Out with the New, Back in with the Old

Back to the old color scheme. Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas. Also I'll take down the poll on Christmas, I think I'll put one up about whether or not the NFL playoffs should be expanded. Remember it is just a matter of time before your team gets screwed out of the playoffs because of some old antiquated way of doing things.

Disappointing Ending

Well 2007 gets to end on a sour note for Browns fans. Not only was I wrong about the Browns winning 9 games (they actually won 10), but they didn't make the playoffs. That's right 10 wins and they get left out of the playoffs, but in the NFC 9 wins gets you in. Maybe it is just me, but I think it is time for Roger Goodell to make his first mark on the league and expand the playoffs to 16 teams. They can still keep their re-seeding after the first round to help out the teams that did really well in the regular season, but it is time to get rid of the bye week for two teams in each conference and let two more teams in and let everyone play the first weekend. They expanded the playoffs to 12 teams when their were only like what 28 teams or so, but since then the league has expanded multiple times (the new Browns, Texans, and Jags and Panthers). But does expansion really mean they should expand the playoffs. Yes. Baseball finally caught up a little bit when they added another round, but their season is too limited and the World Series in November really works against them. They would have to shorten their season in order to accommodate longer playoffs, but that would cost revenue due to the lack of teams playing, even though the games would mean more. Football though only goes for 17 weeks and could easily add more teams, because it wouldn't lengthen the playoffs anymore. They could play Friday night Saturday and Sunday. It is a no lose situation for the league because it adds four more money games on the biggest weekend of the playoffs. Anyway I will no longer root for the Indianap0lis C0lts and I hope they get beat the first game they play in. I am tired of this "we need to rest players" crap, they're getting an extra week off anyway. And then your gonna go out and give a half an effort anyway, what kind of message does that send to your team and your fans. Well we can throw this game away cause we did so good in the other ones. That's garbage I want my team to beat all comers, they are giving their "A" game you should at least give yours. If not you know what don't even play, just forfeit the game, don't travel or have the other team travel, then you really don't have to worry about "injuries". I was proud of the Browns for playing everyone even though the game was essentially "meaningless" and even though Derek Anderson got hurt he came back. Although I would have liked to seen Brady Quinn stay in the game (his very first drive ever he took them down and scored a field goal with less than two minutes left in the half, no wonder Derek wanted back in the game). Anyway will look forward to the off season and a probable first round exit by the Steel-towners, since they took this week off the assured themselves of another game against a Jacksonville team that just beat them in Pittsburgh. Good thinking Mike Tomlin, then if you do win you get to play at New England, in all likelihood. Plus they don't have Willy, it is like I said I think the honeymoon with Mike will end pretty shortly, this was his first really big strategical error, and I could be wrong, but ending the season losing 3 out of 4 games is not the way to enter the playoffs. You know what if Cleveland would have got the call at the end of the Arizona game when Kellen Winslow made an incredible catch and got shoved out of bounds but the ref didn't call it, then Cleveland would be in and Pittsburgh wouldn't. Oh Well. That is another change they need to make, if the defender can push the guy out of bounds before he comes down that should just be incomplete, as long as he doesn't pick the guy up an carry him out of bounds, that way only the catch is reviewable and the Judgement part of the call is taken out. It is a completely miss used call anyway. Come on 2008 I can't wait.

Only 364 Shopping Days Left

Well another Christmas has come and gone. This one was special because it was Peach's first Christmas where she really tore right into the presents. Christmas eve at Mimi's we were eating and we were going to wait to do gifts, but she walked right over and ripped the paper of her littlest pet shop play set. We got her stopped though and she managed to hold off opening the rest until we were ready. Then yesterday morning I told her that Santa had come to visit and left her presents, and she got right up and walked down stairs, went right to the gifts wrapped with strawberry shortcake and started opening them. It was funny she would carry the present to an open area on the floor open the gift and then stack it in a neat little pile and carry the next gift to another open area. Meanwhile Sampson just ripped through all of his stuff, it was a mess of wrapping paper and toys. By the end of the morning we were swamped in Transformers, Marvels, littlest pet shop, my little pony, and barbie dolls. I don't know how long it took for the elves to make all that stuff and wrap it up, but it took about 45 minutes to get everything open and about 4 more hours to get everything out of boxes and setup. Apparently the new craze in toys is these little clear rubber bands, I guess the twisty ties weren't annoying enough, and the really bad thing is the stupid little rubber bands just won't break if you try to tear 'em apart. I pulled as hard as I could until I thought it was gone to just slice through my hand. We had fun though, and I think the kids had a really good Christmas. Now Sampson is bugging to go to the mall and spend his gift card and Toys R Us, so that is what is on the agenda for today. That and basketball. As for me I got a new Browns controller for my PS3 and new browns hat, and Sophie got a new Bobby Labonte rug and a couple of CD's. Well that's all for now, I'll start putting a list together for Christmas for next year only 364 shopping days left.

The Browns Win, and then lose

Well the Browns won again and then lost to the Bungels in Cincy. They beat Buffalo in the snow and then lost to Cincinnati by West Virginiaing themselves again like they did to Arizona. I am not sure what we did wrong other than maybe trying to watch the game on two different televisions, I really don't know we had the Jerseys, Sophie didn't have any orange. The bad new or good news is that the playoff picture will be decided before they play Sunday night. If Tennessee wins they are in, if they lose the Browns are in. That's it, it really won't matter what we do next week... unless we find a way to jinx the titans. Hey, maybe Sophie will get a Vince Young jersey for Christmas.

The Christmas Letter 2007

Hello everyone, it certainly has been a quick year. We had a wedding in Florida, Sampson started his second year of school (4 year old pre-school) which he is really enjoying and Peach managed to not severely impale herself so far this year. I also helped install a new Siemens DCS at work at got my Six Sigma Green belt right before break for a project that could save over $100,000 next year. Work was good for me, other than the turn around when we actually installed the DCS (19 straight days), but I am making up for that now with my first actual vacation around Christmas since I was in school. I can't wait until tomorrow to watch the kids open their stuff, and then I er... we get 3 days to play with everything. Sophie gave me a great surprise for my birthday, an actual surprise party and we celebrated our 7th year of marriage in June. (See that makes it real easy to remember for me it is just the year minus 2000.) Our Florida trip was definitely the best part of the year. We got to swim with dolphins (I didn't do a very good job of capturing it though), see the gulf of Mexico, visit the zoo, go in our first human size maze and see Ripley's believe it or not. We also drove for what seemed like 200 hours to get there and back, no I am just kidding the kids did really well and they got to go through 8 different states on their first official vacation. We also went to the Barnsville Pumpkin festival where we saw a giant pumpkin and I had my first deep fried twinkie, those things should have a surgeon general warning because there is no way they can be good for you, but it really didn't taste that bad. I also got to go to Atlanta for training and saw the Olympic park and ate at the Hard Rock in downtown with a couple of other engineers. Well here is wishing you a Merry Christmas and a great 2008.

Love,
The Helfensfelder's

Tank Job

The tank is finished. Actually not as bad as I thought. I took the screw out and water started to shoot all over the place, but that was the worst part. Everything else went OK.

Global Warming History

Found some good links for global warming history and a take on the "rising" sea levels.

this is a report on the different climate reportings of the last 110 years. Very interesting.
http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2006/fireandice/fireandice.asp

this is a link to an interview with one of the leading sea level folks in the world.
http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2007/2007_20-29/2007-25/pdf/33-37_725.pdf

More wintery fun

Well the old hot water baseboard heat has sprung another leak. This time in the pressure control tank. I noticed the leak yesterday morning and stuck a dishpan under the tank and when I came back from work the pan was over flowing. So I took a screw and part of a rubber glove and put the glove over the whole and drilled the screw into it. And surprise it didn't leak. Sophie went and picked up another tank today, I got all of the info off of the web last night (ain't the Internet great!) including the price information. So she went to Johnson Boiler (or as she called it Johnsonville Boiler) and she said they were extremely helpful. So good job Johnson Boiler and good job Sophie. Now I just hope that screw holds one more day because I gotta drain the furnace again and I didn't want to start tonight. Basically I got another fun filled day of working on the old heater. Yeah! Actually the installation didn't look that bad. We'll see, if I am able to blog tomorrow you'll know it went OK.

Responding to Another blog

The following is entry is a response to the following blog and its subsequent comments concerning global warming skeptics.

http://illconsidered.blogspot.com/2006/02/they-predicted-cooling-in-1970s.html

THE RESPONSE:

I first read this entry and comments a few days ago and have been waiting to respond so here goes.
I agree a lot with what Barry wrote and linked to, good job Barry. The idea of being "skeptic" is different from denial. As a chemical engineer, like one of the other commenters, I feel that some of the information being portrayed is overstated. There are several reasons to be "skeptical" of the data. One reason is people don't see the effects where they are. I live in the Ohio River valley and last winter was the first that I actually remember the river developing ice on it. I have only lived along the River for 7 years, but it was one of the coldest January's I remember, after living in the general area for 30 years, but not necessarily record cold. The second reason for being a "skeptic" is the lack of the scientific method. These people have come up with conclusions then gone back and cherry picked data to fit the conclusion and then developed the theory of GHG causing global warming. Sorry but that is completely bass ackward. That is why I agree with the other comment that says let's check back in 20 years and see what the REAL scenario is. Let's have some honest to goodness science. Let's design the testing, use a control like the space station or the Mars rovers for some inter-solar system control, and then make conclusions based on the data. If there is a rise in temperature in the controls and the Earth then guess what, the Sun is getting hotter. And the general scientific consensus is that our Sun will become a Red Giant someday and eventually the Earth will crash into the surface of the Sun. When that happens it is going to get pretty warm here, and it won't matter how times you rode your bike to the grocery store because GHG will be the least of the concerns. Actually there won't be any concerns because there won't be anybody. At least not on Earth.
The only way we can truly tell if temperatures are rising is by looking at independent research. Not data derived from people who are getting paid to find facts confirming global warming, because guess what if someone is paid to do a job more than likely they will do that job or else the person writing the checks will find someone to do the job. That said here is some independent data from my area over the last 27 years using the data available from www.weather.com. Over the last 5 years 18 (4.9% of days of the year)different days have had their highest temperatures set and 14 days (3.8%) have had record cold temperatures set. In the last 15 years the numbers go to 161 (44%) record highs and 144 (39.4%) record lows. Over last 20 years, the numbers are 253 (69%) highs and 238 (65%) lows. The most remarkable thing though is that there haven't been any highs or lows set in the last 2 years. If there was global warming wouldn't we be setting record highs every year?

New Lists

I decided to go ahead and add a couple of lists on the left side. Just general quasi-interesting things. Check 'em out.

The SubPrime Bail Out of Aught 7

Recently the federal government of the USA got with the banks and decided to extend the subprime mortgages for thousands of Americans. Great right? Not so fast my friends. This really a terrible case of negative reinforcement in my mind, but do to the mass amount of people involved the federal gov't had no choice but to step in. Right? Well this is a bit tricky, but due to some of the federal programs, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the like, and the depressed interest rate that the federal gov't has held for the past 7 years it kind of draws marginal people into the housing market. These people wouldn't normally be in the position to buy a house but because of the incredibly good market people just have to get in. Then they go for the best deal at the time, which is of course the adjustable rate mortgage, but when you think about a 30 years and considering that mortgages were in the high teens as a percentage little more than 20 years ago, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal whether you have an adjustable rate of 4% or a fixed rate of 5%. Since both of them are so much better you should bet on the fixed rate being better in the long run, but some people don't see it that way and end up having the gov't bail them out. Sweet for them, but what about the people that got the fixed rate and paid all of the bills on time. Oh, I know, they get nothing! In Japan, they take on no credit and will spend money only on things they know they can afford. Pretty novel idea, "if you can't pay for it, don't buy it". That was one of the pieces of advice from one of my teachers in school and it really is good advice. He kind of took it to an extreme that if he couldn't pay cash he didn't buy it, but I look at it as long as you can pay it off before it accumulates any interest you are still ahead of the game. Back to the subprime bail out though, the program is completely voluntary for one, so you have to know if you are eligible or not, 2) you can't be behind at all on your payments, which knocks out about 22% of adjustable rate housing owners, and the gov't isn't offering any money it just extends the low entry rate. I don't really know how many people will actually benefit from this, and it probably won't change the number of foreclosures significantly, but it just upsets me that people can do everything wrong, buy a house out of their price range, get a finance rate lower than they deserve and then fall bass ackward into a loan guarantee from the gov't. There really is something wrong with this picture, but I am going to teach my kids to take care of themselves when it comes to money, don't overextend for things you really can't afford (champagne taste on a beer budget), pay your credit cards off every month, and buy big stuff when it is same as cash (18 months if you can). I'll put a list together for ways to be good at money and stuff, and number one on the list will be to have good friends click on the old ads to help out the retirement plan. Thanks.

Sophie saves the Day!

Browns win, AGAIN! Thanks to Sophie, the kids had their jersey's on during the game. I thought we were going to have a close call, when Peach spilled something on the shirt, but I told Sophie even if the stain sets in and she is soaking wet we can't let her take the Jersey off. Fortunately Sophie agreed, no no, it wasn't that bad she just spilled some food on it, she was fine. I don't subject Peach to those kinds of things, other than you know that time I put her in time out. Oh well, back to the good stuff the Browns are now 8-5 and beat one of the teams that the Steel-towners lost to, so the people at work are in for the old J-E-T-S chant tomorrow. Relax Steel fans, I did root for the P-towners today against the Cheatriots and their coach Bill Billicheat. Bill Billicheat, man that is great. Hey you know he used to coach the Browns and never did any good here, why oh why didn't he cheat when he was coaching them? Probably because he hadn't honed his cheating ways yet. Anyway Pitt-city folks can go ahead and blame Sophie for this loss because this is the first time I think she ever rooted for them. Of course she blames me because it was a first time for me, but maybe not the last. I'm torn whether I should root for them or Jacksonville next week because of the playoff implications. If the Jags lose and Browns win the Browns would be tied for the first wild card spot, but if the Jags and Browns both win then the Brownies pull into essentially a tie for the division, but then would need at least another steely loss and 1 or 2 more victories for Cleveland. Well I could just let fate decide, but if I rooted for the old steel-town rivals today and they lost I could always root for them every week and maybe they would lose, bwah hah ha (evil laugh)....

Hey if you don't want me rooting for your team you could always give the ads a little click, that would be a good deterrent for me, trust me.

Sophie learns a lesson

Saturday Sophie and I ventured to the store and experienced some of the perils mentioned in my check-out blog entry. Basically we got in the shortest line possible and by the time the person in front of us had the manager come over and take something off the register and then decided to write a check we could have gotten out faster if we had broke our order out into 2 separate orders and gone through the express lane. We had to laugh about it though. Oh well, later that day she went to Kroger, by herself, and spent 25 minutes in the checkout because the lady in front of her used a small sandwich bag full of coupons, but most of them didn't scan because they were photocopied or something. Then whatever didn't scan she wanted taken back. I told her to avoid the coupon ladies. Funny thing is Sophie had coupons herself and by the time the other lady was done returning 3 out of 5 uncle Ben's rice boxes and half of the rest of her order, Sophie forgot to use her coupons and had to go to the service desk. What was she gonna do with all that rice anyway, I guess we'll never know.

RaCeCaR

Sophie just saw a commercial that had a guy who said it took him a while to spell 'race car' backwards. But 'race car' spelled backwards is 'RACE CAR'. Check it out. Funny stuff.

Sophie Takes the Blame

I won't say the Browns' loss on Sunday was totally her fault, but... You see the kids didn't have their Jersey's on, so the Browns really didn't have a chance. Even though the Ref blew the call at the end of the game. Clearly Kellen Winslow would have come down in bounds, but he was pushed out by the safety. They then would have had the opportunity to kick the extra point for the win, but you can't West Virginia (turn the ball) over four times and expect to win.

Also Sophie cost the Mountaineers a chance at the title, by watching the game on Saturday. I think it was the first full game she watched.

Note: As much as I hate to admit it I will be rooting for the Steelers to beat the Patricheats on Sunday. One game only. It took me a while to come up with that name too, it was either that or the Cheatriots. Actually I might like Cheatriots better.

fun wintery stuff

Had to change the pump for our hot water heat. It was leaking. Merry Christmas to us. It is my fault though, I never did any up keep on it since we moved in. I really don't know what I was thinking, i don't think the pump suffered any major damage, I am going to get a repair kit for it and fix it up just in case we have another problem later. Then I won't be out $300, hopefully. Hey, I was surprised I was able to get it in without any real problems.

Winter 2007 is Here

Winter is Here! Today we had our first real snow fall. It was quit a treat to wake up and realize I was going to get to shovel snow, I had almost forgot what that was like. Well I got my fix, ha ha ha (sarcasm). It is supposed to warm up a little next week. Which is good, but I do hope that we have snow for Christmas. I like the first snow at the house, because the pine trees on the hill make it kind of look like a scene from a snow globe. Maybe I'll see it Saturday though since I leave for work in the dark and get home in the dark. It was good to see the Departments of Transportation were ready for the snow too. They were bragging on the radio and TV about how they had salt and were ready, they must have been so ready to go that they figured they didn't have to actually put anything on the road this morning. That's OK, at least Ohio figured out it was snowing and put some stuff on the road by night, I still don't know if the folks from West Virginia have figured out that the roads were covered with snow, because they sure hadn't figured it out when I came home from work. There was a report that there were 50 wrecks today, that sounded about right. It seems to take people a week or two to realize they can't drive like idiots in the snow. And Sampson missed school because it was canceled, he was upset. Probably someday he won't be, but I hope not for a really long time. I try to make school seem as fun and interesting as I can. Speaking of fun and interesting I think I will do one of those year end review letters that everyone sends out, except I'll just do it on the blog and if you don't want to look at it you don't have too, I don't want you to feel obligated to read it since I didn't send it to you directly.

Sporting News misses AGAIN

This time in the realm of pro basketball (see they are very versatile at not being able to predict anything). They said the Bulls would win the Central in the East, but an EA sports simulation using the new NBA Live '08 predicted the Bulls would be 39-43 and miss the playoffs. My money is on EA sports. The sad thing is they actually drew attention to the difference, actually the sad thing is I am still looking at the sporting news. Oh well there is always Hockey. If you make a wrong prediction in a sport no one watches will anyone see your wrong?

Monday Night Football

If you can call it football. What a mess. They tried to re-sod the field in two days in Pittsburgh, right over the old field. Looks great, just what I would expect from Pittsburgh. No lines in the first half and after the third quarter there is still no score. Hey, maybe they can't tell when someone makes it into the end zone. Ahh, its a proud day in Steeler country, new field and all. I guess if they lose to the 0-10 Dolphins they can always blame it on the field, hey maybe that's why they did it. Smart Pittsburgh, very smart.

Barack "the toker" Obama

WARNING: (this post is extremely sarcastic, not for small children)
Barack Obama recently said that he had experimented with marijuana in his youth and that in fact he DID inhale as that was the whole point. See kids you can smoke and have a good time AND still run for president. Good job Barack.o0O (smoke rings)

Just for clarification, I have never smoked it or experimented with it.

My Pet Peeves

I almost was in a wreck and I thought man it is about time I put the old pet peeve list up. This list will be updated periodically.

1) People that don't use blinkers (wreck causers). It isn't hard, it is RIGHT THERE BY THE STEERING WHEEL, JUST TOUCH IT PLEASE!!!!
2) People that stay way back from the car in front when they are coming up to a stop sign. Quick rule of thumb, if there is someone behind you get close to the car in front of you. If there are a lot of cars behind you, strung out on the highway, then get VERY close. DO NOT STAY 8 CAR LENGTHS BACK WHEN YOU ARE GOING 1 MPH.
3) One uppers. You know if you've been to the moon they've been there twice. I always try to go lower if they start bragging about something, like I know a guy who bought a car and fixed up and sold it for like $30,000. Wow I know a guy who bought a car, kind of fixed and then resold for about 6 grand, your story was waaaay better.
4) dumb people - see blog on Bolivia.

Well that'll do for now.

Christmas Season

Since it is the Christmas Season I have decided to give the old blog a little Chrismas make-over. Enjoy and Merry Christmas.

More Global Warming (Hype)

Please check out the following article and my presented solution.

early climate change victim: andes water
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/26/andes.water.ap/index.html

Ok I'm going to go ahead and solve this little problem and this will be North America's contribution to this epidemic. First you say that they are depending on the glaciers for 1/3 of their water or roughly 33%. Yet, they are letting 40% out of the system through leaks and thieves. So the solution is to fix the piping and stop all the leaks and shoot anyone caught stealing from the system. Just maim 'em a little bit and the rest will get the hint that they are not supposed to steal. There you go problem solved, your welcome Bolivia now stop trying to get the world to pay for your problems by crying 'global warming'. I think it is quite clear that Bolivia's problems extend well beyond global warming. It is like Ron White said 'You can't fix stupid.'

Browns Win, Browns Win!

We did every thing right today. No not the Browns, me and the kids. We all had our Jerseys on and Sophie was not wearing any orange. You see that is why they lost to the Steelers, Sophie was wearing orange that Sunday. I didn't realize it until it was too late, but the way they jumped on them and took an early lead I couldn't make her take it off. My mistake. You see you can't take clothes off in the middle of a game, that is rule #1, actually rule number one is that Sophie doesn't wear orange, but like I said she knows better now.

A side note: It is funny that 'Steelers' comes up in spell check but Browns doesn't. I guess blogger just doesn't like the Steelers. Well I can't blame 'em.

Another side note: Even though the Patriots are losing right now I don't think that Tom Brady will break Manning's record for TD passes. Not because they'll have a change of heart, but because the way they are treating teams someone will hurt Brady. Just beating a team badly to beat them badly. When they play a team that has absolutely no shot to make the playoffs, watch out. Because after about the 1st quarter when the game will start to get out of hand, that team will start to look at the Patriots and think 'Why are we just taking this' and then they will go out and try and hurt Brady. And the way that the Patriot's have turned their back on good sportsmanship and the rest of the league, the league will turns its back on the Patriots.

The Soothe Sayer's Sad Future Outlook

Well the Browns won, again for the 7th time this season. My prediction of 9-7 might be way off (in a good way), but I 'll take it as long as they make the playoffs. Anyway the sad future outlook isn't for the Browns, actually they look pretty decent and Romeo is actually making some good calls as coach. When they were facing that forth down in the last minute of the game and rather than have the QB run around and fling it out of bounds or something he gave it to Jamaal Lewis and he GOT the first down and they won. I think he is finally starting to feel comfortable and he has got his players and they are finally starting to play his system. Anyway good job Browns. Now for the bad news - I think the Steelers might be in for a couple of lean years in the up coming future. This isn't just a knee jerk reaction to the Steeler's crushing, demoralizing defeat at the hands of the 2-8 Jets. No, I think they are in good position to make the playoffs and stand to do pretty well. But after hearing their new coach Tomlin in a press conference I realized that he has all of Cowher's old players and is just kind of managing them. Then he started talking about personnel in the league and I just kind of got the impression that he was gonna make some huge mistakes when it comes to drafting people. Maybe they'll make a splash in the free agent market, but that is really not the Steeler philosophy. I just have a feeling, and maybe I'm waaaaay off, but in a few years the honeymoon will be over with Tomlin and the Steelers will be looking for a new coach again. Look at Cincinnati. Besides the law of averages is against him staying for 15 years.

A side note: If you want to make a Steeler fan mad, just tell them that the accident that Big Ben was in last year was a set-up so that he could have a nose job. I can't take credit for that though, that is all Sophie. She said after he was in that accident his nose looks a lot better. And really if you think about it, a marketable player needs to look good if he is really going to cash in, but a football player can't get a nose job. No he was in a motorcycle accident and he was hit by a car and didn't have a helmet on and ... Hey wasn't Kellen Winslow in a motorcycle accident, by himself. He didn't even get hit by a car and he was out the whole season getting multiple reconstructive surgeries on his knees. But not Big Ben, he is out a couple of weeks and then he looks fantastic. Except that he had to go back into the hospital a couple of weeks later for a tummy tuck, er I mean an appendicitis. Maybe he really did have an appendectomy, think of it as karma for his earlier 'accident', think about it.

Giving Blood

I had the opportunity to give blood seven times in '07, but due to untimely illnesses and travel I will only be able to give 6 times. So far I have given 26 times total, which may or may not sound like a lot, but I have only been giving blood since 2001. I remember when I started it was right after 9/11 and Sophie and I both went and by 2:00 PM they had met their quota of 60. That was the last time I was ever turned away because they had met their quota. The first time I actually gave was November 11th 2001, and I just happened to be off work that day when they called. So I went to Stuebenville and gave blood, ate a snack, and passed out. When I came to it kind of seemed surreal and I told them to put the blood back in, but they never did, I was joking anyway. For a time after that they didn't call, and I thought maybe I was 'black listed' from giving since I passed out, but eventually they called and now I try to give blood every 8 weeks or 56 days, which ever comes first. I wanted to start giving blood before I did, but I just couldn't make myself do it. My dad got a lot of blood when he was fighting cancer and I remember being real grateful for the people that were giving their blood, and now I just feel like maybe I am doing some good in somebody else's life. Maybe someday I'll need blood and thanks to someone who was willing to give a little bit of themselves I'll be able to take it and not feel bad about it in the least. You just have to hope that in the end you were able to give more than you take. I am sure wherever my blood ends up that the people are pretty happy and probably a little more energetic. See I don't drink or smoke and I always have a little Mountain Dew in the old system so when they get that blood I bet they get a little kick in the pants too. If only there were some way to market my blood like an energy drink... or if someone got my blood and they were grateful they could give the ads a click then we could call it even, yeah that'll work. Anyway giving blood now is just like going to visit with some old friends I know Sis and Blanche and they always give me some extra snacks to bring home for the kids, and one of the nurses is a Tony Stewart fan, so you know you've got good people there. Anyway I am going to try to give as long as I am able and I encourage everyone else to do the same. Happy Holidays, 'Tis the season for giving.

Talk with my sis

Talked with my sister today. That doesn't sound like that big of a deal but when it comes to being a real close-knit-talk-to-everybody type of person I really am not. It wasn't that it was a hard thing to do I just normally talk to Mom and she fills me in on what is going on and that seems to be good enough and then I'll see everyone else at the next big family get together. But this time was different and I'll try to keep checking in on her because she has cancer. She is taking the chemo now and will likely have surgery after the first of the year, but I really hope she does well and is able to just beat this thing right into submission. She sounds like she is doing really good with it right now, she gets her chemo stuff done on Monday and then a white blood cell shot on Tuesday and then works the rest of the week. Sometimes routine is a good thing in life, because you don't have to focus on the big picture all the time and you can just keep meeting goals day by day and the next thing you know your a half year down the road and you've managed to meet your main goal. Anyway I guess she has lost her hair already and she said she had been mistaken for a guy twice. Once by a guy at the bank and another from a woman she was helping at work. I told her that after the woman said 'thank you sir' and she said 'no, I am a ma'am', that she also should have told her that she had cancer, that would've really made that lady feel bad. She figures most people understand that she is bald because of the treatment for the cancer, but I reminded her that there are a lot of freaks out there, a lot, and people may mistake her for one. Then we discussed the possibility of her getting a Tony Stewart tattoo on her head, but I don't think she think is going to do it, (pause) yet. Actually she kind of laughed but I think if me and my brother Stevie work on her we just might be able to make it happen. She also says that she is doing well with the white blood cell count and that is pretty important I gather, as she is not having to take blood, but if she does don't worry I will continue to give as long as I am capable. It is actually kind of disappointing to think of all the people who are physically capable of giving blood, but don't for whatever reason. Oh well hope things continue to go well and I will continue to pray for my big sis.

Playoffs in College Football

This is a two part post for playoffs in college football, why they need 'em and why they are still about 2 or 3 years away. First this season has been a terrible mess. As I write this there are still 2 undefeated teams in college football, Kansas and Hawaii. Everyone else has at least 1 loss and half of the top ten has 2 losses. Hawaii is still at 15, and likely will move up since Texas lost but they had the weakest schedule out of 119 teams so they likely won't suddenly vault into the top spot, but they are definitely better than some of teams that have lost 2 games in front of them. If Kansas can win out it will actually make things look pretty decent for the BCS, but if they lose then in all likely hood there will be 2 1-loss teams in the championship game. The idiot John Saunders said this is great for college football and really shows that it doesn't need a playoff, 'because every week is like a playoff'. How Dumb! This is the same old diatribe from playoff haters ever since the idea has been put out there. Every week is not a playoff or else Hawaii and Kansas would be teeing it up for the championship. It still all comes down to voters and subjective feeling about who should be in the game or at the top of the polls. The computers don't really do anything other than possibly screwing a team out of the championship. But does it really matter what 'people' think? Just put all of the stats into a computer wins, points, margin what have you, and let the computer figure out who should be in the game. Throw the polls out because they are too subjective. Now why won't that happen? Because bowl games are worth too much money. All the tie-ins with different conferences and sponsors, it is really too much to get into, but until someone suggests that they only do about 8 teams and make the first round all tied to the bowl games then they can have secondary sponsors for the next round and then another sponsor for the championship. Now about timing. Last year Ohio State was off for 50 days before being pounded in the championship game by Florida. That is over 7 weeks! You could play 7 rounds worth of playoff games in that span, so timing shouldn't be a problem, really. What needs to happen is that the 6 conferences that have BCS tie-ins should all have a championship game. Throw out the silly rule about only conferences with 12 teams having a championship and let all the conferences have a championship game. That is essentially the first round of the playoffs. The Big Ten can play their game in Indianapolis at the RCA dome. The PAC-10 can play at the new Cardinals stadium and the Big East can play either at Syracuse or Philadelphia or something. Then you play the first round major bowls the week of Christmas. The second round games the week of the 1st and the championship game the next week. That way all of the conferences have a shot and there are still 2 at-large spots for the 'poll' teams that have done the best. But until some of these schools start getting screwed out of their shot at the title nothing will change. I have a feeling that after this year there is going to be some major league yelling. So thanks John you had a good run, enjoy the end of it.

A side note: the BCS was created to bring the big ten and pac-10 into a unified championship game should one of the conferences have a top 2 team and in turn the Rose bowl would host the championship once every 4 years. Probably a lot of people hated the idea when it first came out, but the BCS did its job, it got all of the people that were enamored with the Rose Bowl to give up coveting the match up of the PAC-10 and the big ten (not much of a Match up really). After the BCS completes its third 4 year term it should be voted out in favor of what I proposed above. Don't worry about the playoffs, eventually everyone will forget why they hated the idea in the first place anyway.

McFadden for Heisman

After watching the LSU Arkansas game last night I gotta give the nod for the Heisman trophy to Darren McFadden of Arkansas. He scored 3 TD's threw for another and ran for like 200 yards. He basically directed the offense and beat the number 1 team in the country at their own place. Did I mention he is only a junior. No doubt in my mind that he won't be back next year and I know what Tebow in Florida has done (20+ TD's running and passing), but he didn't beat LSU and he'll definitely back next year so give the Heisman to McFadden and give the one next year to Tebow.

The 100th Blog - A Heroic Milestone

Hooray, Number 100. Well to celebrate this monumental occasion I have decided to make a Hero's Fountain and post some pictures and my first video. That's right we're going all out here for the 100th entry in the old blog. This maybe one of the cheapest Hero's fountains ever put together in the history or the world, total cost $0 (I borrowed the stoppers and tubing from work and used 3 old milk jugs).


The basic idea is once you prime the top cup and start the water flowing into the bottom jug, the water will fill it up forcing the air out and into the second jug, once the pressure in the second jug overcomes the head pressure in the pipe running back to the top cup, voila the water will flow, at least until the middle jug runs out of water. If there was just some way to transfer the water back from the bottom jug to the middle jug and the air back to the bottom then you could have perpetual motion. Well maybe I'll work on that for the 200th blog entry.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving.

Ranking the Energy Drinks

During the recent turn around I had the need for a little pick me up and I decided to use an energy drink or two or three. I have decided to rank the energy drinks according to my preference.
#1 - Full Throttle
#2 - Full Throttle Unleaded - Kind of like the original a little less kick.
#3 - Monster Energy Khoas
#4 - Monster Energy
#5 - Full Throttle Blue Demon
#6 - NOS - tastes pretty decent, but doesn't really deliver a pick me up
#7 - Monster Energy Low Carb
#8 - Rock star Energy drink
#9 - Amp from mountain dew <- nothing like mountain dew.
#10 - Full Throttle Fury - Orangish garbage
#11 - Full Throttle Mother - Fruit drink, leaves a real funny after taste. Unranked - Full throttle blue berry or whatever it is (Rank #5 - 1/19/2008). - Red Bull - the original energy drink, but hardly worth $2 for half as much. - the Sobe drinks - I had one once, once. This is a list of all that I have had ever, I think you just have to go a long way to beat the full throttle. Amp was absolutely terrible, sorry Jr. fans, even if it will be his sponsor next year. Which is kind of ironic because my beverage of preference is Diet Dew, but that Amp just tastes nothing like mountain dew. Alright well this is the 99th post of my blog and I'm going to go have a full throttle and hopefully do something special for the old number 100. While your waiting go ahead and click on an add. Thank you for your support.

The F**T Locker

No this is not an endorsement by any means. As a matter of fact I was actually very disappointed in the old F00T Locker during my last visit. Number 1, I hate shopping. Number 2, I hate shopping for shoes. I don't do it very often and now that I am not in school and stuff I don't know when to buy them. Plus if I have a pair that works then I'm good and I can go over year without even looking for shoes. But it has been a year since I have had any new shoes and Sophie said we should get each other something that we need for Christmas rather than spend money on something frivolous. Which sounded fine to me, so I decided that Sunday we should go out and look at shoes and take our time, er my time. So we hit up every store in the mall and Gabe's before finally deciding to go to the old F.L. Well I picked out a pair of Nike's and Puma's to try on and the guy goes in the back and looks for my size, but they don't have either one. So I picked out a different pair of Puma's and they had 'em but they didn't really look right, and then I asked for a different pair of Nike's but they didn't have that size either. Then they tell me that I can order the shoe and it can be delivered right to the house. So I try on a pair of Nike's in a color I don't like to make sure they are alright, then I go up and order the pair in a different color. Well I would have except when I get to the check out she looks at the computer and tells me that they don't have any of that shoe that they can send. Needless to say I didn't feel like "settling" for a pair of lesser shoes, so we walked out. I kind of looked at the shoes in Sears on the way out, but they didn't really have what I wanted. They actually had a decent looking pair of shoes, but of course they didn't have them in my size. Tonight Sophie took me to the new JC Penny in the highlands and I got a pair of Sketcher's for good and a pair of Asics for running and balling and stuff. I hope I don't have to look at shoes for another year.

On a side note we got Peach a puppy while we were out. It is a little white poodle, with a pink leash and C batteries. What you though we got her a real dog, sorry I like dogs too much to subject one to the abuse of a 2 year old girl. She does really like it, plus she through a major fit when we put it back. Sophie said I was a big sucker but sometimes I like to buy stuff for the kids especially when I feel like I didn't see them for about 3 weeks. Her face really lit up when she got that puppy, maybe someday we'll get a real dog.

The flying spaghetti monster

A while back in the great state of Kansas, there was a debate over whether Creation should be taught in the classroom with equal time as evolution. One parent said they believed in the "flying spaghetti monster" and f.s.m.'s creation of the solar system and the universe and that the time should be split 3 ways between all 3 ideas in the class. If I was there I would ask if his religion or belief had over 1 billion followers like the most of the major religions. Then after he responded "no" I would of asked how many people have died for their belief in the flying spaghetti monster or how many crusades had been fought under the sign of the flying spaghetti monster. Which the answer would be - NONE. Then I would say even though you have your own individual belief as to the nature of the universe, since your ideas and not excepted outside of your own household, and they have no following or documentation there is no need to spend anytime covering this idea in the classroom. Thank you for your time and please check yourself into the nearest mental institution.
That was how it should have been handled, but somehow the spaghetti monster legend has reached a cult following (pun intended). Is it a good argument of why creation shouldn't be taught in a science classroom? No. If you are even a little religious, you have to subject yourself to all kinds of ideas that your religion isn't right or the idea that there isn't a God, so isn't it fair that science be subjected to the same type of examination. Being a scientist myself I think it makes it easier to understand math and chemistry and physics because everything has its place in the grand scheme of things and these disciplines make it possible for human beings to understand how things in our world work. After 10,000 or so years of conscious and collective thought only now are we realizing and explaining how things fit together and work. But any scientist that brings a theory forward has to be able to explain it and in my mind before it can be accepted it has to be proven beyond any reasonable doubt and then it should be widely accepted. However, the big bang theory has never been proven beyond a shadow of doubt, and even though evolution makes a ton of sense, it still doesn't answer all the questions. Let's assume for a second that creation is right. From a scientific perspective is in unreasonable to assume that when the Earth was formed that it was such an anomalous event that carbon dating or using some other type of half-life dating method would be inaccurate because of the extreme circumstances that surrounded the formation of the material. The other argument would be that, "Hey, God had to make the Earth out of something didn't he." I mean maybe all he had laying around where rocks that were 4 billion years old. How old do you think God is anyway? Man I should be a science teacher. Anyway, back to my original point I do not believe in the flying spaghetti monster, but I do believe that the big bang theory should be challenged because it is not widely accepted and when these young scientist go out into the world and start putting forth theories of how things work they need to be able to defend their work. Also they need to be able to challenge the work of their peers in an intellectual manner, especially if the other work is flawed. If kids are only taught one thing, and aren't taught to challenge ideas then they will not be good scientist and that is really the goal of the classroom turning out good thinking scientist. But I will make one more point. If science is right and there is no God, then when we die we are dead and that is the end. If creation is right, then there are going to be a lot of scientist in Hell.

The Soothe Sayer

Hey didn't I predict that the Browns would beat the Ravens twice!!!! You know it, and the way they tied it up had never been done before. If you didn't see, well you really have to see that field goal as time was expiring. The ball hit the upright went through took a funny bounce off of the strut that holds the goal post up and bounced back through the uprights into the end zone and the referees ruled it no good at first. But after about 5 minutes the referees ruled the field goal good and then the Browns beat the Ravens in overtime. I can't think of a better way for that team to lose, I mean think you win then 5 minutes later find out the game was tied, have to play some more and then lose in overtime. It kind of reminds me of that opening game at Cleveland a few years ago when they played Kansas City and on what should have been the final play the K.C. quarterback heaved a pass to a running back or tight end or something as he was being pulled to ground by Dwayne Rudd and Rudd thought the game was over after he tackled the QB, so he got up and took his helmet off and got a penalty for taking his helmet off on the field during the game. So KC got a chance to kick the game winning field goal and they ended up winning. Yeah it was kind of like that only wayyyyy better. And it made my prediction come true. Go ahead check it out, it was right after the draft when I said they would go 9-7 and make the playoffs, somethime in April. Man maybe the Sporting News should hire me to write for them.

Coming Soon

Cecil's Blogs of Note. The blogspot already has some blogs of note but I am going to add some blogs to the old side bar that might be worth hitting up if you have loads and loads of time and you've already read everything on this blog and you've already clicked on some of the ads.

Hold my beer and watch this!

Monday Sophie and I took Peach to eat while Sampson was in school. We went to Grecco's for the Pizza buffet, which I highly recommend, and when we got home Peach still had her root beer. I got her out of the car and she handed me her root beer and walked off. I was trying to get her car seat out of the car and I turned around and she was climbing up the grass bank between the car and the house. She got to the top and says,"Looky me, looky me." I told Sophie that was the 2-year old equivalent of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

J.K. Rowlings' Announcement

Recently, ok it wasn't real recent but I've been busy, J.K. Rowlings, of Harry Potter fame, announced that once of the characters was not of the heterosexual persuasion. The only reason that I can figure for the announcement was that the books had already maxed out sales to the core followers of the story and this was just a was to maybe draw some h*m*sexual sales. That's it, nothing more nothing less. I don't think she is a closet g-y or anything, but from a literary perspective this revelation has absolutely no bearing on the story. Especially since it was Albus Dumbledore and for the entire series he had no intimate relationships with anyone, even in flashbacks. But Sophie said when he was recounting his relationship with Grindewald, she thought he might have been g-y. I didn't notice it at all, but now I don't know how to respond. I mean I am already pot committed sort of since I have read all the books, but does it change my outlook or how I convey the story to my children or do I not even tell them at all? I mean it gives a whole new meaning to him being headmaster at Hogwarts. Sorry couldn't resist that one. I really think the whole thing was motivated by money though, I mean she could have picked anyone out of the story to be h-m-sexual, what about Hagrid and his pink umbrella? or Snape, after all he was a self proclaimed "prince". It would be like the creator of the Sopranos saying that "yeah, Tony was shot in the last episode, by a h-m-sexual." It would make no sense and have no bearing on the story. I mean what does the actor do now, play Dumbledore g-y? They have already shot 5 films, it is a little late to change now. It just didn't make any sense to me and I didn't really care for the announcement in the manner in which it was done. Sorry H.P. fans, but I will never look at this series the same. Greedy J.K. just greedy.

Sophie Wins - Again

Well Sophie has won this year's game of Survivor pick 'em. You see every season we pick someone from the opening credits of the first show and who's ever player lasts longer is the winner. Seems pretty simple, but I have yet to win, once, ever. I have only had one player make it to the merge and twice I have picked the person voted out first. This year it came down to me picking either Sherea or Chicken and if you follow survivor you know that Chicken was voted out first, so I barely avoided the kiss of death and I thought that maybe I had picked someone that could make it, but noooo. Sophie picked Eric who conveniently hasn't made any noise in the game and the team that was dominating the game and could have picked her guy off at the merge but has turned to infighting, so likely her pick will make it to the finals. This is pretty much how it plays out every season, I'll make a beautiful strategic pick, like the strong guy or the good looking girl (the good looking one always makes to the merger right? - except last year when I picked her and she went home first) and that will be the year that it is the exception to the rule. I should have realized by now that no matter who I pick they aren't going to make it. The very first time we played this little game was the Australia year and I picked Mike, who was the leader of his tribe - he even killed a boar in the wild with a homemade spear. He was going to make it to the merge, hadn't received one vote when his tribe had gone to tribal counsel and his tribe had the numbers advantage at 6 to 4 until he fell into a fire. He was just setting there tending the fire and he fell asleep and fell into a fire and had to be air lifted out of the game. Mean while Sophie's guy ends up third. For clarification HE FELL INTO A FIRE. The next season I picked Seth (I really don't know how I am able to remember all of these people) and Sophie picked Ethan. Seth was in prime position to go to the merge and win the individual immunities, but in true survivor form he ends up getting picked to go to the other tribe in a 3 member swap before the merge where is quickly voted out at the next tribal. That is kind of what happened this year with Sherea she got picked by the other tribe to come over with Frosti while the tribe she was on picked the two strongest guys from the other tribe. It made absolutely no sense for them to pick Sherea. Sophie's guy was the obvious one to pick from the tribe, but they didn't do it and do you know why? Because I picked her to win it is the only logical explanation. Anyway congratulations Sophie and if anyone is going to appear on Survivor you can send me a couple bucks so I don't pick you, or click on one of the ads.

O-H-I-O

Ohio vs. Akron. In the first 6 minutes both teams are on pace to score 100 points. In regulation.

Ohio just got stopped on 4th down. So no triple digits tonight.

Sophie's trip to the store

Today Sophie spent an hour and a half at Kroger trying to get a deep freeze. See if she used the Kroger card and bought $25 dollars worth of Kroger's food she could get the deep freeze for $99, which is a good deal as we have been pricing freezers for a while. However, she proceeded to the check out not knowing that only 'frozen' foods were eligible to count for the $25. To which she responded that that logic didn't make any sense, because you are just now buying the freezer and by the time you got it home and plugged in and running below freezing all the food would be thawed out. This was the first attempt at checking out so she told them that since she didn't have the eligible amount she didn't want to check out yet and they would have to restock her stuff from this trip to the check out since she was going to have to go back and get 'frozen' foods. (side note: this is funny because of the checkout post I just did. I showed it to Sophie, but she didn't think it was funny.) So she goes back and now gets 'frozen' foods and checks out 90 minutes after entering the store. She asked me if I wanted to trade days, let's see...

At about 8:30 this morning the foreman left for his mother's surgery, so I filled in, at which point we started making non-standard and had to go to the road. So I had to get the relief to the road and had to watch oil trucks until somebody else could go down. Meanwhile, we made changes to get the grade out of the road and right when it was good we plug the pulverisor and had to shut down. Then we lit off the reject pulseair collector and had to re-bag it. And I mixed up a new tank of potassium for unit 4. Also found two things that needed re-ranged on the DCS and did the daily production. Still wouldn't have traded Sophie for her day.

So many blogs so little time

I still have a lot I have been wanting to blog about, but our plant is finishing up a two week turn around and we have just about got the new DCS installed. I have been working 12 and 14 hour days this week to keep the install on schedule, and will probably have to work this weekend, but then we will be done with this phase. We started making black again on Unit 3 today, so that was a big milestone. Once unit 4 is up and running everything will be done, except for dressing up the graphics, I hope.

One note for anyone installing a Siemens APACS system or the new PCS 7 system with IEM's, make sure you test points on both systems in a redundant system. This will make sure that similar modules are going to similar marshalling strips. Otherwise if the cables aren't going to the right spot and the system switches you could have a catastrophic failure. We didn't, but you could.

Got a give a shout out to God, for giving me strength and helping to keep everything going well. I just pray that the last couple of days go well, because this whole time everything we do takes an extra 20 to 30 minutes, even on loops that are checking out.

Oh well, that will do for tonight. 3 more days. 3 more days.

Rain sensing wipers

There was a commercial just on for a car with rain sensing wipers. How dumb. You are in the car, you have to look out the wind shield to drive, you have to see the rain, people can't turn on their own wipers now. I guess people are too busy putting on make-up, talking on cell phones and eating to turn on those wipers. Hey how about working on something that automatically activates the blinker, oh and also turns the steering wheel.

Rules to Check-out by

While I was checking out tonight at the local Kroger, I came to several different realizations, actually I have had the realizations before but never put them down.

1) People who are going to write a check to pay for their groceries never start writing the check until after the cashier tells them the total. It's like 'hello, you know you aren't whipping out a $50 bill and paying with cash, start writing the check when all of the stuff is out of the buggy. It isn't like they are going to tell you the total and you are going to say you changed your mind.' Ohh that is too high I'm not going to buy that, I am sooooo glad I didn't waste a check here.
1b) or use the check writing machine, just sign your name and they scan it through, simple.

2) What ever lane I get in will be the longest possible wait. It never fails, there will be a lane with 8 more people in it and the person that walked up after me will get checked out before me.

1c) use the U-scan and take all the time you want to check out and write a check.

3) The faster you want to go the longer it will take. Guaranteed.

After these realizations I have developed a few rules to follow to help speed up the old check out process.

Rule #1) Avoid the older cashiers. Unless you want to set there and think 'I could grab their hand, wrap it around my stuff, and swipe it before they could.' Also they will want to talk to you and discuss everything your buying, 'Getting a box of wine huh, that should be fun. I remember the time I bought a box of wine once ....'
#1b) Always go to a cashier that is younger than you. Look for the youngest most well groomed male. If he has gel in his hair, you are going to get out of there quick. If there aren't any guys it can be hit or miss with young girls. Don't go too young though, you don't want somebody handling your Karo syrup going 'What's this for?'. Mid 20's to early 30's for women, after that it is a needle in a hay stack.

#2) Avoid the line with the mom and kids. She has coupons, and she will always catch something that didn't scan right or at least she will argue for a few minutes before conceding that the sale on bananas doesn't start until tomorrow and now she doesn't want them. I know this from shopping with Sophie.

#3) Get in the line with the most single guys. These guys use cash or credit cards, have one or two things, and never want to talk. They got way too much going on to spend too much time in a store.

#4) Don't get in line behind me. Refer to realization 2.

Hope this helps speed up your next shopping trip or at least you can laugh about it when you are in line and you think 'man, I should have paid closer attention to what was on that blog.'

Halloween Check-up

Good bye Rockies' colors hello old color scheme. I sure hope Rockies' fans don't blame me for that "display" in the World Series. I called it, there was a sweep alright. I think I am going to start rooting for the team I want to lose, but if I announce that I am doing that will it still be effective?

New Layout

Check it out a new layout. Clicking on the "customize template" button at 10:30 on Sunday night is not a good idea. Now I have to figure out how to get my Google search bar back. Hey how 'bout some Rocky colors.

Wood Cutting Party

By golly when my Mom's neighbor throws a wood cutting party she throws a wood cutting party. There was 5 or six chain saws and two trucks running pretty steady for 7 or 8 hours. I only caught the last 5 hours or so, but all told there was about 19 loads and there is still more left. Unfortunately I don't use wood, but my mom does so I was glad to help out. Happy Birthday Mom.

Note: I really don't know if you should call that a party or not. I also had an epiphany there: You really shouldn't bring an axe to a wood cutting party where everyone has chain saws.

The Red Suks

Well if you saw game 7 you know that I am now rooting for the Rockies to win the World Series. And I swear that if Bill Simmons, "the sports guy" writes one thing about the red sox come back from 3-1 I'll quit reading my ESPN the magazine. Seriously. I hope the Rockies get up 3-0 and there is all kind of media about how they have come back from 3-0 and 3-1 deficits in a 7 game series and then the lose the fourth game.

Is it just me or are the Red Sox over taking the Yankees as the most hated franchise in Sports. I mean the only way a franchise from that area can win is either trade away all their youth, buy players or cheat. I hope the Sox get Swept. IT'S ROCKY TIME NOW!

I guess I can let Peach out of her room now... unless it will help the Rockies....

Shout Box

I'm going to add the shout box to my blog. It should appear on the left hand side. You might have to scroll down a little to see it, but go ahead and give me a little shout out. I saw it on the 60minuteartist blog and thought it was a must have. But if you think it is really cool go ahead and give one of the old adds the clickety click click.

Game 7

OK it's 3-1 Red Sox but Peach has been put in her room for the night and she is OFFICIALLY in time out until the end of the game. Even if she fell asleep early it is still time out.

Universal Health Care

It really sounds like a great idea on the surface, "everyone can go to the Dr. whenever they want and they'll get treated and not have to pay anything." Which would be great except someone has to pay for it at some point, meaning tax payers. Now if you don't pay taxes or just enjoy the heck out of paying taxes then this poses no problems. But of the proposals brought forth by the presidential candidates on this issue the most conservative of estimates is $90 billion dollars. Now divide that by 300 million people and the average cost is $300 dollars per person. Hey that doesn't sound so bad, but kids can't pay for that, people already on gov't assistant aren't going to pay, and seniors won't pay because they already have medicare. So let's say half of the people will foot the bill, then the cost only goes up to $600. Well that's still not that bad especially if you can drop your family coverage at work.

Let's look at a socialistic system that is already in place in the UK. The UK's system is one of the most nationalistic available, meaning that everyone in the general population can go to a state run hospital and see a state sponsored physician at no additional costs than what they pay in taxes. The annual costs in 2000 was 104 billion pounds which would convert roughly (and I mean very roughly considering the dollar's current weak position) to US$147 billion. OK so that is a little more than $90 billion but still less than double so that would be like $980 per person. Well that isn't that great, but if you were spending over $100 /month in premiums then it would still be better than $1200 per year. But wait the UK only services 60 million people not 300 million so you need to multiply that number by 5 to get a closer approximation to what the service would cost in the US, $4900. What?!? Yeah that is a little bit of sticker shock but probably more closely approximates what the actual cost would be to individuals here in the US. Plus the US would have to set up an entire infastructure to support and track the new system, which would take some additional up front money. The US currently spends, on average, $7,000+ per person and that is with "limited" health care coverage. The United States spends more per person based on gross domestic product (GDP) than any other country in the world and the health care that people receive is on the top end as far as quickness to get seen and quality. The problems with the US system are 1) that the bottom 1/4 of the population has very limited access which will bring down the average when compared to other countries, 2) Prescription drugs are out of sight and it seems like the more "medicines" someone takes then they have to take another "medicine" to counter act the deficiency created by the primary medicine. My mom, Rose, takes a water pill for her congestive heart failure, but then also takes a potassium pill because the water pill cause her to lose too much potassium. 3) Little or no regulation in what hospital's or physicians can charge for services, $5,000 for a PET scan or $1,000 for an MRI sure that sounds reasonable. 4) Even if you have insurance, if your doctor or the insurance won't go along with a certain procedure or test that they feel you don't need, which is rare, your only option is to pay for the entire thing out of pocket and the free market hasn't caught up with the hospitals when offering diagnostic tests, like a PET scan.

The solution - Socially there should be an obligation to help the bottom of the scale, but where exactly does that solution start. If a plan is put in place to help the lowest people on the income scale then it will have to be subsidized by people on the upper end of the scale, which would not make the plan beneficial to them because there would be no benefit. So here is what needs to happen 1) Give Hospitals and health centers and any other facility that does something in the health field a total break on property tax, and other local city charges like water, sewer and trash under the agreement that they will lower their prices by a similar amount that way their bottom line won't be affected. 2) Put a waiver in on taxes for employees at these facilities. Not for the total tax but some percentage so they don't have as much taken out, then have the facility adjust their wage so that their take home pay is unaffected (i.e. they still clear the same amount), but the hospital will improve their bottom line and in turn will lower prices. 3) Impose regulations and set a target for prices on services to be reached in the next 5 years and 10 years. This will force the industry to become more stream line and look for the most cost effect solutions to treating patients. If new technologies are to be tried they will be done at the hospital's expense or the company with new technology not insurance. 4) End frivolous law suits against doctors. Only in cases where there is severe negligence can a person be sued, you know like operating on the wrong leg or arm or something. As long as the doctor was trying his or her best to help someone they shouldn't be liable, after all we are looking to them for help. 5) Limit the amount of money that can be spent on advertising prescription drugs. Any amount that is spent over the limit is treated like a luxury tax in sports and the company will be responsible for paying additional taxes to the government. Take this access and set up a fund for the poorest 1/4 of Americans so that they can get treatment.

OK, well thanks for reading all that and I hope that your eyes don't need any treatment after reading it.

Child Punishment

Is it wrong to extend the punishment of your child (i.e. timeout) because the Indians are scoring runs like crazy and rather than curtail the punishment and risk stopping the runs I had to let the punishment persist until the end of the inning just to make sure?

I didn't think so either.

Oh she hit her brother in the face with a play dough container.

You know your having a bad day when...

This post is inspired by my aunt Georgia and uncle Luke who recently made a trip back to Ohio from Colorado.

You know you are having a bad day when your plane starts making noise and you tell your wife to start looking for places to land. Then you land and find out that your plane needs parts, but you can't fly to get the parts, now you have to drive about oh 700 miles round trip. Then you get the parts back and realize that you left wallet back where you got the parts. You go pick up the wallet, but now the plane is making noise again. You land in Illinois to get the plane fixed and then decide to drive the rest of the way about 550 miles. That takes another day, but hey it was all worth it in the end right. Right? I mean you did get mentioned in my blog. That should be worth at least one click on the old ads. Anyway, sorry, hope the trip back is less eventful.

Presidential Candidates 2008

Check out the link below to see which presidential candidates most closely match your views on the issues. You may be surprised.

htttp://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

Sophie found out that some of her ideals didn't line up with the candidates she thought she liked. Rudy being pro-choice did not set well, also we like us some tax breaks. Sophie says she'll vote for Tom Tancredo if he gives a tax credit for stay at home moms. Nothing wrong with that, Hillary wants to give away $5,000 for any 'new' babies. Kind of like what Russia did when they handed out 10 grand, and gave people the day off to go home and ... well you know. Nothing though if you already have the kids. Hmmm, I wonder if

Whoo Hoo the Indians win game 3 4-2 thanks to Sophie's Shirt.
Me and the kids were waving out shirts for the final out, not Sophie though she's not allowed to take the shirt off until after the game is over.
IT'S TRIBE TIME NOW!

Sports Predictions

So I have been reading my Sporting News about a week late and it really is interesting to see how the "experts" picked games versus how they actually turned out. In the last two weeks Matt Hayes has correctly predicted 14 games out of 24. A svelte 58%. Not bad for someone who gets paid to watch sports all day and then write about sports. Oh and in this week's article he all but crowned the Cal Golden Bears the national champs, which they then promptly lost to Oregon State. The bad thing is he picked USC twice to win (Actually 1-1), Notre Dame twice to Lose (1-1), and Cal to beat an unranked team. News flash, I want the games between top 25 teams picked and any top 25 teams that are going to be upset. That's it, I don't really want to know if you think Kansas can hold off Baylor, or Boston College can pound Notre Dame, that is pathetic. But what is really pathetic is picking USC to beat Stanford by 41 and they actual lost by 1. But the most pathetic thing is that someone can actually get paid the same amount without any repercussions for a terrible job. I guess the real pathetic thing though is that I am still reading sporting news... for now (see the Browns' record).

Early Season Rules for Browns' Victories

Well the football season is under way and even though I am not superstitious, I have developed a few ground rules on who is allowed to wear what on game day so as to assure the Browns the best possible chance for victory.

Rule 1: Sophie is not allowed to wear any official Browns clothing. None, nada, zip, not even a T-shirt. Although she can wear clothing with brown in it, but no orange.
#2: I must have a Jersey on before kick off and can not take it off until after the game is over. Also I can not take off said Jersey if a NASCAR race has started. The race must be finished before the Jersey can be taken off, otherwise I will put Tony Stewart at risk, see blog on Kansas race.
#3: If the game is going to be watched, the children must have their Jersey's on BEFORE kick off. If the Jersey's are not on them when the game starts then the children must not be allowed to put their Jersey's on.
#4: If the game is not going to be watched or is not televised locally the children do not have to wear their Jerseys.
#5: Jerseys must be clean. We don't do lucky stink.
#6: Sophie must wear an Indian's T-shirt for every other Home game during the baseball playoffs. There is currently no evidence that this will effect the Browns, however this phenomena will be studied more closely during the ALCS.

Well that's it for now I will update this as needed. Currently the Browns are 3-3, so according to "The Sporting News" they will lose their next 10 games. If not the "The Sporting News" will lose one subscriber.

An Apology

Let me begin by offering an apology to Peach who I earlier accused of tossing my remote in the trash. Recently the remote has resurfaced in the house, so I can no longer accuse her throwing it away. However, the remote only resurfaced after some work was done on the television, so it is entirely possible that the repairman had a remote with him and accidentally left it. Even though I can neither confirm nor deny that is what happened, either way I feel obligated to apologize.

Sorry Peach. . . for now.

Because the next thing that shows up missing you will definitely be blamed. Count on it.

The worst race in NASCAR history

Yesterday's Kansas race was pathetic for a multitude of reasons. First Tony should have won the race on a gamble for fuel and rain which had him leading when the race was red flagged. But 2 hours later the geniuses decided to try and finish the race, only now it was going to get dark before they finished so they shortened the race to 210 laps. Which begs the question why not just leave the race a rain out? Idiots! Then after the race restarted there was a big wreck (surprise), in which Tony got caught up in other people's junk and knocked in the left front of the car, consequently causing a tire rub that would flatten his left front tire just at the right time for Kurt Busch to come up and nail him into the wall. In the process of crashing Tony took out Carl, who seemed to understand the situation pretty well. Tony had to try and stay out and at one point I thought he could drive the car and keep it together, but no. Then at the end of the race Greg Biffle was leading and Juan Montoya Montoyaed himself with four laps left, but rather than even attempt a green white checker, NASCAR lets the race end under caution. Not only that but Greg's car runs out of fuel near the start/finish line and a couple of cars pass him, but the field was already "frozen" when the caution came out. Terrible NASCAR, terrible.

Turning 30

Well a lot has happened since I last blogged, both good and bad. I turned 30 (bad, although hardly noticeable) and Sophie through me a surprise party (good). She got me pretty good with that one. I was in such a zone concentrating on work and she told me that we were going to go to a movie and when I got home my mom and neighbors, in-laws, and Bo and Ashley (my bro and sister in-law) were there. I was completely surprised. I actually didn't turn 30 though until Saturday and on Sunday when I am usually tired I actually felt pretty good. Until Sunday night at about 11:00 when I got sick and threw up, and then I threw up again at about 5:00 in the morning. Needless to say I was a little late for work, but I did finally make it in about 2:00 P.M. That started 12 days straight of meeting with corporate people and started the first cut over for the DCS. Everything with the cut-over went surprisingly well (good) and I keep expecting something to happen. We may have found something today with the flare stack, but we should have an opportunity to fix it. Sophie also lost her uncle Tom to a heart attack. It was very sudden and unexpected, he was 58, and died while at work on a Sunday (very bad). The funeral was one of the saddest I have every been to and I felt extremely bad for the family. There was over 250 people at the funeral and it was to hard to not cry. Sorry Uncle Tom you will be missed.

September 11

Today marks the 6th anniversary of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the failed attempt with flight 93. It was a terribly sad event both for the reason of the lose of life and the realization that we could be attacked at home. Today we should all take a moment and really appreciate what we have here. We Never Forget, and I don't think we should either. I will always remember that day, like it was last week. It was a Tuesday, like today, and on the way to work I remember the radio saying it was national 9-1-1 day because of the date, and I thought that was funny because today would probably be the least used day of the year for 9-1-1, but boy was I wrong. I remember hearing about the first plane when I was setting in a QS9000 meeting and one of the people from the other plant who had come for a prep meeting got a phone call from his Mom saying that we were under attack. We kind of blew it off at first because we didn't have all of the details. Then she called back and said both of the World Trade Centers had been hit. It didn't really sink in and what happened next was kind of a blur until I walked into my trailer/office and saw the TV set up and it showed the towers falling and I said 'Oh my God they fell'. And there were two people in there watching and they just kind of nodded, because they had already seen the footage several times. My heart kind of sunk because you knew it wasn't a real 'accident' but you didn't know what kind of attack it was going to be. I remember standing in the desulf control room at about 2:30 PM and the lights went out and I said 'we are under attack', and I really thought a power plant or lines or something had been taken out. Unfortunately we just had an inconsistent power supply at the coke plant, and within a few minutes or seconds the power was back on, and we were trying to sort out what happened. I don't remember exactly what failed, but I remember being there late that night and checking on the coverage that was playing in the conference room and later they showed bombs being set off in Afghanistan. I remember seeing them show the people in that general geographic location celebrating what had happened on American soil earlier in the day and I was anxious to see us retaliate because I didn't really know the extent of the attack on us, but it did kind of feel like we should be fighting. I hate that our children will never know what it was like living in a world before 9/11, you know going through the security at the airport with your family and them staying at the gate with you watching your plane take off, but after 6 years I'm not sure I really remember what it was like myself. I think people will always give up some personal freedom or time to feel safe, but I don't know that anyone will ever be totally free and totally safe ever again.

Another Bathroom Update Again

Finished.

NFL Pick 'em Week 2

Did I say the Browns would go 9-7, I meant 7-9. Yeah that's it. Ok last week I was way off about the Rams and now Orlando Pace is out for the season so they probably won't be as good as I thought. Good news though for the Browns as they play the Rams in week 8. Last Week's record was 3-2, not bad for the 1st week, especially with the redskins winning in overtime and Denver winning on literally a last second field goal. Here we go week 2:

Cincinnati over the Browns. What I'm realistic. I hope the Browns will win, and if they do then I could pick them to lose every week and they will win. Bwah hah hah (evil laugh).
New England over San Diego.
Tennessee over Indianapolis - (Upset)
Bears over the Chiefs
Dallas over Miami
Carolina over Houston

Bathroom Update Again

The toilet is installed, but the water line was a little short. I'll pick one up tomorrow after work. I decided to use an extra large wax ring to make up the difference of the tile rather than use one of the kits that has the gasket system because when I put it in and set the toilet on it I didn't really feel like I could trust it. I talked to my brother today and he said the same thing. The rubber can wear and breakdown later, but wax, well wax lasts forever.

Family Tree

Spent some time with my Aunt at the Cemetery today. She told me a lot about my family and I now know who my Great Grandparents are.

Mom's side: Lucetta (Claus) and Charles Mann
Racheal (Matz) and Jacob John Christman
Dad's side: Jane (Pittman) and Sedrick Smith
Sevilla (Headley) and Leon Mobley

We all have 8 Great Grandparents do you know who your's are?

'Fantasy' Football

The Browns win their opener, barely. After surviving an early 17-0 deficit the Browns turned to their future star Brady Quinn to lead them on 3 scoring straight scoring drives opening up the second half. The Steelers managed to score again putting them up 24-21 mid way through the last quarter. On the next drive, Quinn led the Browns down the field and on the strong legs of Jamal Lewis, the Browns were able to score from 2 yards out with less than 2 minutes remaining. On the subsequent drive the Steelers' QB Ben Rothilesberger threw a pick to Leigh Bodden and Quinn was able to assume his first victory formation, as the Brown secured their first victory of year. . . .

Whoa, what happened there, I dozed off at the keyboard for a second. No No No the Browns didn't really win, but honestly how long do you have to be loyal to QB's that have guided you to a 4-13 record over the last 17 games. I mean really your best shot is with the unproven rookie that other teams haven't prepared for. And he is the best mix of the talent you have anyway. Frye is mobile, although he took six sacks, and Anderson can throw, but Quinn can do both and better. For Romeo's sake he needs to be good, if he plays early. If he waits to play him, then he needs to stink too, so Romeo can say he really didn't have much of a choice. I mean between Frye and Anderson they have 2 years experience, and most of those weren't meaningful games. Just put the rookie in, let him hand off a lot and make throws when he needs to, and let him get some experience so you can win games in two or 3 years. This isn't like Green Bay where they draft that Cal quarterback and he is still on the bench because Favre, a 3-time league MVP, is still there. Frye and Anderson haven't even been in the league for 3 years. I think Quinn is mentally strong enough to take losing if he is gaining experience. He QB'd at Notre Dame for 4 years, so he is not a one-shot draft-cash-in like Ryan Leaf (that will be Jamarcus Russell) instead Quinn is more like Manning. I'm not saying that he has the talent of Manning, but he is more of that mold, especially more than Frye and Anderson.