. Detroit sucks. Sorry. But seriously, no wonder Ford is in such bad shape.
Investors are funny
I like hearing about everything that the average investor or the institutions are worried about. Last year everyone was concerned about the price of oil. Was it going to hit $100? Will the high price hurt businesses? Since December, it's been falling and last I checked was down to about $50 a barrel. Is the economy slowing? You can't please anybody.
The Chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, is speaking to Congress right now. He has some radical ideas that the members of Congress aren't familiar with. He says that cuts in taxes should be offset by (gasp) cuts in spending! HE SPEAKS HERESY! BURN HIM!
Bernanke used the word "draconian". Point is awarded.
SHOCKING NEWS!!! Lindsay Lohan enters rehab. WHO SAW THAT COMING?
The Chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, is speaking to Congress right now. He has some radical ideas that the members of Congress aren't familiar with. He says that cuts in taxes should be offset by (gasp) cuts in spending! HE SPEAKS HERESY! BURN HIM!
Bernanke used the word "draconian". Point is awarded.
SHOCKING NEWS!!! Lindsay Lohan enters rehab. WHO SAW THAT COMING?
I'm All In
I apologize for not giving the dozens of people who read this blog something to read in the afternoon/evening. I had several reasons for this.
1. I was going to post several YouTube clips of mine and my brother's making. But I had trouble uploading them. And I became impatient. So maybe later.
2. I bought Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess today so I spent all evening playing it. It was the first time I had seen it in the store. The GameCube version had been sold out because since Wiis are sold out, I think everybody has been buying the GC version. Which is funny because you can find the Wii version everywhere. I figure most of the people getting Wiis are just playing the crazy Wii Sports game and throwing their controller through their TVs.
Well Carolina beat Clemson pretty handily. I stopped watching once I realized it was going to be a rout. And Va Tech lost their first ACC game. So now I think BC is the only remaining unbeaten in conference play. And they just dismissed a couple important players from the team. That should go over well.
Update on my latest investment Lenox. This week hasn't been as good so far. It was trading in the 4's for a little while on Friday but today it closed at 3.60. Like I said, volatility. Probably will be that way for awhile until more definitive info comes out on its financial health. I'm still up nearly 12% though.
Supposed to be a big storm tonight I think. Hopefully we won't lose power. HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT BLOGGING!?
I got an event invitation through Facebook today. It looks like the (not) famous duo of Union County will be having an album pre-release party in Boone. I think I'll try to attend. Barring the weather of course. I'm feeling in a fairly good mood too so I'll even post their website so I will divert the several people (and i mean several) who read this.
Union County
Ok I'm going to bed now. Night.
1. I was going to post several YouTube clips of mine and my brother's making. But I had trouble uploading them. And I became impatient. So maybe later.
2. I bought Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess today so I spent all evening playing it. It was the first time I had seen it in the store. The GameCube version had been sold out because since Wiis are sold out, I think everybody has been buying the GC version. Which is funny because you can find the Wii version everywhere. I figure most of the people getting Wiis are just playing the crazy Wii Sports game and throwing their controller through their TVs.
Well Carolina beat Clemson pretty handily. I stopped watching once I realized it was going to be a rout. And Va Tech lost their first ACC game. So now I think BC is the only remaining unbeaten in conference play. And they just dismissed a couple important players from the team. That should go over well.
Update on my latest investment Lenox. This week hasn't been as good so far. It was trading in the 4's for a little while on Friday but today it closed at 3.60. Like I said, volatility. Probably will be that way for awhile until more definitive info comes out on its financial health. I'm still up nearly 12% though.
Supposed to be a big storm tonight I think. Hopefully we won't lose power. HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT BLOGGING!?
I got an event invitation through Facebook today. It looks like the (not) famous duo of Union County will be having an album pre-release party in Boone. I think I'll try to attend. Barring the weather of course. I'm feeling in a fairly good mood too so I'll even post their website so I will divert the several people (and i mean several) who read this.
Union County
Ok I'm going to bed now. Night.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The Return of K-Fed
Federline Signed For Super Bowl Ad
Apparently, Mr. Federline has been signed to do a spot for Nationwide. It will be similar to the MC Hammer spot they did. According to the article...
"In the new commercial, Federline, 28, goes from starring in a rap video surrounded by beauties and bling to working at a fast-food joint."
The article goes on to have an exec from Nationwide saying that the spot shows the world that Federline has a great sense of humor. I think it's more Federline showing the world that he's desperate for some money.
I hadn't seen this statistic before. Apparently his debut album "Playing With Fire" sold 6,500 copies in its first week. That's pretty bad. Especially the way they pumped it. I actually thought about buying it. It earned the coveted ONE STAR from All Music Guide. It's just as hard to earn the one star for awfulness as it is the five stars for excellence on those sites. The only other albums off the top of my head that got one star was William Hung. I think Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" did as well but I think he did that intentionally. And maybe some of those John Lennon/Yoko Ono collaborations. The ones where an entire side was Yoko screaming. *Shudder
Interesting matchup tonight in basketball. North Carolina-Clemson. I'll pick UNC to win but GO TIGERS!
I was checking some of the lines for college basketball teams to win it all. Here are a few I noticed.
Florida: 5-1 (Makes sense. Defending champs. One of the best teams in the country.)
North Carolina: 5.5-1. (At this moment, they're the only team I'd put above Florida)
UCLA: 6-1 (No argument)
Ohio State 4.5-1 (A little dicey pick. I'm not as bullish on Ohio State as I have been. They're good but to have them as the current "favorite" screams DON'T BUY)
Kansas 8-1 (Reasonable. But if they have a third straight first round loss, there will be some sadness in Vegas.)
Wisconsin 10-1 (They're better than Ohio State. I'd consider picking that bet up.
Texas A&M 18-1 (I'd definitely consider that one. Pretty low for how good they are.)
Indiana 45-1 (My current dark horse pick. If the season ended today they wouldn't be in my top 8. But as well as they're playing 45-1 odds seems to be a steal.)
Of course I'm 4-4 against the spread in the NFL Playoffs. So what the hell do I know?
Apparently, Mr. Federline has been signed to do a spot for Nationwide. It will be similar to the MC Hammer spot they did. According to the article...
"In the new commercial, Federline, 28, goes from starring in a rap video surrounded by beauties and bling to working at a fast-food joint."
The article goes on to have an exec from Nationwide saying that the spot shows the world that Federline has a great sense of humor. I think it's more Federline showing the world that he's desperate for some money.
I hadn't seen this statistic before. Apparently his debut album "Playing With Fire" sold 6,500 copies in its first week. That's pretty bad. Especially the way they pumped it. I actually thought about buying it. It earned the coveted ONE STAR from All Music Guide. It's just as hard to earn the one star for awfulness as it is the five stars for excellence on those sites. The only other albums off the top of my head that got one star was William Hung. I think Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" did as well but I think he did that intentionally. And maybe some of those John Lennon/Yoko Ono collaborations. The ones where an entire side was Yoko screaming. *Shudder
Interesting matchup tonight in basketball. North Carolina-Clemson. I'll pick UNC to win but GO TIGERS!
I was checking some of the lines for college basketball teams to win it all. Here are a few I noticed.
Florida: 5-1 (Makes sense. Defending champs. One of the best teams in the country.)
North Carolina: 5.5-1. (At this moment, they're the only team I'd put above Florida)
UCLA: 6-1 (No argument)
Ohio State 4.5-1 (A little dicey pick. I'm not as bullish on Ohio State as I have been. They're good but to have them as the current "favorite" screams DON'T BUY)
Kansas 8-1 (Reasonable. But if they have a third straight first round loss, there will be some sadness in Vegas.)
Wisconsin 10-1 (They're better than Ohio State. I'd consider picking that bet up.
Texas A&M 18-1 (I'd definitely consider that one. Pretty low for how good they are.)
Indiana 45-1 (My current dark horse pick. If the season ended today they wouldn't be in my top 8. But as well as they're playing 45-1 odds seems to be a steal.)
Of course I'm 4-4 against the spread in the NFL Playoffs. So what the hell do I know?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
An Ode to Iona
I'm dedicating this post to the Iona College. Why? They are the only Division I basketball team not to have won a game yet. Currently the school located in New Rochelle, New York is 0-16. Now granted I don't think they're the worst team in the country. For example 6-10 Alabama A&M is currently #336 in Ken Pomeroy's latest efficiency rankings. Hint! There are 336 teams in Division I basketball. And if you check out Blue Ribbon's daily power poll 2-15 Denver is still pulling the rear.
So what's the problem with Iona. Well, they can't score. They opened the season with 38 points against Winthrop. Their high so far this year was 76 against Fairfield. But that game was in overtime. Highest in regulation was 66 against Loyola (MD).
What's even more remarkable is that Iona won their conference last year. So what's happened. According to an article I'll post at the end, lots of things. Inopportune injuries. Lots of underclassmen playing. Things like that.
Do I think Iona will go winless. Nope but the season is rapidly drawing to a close. Perhaps they'll get it when they host Canisus. Or play host to Rider. How about when they play St. Peter's two straight. They'll probably pull out a couple of wins by the end of the year. But until then, I dedicate this post to you Iona.
What's Wrong With Iona
So what's the problem with Iona. Well, they can't score. They opened the season with 38 points against Winthrop. Their high so far this year was 76 against Fairfield. But that game was in overtime. Highest in regulation was 66 against Loyola (MD).
What's even more remarkable is that Iona won their conference last year. So what's happened. According to an article I'll post at the end, lots of things. Inopportune injuries. Lots of underclassmen playing. Things like that.
Do I think Iona will go winless. Nope but the season is rapidly drawing to a close. Perhaps they'll get it when they host Canisus. Or play host to Rider. How about when they play St. Peter's two straight. They'll probably pull out a couple of wins by the end of the year. But until then, I dedicate this post to you Iona.
What's Wrong With Iona
Well I won't be applying to Wake.
I'm not going to waste my money to apply and hope that people with work experience don't apply so I can get in.
I'll be telling my references not to complete my recommendation as planned.
And I think I'll be taking most of my Wake Forest memorabilia to goodwill in the near future.
I hope Duke wins by 40 points on Thursday. That would make me smile.
I'm not going to waste my money to apply and hope that people with work experience don't apply so I can get in.
I'll be telling my references not to complete my recommendation as planned.
And I think I'll be taking most of my Wake Forest memorabilia to goodwill in the near future.
I hope Duke wins by 40 points on Thursday. That would make me smile.
First thing you know it, old Jed's a millionaire
Oil went below $51 a barrel at some point today. I don't know what it closed at because the NYMEX website won't close. I blame the....er....somebody's got to be behind it! Anyway, I was wondering, since oil continues to crash, where have all the people gone who said "Oil is falling to help the Republicans in the election and once the election is over they will shoot back up again?" I haven't heard much about that theory as of late. THE POWER OF ECONOMICS COMPELS YOU!
And yes, I just subbed in economics for Christ. I'm not going to hell.
I have Pink Floyd playing. I was wondering, is that allowed? I mean I'm not high. I've never been high. I don't plan on ever becoming high. Isn't that against some rule?
Another classic Fark Headline (this time without the link because I'm lazy): Man -- accused of stealing from Toys for Tots and caught with porn on his work computer -- is also accused of being the police chief. It's that last one that'll get you!
The Sopranos' final season begins April 8. No Jeb! Don't cry. Re...sist. *Sniff.
Netflix is going to start delivering movies instantly over the web. Die Blockbuster. Die.
Maxim is looking for a girl who was at the Saints-Eagles game. Why? Well because she was wearing a "Fuck Da Eagles" shirt. And for some incomprehensible reason, in the post-Janet Jackson era, Fox decided to show her for several seconds on TV. It's a good thing Joe Buck wasn't broadcasting the game. He probably would have started weeping live. And what would the children have thought?
And yes, I just subbed in economics for Christ. I'm not going to hell.
I have Pink Floyd playing. I was wondering, is that allowed? I mean I'm not high. I've never been high. I don't plan on ever becoming high. Isn't that against some rule?
Another classic Fark Headline (this time without the link because I'm lazy): Man -- accused of stealing from Toys for Tots and caught with porn on his work computer -- is also accused of being the police chief. It's that last one that'll get you!
The Sopranos' final season begins April 8. No Jeb! Don't cry. Re...sist. *Sniff.
Netflix is going to start delivering movies instantly over the web. Die Blockbuster. Die.
Maxim is looking for a girl who was at the Saints-Eagles game. Why? Well because she was wearing a "Fuck Da Eagles" shirt. And for some incomprehensible reason, in the post-Janet Jackson era, Fox decided to show her for several seconds on TV. It's a good thing Joe Buck wasn't broadcasting the game. He probably would have started weeping live. And what would the children have thought?
Gee thanks Barack!
Obama Takes First Step
And right after I had just done my new rankings where I put you at 6th. You've played me for a fool yet again! Just for that, I'm not voting for you. Seriously! Ok, maybe I'll consider it. But no more surprises!
And right after I had just done my new rankings where I put you at 6th. You've played me for a fool yet again! Just for that, I'm not voting for you. Seriously! Ok, maybe I'll consider it. But no more surprises!
Fark Headline That Made Me Laugh Out Loud of the Day
And is that the longest segment title ever?
Good: Leak at brewery. Not so good: It's ammonia, not beer
Good: Leak at brewery. Not so good: It's ammonia, not beer
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
I watched Lawrence of Arabia last night. And I'm still exhausted. I'd never seen it before. It was a great movie. Perhaps the best epic of all time. But my Lord was it long! 222 minutes!If you've never seen it, you definitely should. But cancel all your plans first. And I recommend DVD so you can pause it. I watched it on TCM...*shudder.
Looks like Fidel Castro is on the verge of death. I blame the CIA.
I was wondering when the State of the Union was. Next Tuesday. Should be interesting to see a woman in the picture while Bush delivers the speech. I might put some drinking game rules up for that. Of course you can't take a shot every time applause comes. Because you would die. Perhaps only for standing ovations.
Looks like Fidel Castro is on the verge of death. I blame the CIA.
I was wondering when the State of the Union was. Next Tuesday. Should be interesting to see a woman in the picture while Bush delivers the speech. I might put some drinking game rules up for that. Of course you can't take a shot every time applause comes. Because you would die. Perhaps only for standing ovations.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Activist Shareholders Unite
Here's a great link I found recently.
Activist Shareholders Take On Yahoo
Basically, someone has started a blog and wiki with proposals that Yahoo should undertake to help the company and increase the share price. His opinion is that Yahoo is drifting and needs some radical changes. I agree. I have pledged my stake in Yahoo to the cause. I believe that he wants to put together a 10% stake in Yahoo!. This would require 136 million shares. So far the collective is up to 70,000 shares. That doesn't sound like a lot, but if enough people keep joining, then maybe we can convince some of the big investors (Vanguard for example) in joining the cause. This could make a huge difference. So if anybody reading this blog happens to be a Yahoo shareholder, please click on the link and join the cause.
Activist Shareholders Take On Yahoo
Basically, someone has started a blog and wiki with proposals that Yahoo should undertake to help the company and increase the share price. His opinion is that Yahoo is drifting and needs some radical changes. I agree. I have pledged my stake in Yahoo to the cause. I believe that he wants to put together a 10% stake in Yahoo!. This would require 136 million shares. So far the collective is up to 70,000 shares. That doesn't sound like a lot, but if enough people keep joining, then maybe we can convince some of the big investors (Vanguard for example) in joining the cause. This could make a huge difference. So if anybody reading this blog happens to be a Yahoo shareholder, please click on the link and join the cause.
I'm Only Sleeping
I'm listening to Revolver right now. I haven't heard it in awhile. I know I never include it in my Top 10 Albums list. But that's mainly because I'm trying not to follow the crowd. It probably is #1 with ease. Don't expect me to ever write a track by track review either. I would but what would it accomplish? Everybody else already has and probably much better than me. I mean how many times can it be said that Revolver is really good?
Well I've decided to take a trip to William and Mary for the Fast Track Admissions. That way I'll know within 24 hours if I'm accepted. Hopefully two things will occur on this trip.
1. I will like William & Mary
2. If #1 is true, William & Mary accepts me
I've pretty much given up on Wake Forest since they're apparently going to be assholes. They haven't bothered responding to my email yet. And when they do, I'm going to tell them they're going to waive my application fee or I'm not going to apply. Since they can't definitively tell me if they require work experience or not, I'm not going to throw $75 away.
I think some of these schools are pretty stupid. Let's assume I don't get accepted because of my lack of work experience. I have a high GMAT. I applied to the schools I chose because they were "lower" in the rankings than some of the preeminent schools. Now here's the question. If I get work experience, I will be "overqualified" to go to Vanderbilt, Wake, etc. So they're potentially losing a valuable student at a "discount" so to speak. I mean my GMAT is about average to higher ranked schools. I'm far above the average of the schools I'm applying to. Nice job shooting yourselves in the foot guys.
Besides, I probably know more about business and current events than the average MBA student. I invest. I subscribe to The Economist. So as I said, if you don't want me as an alumni, than I'd venture to guess that you are retarded. And I'm not of one with a big ego normally. It probably sounds like it. But I'm just stating a fact.
I saw they hanged Saddam's brother-in-law. During the hanging, he was decapitated. Have the Iraqis ever actually done hangings before? You're supposed to have it where the neck is instantly broken, not have the head separated clean from the body!
Robyn asked me the other day about who I liked for the nominees for President. So I decided to do a re-ranking of the contenders as I see them currently. I plan to do this every now and again in the future adding or subtracting people as I see fit. I'm going to keep the same 7 I did last time, but we're getting close to 6. Last ranking is in parenthesis. Here they are in ascending likelihood of being President.
7. (5) Al Gore: I had Mr. Gore higher last time because I felt sure he would run. I'm not as confident as I have been. I don't think he's actually said no officially as of yet. But it's looking less and less likely. Still, if he chooses to run he will be a major contender.
6. (4) Barack Obama: The ranking is deceiving. He's still a contender if he runs. But, I think he's still undecided currently. And he's not been as high in the press recently so he moves down a couple spots. My main question..is our country ready for a black President? An interesting question. My aunt thinks we're ready for a black President but not a woman. I disagree and will explain why further below (HINT)
5. (6) Mitt Romney: One of the leading Republicans for the nomination. But will his religion (Mormonism) hurt him? And what about his constant schmoozing with the Religious Right. After the last election, it looks as if that gambit may flop. However, don't discount when he gets more well-known among the populace. And a Republican for universal health-care could be interesting.
4. (7) John Edwards: Moving up the charts is probably my least favorite candidate on the list. He's positioning himself as the anti-war candidate which is cute since he voted to authorize war. But with the eroding support for the war he may be in great position. I noticed that he recently had a veiled attack on legislators who don't speak out against the Bush surge (Read: Clinton). If he can successfully position himself as the anti-war candidate, if Iraq gets much worse (possible?) than he will be in great position. Also, he's a rank protectionist which will help since everybody is hating free trade. John Edwards likes to rail about two Americas where the poor people have it much rougher than the rest. Yet he then attacks free trade which helps make cheaper goods and Wal-Mart which sells said goods. In other words, John Edwards is a two faced idiot and I'm not afraid to say it. But this isn't Jeb's Favorite Rankings. This is who I think is most likely to win the Presidency. And since my last rankings, Edwards has done the best of any of these seven candidates including Obama.
3. (3) Rudy Giuliani: About where he was last time. As I said before, it will be harder to win the Republican nomination than the Presidency. And can he withstand a long campaign. He failed against Clinton for the Senate. How will he do under the Presidential microscope.
2. (1) John McCain: I had him first last time. But since than McCain has been gambling and I think it could cost him. I agree with him in principle on the Iraq troop surge. And as Robyn told me, he said he's rather lose an election than a war. If Iraq gets any worse and the American people continue to pull support, then he shall do both.
1. (2) Hillary Clinton: I'm not sure if she'll be President. In fact, let's not coronate her yet. We're 23 months or so away and a lot can happen. But if I held a gun to your head and demanded you name one candidate who would win the Presidency, you know damn well you'd say Clinton. Don't lie. She will have the best fundraising machine, the best national profile, etc. Some say we're not ready for a female President. And I ask why not? Look at Germany. The Chancellor is Angela Merkel. Look at France. The election will probably come down to Nikolas Sarkozy and Segolen Royale. Royal is the Socialist Party candidate. I think that if these countries are ready for females, than America surely will be. Clinton is no doubt a polarizing figure. Perhaps even more so than her husband. But she is making a claim to the middle. If she is able to succeed and not allow her opponents to frame her, than she will be tough to beat.
Well I've decided to take a trip to William and Mary for the Fast Track Admissions. That way I'll know within 24 hours if I'm accepted. Hopefully two things will occur on this trip.
1. I will like William & Mary
2. If #1 is true, William & Mary accepts me
I've pretty much given up on Wake Forest since they're apparently going to be assholes. They haven't bothered responding to my email yet. And when they do, I'm going to tell them they're going to waive my application fee or I'm not going to apply. Since they can't definitively tell me if they require work experience or not, I'm not going to throw $75 away.
I think some of these schools are pretty stupid. Let's assume I don't get accepted because of my lack of work experience. I have a high GMAT. I applied to the schools I chose because they were "lower" in the rankings than some of the preeminent schools. Now here's the question. If I get work experience, I will be "overqualified" to go to Vanderbilt, Wake, etc. So they're potentially losing a valuable student at a "discount" so to speak. I mean my GMAT is about average to higher ranked schools. I'm far above the average of the schools I'm applying to. Nice job shooting yourselves in the foot guys.
Besides, I probably know more about business and current events than the average MBA student. I invest. I subscribe to The Economist. So as I said, if you don't want me as an alumni, than I'd venture to guess that you are retarded. And I'm not of one with a big ego normally. It probably sounds like it. But I'm just stating a fact.
I saw they hanged Saddam's brother-in-law. During the hanging, he was decapitated. Have the Iraqis ever actually done hangings before? You're supposed to have it where the neck is instantly broken, not have the head separated clean from the body!
Robyn asked me the other day about who I liked for the nominees for President. So I decided to do a re-ranking of the contenders as I see them currently. I plan to do this every now and again in the future adding or subtracting people as I see fit. I'm going to keep the same 7 I did last time, but we're getting close to 6. Last ranking is in parenthesis. Here they are in ascending likelihood of being President.
7. (5) Al Gore: I had Mr. Gore higher last time because I felt sure he would run. I'm not as confident as I have been. I don't think he's actually said no officially as of yet. But it's looking less and less likely. Still, if he chooses to run he will be a major contender.
6. (4) Barack Obama: The ranking is deceiving. He's still a contender if he runs. But, I think he's still undecided currently. And he's not been as high in the press recently so he moves down a couple spots. My main question..is our country ready for a black President? An interesting question. My aunt thinks we're ready for a black President but not a woman. I disagree and will explain why further below (HINT)
5. (6) Mitt Romney: One of the leading Republicans for the nomination. But will his religion (Mormonism) hurt him? And what about his constant schmoozing with the Religious Right. After the last election, it looks as if that gambit may flop. However, don't discount when he gets more well-known among the populace. And a Republican for universal health-care could be interesting.
4. (7) John Edwards: Moving up the charts is probably my least favorite candidate on the list. He's positioning himself as the anti-war candidate which is cute since he voted to authorize war. But with the eroding support for the war he may be in great position. I noticed that he recently had a veiled attack on legislators who don't speak out against the Bush surge (Read: Clinton). If he can successfully position himself as the anti-war candidate, if Iraq gets much worse (possible?) than he will be in great position. Also, he's a rank protectionist which will help since everybody is hating free trade. John Edwards likes to rail about two Americas where the poor people have it much rougher than the rest. Yet he then attacks free trade which helps make cheaper goods and Wal-Mart which sells said goods. In other words, John Edwards is a two faced idiot and I'm not afraid to say it. But this isn't Jeb's Favorite Rankings. This is who I think is most likely to win the Presidency. And since my last rankings, Edwards has done the best of any of these seven candidates including Obama.
3. (3) Rudy Giuliani: About where he was last time. As I said before, it will be harder to win the Republican nomination than the Presidency. And can he withstand a long campaign. He failed against Clinton for the Senate. How will he do under the Presidential microscope.
2. (1) John McCain: I had him first last time. But since than McCain has been gambling and I think it could cost him. I agree with him in principle on the Iraq troop surge. And as Robyn told me, he said he's rather lose an election than a war. If Iraq gets any worse and the American people continue to pull support, then he shall do both.
1. (2) Hillary Clinton: I'm not sure if she'll be President. In fact, let's not coronate her yet. We're 23 months or so away and a lot can happen. But if I held a gun to your head and demanded you name one candidate who would win the Presidency, you know damn well you'd say Clinton. Don't lie. She will have the best fundraising machine, the best national profile, etc. Some say we're not ready for a female President. And I ask why not? Look at Germany. The Chancellor is Angela Merkel. Look at France. The election will probably come down to Nikolas Sarkozy and Segolen Royale. Royal is the Socialist Party candidate. I think that if these countries are ready for females, than America surely will be. Clinton is no doubt a polarizing figure. Perhaps even more so than her husband. But she is making a claim to the middle. If she is able to succeed and not allow her opponents to frame her, than she will be tough to beat.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
NFL FInal Four
Now that we're down to the conference title games, I decided to re-evaluate the remaining teams on their Super Bowl potential. From least likely to most likely of winning it all.
4. New Orleans: I love the Saints. But they have to go to Chicago and beat the Bears to get to the Super Bowl. It'll be hard to stop Drew Brees, Colston, Bush and McAllister. But if anyone can do it, it's the Bears' defense.
3. Chicago: At this moment I think Chicago will make the Super Bowl. But that depends on Rex Grossman. If Grossman plays as well as he did today, then they'll probably beat the Saints. I have them ranked 3rd, because whoever wins the AFC will be favored against either NFC team.
2. New England: New England took a gut check against San Diego and pulled off the upset. Will last year prove to be a minor bump in the road for the dynasty? I'd love to put them as the favorite. But they're going to have to win in Indy and that may be a difficult proposition.
1. Indianapolis: Peyton can't win the big one. Or can he? Suddenly Indy is the highest remaining seed left in the AFC after they knocked off Baltimore and the Patriots followed suit against the Chargers. I said this was the worst Colts team in years but I may have been wrong. While Manning has been unspectacular, the defense has a renewed toughness. I think they've allowed two touchdowns in the last three games. With a home game to play New England, they have to be the favorite to win the AFC.
4. New Orleans: I love the Saints. But they have to go to Chicago and beat the Bears to get to the Super Bowl. It'll be hard to stop Drew Brees, Colston, Bush and McAllister. But if anyone can do it, it's the Bears' defense.
3. Chicago: At this moment I think Chicago will make the Super Bowl. But that depends on Rex Grossman. If Grossman plays as well as he did today, then they'll probably beat the Saints. I have them ranked 3rd, because whoever wins the AFC will be favored against either NFC team.
2. New England: New England took a gut check against San Diego and pulled off the upset. Will last year prove to be a minor bump in the road for the dynasty? I'd love to put them as the favorite. But they're going to have to win in Indy and that may be a difficult proposition.
1. Indianapolis: Peyton can't win the big one. Or can he? Suddenly Indy is the highest remaining seed left in the AFC after they knocked off Baltimore and the Patriots followed suit against the Chargers. I said this was the worst Colts team in years but I may have been wrong. While Manning has been unspectacular, the defense has a renewed toughness. I think they've allowed two touchdowns in the last three games. With a home game to play New England, they have to be the favorite to win the AFC.
Postgame Analysis: New England-San Diego
As I predicted, the Patriots pulled the upset against the Chargers. San Diego's defense couldn't hold New England when it counted. Did you really expect Marty Schottenheimer to outcoach Bill Belichick? Please! It is astounding because New England got pushed around all game and yet at the end were still around to kick a FG with a minute left to take the lead. Philip Rivers led a valiant drive but the potential tying kick was no good. I missed the 3rd quarter so I can't talk a lot about what happened. I'm just glad that I'm back to .500. Haha.
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 4-4
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 4-4
Halftime Analysis: New England-San Diego
LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers just pounded the Patriots in the 2nd quarter. But The Patriots responded beautifully to score their first touchdown of the game with 8 seconds remaining in the half. That was what they needed so they could keep the game in striking distance. And they succeeded being down only 14-10 at halftime. The Patriots must make some crucial adjustments because the Chargers have simply outplayed them. I'm thinking I may have made a mistake in picking New England to cover (let alone upset). But it's a 4 point win so I'm right so far.
Postgame Analysis: Seattle-Chicago
The Bears survived a dogfight with the Seahawks to advance to the NFC Title Game. The Seahawks forced them to go to overtime and started out with the ball. When it counted, the Chicago defense held strong and Rex Grossman led the team into FG range where they won the game. Grossman had a good game. Very few mistakes. He fumbled once and threw an INT but that was more Muhammad's fault for not catching it than it being a bad throw. The question is can Rex play that way next week against New Orleans. If he can, Chicago will win. If he doesn't than the Saints will have a chance.
Although the Bears won, since I picked them to beat the spread, I automatically lost once it reached overtime. Because it's impossible to score more than 6 points in overtime. Whoops. So now I drop to 3-4. I think I went 7-4 last year if I remember correctly. So hopefully I'll finish strong. But I'm showing that if you consistently play against these spreads, you might as well pick a coin flip.
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 3-4
Although the Bears won, since I picked them to beat the spread, I automatically lost once it reached overtime. Because it's impossible to score more than 6 points in overtime. Whoops. So now I drop to 3-4. I think I went 7-4 last year if I remember correctly. So hopefully I'll finish strong. But I'm showing that if you consistently play against these spreads, you might as well pick a coin flip.
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 3-4
Halftime Observations: Seattle-Chicago
Rex Grossman has been good not great so far. I think he lost a fumble once which resulted in a Seattle touchdown. But other than that he's been solid. Thomas Jones already has two TD's for the Bears. The Seahawks are having trouble against the Bears defense and so far the Chicago offense has been very efficient. Seattle gets the ball at the start of the second half. It will be crucial to have a good opening drive or this game could get ugly in a hurry.
ACC Analysis
After Clemson's loss yesterday, every team in the nation has lost at least one game. So I thought it'd be a good time to talk about how the ACC Conference is doing. Overall record is listed with conference record in parenthesis. Here we go in alphabetical order...
Boston College 12-4 (4-0) : So far the Eagles are leading the conference. But I think their record is inflated. The defense isn't that great. Losses against Vermont and Duquesne give a clue to this team's true potential. Their best win on the road so far is Massachusetts. When they start playing the good teams on the road, they will drop like a rock in the standings.
Clemson 17-1 (3-1) : The Tigers finally suffered a loss this season. They're in great position to make the NCAA Tournament. They'll take a few more losses but don't surprised if they upset a few highly ranked conference foes and get a high seed in the ACC Tourney.
Duke 13-3 (0-2) : Duke hasn't gotten their first win yet. But the upcoming schedule is set up favorably so expect them to go on a tear. They still desperately need to find some offense. The defense is the best in the country. I still think that Coach K can lead them to a deep run through March.
Florida State 12-5 (0-3) : Currently sitting dead last in the ACC. They obviously have some talent with the win against Florida earlier this season. But I don't see them putting together anything consistent to warrant a bid in March.
Georgia Tech 13-4 (2-2) : Losses against Miami and Vanderbilt early on were a bit of a concern. But since the Clemson loss, they've looked good in beating Duke and Florida State. They could be a dark horse in March.
Maryland 15-3 (1-2) : Nice first win in ACC play knocking off previously unbeaten Clemson. They should be getting in true form to return to March Madness for the first time in several years.
Miami 9-8 (2-1) : Very confusing team. In all honesty, they could be the worst team in the ACC this year. They've lost to Buffalo, Cleveland State, Northwestern, Binghamton, and Wake Forest. But they are actually 2-1 in conference with wins against Georgia Tech and a road win against Maryland. Expect the bottom to drop out today though. They play Duke and I don't see another likely win till mid-February
North Carolina 15-2 (2-1) : I'm shocked that they got down by more than 20 to Virginia Tech. But notice they didn't give in and get routed. The Tar Heels nearly came back and pulled off a miracle. But they came up just short. Not a serious loss (Va Tech is good) and they along with Duke and perhaps Ga Tech will be serious teams in March.
North Carolina State 11-6 (1-3) : Another of the three worst teams in the conference this year. Their best win so far was against a mediocre Michigan team at home. They got their first win in conference against Wake yesterday (not something to really shout about)
Virginia 9-6 (1-2) : Another team that confuses. They beat Arizona and Gonzaga. Yet they lost to Appalachian State and Utah. Their goal should be to finish with a winning record. The ACC will be too difficult to get a bid without winning the tourney.
Virginia Tech 13-4 (3-0) : Things just got interesting. Although they had some dubious losses to Western Michigan and Marshall, the Hokies are on a roll now beating Duke in Cameron and upsetting the top-ranked Tar Heels. They are in great position if they continue playing this way to finish at least 2nd in the ACC. Watch out.
Wake Forest 9-7 (1-3) : My current choice for worst in the ACC. No horrendous losses (well maybe South Florida) but they just can't beat anyone of note. It'll just get uglier in the thick of ACC play. A second straight last place finish isn't out of the question. Although I'm sure NC State and maybe Miami will compete.
Boston College 12-4 (4-0) : So far the Eagles are leading the conference. But I think their record is inflated. The defense isn't that great. Losses against Vermont and Duquesne give a clue to this team's true potential. Their best win on the road so far is Massachusetts. When they start playing the good teams on the road, they will drop like a rock in the standings.
Clemson 17-1 (3-1) : The Tigers finally suffered a loss this season. They're in great position to make the NCAA Tournament. They'll take a few more losses but don't surprised if they upset a few highly ranked conference foes and get a high seed in the ACC Tourney.
Duke 13-3 (0-2) : Duke hasn't gotten their first win yet. But the upcoming schedule is set up favorably so expect them to go on a tear. They still desperately need to find some offense. The defense is the best in the country. I still think that Coach K can lead them to a deep run through March.
Florida State 12-5 (0-3) : Currently sitting dead last in the ACC. They obviously have some talent with the win against Florida earlier this season. But I don't see them putting together anything consistent to warrant a bid in March.
Georgia Tech 13-4 (2-2) : Losses against Miami and Vanderbilt early on were a bit of a concern. But since the Clemson loss, they've looked good in beating Duke and Florida State. They could be a dark horse in March.
Maryland 15-3 (1-2) : Nice first win in ACC play knocking off previously unbeaten Clemson. They should be getting in true form to return to March Madness for the first time in several years.
Miami 9-8 (2-1) : Very confusing team. In all honesty, they could be the worst team in the ACC this year. They've lost to Buffalo, Cleveland State, Northwestern, Binghamton, and Wake Forest. But they are actually 2-1 in conference with wins against Georgia Tech and a road win against Maryland. Expect the bottom to drop out today though. They play Duke and I don't see another likely win till mid-February
North Carolina 15-2 (2-1) : I'm shocked that they got down by more than 20 to Virginia Tech. But notice they didn't give in and get routed. The Tar Heels nearly came back and pulled off a miracle. But they came up just short. Not a serious loss (Va Tech is good) and they along with Duke and perhaps Ga Tech will be serious teams in March.
North Carolina State 11-6 (1-3) : Another of the three worst teams in the conference this year. Their best win so far was against a mediocre Michigan team at home. They got their first win in conference against Wake yesterday (not something to really shout about)
Virginia 9-6 (1-2) : Another team that confuses. They beat Arizona and Gonzaga. Yet they lost to Appalachian State and Utah. Their goal should be to finish with a winning record. The ACC will be too difficult to get a bid without winning the tourney.
Virginia Tech 13-4 (3-0) : Things just got interesting. Although they had some dubious losses to Western Michigan and Marshall, the Hokies are on a roll now beating Duke in Cameron and upsetting the top-ranked Tar Heels. They are in great position if they continue playing this way to finish at least 2nd in the ACC. Watch out.
Wake Forest 9-7 (1-3) : My current choice for worst in the ACC. No horrendous losses (well maybe South Florida) but they just can't beat anyone of note. It'll just get uglier in the thick of ACC play. A second straight last place finish isn't out of the question. Although I'm sure NC State and maybe Miami will compete.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Postgame Analysis: Philly-New Orleans
Philly struck early in the 2nd half but the Saints didn't give up. They pounded the Eagles with their running game and although they had to survive a late fumble and a Philly 4th down conversion that was erased by a false start , they pulled out the 3 point win. The crowd probably caused that crucial false start. The dream season will continue for the Saints and if by sheer luck Seattle beats Chicago tomorrow, the Saints will get one more home game before the Super Bowl.
Halftime Observations: Philly-New Orleans
Finally we got some offense today. It's not a barn-burner but we've had three touchdowns which is three more than the previous game. Philly has the 14-13 edge over the Saints going into the half. I still like the Saints though in this game. I figured it will be close, but the fans will come roaring once they have a break at halftime. It will be crucial for the Eagles to not make any mental mistakes early on. If they could get a touchdown on their first possession, it would be big to quiet the crowd for a bit. Can Reggie Bush be an X-factor. Hes had a few flashy moves so far including the Saints' only touchdown. Philly continues to look like one of the hottest teams in the NFL. But this will be incredibly difficult to keep their winning streak alive, even with an edge at halftime.
Appalachian article on SI.com
Not the best time to post this since App lost today to Elon. But Sports Illustrated had a nice article on App's basketball team and the coach Houston Fancher who really started on the bottom.
Livin' A Dream
Livin' A Dream
Postseason Analysis: Indy-Baltimore
It was a game surprisingly devoid of touchdowns. Not only that, the team who most would have figured to lose in such a scenario, won fairly easily. Indianapolis was just tougher than Baltimore today in the 15-6 win. Steve McNair and the Baltimore offense was never able to put together a decent drive into the end zone. The Baltimore defense played valiantly but was unable to solve the Indy defense as well as the Indy defense did Baltimore. This is starting to look like the year Manning can lead his team to the Super Bowl. And it's a year when he isn't putting up ridiculous numbers! But let's not reserve the hotel rooms in Miami yet. If San Diego wins, Indy will have to meet the Chargers in San Diego. If New England wins, Indy will get a home game, but it will be against their foe who has generally beat them when it counts in the last few years. Special props to Vinatieri for capitalizing whenever Indy got him in range. He went 5/5 on FGs. If the Patriots beat the Chargers, they may regret letting him go.
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 2-3
Jeb's Playoff Picks Against the Spread: 2-3
Halftime Observations: Indy-Baltimore
That's about as a a good a half as Indy could have hoped for. Except for the scoring part. The offense has made very few mistakes and the ones they have made haven't devastated them. Adam Vinatieri has scored all the points for the Colts (with one being a kiss off the crossbar). The defense has held strong and only allowed 3 points so far with a crucial goal line interception that could have given Baltimore the lead. But beware Colts' fans! This game is not out of reach yet. And the pace may still be in Baltimore's favor. All they need is to get in the end zone once and suddenly the Ravens will have the lead. Both quarterbacks have been pretty mediocre but this game is still up for grabs. It'll be interesting to see how the game plays out early in the second half. A crucial turnover could shift momentum drastically in one team's favor. Who will blink first?
And I thought Simon Cowell was the smart one of the three
Simon Cowell Not Fond of Bob Dylan
I love the first line of the article.
"Don't expect to see Bob Dylan joining the celebrities on "American Idol" anytime soon."
Trust me. I don't think American Idol has to worry about Bob trying to make an appearance on their show.
I love the first line of the article.
"Don't expect to see Bob Dylan joining the celebrities on "American Idol" anytime soon."
Trust me. I don't think American Idol has to worry about Bob trying to make an appearance on their show.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Jeb's Clips of Whenever I feel Like It
First clip I got for you is by T.I. Pitchfork had it as one of their best songs of 2003. I have to admit it is damn good. That is an epic synth backing it up. But even better than the song is the video.
It's pretty funny without really meaning to be. It's got all the cliches of hip-hop videos. The slow-mo of the car driving. The scantily clad women. The cuts to the chorus in the background going "AY!" Just classic in every sense.
The next one I have is Letterman making his usual jokes. I have to say (and I'm sure I'm not the first to say this) Letterman's humor can be so odd at times it has to be classified as postmodern. What is postmodern? Basically a word that pretentious people like me use to sound smarter than you. But anyway here's the clip.
Last clip I have for tonight is from Joy Division. I've declared Joy Division my favorite band of all time. So in case you don't know much about them, here's a clip of their most famous song Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Also along with all the other segments/posts/etc. I'm promising in the future, expect an entire Joy Division compendium. I'm warning you.
It's pretty funny without really meaning to be. It's got all the cliches of hip-hop videos. The slow-mo of the car driving. The scantily clad women. The cuts to the chorus in the background going "AY!" Just classic in every sense.
The next one I have is Letterman making his usual jokes. I have to say (and I'm sure I'm not the first to say this) Letterman's humor can be so odd at times it has to be classified as postmodern. What is postmodern? Basically a word that pretentious people like me use to sound smarter than you. But anyway here's the clip.
Last clip I have for tonight is from Joy Division. I've declared Joy Division my favorite band of all time. So in case you don't know much about them, here's a clip of their most famous song Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Also along with all the other segments/posts/etc. I'm promising in the future, expect an entire Joy Division compendium. I'm warning you.
Wake Forest pisses me off
So I had pretty much finished my application for Wake. I only lack one of my references to send in his recommendation. And then I checked my inbox. In it was last night's chat transcript where alumni, students and admissions staff talked to prospective students. I was a tad unnderved when no less than 5 or 6 different questions the admissions staff seemed to put a heavy weighting on work experience. In fact to quote a few times...
We look for candidates to have a minimum of 2 years of work experience.
The post graduate work experience is very important.
The top three are Interview, work experience and GMAT. I think these are equally important.
My question is...when did Wake become fucking Harvard? Ok granted I understand that apparently MBA programs really like work experience nowadays. I don't know why. If I was going to medical school, they're not going to ask me how many lives I've saved. If I went to law school, nobody would ask how many cases I had won. To get into a masters in economics program, I don't think it's required to be published in the American Economic Review. But for some reason, business schools have decided that people need work experience. Why? Because....er...it's important!
But that's not even the issue. WAKE FOREST'S WEB SITE EXPLICITLY SAYS THAT WORK EXPERIENCE IS NOT A PREREQUISITE!!! Don't believe me? Here's something I found on the FAQ of the web site.
So now the rules have changed? And this is exactly what Vanderbilt did. They said work experience wasn't required either. So I applied and didn't get accepted. Now I had a 3.40. Vanderbilt's average is 3.20. I scored a 690 which is in the top 9% of test-takers. Vanderbilt's average is around 640. I asked the person I interviewed with at Vanderbilt what the most important part of the application was. Although he hedged and said it was all important, he conveyed that the math portion of the GMAT would be highly weighted. My math score was in the top 10%. My verbal score was in the measly top 25%. How sad! Oh did I mention I got perfect on the analytical writing part? As in...top 5% in the country? As in... a computer and a person both graded my writing and found NO flaws whatsoever? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Of course I'm not going to take this. William & Mary has treated me well so far (knock on wood). Their site says no work experience required either. I guess when I go to Williamsburg they'll ask why I'm not CFO of GE yet.
I went ahead and sent an e-mail to Wake expressing my concerns and wondering why all the contradictory information. I asked them why I should bother applying if they weren't going to look at my application simply because I hadn't sucked somebody's di....er...worked under somebody for several years. I asked if I should complete my application as planned or if I was just wasting my time. So far, I haven't heard back.
We look for candidates to have a minimum of 2 years of work experience.
The post graduate work experience is very important.
| Work experience is extremely important in terms of admissions requirements. Our class boasts an average of 4 years of work, with 2 years as the minimum. | |
The top three are Interview, work experience and GMAT. I think these are equally important.
My question is...when did Wake become fucking Harvard? Ok granted I understand that apparently MBA programs really like work experience nowadays. I don't know why. If I was going to medical school, they're not going to ask me how many lives I've saved. If I went to law school, nobody would ask how many cases I had won. To get into a masters in economics program, I don't think it's required to be published in the American Economic Review. But for some reason, business schools have decided that people need work experience. Why? Because....er...it's important!
But that's not even the issue. WAKE FOREST'S WEB SITE EXPLICITLY SAYS THAT WORK EXPERIENCE IS NOT A PREREQUISITE!!! Don't believe me? Here's something I found on the FAQ of the web site.
Is work experience required?
Work experience is not required for admission to the full-time programSo now the rules have changed? And this is exactly what Vanderbilt did. They said work experience wasn't required either. So I applied and didn't get accepted. Now I had a 3.40. Vanderbilt's average is 3.20. I scored a 690 which is in the top 9% of test-takers. Vanderbilt's average is around 640. I asked the person I interviewed with at Vanderbilt what the most important part of the application was. Although he hedged and said it was all important, he conveyed that the math portion of the GMAT would be highly weighted. My math score was in the top 10%. My verbal score was in the measly top 25%. How sad! Oh did I mention I got perfect on the analytical writing part? As in...top 5% in the country? As in... a computer and a person both graded my writing and found NO flaws whatsoever? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Of course I'm not going to take this. William & Mary has treated me well so far (knock on wood). Their site says no work experience required either. I guess when I go to Williamsburg they'll ask why I'm not CFO of GE yet.
I went ahead and sent an e-mail to Wake expressing my concerns and wondering why all the contradictory information. I asked them why I should bother applying if they weren't going to look at my application simply because I hadn't sucked somebody's di....er...worked under somebody for several years. I asked if I should complete my application as planned or if I was just wasting my time. So far, I haven't heard back.
Why I support our President
Is that a controversial enough title for you?
Of course I don't agree with the vast majority of Bush's policies. He is on a dangerous road to becoming known as one of the worst Presidents in history. That's not just liberal propaganda. That is a fact. The one thing that saves him is that our two worst Presidents were James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. Buchanan basically let the Civil War begin under his watch and Andrew Johnson by being a total bastard ruined the possibilities of Reconstruction. So Bush may not be the worst because I don't think (?) we're going to resort to armed combat in this country. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice.
No the reason I agree with Bush (at least partly) is from his speech the other night. He is recommending a troop surge of about 20,000 troops or so to go into Iraq. Obviously the plan is controversial and many are calling it an escalation. While that word is probably accurate (I mean you can't say we're gradually pulling out if we're sending in troops now can we) I feel that is a dangerously loaded term. For example, it's technically true that anyone who isn't Christian is a pagan, but that word sounds very negative doesn't it? And it would not be an incorrect usage of vocabulary to refer to the Bush Presidency as the Bush Regime. However, since regime is generally tied to totalitarian and dictatorial governments, that word is generally not used except by extremists to categorize Bush. So yes it is an escalation. But I think it may be using used in a pejorative sense.
I was never in favor for the war? So why am I on Bush's side in this? Well just because I wasn't in favor of invading Iraq, doesn't mean an immediate withdrawal is a good idea. If America doesn't do everything in their power to save this situation, we will regret it for years and maybe even decades to come. Give up on American-style democracy in Iraq. That ain't happening. The best case scenario is to stop it from evolving into a civil war. We're probably there already, but the conflagration needs to be controlled as quickly as possible. If not, Iraq will collapse and the Middle East may be drawn into a regional war. If that happens after a withdrawal then we might be back there again. So a withdrawal is self-defeating in the purest sense of the word.
Even with this surge, there still won't be enough troops. Everything about the war has been handled in a totally disastrous way. One of the biggest mess-ups was Rumsfeld's insistence on going in with small troops since he wanted to turn the military into a very light mobile strike force. His theory has been proven a failure. Still the increase is a step in the right direction. But it's not enough and I don't know if the American public can be talked into allowing more. And where are they going to get them? A draft? PLEASE! Have you seen the approval ratings for this war? Do you think they can get a draft in place with that amount of opposition? It's hated when the vast majority of people aren't even paying a personal sacrifice? The few adherents to the policy would quickly break ranks if a family member or friend was forced to go against their will. And besides, that would take years to institute a draft and get everyone trained to send into Iraq. I don't think we have years. We have months to save Iraq. And that might be optimistic.
Look, I'm pissed off at the Republicans just as much as anybody. I switched to Democrat I was so disgusted with them. The majority of opposition have their hearts set in the right place. But they're not being honest with the ramifications for the withdrawal. And people on both sides still don;t understand what this war was about. Some still think Saddam was a threat and we'll eventually find those weapons of mass destruction. He wasn't and those weapons were gone for years before we ever invaded if they ever existed. Others keep protesting about how this was a cynical ploy to gain control of oil and enrich the corporations and that sort of thing. They are wrong as well. This war was started because of a flawed philosophy that believed America is so powerful that by "creating" a democracy in the heart of the Middle East that they could cause the flowering of democracy everywhere in the area from Iran to Syria to Palestine to Saudi Arabia and on. Unfortunately, the leaders really and truly believed it would be easier than it has been. Even if everything had been run well in the aftermath, it may not have worked. Unfortunately, we'll ever know.
Make no mistake, this should be Bush's last chance. If the surge doesn't work in increasing security, if the bickering sides can't be convinced to get along with one another, if Iraq's leaders won't stop keeping friends that are involved with the death-squad militias and so on, it will be time to throw in the towel. As one Congressman called it, "This is Bush's Hail-Mary pass". If it doesn't score a touchdown, then the game is over and we should do what other losing teams do after a failed Hail Mary pass. Go home.
Of course I don't agree with the vast majority of Bush's policies. He is on a dangerous road to becoming known as one of the worst Presidents in history. That's not just liberal propaganda. That is a fact. The one thing that saves him is that our two worst Presidents were James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. Buchanan basically let the Civil War begin under his watch and Andrew Johnson by being a total bastard ruined the possibilities of Reconstruction. So Bush may not be the worst because I don't think (?) we're going to resort to armed combat in this country. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice.
No the reason I agree with Bush (at least partly) is from his speech the other night. He is recommending a troop surge of about 20,000 troops or so to go into Iraq. Obviously the plan is controversial and many are calling it an escalation. While that word is probably accurate (I mean you can't say we're gradually pulling out if we're sending in troops now can we) I feel that is a dangerously loaded term. For example, it's technically true that anyone who isn't Christian is a pagan, but that word sounds very negative doesn't it? And it would not be an incorrect usage of vocabulary to refer to the Bush Presidency as the Bush Regime. However, since regime is generally tied to totalitarian and dictatorial governments, that word is generally not used except by extremists to categorize Bush. So yes it is an escalation. But I think it may be using used in a pejorative sense.
I was never in favor for the war? So why am I on Bush's side in this? Well just because I wasn't in favor of invading Iraq, doesn't mean an immediate withdrawal is a good idea. If America doesn't do everything in their power to save this situation, we will regret it for years and maybe even decades to come. Give up on American-style democracy in Iraq. That ain't happening. The best case scenario is to stop it from evolving into a civil war. We're probably there already, but the conflagration needs to be controlled as quickly as possible. If not, Iraq will collapse and the Middle East may be drawn into a regional war. If that happens after a withdrawal then we might be back there again. So a withdrawal is self-defeating in the purest sense of the word.
Even with this surge, there still won't be enough troops. Everything about the war has been handled in a totally disastrous way. One of the biggest mess-ups was Rumsfeld's insistence on going in with small troops since he wanted to turn the military into a very light mobile strike force. His theory has been proven a failure. Still the increase is a step in the right direction. But it's not enough and I don't know if the American public can be talked into allowing more. And where are they going to get them? A draft? PLEASE! Have you seen the approval ratings for this war? Do you think they can get a draft in place with that amount of opposition? It's hated when the vast majority of people aren't even paying a personal sacrifice? The few adherents to the policy would quickly break ranks if a family member or friend was forced to go against their will. And besides, that would take years to institute a draft and get everyone trained to send into Iraq. I don't think we have years. We have months to save Iraq. And that might be optimistic.
Look, I'm pissed off at the Republicans just as much as anybody. I switched to Democrat I was so disgusted with them. The majority of opposition have their hearts set in the right place. But they're not being honest with the ramifications for the withdrawal. And people on both sides still don;t understand what this war was about. Some still think Saddam was a threat and we'll eventually find those weapons of mass destruction. He wasn't and those weapons were gone for years before we ever invaded if they ever existed. Others keep protesting about how this was a cynical ploy to gain control of oil and enrich the corporations and that sort of thing. They are wrong as well. This war was started because of a flawed philosophy that believed America is so powerful that by "creating" a democracy in the heart of the Middle East that they could cause the flowering of democracy everywhere in the area from Iran to Syria to Palestine to Saudi Arabia and on. Unfortunately, the leaders really and truly believed it would be easier than it has been. Even if everything had been run well in the aftermath, it may not have worked. Unfortunately, we'll ever know.
Make no mistake, this should be Bush's last chance. If the surge doesn't work in increasing security, if the bickering sides can't be convinced to get along with one another, if Iraq's leaders won't stop keeping friends that are involved with the death-squad militias and so on, it will be time to throw in the towel. As one Congressman called it, "This is Bush's Hail-Mary pass". If it doesn't score a touchdown, then the game is over and we should do what other losing teams do after a failed Hail Mary pass. Go home.
It's mine
I went and bought a mandolin. Not the one I was planning to get. I stopped by the Music Center to pick up a book to play it and saw one that I liked even better. It was a Fender. I talked with Mr. Dilling and he said he liked Fenders best but Oscar Schmidt too. It was a little more expensive but I decided to get it anyway. I love the pawn shop but I don't know if their musical instruments are as high a quality as the music center has. And it's kinda like how if you're buying major consumer electronics you shouldn't go to Wal-Mart, you should go to Best Buy or Circuit City. You know the ones who deal with it on a daily basis and specialize in it. So I got my mandolin, a book and a case. Plus he threw in some picks for free! So I'll be messing around with that for now. Good times.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Jeb's Second Round Playoff Picks
It was a spectacularly mediocre start as I went 2-2 against the spread. Let's see if I can do better this week. Once again, I may update these picks right before kickoff, especially if the last line I see moves substantially. You may not think that's fair. But I missed a game because of it. So I think it's fair as I could be 3-1 instead of 2-2. Anyway here's my picks.
Baltimore (-4) over Indianapolis: Ok Peyton. it's time to silence the doubters. Will this be the year that you take the mantle of "Great quarterback, but he hasn't won a Super Bowl" off your shoulders?" In a word, no. I've said this Indy team is weaker than usual. They were able to win pretty easily against KC but now they go on the road against one of the best teams in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens. It will be interesting to see how this offense does against a truly talented defense. The offense is going to get some points for Indy, but expect Baltimore to take advantage of any mistakes. Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, I'm still not convinced with the Colts' defense. Steve McNair isn't as talented as he used to be, but I don't think he will make any mistakes. Baltimore will turn this into a slow game and pull away late to advance to the AFC Title game.
Philadelphia (+5 1/2) over New Orleans: This should be a good one. Philly is on a six game winning streak but this is in New Orleans for the first playoff game since Katrina. Think the Superdome will be loud? I said the Saints weren't going to lose at home in these playoffs and I still believe that. Having said that, a 5 point spread seems large. I think Philly will keep it closer than that. New Orleans wins in the last minute causing an eruption that the Katrina refugees will hear in Houston.
Chicago (-9) over Seattle: Chicago in all honestly should beat Seattle into a bloody pulp. Seattle shouldn't even be here if Tony Romo could have held onto the snap for the game winning FG. But, he didn't and my preseason pick to win it all has a chance to knock off the Bears. I'm leery though. Chicago is favored by 8 1/2. That means they have to win by 9 if I take Chicago. And Rex Grossman is completely incompetent as a quarterback. If he has another game like he's been having, Seattle can definitely win this game. I'll take a chance. I think Rex has a great game against Seattle. And even if he doesn't I think the defense and Devin Hester will take it up for him against a vastly inferior team. Now if he has a bad game next week I don't know if they can win single-handedly against Philly or New Orleans. But this week, DA BEARS!
And now for the most difficult pick.
New England (+5) over San Diego: It's the best team in the NFL this year (San Diego) versus the best franchise in the last 5-6 years (New England). And it's a 4.5 point spread! Which basically means Vegas has no idea! This is a tough one. Will Tom Brady and the game's best coach lead the Patriots to the win. Or can this year's MVP Ladainian Tomlinson will the Chargers to victory. I will cast my lot with....the Patriots. The Chargers are great. But Marty Schottenheimer has not done well in the playoffs and he's going against the master. Philip Rivers is a fine quarterback but I think the Patriots defense is going to give him a miserable game. I'm going with the Patriots not only to cover...but to pull off the upset!
Baltimore (-4) over Indianapolis: Ok Peyton. it's time to silence the doubters. Will this be the year that you take the mantle of "Great quarterback, but he hasn't won a Super Bowl" off your shoulders?" In a word, no. I've said this Indy team is weaker than usual. They were able to win pretty easily against KC but now they go on the road against one of the best teams in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens. It will be interesting to see how this offense does against a truly talented defense. The offense is going to get some points for Indy, but expect Baltimore to take advantage of any mistakes. Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, I'm still not convinced with the Colts' defense. Steve McNair isn't as talented as he used to be, but I don't think he will make any mistakes. Baltimore will turn this into a slow game and pull away late to advance to the AFC Title game.
Philadelphia (+5 1/2) over New Orleans: This should be a good one. Philly is on a six game winning streak but this is in New Orleans for the first playoff game since Katrina. Think the Superdome will be loud? I said the Saints weren't going to lose at home in these playoffs and I still believe that. Having said that, a 5 point spread seems large. I think Philly will keep it closer than that. New Orleans wins in the last minute causing an eruption that the Katrina refugees will hear in Houston.
Chicago (-9) over Seattle: Chicago in all honestly should beat Seattle into a bloody pulp. Seattle shouldn't even be here if Tony Romo could have held onto the snap for the game winning FG. But, he didn't and my preseason pick to win it all has a chance to knock off the Bears. I'm leery though. Chicago is favored by 8 1/2. That means they have to win by 9 if I take Chicago. And Rex Grossman is completely incompetent as a quarterback. If he has another game like he's been having, Seattle can definitely win this game. I'll take a chance. I think Rex has a great game against Seattle. And even if he doesn't I think the defense and Devin Hester will take it up for him against a vastly inferior team. Now if he has a bad game next week I don't know if they can win single-handedly against Philly or New Orleans. But this week, DA BEARS!
And now for the most difficult pick.
New England (+5) over San Diego: It's the best team in the NFL this year (San Diego) versus the best franchise in the last 5-6 years (New England). And it's a 4.5 point spread! Which basically means Vegas has no idea! This is a tough one. Will Tom Brady and the game's best coach lead the Patriots to the win. Or can this year's MVP Ladainian Tomlinson will the Chargers to victory. I will cast my lot with....the Patriots. The Chargers are great. But Marty Schottenheimer has not done well in the playoffs and he's going against the master. Philip Rivers is a fine quarterback but I think the Patriots defense is going to give him a miserable game. I'm going with the Patriots not only to cover...but to pull off the upset!
Good deed of the day
I forgot to mention this.
PayPal is retarded
Deadspin recently had a story about how they set up a PayPal account to give money to soldier's family who was killed in Iraq. Long story short, PayPal messed up (as usual) and listed the account as a charity even though this wasn't verified. And then they decided to be asses and not release the funds for a "lock-in" period. Basically, we were encouraged to let PayPal know how we felt. I was glad to oblige along with many others.
Mission Accomplished
Proof that you can make some difference in the world every now and then.
PayPal is retarded
Deadspin recently had a story about how they set up a PayPal account to give money to soldier's family who was killed in Iraq. Long story short, PayPal messed up (as usual) and listed the account as a charity even though this wasn't verified. And then they decided to be asses and not release the funds for a "lock-in" period. Basically, we were encouraged to let PayPal know how we felt. I was glad to oblige along with many others.
Mission Accomplished
Proof that you can make some difference in the world every now and then.
WHISKY RIVER!!!!!!!
While I was at the pawn shop today, I saw a mandolin that I liked. It's an Oscar Schmidt. I think I'll go back tomorrow and buy it. Now i can finally learn to play bluegrass and rap at the same time. Sadly, I'm only partly joking.
Jeb's Movie Reviews: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
My brother brought home Dead Man's Chest yesterday. I never saw it in the theatres so i decided I should watch it. Especially since it was the top box office grosser last year.
I actually enjoyed the first Pirates of the Caribbean. I was pleasantly surprised throughout. Thrilling action scenes. Impressive special effects. A totally absurd performance by Johnny Depp that somehow still worked. The one bad thing you could say about it was the length. It was about 2.5 hours and probably could have been 30 minutes shorter.
Well Dead Man's Chest keeps that problem but adds a host of others. I found the plot pretty hard to follow. That might be because they've set this up as the 2nd part of a trilogy and they will explain things in the 3rd. But all the characters seem to have changed and I don't know why. Is Elisabeth falling for Jack? Why has Jack decided gotten more morose? It doesn't really seem to fit with the first one. Most of the action scenes were pretty good (I was a little disappointed by the lauded "water-wheel" swordfight). And the actors are all pretty good and some have even improved (good job Orlando Bloom). There are some interesting twists and the villain is delightfully despicable. But some of the twists and additions....well once again I'm complaining about the length.
I guess what hurts it most is usual thing with sequels. Once you've seen it before, how do you expand on it. Some either kept it up or were able to successfully go in different directions. The Lord of the Rings was done pretty much at the same time so I guess they're not really sequels. The Godfather Part II tells the second leg of the Corleones' story while also delving into the origin. Aliens went int action mode as opposed to Alien with the haunted house in space vibe. Spider-Man 2 was able to excise most of what made the first weak and add more to the strengths to be the best superhero movie ever. The Empire Strikes Back went in a darker direction. That long-winded diatribe is meant to explain that some sequels have kept the quality up or improved. Dead Man's Chest unfortunately does not do this. The worst is that was startlingly great and original about the first was Johnny Depp's eccentric performance. Now it seems like old hat.
I probably sound a tad harsh. Dead Man's Chest is probably in the top half of your usual summer Hollywood action extravaganza popcorn thrill movies. But coming after The Curse of the Black Pearl, it registers as a disappointment. Hopefully World's End will be able to solve most of the problems in Dead Man's Chest. Although I'd expect it to be 2.5 hours yet again.
I actually enjoyed the first Pirates of the Caribbean. I was pleasantly surprised throughout. Thrilling action scenes. Impressive special effects. A totally absurd performance by Johnny Depp that somehow still worked. The one bad thing you could say about it was the length. It was about 2.5 hours and probably could have been 30 minutes shorter.
Well Dead Man's Chest keeps that problem but adds a host of others. I found the plot pretty hard to follow. That might be because they've set this up as the 2nd part of a trilogy and they will explain things in the 3rd. But all the characters seem to have changed and I don't know why. Is Elisabeth falling for Jack? Why has Jack decided gotten more morose? It doesn't really seem to fit with the first one. Most of the action scenes were pretty good (I was a little disappointed by the lauded "water-wheel" swordfight). And the actors are all pretty good and some have even improved (good job Orlando Bloom). There are some interesting twists and the villain is delightfully despicable. But some of the twists and additions....well once again I'm complaining about the length.
I guess what hurts it most is usual thing with sequels. Once you've seen it before, how do you expand on it. Some either kept it up or were able to successfully go in different directions. The Lord of the Rings was done pretty much at the same time so I guess they're not really sequels. The Godfather Part II tells the second leg of the Corleones' story while also delving into the origin. Aliens went int action mode as opposed to Alien with the haunted house in space vibe. Spider-Man 2 was able to excise most of what made the first weak and add more to the strengths to be the best superhero movie ever. The Empire Strikes Back went in a darker direction. That long-winded diatribe is meant to explain that some sequels have kept the quality up or improved. Dead Man's Chest unfortunately does not do this. The worst is that was startlingly great and original about the first was Johnny Depp's eccentric performance. Now it seems like old hat.
I probably sound a tad harsh. Dead Man's Chest is probably in the top half of your usual summer Hollywood action extravaganza popcorn thrill movies. But coming after The Curse of the Black Pearl, it registers as a disappointment. Hopefully World's End will be able to solve most of the problems in Dead Man's Chest. Although I'd expect it to be 2.5 hours yet again.
I heard it through the grapevine.
I've seen a rumor that was mentioned in three different places (SO IT MUST BE TRUE!!) In case you haven't noticed Bush has been reshuffling his team. He put Negroponte in as Deputy Secretary of State. The rumor is he did this so he can become Secretary of State when Condoleezza Rice leaves. Now why did I say "when" and not "if"? Well the rumor continues that sometime next month Dick Cheney will step down next month and then Condi will become our first female and first black vice-president. How's that for a bombshell?
I might talk about Bush's troop "surge" plan later. But I think if I do it deserves its own entry. So keep that in mind.
Some of my contenders and pretenders list I did is already slipping around. Connecticut lost its 3rd game in four tries so it's getting close to being cemented as a pretender. Duke is struggling early in conference play so I may have put them as a contender too early. And I've been singing Butler's praises for a while. They promptly lost last night. It's not all bad news though. Indiana may be better than I realized in Kelvin Sampson's first year. They're looking like a contender right now. And Missouri State has moved ahead of Butler (for now) as the most dangerous mid-major. They've started 4-1 in the difficult Missouri Valley. They might be favored in every game for the rest of the season. Don't expect them to win them all. The MVC is tough.
I'm sure you're all excited that I keep talking about stocks. But (knock on wood) Lenox may have been the best purchase I've ever made. If I sold at this moment in time, I'd have locked in a gain of 23%. And I just bought it on Monday! I'm not foolish though. It's probably going to have some bad days. It's just been up since I bought it because it had lost such a huge portion of its original value. But so far we're off to a good start. As are the rest of my stocks. As of yesterday's close, I had gained 2.84% since the year started. If I keep that pace up my portfolio will nearly triple this year. I know. That's insanely unlikely. But that certainly would be fun. And it would help provide finances for when I go to graduate school. Notice I said "when" and not "if". I'm looking at you Wake Forest and William & Mary.
I might talk about Bush's troop "surge" plan later. But I think if I do it deserves its own entry. So keep that in mind.
Some of my contenders and pretenders list I did is already slipping around. Connecticut lost its 3rd game in four tries so it's getting close to being cemented as a pretender. Duke is struggling early in conference play so I may have put them as a contender too early. And I've been singing Butler's praises for a while. They promptly lost last night. It's not all bad news though. Indiana may be better than I realized in Kelvin Sampson's first year. They're looking like a contender right now. And Missouri State has moved ahead of Butler (for now) as the most dangerous mid-major. They've started 4-1 in the difficult Missouri Valley. They might be favored in every game for the rest of the season. Don't expect them to win them all. The MVC is tough.
I'm sure you're all excited that I keep talking about stocks. But (knock on wood) Lenox may have been the best purchase I've ever made. If I sold at this moment in time, I'd have locked in a gain of 23%. And I just bought it on Monday! I'm not foolish though. It's probably going to have some bad days. It's just been up since I bought it because it had lost such a huge portion of its original value. But so far we're off to a good start. As are the rest of my stocks. As of yesterday's close, I had gained 2.84% since the year started. If I keep that pace up my portfolio will nearly triple this year. I know. That's insanely unlikely. But that certainly would be fun. And it would help provide finances for when I go to graduate school. Notice I said "when" and not "if". I'm looking at you Wake Forest and William & Mary.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
And down the stretch they come!
Barbaro took a turn for the worse today. Very sad. But that's not the reason for the horse-racing metaphor.
No, I've completed three of my five essays. The Wake Forest essays are done. Now I just need to nudge one of my references along (nudge nudge) and that will be done not counting the interview. Still have two more William & Mary essays to do but fortunately my references are done. So I'm pretty much back on schedule. I can't wait till I'm done with this. Hopefully I'll go at least 1 for 3. We'll have to wait.
No, I've completed three of my five essays. The Wake Forest essays are done. Now I just need to nudge one of my references along (nudge nudge) and that will be done not counting the interview. Still have two more William & Mary essays to do but fortunately my references are done. So I'm pretty much back on schedule. I can't wait till I'm done with this. Hopefully I'll go at least 1 for 3. We'll have to wait.
Spam Literature Part III
And this had caused another memory to resurface: finishing William Goldings Lord of the Flies at the age of twelve on a hot summer day, going to the refrigerator for a cold glass of lemonade.
dont scream (yes scream) scream and it will be over scream and it can end (never never going to end not until Im dead that kids no match for the goddess) Paul oh Christ are you dead already? His attention had been focused only on finding a way to get the bitch out of her grave without cheating before Annie decided to inspire him by giving him an enema with a handful of Ginsu knives.
I think that's the best one yet. You can feel the sheer anger oozing from the page.
I think that's the best one yet. You can feel the sheer anger oozing from the page.
Such is life!
Crude oil has been crashing lately. Now it's down below $55 a barrel. Since my predictions in sports have been a little off as of late, I have to brag. When oil hit $70 a barrel they had a poll online that asked if oil would hit $80 or $60 first. I picked $60 and was in the significant minority. Now don't crown me emperor just yet. I just thought oil was overbought and all the traders were pricing it as if the apocalypse was coming. Things have been a little calmer globally (Iraq...I know....but it hasn't really caused any problems in oil supply), the weather has been ridiculously warm and with other commodities crashing, I have a feeling a recession is coming this year. So be a little forewarned if you're planning to spend a lot. Everybody seems to be bullish this year. I'm neutral/bearish.
Now Lenox is up more than 12% today. The way this stock moves I could see it closing down 15%. Haha. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon, but in just a few days I've already gained more than $200 off of it. So please go out and support the cause. Buy some overpriced china. Pay $500 for a set of flatware. Buy a tacky little house to put in your Christmas village (I don't care that it's mid-January. DO IT!)
Apple Computer changed their name yesterday. Now they're known as Apple. Which makes sense. Since the iPod has done so well and now that they've introduced the iTV and the iPhone. I have to admit the iPhone does look interesting. I like my Motorola Q but browsing on the Internet can be a hassle on some sites. Also, notice the song they played on the iPhone yesterday was "Lovely Rita". Are The Beatles finally coming to iTunes? They haven't announced it yet, but I have to feel that the song was chosen for a reason. I guess I've missed a lot of profits by not bying Apple or Google but both still look overpriced to me. They're in that "THEY CAN DO NO WRONG!" phase where everyone loves them. That worries me. I like picking up companies on the cheap who "CAN DO NO RIGHT!" See Lenox above. I mean look at which stock did the best on the Dow last year. General Motors. I thought they were on the verge of bankruptcy!
Now Lenox is up more than 12% today. The way this stock moves I could see it closing down 15%. Haha. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon, but in just a few days I've already gained more than $200 off of it. So please go out and support the cause. Buy some overpriced china. Pay $500 for a set of flatware. Buy a tacky little house to put in your Christmas village (I don't care that it's mid-January. DO IT!)
Apple Computer changed their name yesterday. Now they're known as Apple. Which makes sense. Since the iPod has done so well and now that they've introduced the iTV and the iPhone. I have to admit the iPhone does look interesting. I like my Motorola Q but browsing on the Internet can be a hassle on some sites. Also, notice the song they played on the iPhone yesterday was "Lovely Rita". Are The Beatles finally coming to iTunes? They haven't announced it yet, but I have to feel that the song was chosen for a reason. I guess I've missed a lot of profits by not bying Apple or Google but both still look overpriced to me. They're in that "THEY CAN DO NO WRONG!" phase where everyone loves them. That worries me. I like picking up companies on the cheap who "CAN DO NO RIGHT!" See Lenox above. I mean look at which stock did the best on the Dow last year. General Motors. I thought they were on the verge of bankruptcy!
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