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?