Reverend0's Pulpit

Start of NFL season 2011

2011-09-07T18:42:00.001-07:00

Well, I was pretty sure that there would be no football this year after the contentiousness of getting a new CBA setup. I was wrong and really it just turned out that there was just too much money on the table for something to not get worked out. That said, the shorter camp lead to a bunch of injuries that I don't think would have happened if there was a full time period to train and get prepared.

So a couple of predictions on the year. I think that the Bengals are heading to the first pick in the 2012 draft, but there are a couple of teams nipping at their heels such as Seattle, Tennessee, and Buffalo. Although with the NFL, you never know what will happen. On the other end of the spectrum, NFC champs will likely be either the Eagles or the Packers, but I put my money on the Packers as I expect them to be much more consistent, while I think you will see bigger wins and bigger losses from the Eagles. On the AFC, I think you will see either the Patriots or the Steelers at the top of the pile. Between the two, I expect the Steelers to do better just with more experience on defense and the magical Mike Wallace.

That aside, I fully expect the Lions to go 8-8 this year. I am fully prepared for a terrible season though. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. I need to come up with a bet again. I think this year I will keep it simple and say if the Lions go double digit wins or a player on the team gets offensive or defensive player of the year, I will pick up a Jersey.

And really, I just happy that football is starting soon.

PAX 2011

2011-09-05T18:24:00.001-07:00

Another year of PAX gone, and at some level I miss it, but boy did I need sleep afterwards. This year I was joined by my former intern, Scott. He definitely is more into the video game scene than I am. So last year, I did a lot of the talks. In other years, I've done more time on the exhibition floor or in the board game rooms. This year I decided to go a bit more low key and reduce the amount of time I sat in lines and also avoid the exhibition hall as it was an absolute zoo, probably because of the fake badges.

Day one, I tried to hit the keynote, but no luck. I heard it was good along with the Q&A. Instead I started out in the exhibition hall wandering aimlessly seeing anything that would catch my fancy. There was definitely a ton of cool looking games there. Seems like the biggest booths belong to the AAA games and MMOs. Does that mean that MMOs are flush with cash? Either way, it was pretty amazing. I would say that "All Orcs Must Die" is the game I was most surprised by. AssCreed:Rev looked amazing and Skyrim and Lego Harry Potter 2 and ... you get the picture. After wandering the hall, I went and stood in line for Wil Wheaton's talk. Scott decided to bail as he expected to get in later and headed back to hall. As such, Scott missed out on another great Wil talk. Heh. After than I made my way to the Wizards D&D floor. I put in a couple of dungeon delves and I was hooked. It was great fun.

Day two, I did some more D&D and exhibition hall prior to seeing Wil, Mike, Jerry, and Scott doing Aquisitions Inc with Chris Perkins after a 2 and half hour wait in line. I was super impressed by the set they had built and with Paul and Storm with their minstrel prowess. Chris built an absolutely incredible story, but Jim Darkmagic is just a ... supporting humor character and the result was that what could have been an incredibly interesting story was a little bit flat and completely filled with fey guy jokes and dick jokes. That said, the guys are still super entertaining and Wil and Scott's interplay is fun, but we needed more Jerry. We checked out Halofest which was a little disappointing. I am not sure what I was looking for but it just had this weird Museum vibe to it with way more people. Some of the content was very cool, but was just left wanting more. Afterwards, I convinced intern Scott to visit Wizard land again (I said I was hooked right?) and we were right in time for the DM challenge which is where a DM puts together a 3-4 hour adventure and we the players rated him. Kudos to the DM we had as he put together a fun story.

Day 3, I was exhausted and checked out the expo hall again but with an eye towards picking up something for Miranda as well as checking out some of the weird and less well traveled. I did a little more D&D and also wandered through the board game area. Definitely was exhausted at that point.

Overall, I had a great time again. I met a lot of interesting people and played games and listened to some fun talks. There was some incredible cosplay going on and most folks were just super cool. I don't think you can really say that about most large gatherings. I will be going again, and hopefully I can get some more friends to go as it is just a good time to be had.

Dear NFL, re: Free Agency

2011-07-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Dear NFL Owners and Players,

This off season has been a bit tumultuous and I am sure that it has not been fun for you either. What has surprised me is just how fun it was once the season got underway. The accelerated free agency turned what is normally a very stately and boring section of the season and made it compressed. Suddenly the fans were much more excited about players they normally would not have noticed.

What might be interesting for next year would be to open free agency 1 week prior to the Draft next year.

Thanks, and don't lockout/strike again.

Draft Lions done

2011-05-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Alright... The draft is over and I proved once again that I have no idea who the team would pick. Maybe I will tally up how I did later, but it was bad enough that it can wait indefinitely. On to how the Lions did...

Most the draftniks think the Lions did a terrific job. The players they got are generally highly regarded. The main thing is that they did not really address any of their team weaknesses. Mayhew has been talking about building up your strengths similar to what the Colts did when they went with Manning and continued to draft offensive weapons and protection. I am still a little boggled that they continue to ignore the fact they have a 33 year old, undersized center, one of the guard positions continues to rotate and rotating the right tackle position. Backus is getting older too on top of it. Couple that with guys at CB and OLB that didn't even make the training camp cuts for other teams. That said with all of that, they did go 6-10...

So onto what the Lions did for a draft:

1) Nick Fairley, DT, Round 1, Pick 13: projected as one of the top 3 DT in the draft who has flashes of brilliance but inconsistent play brought on by inconsistent effort. There is not a lot of data here as he only started 2 seasons and only his second season did he produce any results. I don't like this because at the same time, you could have had one of the top-3 OT at that time or one of the top-3 CB at the time. All those had first round grades.

2) Titus Young, WR, Round 2, Pick 12: A WR?! The basic analysis on this guy is that he is a poor man's DeSean Jackson. Under 6ft, with 4.3-4.4 speed. No reports on his hands, but the main use it seems would be the bubble screen and then stretching the field to push the safety's back. Not so sure on round two with a WR. At this point they could have had the 2nd best OG in the draft. If you want short speed, there were lots of guys that would fit that bill.

3) Trade alert: Lions trade a boat load of picks to move back into the second round with the Seattle Seahawks. Basically we trade all of our picks in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round for the Seahawks second, fifth, and seventh. Lions management is filled with retards.

4) Mikel Leshoure, RB, Round 2, Pick 25: 2nd best RB in the draft, but the draft was very deep with good RB. Great pick if it were not for the trade. There was no reason to move up to get one though as there were plenty. Leshoure is a big beefy power back. Seems to have good hands. Single cut type back.

5) Doug Hogue, OLB, Round 5, Pick 26: More of an athlete than a plug in OLB. Was a RB, but converted to LB his Junior season. Did well with the conversion. This is more of a special teams pick, but could be a starter in a couple of years. In the 5th, this is a pretty solid pick. However we could have had Greg Jones, LB MSU who could have started near about immediately but has low upside...

6) Johnny Culbreath, OL, Round 7, Pick 6: Have no idea. Seriously. The guy is good sized but I have never watch South Carolina State play...

Just disappointed overall. They picked good players but it feels like stafford will get killed again and we will get burned in the air again.

Bears drafted well taking a T then DT in the first two rounds. Both should contribute immediately. Packers drafted well by focusing on all the points of need and doing them in rounds that make sense, and they got good players at the points of time they were picking. The Vikings are just pants on head retarded. They took a QB way too early in Christian Ponder. They took a TE next when they could have grabbed one later. Just weird.

The basic feeling I got from the draft was that there were fewer super star type players, but more guys in that mid range. Looking at most player grades, you usually have 3-5 who grade out in mid to upper 90s, but the highest this year was a 86. This is across several boards. The patriots did another superb job grabbing good people and getting picks next year. Sigh.

Mock Draft 2011

2011-04-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

Per usual, I am going to put together my mock draft. Last I think I got 5 teams right which is pretty terrible. Hopefully I a bit better at guessing this years teams, but really it is difficult with trades and all the smoke screens that teams put out. Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to predict who will be good, but then I remember how many busts there are in a year.

To make matters worse, this year there may not be football which means the draft, instead of being an interesting thought exercise, turns out to be a colossal waste of time. Although me doing this is :)

What should make it easier is that there will be no trades that include 2012 draft picks. This means there will be a lot less trades as trading players will also be difficult because of the lack of a CBA. So my guess is there will be less trades than last year, but will still be a few.

1 CAR	Marcell Dareus	So many needs for Panthers...
2 DEN	Von Miller	Most needs on defense, likely to grab a safety in the second round.
3 BUF	Blaine Gabbert	They could go OT here, but think they will grab one of the top 3 QB.
4 CIN	Da'Quan Bowers	Could also go OT, but likely will grab in start second round.
5 ARI	Cam Newton	WTF
6 CLE	AJ Green	This doesn't feel like something Holmgren would do...
7 SF	Nick Fairley	Lots of pressure to take a franchise QB here...
8 TEN	Patrick Peterson	Another need for a QB here...
9 DAL	Tyron Smith	Best OT to protect the QB and push the line edge for runs
10 WAS	Mark Ingram	Hello Shanahan.
11 HOU	Prince Amukamara	Houston continues its attempt to shutdown then Colts.
12 MIN	Muhammad Wilkerson	Could trade up to get one of other DT, but this is definitely a need. Could also grab Locker.
13 DET	Anthony Castonzo	A year without Stafford injured, not including the lockout?
14 STL	Julio Jones	St. Louis continues to build a football team.
15 MIA	Robert Quinn	Could go Locker...
16 JAC	Cameron Jordan	Picking Jacksonville, impossible.
17 NE	J.J. Watt	With two first round picks... who to go after first...
18 SD	Gabe Carimi	Could also go with DE Kerrigan here.
19 NYG	Nate Solder	Protect that Manning
20 TB	Ryan Kerrigan	Between McCoy and Kerrigan, someone should be free to get a sack.
21 KC	Corey Liuget	Versatility seems to be the new KC.
22 IND	Derek Sherrod	Protect that Manning
23 PHI	Mike Pouncey	Might go for a linebacker here...
24 NO	Adrian Clayborn	Maybe less blitzes this year?
25 SEA	Jake Locker	I don't agree with my own selection, as I don't think Pete will go this way... probably wants an OT for depth.
26 BAL	Jimmy Smith	Winning on D will continue, but more time with Flacco and his receiver crew will pay dividends this year, if they play.
27 ATL	Aldon Smith	Gotta put pressure on Aaron Rodgers somehow...
28 NE	Akeem Ayers	I expect more O-line in round 2.
29 CHI	Danny Watkins	Give Cutler a little more time, but round 2 will see either a LB or DT.
30 NYJ	Cameron Heyward	Would hopefully grab some double teams to open up better blitzing paths.
31 PIT	Marcus Cannon	Does Big Ben need to run so much?
32 GB	Mikel LeShoure	Another year without a running back is not acceptable.

We'll see how I do this year...

Month of March

2011-03-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Been watching the fight over the NFL season continue. Normally we would be in the thick of free agency with some prep for the draft period. Now we have the draft coming up but a near guarantee that there won't be a season for the rookies to play in. What a pain.

Recently had a birthday, where I turned 33. Hoping it will be a good year.

Also prepping for Miranda's birthday. Mostly preparing myself for her birthday and any sort of party/celebration that happens.

Random bits and pieces

2011-02-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

Currently I am hiding away from Miranda. She has a cold and things at work are hectic enough that I am hiding away so I don't miss work or have to work from home. That tends to make things much more difficult and then I just end up working more. Christmas has come and gone with us still meaning to finish our Christmas thank yous. I feel like I should call and thank you since I prefer to have that type of two way communication. Or maybe it really means that I am too lazy to lick a stamp. That said we always appreciate the love of our family.

We find ourselves gripped in winter again. A couple of cold days have found their way to Seattle. I thought when I came here that we would not see so much cold weather, but it turns out that you should see about 1 week of nasty cold a year. This year we got about 2 weeks spread over 3 instances. But Miranda got the snow she wanted... of course she is sick and can't enjoy this round.

Football is done. Sad the Steelers couldn't win. Happy the game was fantastic. Right now though, I am pretty sure with the current labor negotiation that we will not see football until late next year or maybe not at all next year. At some level, that is fine. I will abandon the sport if it decides to abandon its fans. Or maybe I switch over to college ball. I am not blaming either side of the disagreement, but get this damn thing fixed.

Work is work. I have spent a lot of time doing operational work for the team to make sure everything is in tip-top shape and cleaning up some old code. My latest passion which probably marks me as sick in the head is efficient web service wire protocols. It is amazing how much efficiency is lost by making something flexible, I wonder if there is not some happy medium that can be achieved. Wish I could expound more but really I need to do some research to exactly layout what is seen in Apache's web service framework and other web service frameworks. That said, we moved from the old, beloved PacMed building to our new digs on the Amazon campus. I have to say that I am not totally digging our new digs.

The things I like about it are that we are on campus and it is easier to meet with teams and there is an interesting Amazon vibe. I honestly am looking forward to seeing what that looks like this summer when folks are more likely to be outside instead of tucked away in their cube farms. Now as for the specific space that I am in... we I am not digging it so much. It is a team room without the room, which means we are just in a wide open area next to the elevator and that means noisy and high traffic. I am currently working on some ideas to make it more ... personalized. I spent part of the morning pricing out a mini project to create a 4 ft by 4 ft beaded curtain with the p13n robot design on it. Well it is looking like it will be both expensive and time intensive when I was really just aiming to only be time intensive. A glass bead curtain of this design will cost about $1000 and a plastic version will be about $300. I am not sure what I was expecting when I needed about 10,000 to 15,000 beads to do the curtain. So now that is up in the air. Maybe a gigantic poster of Frank will be enough.

Last year, some of Ben's friends from high school and another guy and I started doing a D&D4 campaign online. We tried to get Ben to join in, but it was getting really difficult to do tasks involving communication. But after a time we decided to give it a whirl and it has been fun. For the first 6 months, Nick DM'd the adventure and we spent a lot of time learning the rules and playing with Google Wave (which is going away at some point) and using Skype. Starting about 1 month ago, I agreed to give Nick a rest and whip up a couple of adventures so that he could play on the Character side of the game. So far so good, as it seems like all involved are having fun. I have enjoyed the character side as it was interesting (and less work) but the DM side is great as you are putting together an outline of a story and letting your friends create the dialog and specifics. Really you are just telling each other a story and it feels very much like Improv.

On the Improv front, my old group, MTU's The Troupe, is celebrating 20 years of storytelling. But along that front, they are announcing that they are disbanding the official school group. It has been hard since the mother of the Troupe retired but they have had many years of alumni support and great shows as well. But it seems that it is getting harder to find faculty resources and keeping organized. There are 2 things in college that I look back and deeply love and that The Troupe and Student Theatre Association. It seems that there is less time for those outlets in college than their used to be. But I am glad for all the skills they have taught me and the friends I have from them.

The Lions are killing me

2010-11-14T17:43:00.001-08:00

Geez.

Last week, I wasn't really expecting a win heading into the weekend. But the Lions really put on a show. They just couldn't hold on when they lost their starting quarterback. I don't think they had more than 3 first downs without him. And without him, they went from a resounding win against a good Jets team to a loss that stung from the hope that was dashed.

Fast forward to this weekend where I though that they had a chance to put together a win on the road (it has been a few years since we had one of those) but alas they still couldn't put it together till the very end but then it was too little, too late. I was shocked to listen and hear what a conservative game plan they had put together. Was it that Shaun Hill was just back from a broken arm or what, but it felt like they could have moved the ball if only they risked some shots down the field.

Maybe next week will be better.

Political season almost over...

2010-10-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would mention that we have received 15+ calls today. On Friday, we had 13 messages on the answering machine, and who knows how many just hung up when they got the machine. Ah, irritation.

Political Grumblings

2010-10-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

This year's ballot felt more painful than previous ballots. Usually we have one or two initiatives and then a handful candidates to look through. This then takes about an hour to sift through the initiatives and then look at the history and credentials of the candidates. This year however we have a plethora of initiatives. Plethora! Luckily for me, the candidates made it a little bit easy for me in their selection. Basically if they called me, I didn't vote for them. I would rather write in myself than to vote for someone that has some frakkin' recording call me just to smear another human being.

Seriously don't call me. I vote and I can do my own research. Our phone normally receives one call a week. In the last two weeks, we have received 18 calls.

Nothing new on the home front

2010-10-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

September is finished and I am trying to get back in the habit of blogging. Seems that I knew this would happen at some point, but really not much I can or care to talk about. Work is work... and I can't talk about it. Home is good, but I don't feel like talking about it. Many of my hobbies feel pretty small potatoes (gaming and music) and therefore haven't got any writing time. Same goes for football (other than my pain of being a Lions fan).

So that does not leave me with much. Maybe I will find some inspiration to actually put some meaningful words on paper.

On other notes, if you are interesting in writing a novel, November is nanowrimo. It is quite the challenge if you haven't tried.

NFL season starts

2010-09-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well... it already started, but today is the first Sunday. As per usual, I am going to be placing a bet against my team of choice, the Detroit Lions.

My prediction for the season is 4-12. If they can beat that, I will buy some Lion's slippers. If they can get a winning season, I will grab a jersey.

I do like the fact that they have continued to improve. It is a slow process and it is hard as a fan to remain patient. Especially after years of having to do so. They have to have a winning season again, right? It's only been 9 years.

As for last Thursday game, I thought that both teams played well and definitely enjoyed watching the game. It was kept really close and even though AP didn't get me a lot of fantasy points, definitely gave me a little bit to talk about the next morning.

Alright, are the games on yet?

PAX 2010

2010-09-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have now completed PAX 2010. This is the 6th year in a row I have attended the gaming party/convention in Seattle. I have some really great memories from the years of going and this year was no different. This year I was able to go with my good friend Jason as well as Scott who I worked with in the spring. The first day was a little tough as I spent time remembering Ben who went with me to 3 of these, but they were great memories.

So what happened? What did I see? What impressed me?

This year had a completely awesome line-up of sessions and talks. There were more good talks than time to hit them all (especially when you consider the lines). Normally I spend a lot of time playing board games and card games with random awesome people, but with all the talks and still needing to hit the expo hall, I was only able to spend a little time doing that.

The keynote by Warren Spector was fantastic and really brought up excellent points about growing this niche community into something large and more welcoming. He mentioned the close knit behavior of the community has lead to to be a bit exclusive and that would not help it. He talked about legislation that we should fight that would limit the ability of developers and visionaries in the industry from creating and expressing what they want to tell in stories, where authors and artists and actors have protections of freedom of speech. We should welcome those that play Farmville as gamers and help introduce them to the fun they can have with all games. Great talk. Great points.

The Penny Arcade Q&A was great. Normally I have to leave those due to some pretty awkward lines of questions, but the questions this year were smart and pointed. The responses from Mike and Jerry were funny and insightful as well. The proposal during the Q&A was very sweet as well.

Perhaps my favorite session was the Acquisitions Inc. D&D live show which involved Mike, Jerry, Scott Kurtz, and Wil Wheaton along with DM Perkins. It was hilarious. Sometimes the players were so funny, that I wondered if it was completed scripted. There is just a good quick wit that it created a wonderful funny story. I have heard rumors they will post the audio from the segment at some point soon and I recommend checking it out.

Wil Wheaton presented later on at his Awesome Hour. He told a short story about playing games with his wife and how as a "non-gamer" and a gamer it was really about spending time together that makes the games we play so absolutely special. Even when we lose on a word like "vux" or "vix".

Bill Amend covered more of his favorites from the FoxTrot collection of comics. What I found to be the best part of the talk was the Q&A where we got to see how he looks at the creative process, love of games, treading into other artists' territories, and also how to almost blow up your house by starting a very old furnace.

Our final session was listening to the XBOX live enforcement team talk about how they wield their banhammer to try and keep Live a place that people want to go to. It was interesting and very, very Microsoft in feel.

My biggest beef with this years PAX was the main theater being at Benaroya hall. The space was just too limited in space and wonder if by extending into the Convention Center Annex we could bring it back up to the old keynote/concert hall. Normally I love to catch the concerts, but this year, I was unable to get in. I barely got into the keynote and I arrived 1 hour early. It seems like we had 2x the space last year that we did this year just so they could expand the expo hall. Hmmm.

As for the expo hall, there were a couple mega exhibits built around Duke Nukem Forever (didn't check out), Portal 2 (didn't check out), Dragon Age 2 (didn't check out), and Deadspace 2 (didn't check out). The lines at these locations were ridiculous. What I did get to do hands on was to take a look at 3D gaming technologies and play a couple of games that had shorter lines. First off, 3D gaming was absolutely incredible. It looks absolutely gorgeous and I truly believe that this is the future of gaming even with the ridiculous glasses. But it definitely isn't now. It doesn't really add anything of value and is mainly like the move from standard def or EGA to high def or SVGA. I checked out Trine and Guild Wars 2 in 3D and in both cases I was floored at their beauty, but felt that something was just missing from the experience and that doesn't even include the massive price tag. I also played Fallout New Vegas which should be a blast when it comes out (and very much like Fallout 3). NBA Jam was lots of fun, but I am not sold on the wiimote and nunchuk form of playing it. The new Mortal Kombat was very pretty and gory. War of the North was really awesome looking. Torchlight 2 was also very impressive and brings much needed multiplayer to an already incredible game.

On the table top front, thank you Steve Jackson Games for Zombie Dice which turned out to be the best line game of all time as it is quick, fun, and easy to pack and move when the lines shift. Otherwise, I didn't really get a chance to do more :(

3 days are gone. I miss it a little already even with the aches and pains from hiking with a loaded backpack. I miss most the really great folks that go and can interact and not be complete jerks about it.

Some memories are the best memories

2010-05-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

Good bye my friend...

The internet is about cats

2010-04-19T07:45:00.001-07:00

I also get the feeling when I lay on the floor, that the cat is planning to rip my throat out.

NFL draft 2010 revision

2010-04-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Unless there are any trades leading up to the draft, this is my last revision. I tried to predict trades, but as I went through, I didn't see where any team was so in love with a player that they would jump up and grab that player, but that could be related to fact that my news for football is sparse without ESPN or FoxSports. Instead, I make mention of teams looking to move up or down, but I think I am more likely looking at the position that the players will go.


.	1. STL	Sam Bradford	There seems to be a number of teams that are targeting Sam Bradford, but that will likely to fall to the number 1 overall slot. Cleveland would be the only team willing to make the jump to this pick, but historically Holmgren brings in his quarterbacks, instead of drafting them.
.	2. DET	Ndamukong Suh	Suh is the best DT in the draft. Partly I would love to see this pick take place because it makes the Lions a better team, but I would like to see them try to move down if someone becomes enamoured with Jimmy "Pickles" Clausen.
.	3. TB	Gerald McCoy	As with all the top picks, there is a gigantic please trade me sign on them. Unfortunately the top few picks are really a poison on a team where it is not a perennial pro-bowler. I am sure the Bucs would like to trade down to take one of the many defensive linemen that are available and grab a few more picks. But barring that, they will grab some defensive help with McCoy.
.	4. WAS	Russell Okung	There is an obvious void in the offensive line position in Washington and they are going to want to protect their new acquisition. Historically, Shanahan rarely picks a tackle in the draft, but when he does he spends a fairly high pick on him.
.	5. KC	Dez Bryant	If a trade happens early, it will likely be here. KC could use receiver help (Bowe and Chambers haven't helped much) but could also use some help on their linebacker corps. This will likely be made by one teams draft darling or a specific need where there is a high degree of separation between the top player and the next players. But I cannot find the player that will drive a team to move up.
.	6. SEA	Derrick Morgan	With the loss of Patrick Kerney, the Seahawks are in desparate need to upgrade their DE position. This was a need even before losing Kerney.
.	7. CLE	Joe Haden	Sheldon Brown moves from CB to safety to replace Pool. This opens up a hole at CB.
.	8. OAK	Dan Williams	My first thought about what the Raiders would do in this draft would be to pick Tim Tebow given his traits around winning the game. It seemed in character for the Raiders. However I took a more serious look at needs (which QB is definitely on the list), but feel they would like to replace some of the older DT's they have had over the last few years.
.	9. BUF	Trent Williams	Here is a team in shambles. They need a gigantic DT to support the switch to 3-4 but it is too early to go for any of the sizable guys. I also don't think they have given up on their cadre of quarterbacks, and will got deeper again to pick a QB in the 2nd or 3rd round. Instead they are going to shore up they O line which has suffered by grabbing an OT.
.	10. JAX	Rolando McClain	Jacksonville needs help pretty much at every position on defense. Whether for depth or to get a start that can disrupt their opponents. Rolando McClain would be able to help immediately at the MLB position.
.	11. DEN	Jason Pierre-Paul	No Dez? No problem, Denver will go the same route that the Patriots have gone in years past and build a strong core on defense.
.	12. MIA	Eric Berry	Parcells is pretty tired of being burned deep and will attempt to address this with a fast, mobile safety. Pass rush is another need and they could go with Sergio Kindle or Brandon Graham here.
.	13. SF	Bryan Bulaga	Strengthen the o-line or find some depth at cornerback to aid the old guys sitting out back. I think SF will spend the money on o-line which is generally a safer bet and tackle the secondary later with multiple picks.
.	14. SEA	C.J. Spiller	Fast and shifty seems to fit the Pete Carroll mold of running backs.
.	15. NYG	Carlos Dunlap	6'6" and 277 could be a good fit to upgrade the d-line. He has the frame that he could add the additional weight and slide inside or try to stay outside if he can get good burst and low push.
.	16. TEN	Brandon Graham	Tennessee's biggest needs that warrant this high of a pick is either LB or DE. There is some talk of getting a blocking tight end, but it is way too early for that.
.	17. SF	Kyle Wilson	With Kyle Wilson still on the board, the 49ers will select this CB to help with their aging secondary.
.	18. PIT	Sergio Kindle	Pittsburgh could take a WR to help bolster the team, but with the work of Mike Wallace, they will hold off and see if they can get another good one later. Instead they will focus on o-line and defense. Namely Sergio Kindle to help bolster the OLB position.
.	19. ATL	Brandon Spikes	Atlanta will pick this 240lb LB to help with run defense.
.	20. HOU	Earl Thomas	While Houston loves to draft RB, they will do so later in the draft while managing to grab a player who could help at CB or move to S in case of injuries.


.	21. CIN	Jimmy Clausen	One of the few teams where I disagree with the other draftniks for team needs. Did anyone else watch their offense play last year? Palmer has looked shaky and teams are disrupting him easily. Looking at their backups, I think they will take Clausen to put some pressure on Palmer and maybe take his job.
.	22. NE	Jared Odrick	New England loves to trade. I could also see them dealing themselves right out of the first round. I think they see that there are quite a few DT, or LB opportunities in the early second. I don't see them trading with anyone else at the end of this round and they expect to see them in the playoffs. Would love to see Lions moves here to grab Iupati
.	23. GB	Mike Iupati	I don't think Rodgers is as durable as Favre, and hopefully they will look to protect him instead of grabbing another CB which they could use to groom.
.	24. PHI	Jahvid Best	Brian Westbrook part two. They have some other needs but look for Andy Reid to give his new quarterback some extra west coast style firepower.
.	25. BAL	Jermaine Gresham	Adding this big TE could help shift their offensive run calls.
.	26. ARI	Sean Weatherspoon	Paris Lenon is our starting LB? Oh noes.
.	27. DAL	Anthony Davis	Flozell is out and they need someone to compete at LT.
.	28. SD	Terrence Cody	This is a team I could see moving up to Terrence Cody is they get nervous. They deeply need a big body NT and Cody is the best fit for that in the draft. They could even get nervous enough when Buffalo is on the clock.
.	29. NYJ	Everson Griffen	Additional offensive weapons? Check. Defense is solid? Check. Let's just add more of a pass rush.
.	30. MIN	Devin McCourty	Injuries from the previous season will force Minnesota's hand to pick a CB. They would be willing to move in order to find the CB that tickles their fancy.
.	31. IND	Kareem Jackson	Indianapolis needs cornerbacks since they seem to change them like people change their underwear.
.	32. NO	Ryan Matthews	Replacing Mike Bell with another running back seems to be the best fit at this pick.

Some noticeable absences on my most recent revision that I think will still go in the first round or be highly coveted going into round two...

Demaryius Thomas
Maurkice Pouncey
Brian Price
Roger Saffold
Taylor Mays

NFL draft

2010-04-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on my final set of picks, but I thought I would post my first drafts up...


.		4/11/2010		4/13/2010
.	1. STL	Sam Bradford	1. STL	Sam Bradford
.	2. DET	Ndamukong Suh	2. DET	Ndamukong Suh
.	3. TB	Gerald McCoy	3. TB	Gerald McCoy
.	4. WAS	Russell Okung	4. WAS	Russell Okung
.	5. KC	Rolando McClain	5. KC	Rolando McClain
.	6. SEA	Bryan Bulaga	6. SEA	Derrick Morgan
.	7. CLE	Joe Haden	7. CLE	Joe Haden
.	8. OAK	Tim Tebow	8. OAK	Dan Williams
.	9. BUF	Trent Williams	9. BUF	Trent Williams
.	10. JAX	Eric Berry	10. JAX	Eric Berry
.	11. DEN	Derrick Morgan	11. DEN	Dez Bryant
.	12. MIA	Dan Williams	12. MIA	Earl Thomas
.	13. SF	Bruce Campbell	13. SF	Bryan Bulaga
.	14. SEA	C.J. Spiller	14. SEA	C.J. Spiller
.	15. NYG	Jason Pierre-Paul	15. NYG	Jason Pierre-Paul
.	16. TEN	Earl Thomas	16. TEN	Jermaine Gresham
.	17. SF	Kyle Wilson	17. SF	Kyle Wilson
.	18. PIT	Anthony Davis	18. PIT	Demaryius Thomas
.	19. ATL	Sergio Kindle	19. ATL	Sergio Kindle


.	20. HOU	Ryan Matthews	20. HOU	Ryan Matthews
.	21. CIN	Taylor Mays	21. CIN	Jimmy Clausen
.	22. NE	Brandon Graham	22. NE	Brandon Graham
.	23. GB	Mike Iupati	23. GB	Mike Iupati
.	24. PHI	Maurkice Pouncey	24. PHI	Maurkice Pouncey
.	25. BAL	Jared Odrick	25. BAL	Jared Odrick
.	26. ARI	Jimmy Clausen	26. ARI	Brian Price
.	27. DAL	Roger Saffold	27. DAL	Anthony Davis
.	28. SD	Terrence Cody	28. SD	Terrence Cody
.	29. NYJ	Brian Price	29. NYJ	Everson Griffen
.	30. MIN	Devin McCourty	30. MIN	Devin McCourty
.	31. IND	Everson Griffen	31. IND	Roger Saffold
.	32. NO	Sean Weatherspoon	32. NO	Taylor Mays

February update

2010-02-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

Well not much new to report from the Pacific Northwest. I continue to enjoy my job most of the time and Miranda is getting bigger while still maintaining her stubborn nature about using the potty. Michelle continues to be involved in the preschool. We have had a couple of firsts lately for Miranda such as roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. She really liked it but was also pretty afraid of the fire (which keeps me pretty happy). Also Miranda has been eating more and more different foods, even liking sushi.

I have gotten some reading and gaming done during the last few months. Really enjoyed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It was good to read a classic and also remember some scenes from Bladerunner. Also read Monday Night Jihad, which I really can't recommend to anyone. The writing and character building felt a bit juvenile. Just didn't grab me. Also read Super Freakonomics which is more of what the first one was.

At this point, really don't know what our upcoming plans will be. Probably won't really have plans and just play things by ear.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas. I know I did, even though this is definitely the time of the year that I miss family and friends back in Michigan the most. We spent the day quietly at home while Miranda played with her new Barbies and magnetic "paper" dolls. There was plenty of time spent on the phone with family and it sounds like all are doing well.

This year for Christmas, our dinner and meals went a little astray. Breakfast was french toast in pear sauce with venison sausage. Lunch/Dinner was ham, spinach dip, bread, and carrots. That didn't come off so well. The spinach dip was off. The ham was ok. But Miranda ate well minus not wanting french toast. Sometimes I wonder about what she likes to eat. She is really a carnivore.

Before too much longer, we will be starting 2010. I always wonder what changes there will be in this new year. I know some of my friends will be facing their own changes as some expect children and others continue their education. Some will be focusing on new jobs and others will be getting into their stride in their current jobs.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T08:34:00.001-08:00

Hope that everyone is have a fun and safe Thanksgiving with friends and family.

Review: The Last Remnant

2009-11-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Non-game related... LIONS WIN. Wasn't pretty, but really I don't care when a win is a win.

Recently finished playing The Last Remnant and I was impressed by the game. The game is classified as a JRPG. You take on the role of Rush, who seems to fill a typical lead character: young, male, not bright, impetuous, and brave. It starts with Rush's sister getting kidnapped and he must now head out to rescue her and happens into a battlefield. You meet up with a group of individuals that pull you into much bigger problems happening in the world.

The characters are interesting. The story is interesting. The battle system is also interesting.

The characters range through a bunch of types. The game takes time to setup up side quests for a large number of unique leaders. These side quests are used to tell the individual stories. One of the stories I enjoyed was that of Loki. Loki's story is that of a despicable bandit who is offering his services to bid. But once you have put him into your squad you get a chance to talk to him and find that he was born under a bad sign and the whole village treated him as a bad egg. Over time he engaged in more and more atrocities, until he happens upon a blind girl who he decides to help when she blindly offers friendship. He is now on a mission to correct her eyesight which he needs your help to do so.

The story starts simply, but expands. The world is filled with these items called Remnants that are able to do incredible and magical things. Remnants seem to be a combination of magic and futuristic items. So there is this guy called The Conqueror who is forcibly gathering Remnants in his bid to join the political congress. But things are not always as they seem. Rush's family is special as is Rush himself. What bothered me but also intrigued me was how you were kept guessing as to what was going on in the world. There was just a lot of mystery.

The battle system is pretty different for me. Instead of running 3 to 5 single players, you end up controlling between 3 to 5 groups of individuals. These unions each have a formation, one or more leaders, and soldiers. The leaders and soldiers each have individual skills and abilities, but in the union their health and ability points are pooled and they act in concert. It can get pretty frustrating at time as you don't tell them what to do specifically, but instead give them very general commands as to what you want them to do, not helpful when the group is in dire need of health and that is not an option. You get up to 5 options which can feel pretty random.

One beef with the game is you really feel like you don't have any control of how your characters progress. I think this leads to your characters being week on the first playthrough. Given my limited time to play games being a father and all, I turned to the Last Remnant wikia to help make the most of my character ability progression. The other beef I have is with the amount and length of load times. I spent around 150+ hours on the game over the last 9 months and probably have a couple of hours (or 10s of hours) waiting for the load screens.

Otherwise, I am impressed.

Lions are the worst team in the NFL

2009-11-01T12:57:00.000-08:00

I thought we might be getting better. I was wrong. We are the worst. Not a good feeling as a fan.

Book Review: Glasshouse

2009-10-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

Glasshouse by Charles Stross tells the story of Robin/Reeve in a world where intelligent beings have reached a point that traveling through space is as simple as sending packets across a router. You can live forever, but there are still hazards that could kill you or worse, steal your identity. Robin has recently gone through a procedure to remove large segments of his memory. This is a pretty common procedure for people. Robin believes he has specific horrible events that he needs to remove either from recent virus wars or some other traumatic feature. As part of his recovery, he has decided to enter an experiment that should help him find new focus and life. Instead he finds himself in a prison run by the things he is trying to forget.

I have found this sequel to Accelerando to be a good read. Mr. Stross has taken basic networking concepts and applied them to the life and movement of humans in the future. When you can take a backup of who you are now, you definitely would live your life differently. In addition, the problems you face are drastically different when you start learning of viruses and firewalls. He takes the idea of hacking to body types, memories, behavioral reward systems, and transport worm holes.

Football season blues

2009-10-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Week 6. The point in the season that marks the last trades that can occur for the year. Their have been a couple big trades in the first 6 weeks. I am not sure if we will see one more as the deadline is Tuesday. A number of the analysts have put together their lists of players that could use a change in scenery or teams that should do what it takes to put talent in place to make a run at the playoffs. There is nothing the Lions can or should do. To many missing pieces and all they can trade is draft picks. And because of the needs, the draft picks are could be useful to the Lions, unless you can grab a real winner in a trade.

So the Lions lost today. They did get a win a few weeks ago so that I would buy my Lions hat. But this loss was particularly painful. They were shut out in a divisional contest and continue to allow opposing quarterbacks some franchise best days. Even with the porous Green Bay offensive line and the plethora of penalties, the Lions couldn't even score a point. I like the calls to not go for 3 and head for a touchdown. In the situations they were in, they correctly decided to try. Although I really question a sweep on one short yardage situation instead of running a dive or qb sneak.

I really like my football Sundays but I do have somethings that annoy me. First off, why are their still blackout rules? Not just economic reasons, you would think that it would help the NFL and the broadcasters to be able to run multiple games at the same time. Second, why is overtime they way it is? Why not just play 1 more quarter? Or do away with it, and deal with the tie. I have probably griped about these already, but they just continue to be an irritation along with rookie pay, collective bargaining agreements, and other issues that could risk alienating the market. If we see a lockout or strike next year, it would severely dampening my enthusiasm for the sport, and that has me most worried.

Life happens

2009-09-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, let's see if I can summarize some of what has happened. Ben and I headed to PAX a few weeks ago. Wow, it was fun. I was impressed by how the Washington State Convention Center was able to handle the amount people there. Lots of stuff looked really impressive, some you expect (stuff from Blizzard) and some that was a surprise to me (Torchlight Games). We went all three days which is a first for me. We went to see Bill Amend's talk, Wil Wheaton's talk, also a talk on game design strategy and failure in games as part of design. Otherwise we spent some time in the table top area playing board and card games. Got to hang out with Eonflare as well. As for concerts, we stuck around till JoCo played on Saturday night and that was a lot of fun.

Then I spent a week sick. Very, very sick. But I was able to effectively quarantine myself as the rest of house was able to stay healthy.

This weekend finds me home with Miranda while Michelle is at a knitting retreat. We have done some coloring, reading, running around, legos, dancing, and movies. She seems to be bearing up well with mom being away.

Oh yeah. The Lions decided to end a 19 game losing streak avoiding the record. They seemed to want to give it away, but held on to find new life and new opportunity. WOOT!

Lions' bets

2009-09-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Still sick. Not H1Nerd1 from PAX. Just the plain old flu.

If the Lions post double digit wins, I will buy a Authentic Jersey with the team MVP.

If the Lions avoid the record consecutive losses, I will buy a Lion's hat.

This year I am trying to avoid the negative bet that I made last year, so this is my way of trying to keep it positive.

Passing on the affliction?

2009-08-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

So far I have finished two fantasy drafts for fantasy football season. I am sure all of us feel that we could put together a team that would be successful, but that isn't really why I play. I play because for many years now, I needed something else to help Sunday be fun again while Detroit was trying to figure out that Matt Millen was not the right solution for creating a winning season. It gave me people to watch and celebrate when they did something successful, which was really in short supply with the Lions.

Now I am faced with a dilemma. I can pass on this unhealthy love of a bumbling team to my daughter or let her go down a different path. Michelle's family is generally a Green Bay family, so that is one option. Another is the Seattle Seahawks. I am not a particular fan of either. And how do you influence the team they adopt? Is it peer pressure? Is it watching a parent cry in their hands when there team suffers a crushing defeat? Maybe I really don't have a say in the matter.

That said, I do have a group of players I can cheer for. I have a couple leagues, one standard yahoo public league (Adrian Peterson, Steve Smith/Car, etc) and then my custom league. This is the first year that I have tried the individual defensive players instead of the team defenses. I ended up picking up my defensive players starting in the 6th round. I might have been able to hold off longer, but I had some defensive players that I definitely wanted on my squad. The worst part of it was 4 of the 10 teams were unable to show and Yahoo does a poor job of ranking defensive players. It should be simple to apply league scoring rules and show the number of points a player racked up last year. Rank on that and you at least have a good idea of where that player should go.

It should be fun this year. Lots of new things to try and lots of teams to keep an eye on during the season.

This years Lions prediction: 4 - 12. Also I predict that they set record for consecutive losses (even though they are really only 3 away...).

Book Reviews: Charles Stross

2009-08-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

Recently finished a bunch of books between illness and vacation.

Halting State was a tremendously fun book. The book is about a couple of geeks. One is a computer geek, one is an accounting geek, but both enjoy games and other forms of geeky entertainment. The story starts when an online bank in MMORPG bank is robbed. A jumpy marketing executive gets the police involved and suddenly you have the risk of currency collapse in this world. It only gets worse when at the root of the problem, this type of robbery should be impossible and that the fact it has occurred has very real implications to all things networked which in the near future work is everything.

I found the characters to be fun, interesting and engaging. The world itself is a delight with its blending on online and offline elements. It is not as ground breaking as Snow Crash or Neuromancer but takes those same rough concepts and updates them with the most recent state of the art and extrapolates it. The story has a few good twists in it and carries quickly through from scene to scene, rarely feeling like it is dragging. The story is told through a couple points of view which can be a bit disjointing but is fun. For me, I had to just get through the police officer scenes which were not as interesting to me, but they were not bad either.

In terms of Charles' other books, this has more the feel of the occult-geek books but with a science fiction settings. You have a spy versus spy story with plenty of action similar to Jennifer Morgue and Atrocity Archives, but without the Elder Gods.

Singularity Sky is set in the far future world where humanity has been spread through the universe but not as you would expect. The universe is policed by the Eschaton to keep causality events from occurring. And some of those far flung pockets of humanity are pretty dumb.

Enter into this an engineer for hire who specializes in singularity drives (mini black holes that are spun for energy and propulsion) and a special operative who specializes in diffusing situations where governments are tempted to use those banned causality violating events. A minor backwater world is "invaded" by The Festival, a group of AIs that rain down factories and gifts in exchange for information. This backwater world is controlled by a regional galaxy government that is focused on restricting information and controlling the population. The government decides to take their world back by sending a armada far into the future and then back again in an effort to sneak past the Eschaton's monitoring.

The books set in this universe are a bit harder to read. They are set in a far different world and a lot of time is spent describing it. The story feels choppy and will burst forward with lots of stuff happen and then halt to describe an aspect of the world. The story when it is moving is interesting but that when it stops it just is painful. The characters are fun and interesting as well as some of the science aspects.

Iron Sunrise is the sequel to Singularity Sky. You have our two intrepid policing agents again but are introduced in more detail to Herman (a non-present character in the first book) and Wednesday, a teenage girl who has lost her home planet and feels the outcast in her surroundings.

Another of the pockets of humanity is suddenly destroyed setting off a set of events involving 40 year bombs and terrorism of populations. Rachel, Martin, and Wednesday must stop the new Aryans (ReMastered Race) from destroying the many lives and worlds protected by the Eschaton.

Yup that is pretty much it. The story is as engaging as the previous book while going a little deeper. The major pain is the beginning of the book which is terribly disjointed but this soon fades away as the story picks up and we engage with the characters and find out more to the mystery of who the ReMastered are as well as more about Herman as well. If you could get through Singularity Sky, then you will probably enjoy this one more, just fight through the slow beginning.

Snippet

2009-08-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Went to michigan. Saw friends and family. It was fun. Came home. Got sick. Not fun. Otherwise terribly busy.

Movie Review: Dorkness Rising

2009-07-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Recently watched a "Nerd" movie called, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. Basically it follows the work of a DM/Writer trying to put together a test campaign with a group of guys at the local game shop. Needless to say that it picks up at the most recent attempt at the campaign and it ends in the death of the party. There is a suggestion to add more people than just the 3 guys currently playing so they grab one of the guy's ex and end up with a NPC as well since they could not find a fifth.

The story takes place both in the real world as well as in the game world. The special effects work is kept fairly light. The acting is a bit over done at times but really works in poking fun at some of the weird moments that happen when people game together. The characters are generally likable and you get conflict at multiple levels. It's hokey but altogether fun as well.

If you like card or board games (new style) or read books of a fantasy slant, this you will probably enjoy this movie. It is a niche movie that fills the role nicely.

Book Review: The Difference Engine

2009-07-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling was an interesting alternative history book. After reading Pattern Recognition, I was not sure if I would like this book, but it was shown to be one of the highly recommended science fiction works. I believe this falls under the steam punk genre, but really I am not an expert in genre definition. There is steam, but not so many punks.

The world of The Difference Engine is set in and around 1850 Britain after Charles Babbage and the mental elite have setup a meritocracy in England around the enterprise of their steam powered computation machines. The United States do not exist other than in a pocket of the Northeast, except for the Manhattan Commune. The South is it's own country along with Texas. Germany is a scattered set of nation states and Britain and France are deep allies.

The story is centered around 3 main characters that have come into contact with a set of punch cards, but the story is not really about those cards (or if it is, I start worrying about the depth of story). The story starts with that of a fallen woman, whose father lead an anti-technology movement but was executed for those beliefs. Next you follow a paleontologist who is attempting to navigate the world of Britain's savant aristocracy. Finally you follow a British spy who is primarily interested in keeping the world that Britain has created and cultivated in existence.

The most interesting thing for me was the section around Thomas Mallory, but I really liked the special policeman that is assigned to help keep him safe and protected. The story is meandering and seems to just hint at these menaces hovering at the periphery. His portion of the story takes place during the most overt of the conflict, the rising up of the communist ideals against the meritocracy.

Overall this has been under consideration by some of my friends as must read science fiction. I don't think I would do that, but it is something that I can recommend as fun reading.

Sleep Stomach

2009-07-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

Week did not go quite as I would have liked. I ended up with the stomach flu during the week which when coupled with the amount of work I am trying to get done, does not make it any less stressful. Miranda has decided that sleep is also optional making it optional for me as well. Well that was only last night. The night before she slept 12 hours. So overall I guess I can't complain other than I stayed up late the night she slept and then she stayed up the night I wanted to sleep. 7 hours sleep total for the weekend.

Finished reading The Difference Engine by Stirling and Gibson. It was good and I will likely put up a full review soon.

Um, that is it...

EA... NCAAF 10

2009-07-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Ok... I just got a note that basically says you can unlock anything or start with an advantage by bribing EA. Seriously.

Want to start Road to Glory mode with a 5 star DT or DE? 100 points (or 50 cents) will get you what you want. The same can be said for DB, WR, RB, LB, and QB.

Ok, so you can spend a little dough and get a head start on your first person football mode. No big deal, it's only 50 cents. At least Dynasty mode is pure... right?

Nope.

Adding new pipeline states is crucial for adding good players and it is normally hard to get, but now can be easily had for 150 points. Unlock new promises will also make it easier to recruit and set you back 180 points. For another 150 points, you can get bumps to your pitches which also boosts your ability to sell on recruits. How about a recruiting advisor to help with your decsisions for 120 points (I do find this to be the least offensive). Or maybe you want to know what your rival teams are focusing on recruiting for 120 points.

Want to download team rosters? 800 points ($10) will unlock all the team building and downloading slots.

Between seasons, you want to keep the best and train them up. Spend a little bit of points (180) to always max out your training. Or maybe you want a boost for retaining them for their senior year for 180 points.

Your stadium can give you an edge. Why not give that a boost too for 120 points.

But why go ala carte? Grab the whole set for 1000 points (or roughly $12).

Someone paying to cheat at games is not really new. Some folks just want to win more than to experience the challenges. That isn't what is really frustrating about this. What is a joke is that if you want to compete online, you will need to buy these packs as the folks you will play dynasty against online will have these.

Happy Anniversary

2009-07-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

8 years. Doesn't seem that long ago really. But we have been out here just shy of 4 years. Miranda is over 3 years old. I guess there are years and events the fill the time, but it all really doesn't feel that long ago.

Michelle, when I married you, I had no doubt that you would be able to make me happy. I only hoped that I could do the same for you. Today I know that you have made me happy and that the reason the years have seemed short is because I have enjoyed them so much.

I am glad you are back from Michigan. I am glad we could have some thai food with friends. I wish the chocolate cake thing had been better, but experimenting with baked goods is always asking for trouble. I hope you like the coffee grinder, cause I think the copper sculpture is pretty.

Happy Fourth of July

2009-07-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Also happy First of July for Canadians. July has come in with a little bit of heat. The warm weather is right up some people's alley, but not so much for me. I like things to be on the cooler side. Spent this year's Fourth playing some Munchkin Booty with some friends on ours. I couldn't scrape together a win but it was still fun. Made some lunch of grilled chicken wings which turned out good as well as throwing some walla walla onions in with asparagus in tin foil for the grill. Messy but good.

Lately I have been pretty busy with work but have managed to squeeze in some time to game. Finished Saints Row 2 recently with Ish. A ridiculously fun game. It is completely over the top criminal behavior that just runs to the crazy side. Add a dash of co-op and you have a really great time. Graphics are good and the game play is straight forward. Plenty of side missions/activities to go with the main mission so there is always something to do. Pretty much all I have left is some races, the DLC and some online...

Also finished Heinlein's "Have Spacesuit - Will Travel". Very typical R.A.H. juvenile. I enjoyed it. Next looking at the Difference Engine by Sterling and Gibson.

Also recently got to try some new card games. First up was Anima. This is a card game that attmepts to mimic a JRPG. You control a party of characters that are out to save the world from a great evil, but you are racing other parties trying to save the world as well. One wonders if you should be competing to save the world? But the game is fun and the mechanics are pretty simple and neat. You have an initial mission that has you exploring the world and having random encounters in order to build your party and also complete that mission. Once that is done, you uncover the final mission and attempt to complete that. Ben and I have been working on some slight variations and found some pretty neat ideas for extending the game (base play is about 40 minutes) and also making it a bit more dynamic. It does has some balance flaws around party size and how quickly you can get to full party, but overall I can recommend it.

The other game is Arkham Horror. I went searching around for a board or card game that you can play in a co-op fashion. The adversarial games are just rough on me as they generally make Michelle pretty upset which means I lose arm hair. This one is pretty dark in that you and a group of friends trying to stop and ancient unspeakable horror from destroying the land. So far, Ben and I have only given it a single pass which took about 5 - 6 hours. And we lost. But still had fun in the process. I am definitely looking forward to trying it again and hopefully with more people so that we actually have a chance at clearing out the baddies.

Also, please can it rain? Although with Ish coming out to visit, I think we are guaranteed some rain. :)

Ahh Father's Day

2009-06-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

First going to start off with a thank you to my Dad. More than just supplying me with about 50% of my genetic material, you have instilled in me a set of values and priorites along with a strong sense of respect and responsibility that I appreciate.

I tried to get Miranda to draw with me and make a Father's day card for grandpa, but no luck. For the first time ever, she totally didn't want to draw. So bizarre. My Father's day has been uneventful. I like it that way honestly. Michelle and Miranda were kind enough to pick up a Lego video game for me as well as picking up Munchkin Booty, the Pirate Munchkin game. Woot! Now just have to set aside some time to try both out. It is a little hard to play card games with Miranda but we'll get there someday. Michelle and Miranda were playing "Go Fish" the other days with some adjusted rules. Basically creating a matching game out of it with the cards face up.

Miranda is getting better with her letters. She can recognize a bunch of them when she sees them. She loves her Thomas the Tank Engine flash cards with one side containing the letters and the other side containing one of the trains or some train related item. School is out for her so she can enjoy more time with Mom.

Recently finished Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. Will have to do a write up on that one. Game wise, I have been playing Last Remnant and Saints Row 2. Mostly just doing some cleaning in my free time though.

Book Review: Team of Rivals

2009-06-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

This book took quite a bit of time to get through. It tells the story of the Lincoln administration during his terms as president. It goes through the political and personal histories of those involved and then plots how they worked together during those years. The book is well written. I enjoyed how the chapters were put together. The first few chapters talked about the individual people at the same times in their lives (as the members of the cabinet were of different ages, you could not have the same time period). As we got closer to the time of the presidency though you saw the timeline grow together. Each chapter would contain multiple 2-5 page sections that generally focused on a single issue or individual. This shortness lead to it being relatively easy to read, but at the same point, it didn't really give you a ton of depth.

The story of the Civil War and the time of Lincoln are known by all Americans, but it is well told in this volume. I recommend it just for one of the main points of the book, which is through differences of opinions and open discussions can we achieve the best possible results. Lincoln's cabinet was made up of individuals from both sides of the issues and it was through discussion and disagreement that some of the best policies and execution of those policy existed.

Visited Michigan, picked up the flu

2009-05-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

Ug.

So two weeks ago was my friend, Jim's, wedding. I was part of the wedding party show I flew in a couple of days early and helped Jim and Heather put together the wedding, keep everyone sane, and just hang out with my best friends from high school. As usual, sleep was not a huge priority.

I arrived and AY picked me up from the airport in Lansing. We grabbed some pizza and beer while at the Crystal. Talked video games (Fallout 3), Red Wing's hockey, and just caught up. Aaron was my best man in my wedding, but we just haven't kept in contact like we should. I am going to endeavor to do a better job of that going forward. Finishing the night we played some hockey when Jim got home.

The next day was the bachelor party. Jim's favorite activities are golf and poker so that was the plan for the day. Five of us heading about 40 minutes out of time to golf. Two of us had never been golfing before so it was bound to be an interesting day. Poor AY got stuck with the two of us who had never golfed while Jim and the best man, Rob, headed out ahead of us. Jim and Rob were able to make it through all 18 holes while the 3 some were only able to get through 9 holes. Wow do I suck. After that, we hit Legends where Jim and I each bought a box of football cards hoping to score the latest rookie sensation as an autograph or piece of Jersey. Either way, we both drew blanks on this one. Ouch. Which left us with perfect time to head over to a charity poker tournament. Jim did best of any of thus ranking 7th, but was not able to get his draws. I was first out, but again this was a first for me and I got a little bit anxious when I had a couple of decent hands and then those. We finished the evening with a little two on two hockey. It was a lot of fun.

We all spent the next day getting things for the wedding finished up. Heather's sisters were running the decorating of the reception hall with Rob and AY. Jim and I went to pick up the tuxes and also pick up a bunch of other random things we needed from party stores and the like. Afterwords was the rehearsal and dinner, which was some phenomenal food. And then back to the hall for some final touches to the reception hall.

The wedding itself was very pretty. The bride looked stunning. The groomsmen looked bored. The maid of honor looked ready to get the show on the road. There were lots of folks at the wedding and reception and it all went well. Only one minor glitch which was the loss of the ringbearer pillow, which in the tradition of something going awry at a wedding is a pretty light one. Photographs before and after the wedding which I am still waiting to see. Reception started a bit later than we wanted with the amount of photos and travel time. Jim was a little disappointed with the reception. I am sure he pictured it being the big party of weddings past. I thought it was a good reception, but it was not a huge extravaganza. Memorable moments for me was when Jim sang a song for Heather, as Jim did such an excellent job on it, and also as all the groomsmen ditched their shoes for something more comfortable.

When it was was all over, basically we had the wedding party and Jim's parents cleaning up the hall. It took till pretty late. Jim, Heather, and Rob headed off for Detroit as their flight to Aruba was the next day, while AY and I headed to Stevie's hotel to crash before my flight out the next morning. 1 hour of sleep and sitting next to someone coughing probably led me to my last two weeks of sickness, but it was a trip well worth it.

Book Review: Line War by Neal Asher

2009-05-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

To follow up on my previous post on the Ian Cormac series. I recently received the final book in the series. I was a little miffed that it took so long to move across the Atlantic ocean to arrive here in the States, but it did finally arrive.

I am currently in the middle of reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and was about to take a trip to Michigan for a wedding. I really didn't feel like lugging around this huge volume and decided it was the perfect opportunity to read a little pulp.

Line War is set in the same universe where AI's control humanity. Rather than seem like evil controlling dictators, they come across benevolent gods working to help humanity and themselves along. The Polity (the AI/human government) is threatened over the series of books by Jain technology which is from a 5 million year dead society. This technology has the ability to aid, corrupt and control any organic intelligence it touches. The final chapter in the saga has Ian running around the universe trying to solve the mystery of why a Jain/Rogue AI combination has been seemingly random attacked multiple Polity worlds while his lover Mika is working with an alien organic construct known as Dragon to hunt down the source of Jain technology and perhaps find what happened to the Jain themselves.

It is tempting to ruin the end of the story. I didn't find this book to live up the expectations set by the series. Ian Cormac, the unflappable super agent, is seen just hopping around on a wild goose chase through the entire book. You are introduced to a character in Randle Fiddler who you don't know if you should trust or not, but then the author gives it away a couple of chapters later. I know by the end that he did it for other interesting dialogues he wanted to told, but overall it degraded the stories possibilities. Mika who you originally see as a pure human who is cold and analytical, slowly becomes this scared creature that is not completely likable. In the end, the book degrades down to a common conspiracy theory and collapses to an endless struggle against power and corruption.

That all said, if you have invested time in the first four books which were all quite excellent, you will likely go in for this one, but realize that it is the weakest of the series.

Visitors

2009-05-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

It was nice to have some visitors this week to play with Miranda and give us some adult conversation. My parents came into town for a week and they were able to help us get straighten out and entertain Miranda too. It was quite nice. Weather in Seattle was decent. We had a couple sunny days but mostly it drizzled. Temperatures were generally pretty nice for this time of the year. Unfortunately things have been a bit busy for me at work so I didn't get to spend to much time with them. Maybe the next time I see them in August will work out better.

Miranda seemed to have fun. She has mentioned them a few more times today but most of it Michelle and Miranda were down in Kent wandering around. I stayed home and did some more work. I haven't really talked about my reading of late. I picked up a couple of books that I wanted to try.

1) Rendezvous with Rama. Great book from a master author. The story is a bit dry but the concepts and characters speak volumes outside of the written work.

2) Jennifer Morgue. Another fun Charles Stross book dealing with computer technician/demonologist/super spy. This is the second book using this universe and main character. I liked the first one and the second one was fun as well.

3) Pattern Recognition. William Gibson explores a book of brand identity and recognition surrounding a obscure piece of film that is slowly leaked via the internet. I didn't particularly like it. It's pacing felt off and it felt like a very odd blend of low tech, spy-thriller (without the thrills), mystic, adventure. Just didn't really dig it.

4) Blindside. This book about left tackles in football is pretty darn interesting. It tells the story of Michael Oher, a poor boy in a bad neighborhood that through a series of events brought him into a family that loves him and the opportunity to play this vital position. He just happened to the 23rd overall pick in this year's NFL draft. The writing style in the book was enjoyable for me.

5) Freakonomics. Pretty interesting book. Causality and coincidence really call into question certain events and statistics through history. This book takes a view at those events and the data behind it to attempt to find the connections.

6) Team of Rivals. I am currently in progress for this look at Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet. So far, so good.

Lions 2009 Rookie Mini-camp

2009-05-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well I spend some time looking for a list of undrafted free agents and also players trying out for the Lions. I happened to find that "canusaylions" on the comments for Killer's article has posted a list.

2009 Undrafted Rookie Free Agents No. Name Pos Ht Wt Age Birthdate Exp College Hometown
14 Boldin, Demir WR 5-11 205 22 6/20/86 R Wake Forest Pahokee, Fla.
47 Downey, Andrew LB 6-1 231 22 3/9/87 R Maine Kingston, N.Y.
64 Gerberry, Dan C 6-3 302 23 11/10/85 R Ball State Austintown, Ohio
68 Gill, John DT 6-3 302 22 10/28/86 R Northwestern Los Altos Hills, Calif.
1 Waters, Swayze K 5-11 178 21 5/18/87 R Alabama-Birmingham Jackson, Miss.

2009 Rookie Orientation Tryout Players No. Name Pos Ht Wt Exp College
6 Justin Goltz QB 6-5 220 R Occidental
21 Gerald Riggs, Jr. RB 5-11 229 1 Tennessee
23 Antone Smith RB 5-8 191 R Florida State
28 Bradley Pruitt CB 6-1 195 R Northern Illinois
29 Leslie Majors CB 5-9 168 1 Indiana
36 Marcus Demps S 6-0 198 1 San Diego State
44 Marcus Parson CB 5-9 186 R Ohio
45 Johnell Neal CB 5-10 183 R Central Florida
46 Bret White LS 5-11 240 R Georgia Tech
50 Chris Kemme T 6-6 306 R Akron
52 Ben Person G 6-4 302 R Ohio State
53 Cliff Ramsey G 6-6 299 R Boston College
57 Jovan Olafioye T 6-4 321 R N. Carolina Central
58 Steve Jonas G 6-4 307 R Colgate
59 Dylan Thiry T 6-7 328 1 Northwestern
61 Ryan Kees DE 6-5 277 R St. Cloud State
67 Ricky Hope DE 6-1 250 R Texas A&M-Commerce
69 Chris Murphy DE 6-2 284 R Gannon
73 Chris Gaddis C 6-1 300 1 Villanova
78 Marcus Smith DT 6-2 260 1 Texas A&M-Commerce
80 Ernest Jackson WR 6-2 215 R Buffalo
83 Sean Bailey WR 6-0 184 1 Georgia
89 Will Judson WR 5-7 162 R Illinois
90 Daniel Holtzclaw LB 6-1 242 R Eastern Michigan
98 Spenser Smith LB 6-1 237 R Eastern Michigan

Draft 2009 Lions grade

2009-04-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have to say this is a failure of drafting. I am pretty sure the Lions will grade out as one of the worst 5 in terms of their picks. At least the Raiders seemed to have been a bit more boneheaded.

Matthew StafFORD: Didn't want it to begin with even though we all saw it coming at least 2 to 3 weeks ago. This is drafting to put butts in the seats. Could he be Chuck Long, Andre Ware, or Joey Harrington?
Brandon Pettigrew: A TE? TE? Oh no. With so many other glaring needs and good players you can't do thing. I know there are teams that love to draft purely on their board. Highest rated no matter what. But what if he is graded at a 87 while there is a 85 linebacker and you need linebacker? Or a 83 OT and you could use some help on oline?
Louis Delmar: Love the fact he is from Western. Doesn't mean that this is something that we need. How many safeties have we drafted the last few years? Aren't any good enough to start? Again, there were a lot of great players still sitting on the board in places of needs.
DeAndre Levy: Finally a need . . . wait a second, we need middle linebacker as will and sam are well covered. Ok, maybe a depth pick? Maybe can slide him in at middle? This one isn't so bad. First pick I am not angry about.
Derrick Williams: A WR/KR/PR. Probably won't be high in the receiver core that could use a solid second, or a slot receiver that could be second with some growth. But this could work out. Ok, not angry here, but still not happy.
Sammie Lee Hill: Big, beefy, strong, raw D-lineman. I am happy here. Don't know if it will pan out but we are starting to add some folks that are a better bet.
Aaron Brown: RB/WR/KR/PR? Seems to be a special teams pick in the 6th round. Not sold at all on this pick. Not sure what the need is or what they are trying to do with this.
Lydon Murtha: Happy day. I think this is a great place to pick up this offensive lineman. I think he has a lot of the tools to be productive in the rotation right away and maybe earn a spot over time in the starting of a position. Big and strong.
Zack Follett: Again, happy with this pick. Was productive in college and will be able to contribute to the Lions. Starter? Not so sure, but I am sure he will provide a boost to special teams.
Dan Gronkowski: I don't get this at all. But this is the second to last pick.

So there we have it. I would give this a D+ grade. Addressed needs late. Picked questionable talent early. Feel worse about this draft than the last 5, so maybe it is a good one, or just exceptionally bad. I do look forward to seeing if they can get their hands on some good undrafted free agents or maybe grab Leroy Hill but who really wants to play for the Lions if they can help it. I wish this team would win, cause each year hurts. My current wish is for them to win a game early so we don't have to hear about the increasing number of consecutive losses they are piling on the record. Great free agency, poor draft. Let's see how this pans out.

Go Lions.

Draft bomb

2009-04-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

Probably my worst set of picks ever. The more I try to research the worse I do. Either way it is for fun, but what wasn't fun was watching the Lions pick. Fine, I can accept the fact that they picked Stafford first. I am not thrilled about it, but whatever. However the tightend pick of Pettigrew leaves me scratching my head. I am sure that he is going to be a good TE but a good TE isn't going to help us that much. Why didn't we get a OT or LB? What about DT or DE? Shoot, why not move back? As for Delmas at 33, fine. You need safety, I like Western Mich, so this is probably a good fit. Not sure if there was a better safety or position player. That said, I thought they would have went with Rey Maualuga or Laurinaitis, or Ebon Britton or William Beatty.

So that I can look back and see if I can pick talent, I will record who I would have picked at these spots.

1) Eugene Monroe

20) Rey Maualauga

33) Jarron Gilbert

There you go. Let's check back in 2 years.

Draft 2009 revised

2009-04-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Watching the analysis for the draft this morning is painful with everyone laughing at the Lions.

Detroit Lions: Matt Stafford. It's a done deal. I don't think this is going to work out for the Lions. If we are patient, this may eventually work up, but I don't have a good feeling about it. Maybe they will trade him...
St. Louis Rams: Eugene Monroe. While they need WR and OT and could use Curry over at SLB, I think they will address some core QB protection with someone that can come in day one and start. Jason Smith is likely to need some more technique work before he can start.
Kansas City Chiefs: Brian Orakpo. I thought the Broncos would make a move for this position, but the more I thought about it, the more this didn't feel like something that team would do. I see the Chiefs picking a guy that will fill a role and is a strong talent for the position.
Oakland Raiders: Michael Crabtree. Hoping to make a splash and add an offensive weapon for the QB Russell, they step up and grab to top rated WR in the draft before the Browns or Bengals can grab him.
Cleveland Browns: Aaron Curry. Cleveland will try and shop this pick around with Crabtree off the boards, but there will be too much desparation and they likely won't get a bite on this one.
Cincinnati Bengals: Jason Smith. Shocked that he has dropped to here and in need of more protection for Carson Palmer, they grab some raw talent and plug him in right away.
Seattle Seahawks: Malcolm Jenkins. Looking for a combination SS/CB, the Seahawks will grab one of the larger presences in the draft for this position.
Jacksonville Jaguars: B. J. Raji. Looking to regain their status as one of the top defenses, they bulk up on the D-line to give them more power and run stopping ability.
Green Bay Packers: Tyson Jackson. With the move to 3-4 defense, the Pack will need to brack a tall, athletic DE that will help move the running lanes and press the line.
San Francisco 49ers: Mark Sanchez. I said before that the 49ers wouldn't pick a QB here, but I think they might go with Sanchez if he falls to here, they might just take a shot on him.
Buffalo Bills: Andre Smith. With Peters on his way to the Eagles, the Bills need to bolster their offensive line and will grab the best OT available on their draft board.
Denver Broncos: Everette Brown. The Broncos will go with the developmental QB late in draft ala Tom Brady and Cassel. Instead they wll go with a defensive lineman.
Washington Redskins: Michael Oher. Not so sure on this one. Doesn't seem like the thing Snyder would do, but this is definitely a need for their team.
New York Jets: Robert Ayers. A large powerful DE for Ryan's 3-4 will entice the Jets to move up a few slots to make sure they get him.
Houston Texans: Peria Jerry. Saw them trading down as the Lions would want a big name OT, but at this point I see them sitting tight while the Texans use their pick to bollster that line.
San Diego Chargers: Jarron Gilbert. Losing Igor will hurt a bit less by grabbing this potential 3-4 end.
New England Patriots: Brian Cushing. The Saints will trade back a second time to pick up even more picks. New England will move up to bolster their LB crew that they have lost in trades or are aging.
Denver Broncos: Rey Maualuga. Filling in some defensive holes in
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jeremy Maclin. They need a WR. Pretty good bargain at this point.
Detroit Lions: Clay Matthews. I thought about writing in Josh Freeman here, but that would just be silly. Although I would have preferred them picking up Pat White in the second or third round. I would also like to see them grab Alex Mack here. Instead I see them grabbing Clay Matthews here to bolster the D. I question if they put in in the MLB position or not. Instead I could see them moving him to the Dline.
Philidelphia Eagles: Knowshon Moreno. With Brian Westbrook getting older, look for someone they can bring in to be that speed rusher they like to use. Also fits the Westbrook mold of a multipurpose back.
Minnesota Vikings: William Moore (SS). Looking for a ballhawk to sit out in the middle to help their defense out.
New Orlean Saints: Sean Smith. Bolster that secondary that is seeing some age. Don't make Brees win a shoot out every game.
Atlanta Falcons: Sherrod Martin. Look for them to pick up a CB after losing their best one in free agency. Has played FS more often than not but could make the transition.
Miami Dolphins: Connor Barwin. Adding a rushing OLB to help Joey Porter out and give some rest to the aging LB.
Baltimore Ravens: Vontae Davis. While the Ravens need help with the Linebackers, I see them picking up Jasper Brinkley later on to fill that role. So they will grab up Davis to help with their CB line earlier. They could grab a big DE but those will be available later on as well.
Indianapolis Colts: Brian Robiskie. With Marvin gone, there is still a need for a big possession type receiver.
Buffalo Bills: Aaron Maybin. Look for Buffalo to bolster their d-line. There has been some injuries in the past season and surprisingly Maybin will still be available. Or maybe not surprisingly.
Arizona Cardinals: Alex Mack. Technically you could say the Giants pick Anquan Boldin, but either way it will be the Cardinals pick here. My guess is that they are going to use this bonus pick to bolster that front line to help protect their QB dinosaur.
Tennessee Titans: Ziggy Hood. Haynesworth? Do we need him? Maybe, but this should be a good pick here.
Arizona Cardinals: Chris Wells. Look who slides to the end of the first round. Maybe I am just picking on Ohio State... maybe I think injuries and recovery has been an issue for him. But the Cards are looking for a tandem running back team with Hightower.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Ebon Britton. They will try to pick up someone to stop their QB from continuing his trek to achieve permanent brain injury. Likely to move Ebon inside to G to bolster the run game as well.

Forgot to mention about Miranda...

2009-04-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

She had her yearly check up and she is healthy. 37 inches and 30 pounds.

NFL Draft 2009, what may be...

2009-04-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Most folks would find the NFL draft to be boring and a waste of time. However for football fans, it has been turned into a spectacle, an extravaganza of future opportunity and non-stop highlights. As part of my tradition, I attempt to gaze deep into the crystal football and see what will happen. It is an impossible endeavor to attempt to see what they see as we don't have all the access to what they are looking at. From the combine, to private workouts, all the way to stalking the athletes using social websites, scouts are looking for the edge to tell them whether they have a star or a bust. This year, I also have the pain of watching my team go number one. I keep hearing that this year is a weak year in terms of talent, but I don't believe the hype. Not everyone can decide to stay in school another year to avoid being drafted by the Lions. In general, you can't evaluate a draft class until years have passed. What makes a good college player doesn't translate directly to the makings of a great professional player. At least this is what I keep telling myself, because likely the Lions will be shelling out $37 million in guaranteed money and probably running about $60 million in the end for the first pick and this could seriously put a damper on finances if you have a bust. Even a guy not making the pro-bowl earning this type of dough is a bit of a bust.

This year, I am going to try and do this a bit different. I always try to take a look at what trades happen, but end up just filling out my draft prediction without them. This time, I will see what I can do in predicting those as well.

Detroit Lions: Matt Stafford. I don't see the Lions picking one of the other slots. I think the draft is deep enough at OT to pick up one later. I think LB is also pretty deep as well. I don't know if he is a blue chipper, but we need one for the long haul.
St. Louis Rams: Eugene Monroe. While they need WR and OT and could use Curry over at SLB, I think they will address some core QB protection with someone that can come in day one and start. Jason Smith is likely to need some more technique work before he can start.
Denver Broncos: Mark Sanchez. This I really see as the first trade. I am not sure what they will offer besides swapping first round picks, but Denver is going to make a move to get a QB with Cutler gone and I see them making the move before Seattle can potentially try and draft a QB. If this doesn't happen it will be McDaniel's being upset with the Cassel trade.
Oakland Raiders: Michael Crabtree. Hoping to make a splash and add an offensive weapon for the QB Russell, they step up and grab to top rated WR in the draft before the Browns or Bengals can grab him.
Cleveland Browns: Aaron Curry. Cleveland will try and shop this pick around with Crabtree off the boards, but there will be too much desparation and they likely won't get a bite on this one.
Cincinnati Bengals: Jason Smith. Shocked that he has dropped to here and in need of more protection for Carson Palmer, they grab some raw talent and plug him in right away.
Seattle Seahawks: Malcolm Jenkins. Looking for a combination SS/CB, the Seahawks will grab one of the larger presences in the draft for this position.
Jacksonville Jaguars: B. J. Raji. Looking to regain their status as one of the top defenses, they bulk up on the D-line to give them more power and run stopping ability.
Green Bay Packers: Tyson Jackson. With the move to 3-4 defense, the Pack will need to brack a tall, athletic DE that will help move the running lanes and press the line.
San Francisco 49ers: Jeremy Maclin. Isaac Bruce is not getting any younger and the 49ers could use a raw speedster to add the receiving core. There are other needs, but the 49ers are not likely to grab another 1st round QB and ROT can wait till round 2.
Buffalo Bills: Andre Smith. With Peters on his way to the Eagles, the Bills need to bolster their offensive line and will grab the best OT available on their draft board.
Kansas City Chiefs: Rey Maualaga. The Chiefs need to bolster their LB corps even though they have acquired a few in free agency as those have been on the older side.
Washington Redskins: Everette Brown. Don't expect the defensive spending to stop for Mr. Snyder. He is boning up the d-line to add the supporting cast to make his major acquisition look the star they paid him to be.
New York Jets: Robert Ayers. A large powerful DE for Ryan's 3-4 will entice the Jets to move up a few slots to make sure they get him.
Detroit Lions: Michael Oher. Lions will make the trade that the Texans want as Detroit will want to grab a top tier OT before he goes to San Diego.
San Diego Chargers: Peria Jerry. They need help filling up holes on the defensive line created by age and player attrition. While picking up a powerful end, those are few and far between. I expect them to grab Peria who could play either spot depending on how they develop him.
New Orleans Saints: Brian Cushing. A lot of money would be needed here to pick up another RB in the stable for New Orleans. Expect them to grab one is the 3rd round with the pick they grab from the Jets (or perhaps Thomas Jones).
Denver Broncos: Jarron Gilbert. With the switch to 3-4 (which is common this year) there is going to be a strong demand for that style DE. I think Jarron will fill that role for the Broncos.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Darrius Heyward-Bey. Definitely a need for picking up a speedy WR to play opposite Clayton.
Houston Texans: Chris Wells. Look for the Texans to beef up their running back corps to use the 2 back system everyone else is using now-a-days.
Philidelphia Eagles: Knowshon Moreno. With Brian Westbrook getting older, look for someone they can bring in to be that speed rusher they like to use. Also fits the Westbrook mold of a multipurpose back.
Minnesota Vikings: William Moore (SS). Looking for a ballhawk to sit out in the middle to help their defense out.
New England Patriots: Clay Matthews. The Patriots strike gold again on their Linebackers by adding Clay after losing Vrabel and seeing that Bruschi isn't getting younger.
Atlanta Falcons: Sherrod Martin. Look for them to pick up a CB after losing their best one in free agency. Has played FS more often than not but could make the transition.
Miami Dolphins: Connor Barwin. Adding a rushing OLB to help Joey Porter out and give some rest to the aging LB.
Baltimore Ravens: Vontae Davis. While the Ravens need help with the Linebackers, I see them picking up Jasper Brinkley later on to fill that role. So they will grab up Davis to help with their CB line earlier. They could grab a big DE but those will be available later on as well.
Indianapolis Colts: Brian Robiskie. With Marvin gone, there is still a need for a big possession type receiver.
Buffalo Bills: Aaron Maybin. Look for Buffalo to bolster their d-line. There has been some injuries in the past season and surprisingly Maybin will still be available.
Arizona Cardinals: Alex Mack. Technically you could say the Giants pick Anquan Boldin, but either way it will be the Cardinals pick here. My guess is that they are going to use this bonus pick to bolster that front line to help protect their QB dinosaur.
Tennessee Titans: Ziggy Hood. Haynesworth? Do we need him? Maybe, but this should be a good pick here.
Arizona Cardinals: Brian Orakpo. Yet another team moving to the 3-4 and have a need for those type of specialized players. Brian should definitely make that defense even better. However look for them to potentially move down and grab another DE/OLB and a RB to help Hightower out.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Ebon Britton. They will try to pick up someone to stop their QB from continuing his trek to achieve permanent brain injury. Likely to move Ebon inside to G to bolster the run game as well.

Happy Birthday Miranda

2009-04-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well we finished up Miranda's birthday and she seemed to have a good couple of days. Saturday we have a couple of her preschool friends over as well as some of our friends from the "old country". Well make that Michigan. It was a later party starting around 4pm. First the kids did an Easter egg hunt which they had fun with. Some of those kids were fast on the draw. Once all the items were found, we moved inside and the kids made their own mini-pizzas while the adults had some yummy food that we had picked up from Metropolitan Market. The kids then played and adults did what normal parents did which was watch their kids. Miranda had lots of fun and was pretty sad to see her friends leave.

Sunday was Miranda's actual birthday. First thing we did was assemble the Barbie bicycle from Grandma and Grandpa D. She was very excited. Of course she was blaming me for it arriving in a disassembled form. "Daddy broke it." But we got it together only to watch it rain all day. Miranda played cars, trains, and princesses with Mom and Dad all day. Plus we watched Bolt. Miranda definitely thought it was too sad and to scary. She was crying through the back half of the film as Bolt was coming to grips with be ordinary. I thought it was fairly cute.

Mom and Dad got Miranda a big girl bed about a week ago and she has been sleeping in it the whole time. We are pretty happy that she has taken to it so well. It would be really nice if she would stay in her bed while she is getting ready to sleep but she didn't in the crib either.

The high price of being number 1

2009-04-02T12:43:00.001-07:00

Or at least the high price of being the wrong type of number 1. It is nearly time for the NFL draft so this will likely take up more of my blogging time. I did find an interesting article by ESPN's John Clayton talking about time to fix rookie salary structure which explains why having a high draft pick will cripple already bad teams. I specifically want to call out:

To draft Baylor left tackle Jason Smith, Detroit probably must commit more than $11.5 million a year. To draft Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Lions might have to offer $13 million a year or higher because quarterbacks drafted near the top of the draft receive premium deals.

This is so painful and for that reason it cannot be traded. The only thing that could make it worse is if we have this and next year this problem is fixed leaving Detroit with 7 years of crap that no one else will ever have to.

A quick trip to Michigan

2009-03-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Miranda and I went to Michigan. The primary reason was that I had promised Amanda that I would come out for their wedding, but the timing on our end didn't work out. When I found out that she was throwing a party in St. Joe, I decided that I had to go. Plus if I was that close to my hometown, I should grab Miranda to see some family.

We arrived Friday evening in South Bend. My parents picked us up and we grabbed a quick bite to eat, since I was able to keep Miranda fed, but neglected my own lunch. There is a lesson learned. Miranda did have a rough time coming into Detroit. Those big jets really have a pressure differential. The regional jet from Detroit to South Bend went smoothly. Oh forgot to mention that I tried the family security line at Seatac Airport. The security folks there were very helpful and nice, but I did feel rushed because some turkey that was alone was behind me acting impatient. Moron. Also Miranda decided to throw a temper tantrum in the security line because she didn't want her jacket or shoes off.

Saturday spent a lazy morning with Miranda and my parents before scooting to see Chad and Amanda. First off, I had no idea that Trinity Lutheran had acquired another building so I went to the Church first and didn't find anyone. We eventually found the place even though Miranda just wanted to play at the playground. We visited and ate dinner rolls (Miranda's favorite food from the trip) and nursed a meltdown. After all was right, Jaimee, I and the little ones headed over to the playground and the little ones played. It was very cool seeing them play on the slides and whatnot. That night, I dropped off Miranda with my parents and darted out the 5 O'clock bar to meet up with Jaimee, Dan, Amanda, and Chad for a drink and some reminiscing. Overall it was fun. I had totally forgotten that you are allowed to smoke in public buildings in Michigan.

Sunday, we snuck up to South Haven to surprise my grandma. It worked. Grandma was so surprised to see one of her great grand kids. We spent the day visiting and my uncle Tom and cousin came to visit as well. Miranda had lots of fun and was a pretty good girl for the weekend.

Monday we jetted back to Seattle. She did ok for some of the flight, but really it is a long flight and she was pretty tired by then, that she was a brat for the last part of the second flight. I think the hit to the face and then headbutting my face might be what made it pretty bad.

I spent a good chunk of the trip fairly stressed out. It is hard to fly with a 2-3 year old. She needed constant attention and basically is was like working a full day without eating and a deadline looming. We made it back, but I think I am still unwinding from the trip, but I am not doing a good job so far.

Things I learned from the travel:

Carryon bag should be highly compartmentalized for easy retrieval of any specialized gear
Bring items that make security easy. No laptops, slip on shoes for both. Have the jackets off ahead of time.
Bring salty and sweet snacks for the little one.
Bring energy bars for yourself.
Bring a cup that doesn't leak for drinking for the little one.
Book the window seat for the little one. If things work well, you can just change them in the seat without hitting the bathroom.

LASIK after 2 months...

2009-03-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

It has been about 2 months now with good vision. I still have some halos and some dryness, but really haven't been tied to the eye drops at all. So this is what it is like for everyone with good vision. No worrying about contacts or carry stuff to take care of them. No glasses getting wet in the rain. Just waking up to see and seeing the clock in the middle of the night. Of course, I can now see that the shower needs to be replaced. Sigh.

A little while ago, Andrej asked how the eyes are after the surgery. I said tired, but didn't really explain. After the surgery there was about 5 weeks where I didn't get a full night of sleep. I would wake up with painfully dry eyes which would require a round of eye drops. Now it is starting to get to the point where I can sleep all the way through the night.

Right now I am looking forward to my first trip without bringing the contact solution, case, glasses and other misc stuff. Should be easier traveling for that, if only traveling with a 34 month old would be easier too.

Interesting Birthday

2009-03-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my 21 + 10 birthday and lucky me it was square root day (3/3/09). Normally I am pretty much a jerk around my birthday with the intention of folks just to leave me alone. I am not really a fan of them. They come and hopefully go without incident. This year I was supposed to go with Miranda and Michelle to an ice cream social held by her class, but instead found that my old weaselly friend Andy was in town on some Academic business. So Ish and I drove up to the U-district to grab some pizza and drink some beer together. It made me remember some of my more enjoyable college experiences which involved these two friends. However, I did not enjoy the fact that I then had to wake up at 5:45am for work after leaving the U-district around 12:30am. Ouch.

Overall, it was a great time. Minus overly loud bad hip hop music found at one of the bars we stopped by. Man am I getting old.

Most wonderful time of the year

2009-02-28T09:20:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year. It is one of the few times in a year that I can have a little hope that the Lions will come out better than in previous years. So many mornings I find myself with a cup of coffee and view at the recent NFL transactions hoping to gain insight into what my favorite team will do to crush my spirits. I have been watching these huge mega-deals go through and been very thankful that we are not in on those, but that seems to be the way that the new front office operates.

Albert Haynesworth got the fattest deal ever for a defensive lineman. $41 million in guaranteed money, $32 million in the first 13 months, and over $100 over the length of the contract. Whoa, this for the guy playing on a very solid d-line as well as having the honors of a fine and suspension for purposely stepping on another players face that didn't have a helmet on. What a weird world, huh?

Otherwise it is just been very interesting to watch these big money deals come through. I think a lot of the wild spending has to do with the fact that no one knows what will happen next year with the cancellation of the end of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Basically 2010 will have no salary cap unless something can get done soon. That is very sad to me as I think that sports with a salary cap are much more enjoyable to watch.

On the Lions front, they have pick up Maurice Morris, recently of the Seahawks. He is a good second runner. Nothing spectacular for a signing though on such a huge first day of free agency. Right now I am hoping for two signings in particular. The first is to get Khalif Barnes who has proven to be a very solid left tackle and still pretty young. This would be a great addition to the offensive line and allow them to do some shifting to put their best 5 players on the line. The second player is Michael Boley who is a great linebacker waiting for a run stuffing opportunity. I think the Lions could really use that type of player on their D.

But that was only the first day, and this period will last 1 month or so leading up to the draft. Trades are now allowed as well and there likely will be some pretty big trades as some of the new coaches are coming into teams that traded away this year's picks for last year's busts.

NFL Combine and Lions

2009-02-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

The NFL combine is such a weird thing to me. When you are evaluating talent why do you need them to go bench 225lb a bunch of times to see if they are good football players. Why agility drills and the 40 when this is without pads which really isn't going to transfer to real football speed. It is only compounded by special training regiments that are tailored to optimize these athletes to the tests. It is a flawed concept, but I think it has a couple things going for it. First off, it always help identify some flaws in players around professionalism. How they approach this media circus helps give teams a view into how they would approach life as a pro player. Did they come unprepared to the combine? How readily did they pick up the coaching for the Wonderlic or 40 yard dash? In addition the medical physical might be one of the most rigorous they will have.

This two players have been hurt by the combine. The top wide receiver prospect Michael Crabtree showed a stress fracture in his foot. This will probably hurt his stock when it shouldn't at all. If you look at how he played, he is a great wide receiver. The other player is Andre Smith who was one of the top OT prospects. For different reasons from Crabtree, this type of behavior I think is much more negative. Sure, he had a fantastic season where he was the type of roadgrader run blocking tackles in college football, but when he acts selfish and unprepared for his future, I just see a holdout and flop for a short NFL career. And to think this was one of the guys I wanted for the Lions, not so much now.

Now onto the Lions. My friend, Ish, insists we are going to pick a QB with our first overall pick. I insist that we are going to go defense as it seems like the intelligent thing to do. If I had my pick, it would go to probably B.J. Raji and then with the 20th pick, I would try to get a LB like James Laurinaitis or Ray Maualuga. I would also willing accept Alex Mack at center or maybe another offensive lineman with the 20th pick. Please don't screw this up, Lions.

I wish Miranda would use the potty

2009-02-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

Still not potty trained. I think we will have to just drag her into the bathroom every 45 minutes instead of asking her every 30 minutes whether she needs to go. Lately her sleep has been interrupted and it looks like the cause is a molar breaking through.

Neal Asher's Ian Cormac series

2009-02-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

At some point, Amazon started recommending Neal Asher books for me to read. I am not sure which other science fiction book I had read pointed me towards it, but I just kept holding off on buying the books. I was really hoping I could find them in the local used book store to at least try them before paying retail if need be, but I could never find them. Eventually I was out of books at home and needed to order some more so I thought it was about time to give these a whirl.

Currently the Ian Cormac series is at 4 books in the US and one more to come out shortly. This series takes place in a couple hundred years in the future in Asher's Polity universe. The basic concept here is that humans were able to create artificial intelligence and over time these AIs started ruling the humans. This worked out best of humanity as there were much less war occurring because of politics. That isn't to say that everyone happy. This is where Cormac comes in as one of Earth Central's government agents who takes care of little uprising and rogue elements.

These books are spy books. There are plenty of combat situations. There is violence. There are bizarre planets with bizarre life-forms. There is future technology. It has the makings of entertaining reading. The writing is very good and keeps one tied in especially near the end as Mr. Asher has a great way of really building up to a climax.

Gridlinked (Ian Cormac, Book 1) is the first book in the series. The basic story is Ian is an agent that has been in service for a long time and his neural interface has been in too long making him a bit too mechanical to be an agent. The only solution is to turn it off and send him out on another mission, one he is specially equipped for as he was one of the first to deal with the entity known as Dragon and Dragon is back. This book is able to stand on its own, so if you wanted to try out his writing without getting involved in a long series, this is a great way to take it. The remaining books are partly tied together so you are left wanting more once the books are done.

The Line of Polity (Ian Cormac, Book 2) is the second book and looks at another reappearance of a piece of Dragon sending Ian out again. This time you are introduced to a new world ruled by a Theology and a rogue scientist who is intent on resurrecting 5 million year old alien technology that has the potential to make his invincible. In his previous book, the intro to a chapter was like a dictionary telling you more of the world, but in this one you get a super graphic children's book where the soldiers of light are shredded by the local fauna.

Brass Man (Ian Cormac, Book 3) has Mr. Asher returning to one of the villians from the first book in Mr. Crane. Mr. Crane is brought back and you are given a more indepth look at what makes him tick as you explore a world populated by pre-Polity tech humans and a handful of different crazy killer creatures. Once more you find another piece of the Dragon which send Cormac out to hunt again.

Polity Agent (Ian Cormac, Book 4) looks at what happens as this alien technology poses a threat to human and AI alike. I found this book to have the best writing so far as you watch Ian and his regular crew deal with Dragon and Jain technology and how it interacts. This one really left me wanting more though and book 5 isn't available to me yet.

Speaking of wanting more, Mr. Asher has the amazing ability to end every chapter with a segment where you desperately want to know what is going to happen. Every chapter feels this way. Sometimes, I would like to put the book down for the night and it feels like I never ever get the chapter that says you can go take a break now. Another item that I felt a bit put off by is the strange fauna his places on his world. They are always deadly like way more deadly than anything you have seen in a nature show. And the planets seem to only have a handful of species, but that really isn't what the books are about.

Even with these problems, these books tend to fall in the Scalzi or Heinlein camp for me as they tend to be more focused on characters instead of on the technology. Some of the tech is cool and interesting, some feels light and fluffy with little substance behind it. It also only lightly looks at some of the social pressures of the new technology. There is some talk of how AIs are very similar to the humans that initially gave them rise with their individuality, but these seem to be light interludes between the action sequences.

Trips to somewhere

2009-02-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well I started looking at plane tickets and plans today for a pair of trips. Wow, it is hard to figure out things. First up, a friend from high school is having a party post wedding and I would like to head in with Miranda for the weekend. The second trip is just for me as I am heading to my friend Jim's wedding. Since I am in the grooms party, get to show up a bit early and hang out with my best friends from high school for a few days.

I know the days I am thinking of doing, but I have to figure out the timing with my parents to figure out when I should stop by there and when they would like to see me. I am sure it wouldn't be a problem for either, but it is good to check the best time.

Tonight I am just sitting watching Robin Hood with Miranda. The Disney version that is. I don't think it is all that great but Miranda likes it although she runs out of the room at the "scary parts." Michelle has the evening away so just chilling.

LASIK Week 2 and 3

2009-01-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

It has been 20 days since I had LASIK and finally things are starting to feel a lot better. Last week things were clearer and much of the discomfort was gone. This week the vision continues to get even better with less halos at night and just crystal clear visions. The best way I can put it, is that the first 2 weeks it kinda felt like I was wearing old contacts. The vision was definitely dirty and my eyes were uncomfortable. I kept wondering when I could take my contacts out. Now things are super clear and my eyes are starting to feel like my eyes. I can definitely tell that my right eye tear duct plug fell out. That eye lets me know if I haven't put enough drops in.

If you would have asked me about getting this done in the first week after, I would have said it might not be worth it. Now it is totally worth it. It isn't really better vision, just easier vision. That said, I am still using drops about 6 times a day, but mostly in the morning and after any sort of commute.

LASIK: Day 6 and 7

2009-01-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

Well we are over a week past my eye surgery and I was actually started to get worried. I ran into some issues where in the morning my left eye (which still has the tear duct plug in) was dry and painful. I would be able to open it and it would remain sore all day long. So I called the office to see if they wanted to look at it or if there was something I could do. My right eye has been doing pretty good and the eye bruising has started to subside (basically instead of a well defined red blob, it is now starting to drain away so there is still a red tint, but much better looking).

After talking to the doctor, they said that they think I may sleep with one eye partially open and that I should switch to use gel based tears at night. Last night was my first night trying it and the results were generally good. I did wake up in the middle of the night with a dry eye, but it was not painful. I applied more gel drops and went back to sleep.

Really that sums up the last couple of days. My eyes are still dry but the discomfort is decreasing each day. I can't wait till I can wash my eyes thoroughly. The drops leave me feeling yucky, and the splash/pat dry method just isn't cutting it. Also I am still having halos so computer work is still a bit off for me as it makes black text on white hard to read.

LASIK: Days 3, 4, and 5

2009-01-13T17:17:00.000-08:00

Today I went in for my "1 week" checkup. It looks like my eyes are healing nice and the bruising on my right eye is going down. Today is my last day with medicated drops and I can use plain old drops which I see as a huge plus. Just a few more days of wearing the ugly sleeping goggles.

Sunday was spent mostly listening to football. I woke up in the middle of the night with very dry eyes. I got up and put in some drops before heading back to sleep. My vision got steadily better through the day and I noticed that some of the halos around objects were shrinking quite a bit. No really problems other than my eyes are pretty dry but I keep using drops and that helps.

Monday I decided to go to work and try my luck with that. I again woke up in the middle of the night with dry eyes. Again more drops and back to sleep worked fine. The first half of the day my eyes were definitely not happy, but by midday things were getting better. My vision seemed to improve quite a bit through the day as long as I limited the eye strain from computer work.

Today I worked from home. I woke up in the middle of the night, but my eyes weren't dry, YEAH! But when I woke in the morning, I needed a lot of drops just to open my eyes. It's getting better, but taking time. During the day, I am noticing I need less and less drops which is nice and visual halos are now down to just lights and not even all the times. Eye strain is still a concern, but setting times to walk around and look at large objects help.

So far, I am only a few days after surgery and vision is holding steady at 20/20. Things are a bit dry and scratchy but not bad. I still have amazement periodically through the day when I can see without corrective lenses. Definitely would recommend this to people who are tired of contact lenses and the work involved and the limitation and irritation of glasses. If someone is fine with either of these solutions, then don't get the surgery. The convenience is really what is making this worth while.

Lasik: Day 1 and 2

2009-01-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went in to have LASIK corrective surgery for my eyes. I decided to go with Clearly Lasik and they have been very pleasant. To start with I had two pre-op visits. The first one was just to see if I should even bother with corneal thickness and other prescription and shape requirements. That was a go, but I needed to be out of my Rigid Gas Permeable contact lenses for 4 weeks plus 1 wee for every decade I have worn them so 5 total weeks out of contacts and wearing glasses from the mid-90s. Oh well.

First and foremost this is expensive and given that they were playing with my eyes I then opted for all the bells and whistles. Here is a list of their stuff:

Extended (pre-op, LASIK or PRK, post-ops for a year, 1 year free enhancements, $499 enhancements later): $1199/eye
Extended Wavefront (pre-op, LASIK or PRK, post-ops for a year, 1 year free enhancements, $499 enhancements later): $1599
Lifetime (pre-op, LASIK or PRK, post ops for a year, lifetime enhancements): $1399
Lifetime Wavefront (pre-op, LASIK or PRK, post ops for a year, lifetime enhancements): $1399

Extras:

Intralase (bladeless, otherwise making the flap uses a blade): $400/eye
Temporary Tear Duct plugs: $100/eye
Permanent Tear Duct plugs: $150/eye

I opted for LASIK w/ Wavefront w/ Intralase. Basically Wavefront allows for more precise laser signal. Older LASIK had a limit in the diops it could correct for and variation between prescriptions. New technology is more exact. (for more information checkout Wikipedia LASIK)

So I arrived Friday morning at 9:45am for a 10:00am appointment. I filled out my consent forms and headed back to the payment room. Payment was due prior to surgery and day of. Luckily Clearly Lasik is covered by VSP so I got 15% off the bill. After payment, getting some valium, and going over my prescription guidelines (when to take which eye drops) we went back to the relaxation room. Really this is just a second waiting room where they have movies going and snacks available. Luckily I only had to wait about an hour back there before I was taken to the operation room which has a large window where friends and family can watch. Put on some surgical booties and a surgical cap and lay down on a chair. Next step, they lined my eyes up under each machine and made sure everything was set and gave my eyes some numbing drops.

After that they lined me up with the LASIK machine and put on some sort of suction cup for my eye. This was pretty uncomfortable. Let me stress that. When they put the suction on the eye, it must impact the optic nerve as everything goes dark in that eye. Not a big deal, the problem for me is it was not comfortable. It didn't help that I twitched the first time, and it didn't line up well the second time, so it took 3 tries to get the suction on my right eye. Once it is on, you can't see anything out of that eye for about 1 minute. The slid me over to the Intralase machine and it made the microbubbles in my eye for the flap. Next, they did the same thing for my left eye, but that went much smoother but still darn uncomfortable.

Once both eyes were prepped, I found my head under the LASIK machine for the rest of the time (the easy part). The attached another device to my eye to keep it steady. They then flooded it with fluid and peeled back the top layer of my eye where the bubbles where made. After I was lined up you felt gentle puffs of air or water (couldn't tell) and some popping sounds for about 15 to 30 seconds. Next they irrigate the eye again and float the flap back into place. Right eye went well on this round but not so for my left. Either the numbing solution wore off or wasn't good enough because lifting flap made me yelp. With some more numbing solution we were underway and it went very smoothly. Overall time in the operating room was 15 minutes, but really talking 3 minutes total under the lasers. A little check up and plug install and I was sent home.

The rules are you need to keep your eyes closed for the next 8 hours. Optimally you should sleep. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting to sleep. It didn't help that it was now about noon and I really wasn't that tired. Second my eyes HURT. Started out just a slight burn, but it progressed into bad burning and itching. I called the office and they said take some Tylenol PM. I had taking some tylenol earlier as well as my second valium pill. But the Tylenol PM finally kicked in and I slept for a few hours. Ate some dinner, and some more Tylenol and I was down till the next morning.

As it stands, on day one you are taking 3 types of drops at a steady rate. Drops one is the antibiotic which is a breakfast, lunch dinner, bed type drop. Drops two is the anti-inflammation drops which will be a 4 times a day like the antibiotic but is every 2 hours for the first 2 days. Finally, I also have plain old drops that help keep my eyes moist. It is really important to do that or else the flap can dry and lift and that is very bad, so lots of those extra drops.

So now I am on day 2 and I have finished my post-op visit (I have 2 more post-op visits). The result of my first visit is 20/20 vision (almost 20/15). But I still have some blurriness as things heal. Everything after surgery looks like you are looking through a piece of wax. You can't really see. Today I have moments of clarity but lots where it is just cloudy. If you would have asked me yesterday if this was a good idea, I would have said no way. But today things are just getting better and better as the day goes on and I am very happy to see without any lenses (although it does feel like I have lenses in).

Here are some pics:

Day of LASIK before heading out:

Day of LASIK after surgery:

Day after LASIK:

I don't know how many more updates on this there will be. Things are pretty good right now and look to be healing very nicely. I will still need to do drops for a while but I am sure that that won't be forever.

And my question to the Sarcastic Weasel, is if this is the Ferrari?

Eyes, Football, and Free Apples

2009-01-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

First off wanted to say thanks to Skidge for the apples. When they moved to Germany they dropped off a bunch of food. Well yesterday, Michelle, Miranda and I went do see Cory and Mike before they head off to San Jose and Michelle whipped up some apple crisp from the frozen apples. Yum! Plus it was fun to just get out of the house and talk to other adults. Miranda wasn't quite on her best behavior though but the sight of new animals usually sets her going. Mater and Oliver were quite friendly and adorable.

Only a few more days till I have Lasik done. I am definitely looking forward to not needing corrective lenses again. The nurses and doctors kept mentioning that your vision will not be better than what you have with corrective lenses. I don't care about that, what I care about is not having to deal with contacts and solution anymore. To be able to shave my head without tipping my glasses to shave by my ears. To be able to see the numbers on my clock would be awesome. Wearing glasses tends to give me a bit of a headache and would be glad to have that gone as well. Now my concerns are how quickly can you heal from the surgery. First and foremost really worried about recovery and what I am allowed to do during that period.

Football... well at least the Lions went out and started to clean out their front office. Oh wait, they didn't. So I bought my NFL jersey per my statement. Bought a John Standeford Jersey as he just happens to wear number 16. I could have done custom, but felt it meant more to have an actual player jersey from the season of infamy.

Also along the lines of football:

Dear NFL Operations,

I am married with a child and designating two days for football just doesn't allow me the family time I need. Since you are playing 4 games, why not use the normal slots you have available. Sunday at 1, 4, and 8 and a Monday night game would give you those options. Of course limiting NFL to a cable network would be a bad decision, so work with the ESPN parent company and get it played on ABC.

Thanks,

Aaron

Week 17: a little family, mostly football

2008-12-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

Why haven't I posted in over a month? Am I channeling Princess? Nope, it just turns out that I have been busy. First we had to clean the house and reorganization of stuff. The my parents and brother came out for a visit. After my parents left, I made sure that I wouldn't have any more children. Then my brother stopped by for one last weekend and now I am here. It was good having family visit. It nice for the extra hands with Miranda. It is nice seeing family.

But what I want to complain about is the Detroit Lions. I sorely wish that they will win today. I don't see it happening. They have not won since their win against the Kansas City Chiefs back before Christmas last year. So now it has been over 12 months since the fans (myself included) have seen your team win. It is different than when the Buccaneers went 24 straight losses since they were an expansion team and had yet to have a firm fan base. You have a large (shrinking) fan base with tons of history. Filling the stands no matter how many losses we have had (minus this year). You have a set of fans that drooling for mediocrity.

So if we lose today, I will buy a Lions jersey to commemorate the occasion. I will make no list of things that the Lions need to do to improve. Why bother? Ford Sr. will do what he always does. He will keep the majority of his front office and grab a weak GM to head the organization. Marinelli will leave as the scapegoat that he desperately wants to be. The curse is a hoax. Its supposed end will not change this organization. Now these are not things I want to happen, just things that are likely to happen.

Godel, Escher, Bach book review

2008-11-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

I knew the book would be interesting when the prologue of the book starts out where the author is looking back 20 years ago when he wrote the book and tries to describe the book. He rambles for a few dozen pages and still doesn't seem to describe it. I think what makes this book hard to describe is that it uses multiple different angles to try and find the point of intelligence or identity. It relies heavily on math but adds in doses of music, art, psychology, and quirky dialogues, in order to describe the idea that self-reference, which breaks many formal systems.

I always lie.

So, is that statement true or false? It is a valid statement in terms of structure, but its inherent meaning in not valid. It can then be put in terms of math where if you create a system where there are a series of functions. Each function is defined by a unique mathematical definition.

f1(x) = x
f2(x) = x * 2
f3(x) = log x
f4(x) = (x + 1) / (x ^2)

Then you create another function g(x) = fx(x). So g(1) = 1; g(2) = 4; etc. But in theory g(x) would exist in the set of function, but because there is no way to write this self-reference.

So how does self-reference apply to intelligence? It is the ability to step outside of a well-defined system and have the symbols necessary to describe the situation.

I do recommend this book to computer scientists and just folks looking for a quirky math book.

All hail our robot masters

2008-11-19T07:58:00.001-08:00

Ok, that was what I once thought. I mean I work for Amazon Personalization which is really about empowering these robotic intelligences. But I have had a change of heart.

ALL HAIL OUR KITTEH MASTERS!!!

As seen on Gizmodo

Brought to you by the letters K, I, and L and the website Vorpal Kitten.

Bailouts

2008-11-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of months there has been quite a bit of talk about various bailouts everywhere I go. Suddenly everyone is an arm chair economist, and I figured it was my turn. Sarcastic Weasel posted an excellent look at the events leading up to the problems. The basic core statement is that any set of stocks or investment not based on some form of production or direct service is really an investment in nothing. And you should really expect to get nothing in return for investing in these things.

So I am really looking primarily at two different bailouts. First is the bailout of the financial institutions. I understand that the government is putting its money into these banks in order to continue to keep the flow of credit intact, but we have seen that this is not what has happened. There is still some credit to be had but most institutions have overreacted and cut credit below levels previous to the current problems. I do have to say, I happy that the government is not buying up toxic assets as this would likely cause some additional problems. I listened on NPR the other day of an individual that had created a company that was creating a market around these toxic assets. This type of company would have made said individual rich, but if folks could invest in this, they would and again you would be investing in nothing.

Instead we see our government buying into stocks in these companies to bolster the assets they have to work with. This is a sound strategy if the company is being run correctly. At least if these companies can recover then the government would gain money back plus more. Hopefully we could pay down the enormous levels of debt that we have with other nations. Some level of debt is healthy, but we are far from healthy. Not all banks and financial institutions made really dumb mistakes, maybe we should invest in these institutions and let them grow as they obviously understand some of what was going on. And then they should honor FDIC commitments for people with the failed banks and then they can reinvest in intelligent companies.

The newest bailout idea for the automotive industry failed, but that is not the last time we will hear about it. The automotive companies are carrying their own form of toxic asset in pensions and health care for employees and retirees. What we need to do is rewrite the rules of retirement. I respect that these companies were creating a package of benefits that would help employees and gain employees given that it was so attractive of an offer. But I don't respect the fact that besides creating package that is not sustainable and they have hidden how poorly these retirement accounts were doing and deferred costs till later dates like last year. These companies are unhealthy and no amount of injection of government funds will make these companies intelligent enough to survive. Why were they not saving money in the good times? Did they even have good times? Right now, not many consumers are spending that type of money and it will be a while before they do.

So what do we do about it? There are millions of jobs at stake. Money spent on these companies will be wasted money, a gain in debt, with no way out. Instead, if you want to spend money, I would create a series of incentives for new industries to to move into the area. You have an area of the country with good access to both coasts, plenty of space and loads of people. What really is lacking is the diversity of jobs to create a stable area. Really you need to create some form of safety net for the folks that's jobs will be lost when these companies fold, instead of helping a company that has no idea how to stay in business and its set of executives.

Executives and socialized health care are big enough topics that are both pertinent hear, but I have avoided for the time being...

Thanks to our veterans

2008-11-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

My thanks to the true citizens of the United States.

Geez oh pete.

2008-11-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Alright, I have been a bit under the weather and so has the rest of the family. After fighting off a round of the common cold, we followed that up with a round of the stomach flu. Everyone is back to healthy though, but just trying to catch up with stuff around the house for the last week or so.

Election was very interesting. Hope everyone voted and voted their mind. I know I did via mail in vote. I am interested right now so see what things get changed in the next 2 months and then see what happens in President-elect Obama's first 6 months. This will be a test of both a Dem legislative branch as well as Dem executive branch.

Really don't like talking politics. That and religion are just fast ways to alienate people and tax friendships.

So, I feel like I should drop some pics and a video of Miranda and call it a post.

Rock Band 2: Gaelic Fishwife on hiatus

2008-10-18T00:18:00.000-07:00

While my friend Ish was staying with me out in Seattle, we created a fake plastic band called Gaelic Fishwife. And now with Ish heading off to complete some testing and look for bigger boats to sail, it had to come to pass that the band needed to be retired. That doesn't mean it is over and we will have some reunion shows whenever he is up for it.

Good luck Ish on your tests, and keep rocking!

Various Game reviews

2008-10-12T10:05:00.001-07:00

Well I haven't been doing many reviews as of late, mostly cause things have been a bit busy. As for books, I have been reading Godel Escher Bach for the last 2 months. It just takes a while to get through it, but I am looking forward to putting up a post about it. I also recently picked up a blu ray player in the Sharp Aquos BDHP21U. I will probably review that as well once I have used it more. So far, I have not been impressed. The menu system is no intuitive and the boot time on it is horrendous.

Rock Band 2

Wow. What an improvement. The basic mechanics of the game has not changed. What has improved is single player mode, calibration, and online band mode. First off the calibration mode is much improved in that now you calibrate the video separate from the audio. It really makes it easier to find your timing while playing when both the video and audio are in sync. The single player mode is essentially band mode. You can go on tours or invite your friends in to help. Also introduced is challenges which are reminiscent of the first Rock Band's single player mode. Complete a challenge to open up more challenges and new songs. And best of all, the online band tour mode which should have been in the first one comes together so well in this release. I got the chance to play with Skidge who is in Germany and everything ran super smooth from my side and it sounded like it ran well on his side as well.

This is the game they should have made in the first place, even when the first one was fun. Get it.

GTA IV

Again, wow. GTA IV is another spectacular installment in the GTA series. The story telling is absolutely fantastic and by the end it really bothered me that the situations I was in, put Nico in such bad situations. The game play is well done. Player control is easily done and combat is very strategic if you want it. The cover system of combat is very well done and just makes it fun. None of the plot missions were painfully difficult. The side missions and support characters are full of flavor and fun. This is however *not* for kids. In fact, I couldn't even do Taxi missions while my daughter is around due to the swearing.

One point that made me a bit upset was in the last mission you are forced to follow the bad guy who is in a boat while you have a dirt bike. I didn't follow the shore, but cut cross country. I was still able to follow the boat, but failed to initiate a game trigger. I did hit the necessary ramp and would hang in midair from a rpg before the game would lock up. I did this over ten times before realizing you could actually follow the shore.

Either way... get the game.

Madden 09

Look it is time for the annual release of a franchise that owns all the licenses to professional sports programs. This was was heading straight for mediocrity in my book. I have played 5 of the Madden games in the last 9 years and in most cases there has been little improvement (which 2kSports was doing some incredible advancements in the few years before the EA lockout). However the dynamic difficulty setup they implemented really has made it very fun. I haven't tried it in multiplayer but in single season of career mode, it really made the games close and challenging. I give this my seal of approval.

Footnote to NFL

Highlights containing the Lions don't really count.

What is the cost of IP loss?

2008-10-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

An excellent article by Ars Technica.

Favorite quote:

In economic jargon, charging anything for pure IP—which has a marginal cost approaching zero once it has been produced—creates a deadweight economic loss, at least in static terms. The actual net loss of IP infringement is an allocative loss that only appears in a dynamic analysis. Simply put, when people pirate IP, the market is not accurately signaling how highly people value the effort that was put into creating it, which leads to underproduction of new IP.

Put down the rusty pipe...

2008-09-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

If you don't read Penny Arcade, I forgive you. It really isn't for everyone.

However, I do feel obligated when there is something noteworthy or even mildly entertaining, to give it a bit of linkage for its contributions to gaming society.

DRM is harming your best customers.

On the firing of Millen

2008-09-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't really said anything yet, as I wasn't really sure what this meant for my sports team. So going into our bye week, the team finds out that their GM has been released. I have seen quite a few different articles but they all seem to take one of two attacks.

1) Bought darn time. Millen has taken a team that was mediocre for decades and transformed it into one of the worst teams in the history of the NFL.

2) Millen is a good guy. Don't grind him into the ground if he couldn't make the team better.

I think that Millen probably is a good guy. He talks straight. He tries to do what he says. The problem is that Millen really isn't the type of leader needed for a large organization. A leader in the NFL needs to know his strengths and weaknesses and then to get folks to help them where they need it.

1) Millen completely fails in identifying talent. Or even correcting this lack ability to find talent.

2) Millen was never in touch with his team. He lived in Philly and commuted into Detroit. If this is not a bad thing, why was there not an effective leader on the ground? Fire the VP of operations and the assistant GM on this one.

3) What is with the hiring process on coaches? Seriously. It seems like they have locked on to a guy and not really evaluating all the options.

There are some other issues as well, but really comes down to an inability to manage the impact of your shareholders (i.e. don't draft Harrington just cause a shareholder says to) as you should know your business and stick to it. The other part is how do you lead from afar?

So now what do we have. The assistant GM and VP of football operations are going to lead through the rest of the year. Stop. These guys should be gone. Get a GM in now. Start interviewing, get hiring. Why? The season is probably a loss. I could be wrong, but everyone is pretty disgruntled in the locker room by the sounds of it. Also that way you can get some folks in, evaluating talent and see what you can get moving before the trade deadline. Also you can get some of the 3rd string players getting some time and see if there is anything down there. Also start dropping some of the folks that don't belong there and take a cap hit early.

Please, if you are going to rebuild, don't waste any time.

Buying Rock Band 2?

2008-09-22T07:46:00.001-07:00

I bought it. It is a huge improvement over the first one. I just saw that there is a deal on it through October so if you are going to buy it, click over to Amazon and get a free 1600 point card so you can get some more songs downloaded.

Rock Band 2 Promo

Sports Fan Divorce Papers

2008-09-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

It just doesn't make sense to me that the Detroit Lions can be doing so poorly. It goes beyond the fact that they are losing, which is bound to happen. Instead is because they lost these games in such a spectacular fashion.

Where does this leave me as a life long fan of the Lions, every year praying that they can start a new path of winning football games. In my lifetime, I have seen a playoff visit (and loss), but otherwise it just painful. This year however might be the worst and we are only 3 weeks into the season.

We have moved to balanced attack and we did have a balanced attack, but you are talking 116 passing yards and 116 rushing yards which isn't going to win you a game unless you have a defense like maybe the Bears or Titans. The defense is just not stopping anything and an offense that is unable to eat any clock to give the defense a chance to rest.

My original guess of 5-11 season is completely off. If I look at the teams that they have to win week to week, I am sure that they are going to lose every game this year, but they will probably win one at the end of the year when some other team doesn't care if they win or lose.

At some point, sports teams are like your family. You can't chose them or divorce them. I got lucky with my family, who are completely awesome, but right now, I feel no pride or love for my team.

ATC: An other girlfriend

2008-09-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

I decided I needed to start another series. I am not sure how many of these I will be able to do as they are completely dependent on my train ride. Hence the beginning of Awkward Train Conversations. I might a side series which would be funny train conversations if ATC doesn't supply enough content.

Across from me sat a rude man and his girlfriend. I call him rude as he would ram his knee into mine and not say anything and also spread out way too much.

Rude man across from me(Rudy): Remember when we went to Greece.

GF: I never went to Greece.

Rudy: I could have swore that I went with you.

GF: No.

Rudy: It must have been a different girlfriend.

Awkward silence...

Phone companies are evil

2008-09-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

Having to prune who I am following (stalking) on Twitter these days. I had set a number of friends that have generally low volumes of tweets per day as ones I would like device updates on. This however did not pay off as my latest bill showed 119 text messages over my 200 text message plan. Not good.

This however got me a little bit upset as I am paying ~10 cents to transmit 160 bytes. I mean seriously.

I think it might be cheaper to send my messages into space.

Bulk August family update

2008-09-06T12:00:00.001-07:00

I actually meant to put this into a couple of posts, but things didn't really work out how I had planned. The middle of August we flew back to Snow-town to go to Michelle's sister's wedding. We spent the first half of the vacation prepping the family house for the sudden influx of 300 people and then spent the last half cleaning up after 300 people. Overall it was good seeing family and taking part if an absolutely gorgeous wedding, but boy was it exhausting.

Rehearsal and Christening Set

Wedding Set

Reception Set

After we got back Miranda came down with a cold. We kinda figured this would happen. That many new people and that much time in airports and airplanes that it was bound to happen. She had a pretty high fever on Saturday with no other symptoms so we called the doctor who recommended an ER trip just to check for Strep. We came out with just a case of the Flu and proceeded to catch the same things ourselves.

Unfortunately this also coincided with my favorite event of the year in PAX. So unfortunately I was only healthy enough to go to one day day. I am pretty upset about it actually. There were some things of note during this year. There were TONS of people, lines were incredibly long. Fallout 3 looked absolutely incredible. I didn't think I would buy it, but seeing it in action (as played by other con goers), I ended up pre-ordering it. Wii Music looks like it has some potential to be fun the way Mario Paint's music creator was fun. Rock Band 2 looks like more of the same, which is to say fun. Guitar Hero World Tour's drum set looks to be on par with Rock Band's, but the singer's display was oddly compelling for me. Dawn of War 2 talk was amazing. It looks amazing and it feels like people who are really passionate about it are working on the title. I missed the Keynote because the hall was full. Wouldn't even let me in the door. Wizards of the Coast had a huge booth that was packed. Bought my required PAX shirt for the year. Overall it was fun.

PAX08 Pictures by Reverend0

Review: Watchmen

2008-08-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

First off, I am not by nature a comic book guy. I have enjoyed the occasional comic book that I have picked up. I have not really read any series regularly. With the upcoming movie for the Watchmen, I decided to take a look at this graphic novel. The trailer to the movie definitely looked interesting, but really what was this all about?

The color and imagery are vivid. The writing is good. The story is mostly good. I am sure that just pissed off quite a few people on that one... that is if anyone reads my entry. The basic premise of the story is you have a world where masked vigilante heroes exist. They are not super in terms of power, but truly super in their desire, drive and training in their fight against evil. This has created a story where many of the pivotal events in our world have changed since their emergence. The cold war is stronger than ever. The US won in Vietnam. Public riots eventually led to the downfall of these masked vigilante's and the public soon began to fear as there was indirect conflict with the police.

As this world unfolds, the story starts with murder of someone and how one masked vigilante, who refused to put away the mask attempts to track down the killer and determine who is behind it and what it all means. It really is a murder mystery/conspiracy tale at its heart.

I found the story excellent through most of it. It created a world that was interesting. At several points in the story, it is told next to the telling of a popular comic of that universe (Tales of the Black Frigate). Where what was happening to the characters in this book were a reflection and sometimes counterpoint to the actions in the tale of the Watchmen. I am sure many comic aficionado's found this as brilliant, I found this ploy difficult to read. And without given away the end, you feel as if you are building to something brilliant and enlightening or terrible and frightening, when suddenly the story twists into something less interesting and oddly like a forced closure. I felt there was more to explore in the world, but it was closed down because of a print limit or disgruntled artists, or some other reason.

I do recommend this to adults. It is a tad on the dark side. Enjoy.

Date Night

2008-08-10T08:34:00.001-07:00

Well, for all my hard work, I was given a gift card at work to take the family out for dinner. Of course we excluded Miranda, instead giving her the treat of running around with a bunch of other kids, since really we wanted the ability to eat a meal and not have to eat as fast as possible cause she is bored.

So on Friday night, Michelle and I went down to one of our favorite restaurants in the area, Salty's at Redondo Beach. Since we had plenty of time, we went about meal at a casual pace. Michelle really wanted the mussels and clam appetizer, we got that. It was steamed and sauced in a wonderful pesto sauce. It was definitely very good. Michelle also got a Mango Alcohol slushie (can't remember the name). For our main course, Michelle got the Salmon with a dill cream sauce and I got the Halibut with tomatoes and capers on asparagus. I thought the dishes were cooked perfectly but were slightly underseasoned. Both of these fish have a strong flavor but need very strong pairings. Still, the dish was very good.

For dessert, Michelle ordered the Triple Chocolate Cake, while I ordered the Ultimate Nudge (coffee drink). My coffee drink was ... potent. The cake was very heavy and dense (and far too large a portion).

Overall, it was very relaxing.

At some point, I am hoping to put together a decent review of the Watchmen graphic novel that I just completed. If I run out of time, I will drop off a half-assed one...

Woodland Park Zoo

2008-08-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I decided to do something I had yet to do with Miranda. A friend from work suggested a daddy and kids day out at the zoo to let the moms get a break. So, Miranda and I made the 30 minute drive into the zoo to meet Jeff and Nathan. I have to say, I was very impressed by the zoo. Yes the animals looked bored, but that is universal for zoos that I have found. You could see though that the staff really tried hard to make things good, though. The worked with feeding and cleaning. They talked to visitors. Overall it was a nice experience.

Miranda explicitly told me, "No Stroller." I should have overrode her, but generally I let her make all the non-critical decisions. This became critical after about 90 minutes of walking and she was getting tired. We had a bit of a meltdown, but really it was a combination of tired, hot, hungry, and thirsty. We got all that remedied when Jeff suggested a nearby mexican restaurant that had awesome quesadilla. Miranda consumed a lot of the chicken and cheese, but avoided the shell.

So I did get some pictures of the zoo. Feel free to look at them.

Useful widget that may make you a buck or two

2008-08-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

Thought I would take a moment to promote the Amazon Page Recommender Widget. First off, as disclosure, I do work for Amazon.com and might have had something to do with the widget. First off, it gets you the power of Amazon Recommendations to try and earn a percentage of the income. On top of it though, will provide recommendations for other pages on your site. Given my traffic here is pretty low, the recommendations for my pages tend to be based on the couple posts before or after the one you are on. It just happens to be how my readers are going through my site. But after crawling through my pages every once in a while something interesting pops up.

That said, if you have a site and an Amazon Associate account, you should try it. Also be sure to check out the helpful FAQ and performance tips.

Stress...

2008-07-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

I hate where I live. I don't know if it because of the economic climate or what, but it feels as if people are getting crazier. A couple months back, at the end of the block, there was a break in. Plus there was a car break in a week later. Lately it has seemed to be quiet, but then I found out that someone had tried to enter one of the vehicles on my property at about 3 am mid-week last week. I also just found out that a neighbor down the block had his gas line on his truck cut to siphon out the gasoline.

The stress of worrying about my family and their safety is starting to get to me. With all this I wonder what I can I do to protect what we have. I can't afford anything better. Is it just Seattle? Is this a city problem? I don't remember this from when I lived in Michigan.

Stupid laptop

2008-07-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Looks like my repair job isn't holding. It is making if awfully tempting to solder the power cable right to the board. Seriously. At this point, I don't really plan on replacing any of the batteries or doing any serious spending on this thing, but there is a point at which the time I am spending making it work is very detrimental to the actual operation of it.

I would prefer to not buy myself a new on. I mean for the primary case which is to remote into another machine, it just doesn't make sense to spend even $100 on a small laptop. Now the next question would be where would one ever find a $100 laptop. So with that, I am pretty sure that I am stuck.

So probably on Sunday, I will rip it apart again (wanted to reattach the touch pad anyway) and try and do a better job at applying the glue. I figure I want to give it one more change before I start cutting wires and breaking out the solder iron. Which also means I have yet another reason to postpone Ubuntu. But that you can chalk up to lazy.

Maybe Ubuntu will wait

2008-07-28T21:16:00.001-07:00

Well, it look's like ubuntu is going to wait a bit before I tackled installation. Reason 1 is that I am still waiting for it complete downloading. That is blazing fast Comcast for you. Pay for "Powerboost" and it takes 28 hours to download 650 meg. Honestly should have take a few hours but seriously... why to I pay the extra.

Second off, part of development effort is taking a look at Microsoft Live Writer and seeing what it would take to put together a plugin that would allow one to add in associate links to their blogs via this tool. It may work out that the current plugin set that is available is sufficient, or that the services available from Amazon are inadequate and those would stop me. But, I think Amazon's APIs will be rich enough and the other plugin's to be good but missing features. The only other thing is that it is likely to take a decent amount of programming time as I am definitely rusty and .NET programming.

My other concern is that I am not getting any sort of funding for this. Many of web development efforts come with the side incentive that I could make some money via Google AdSense or via Associates. I know it is delusional, as I have made a whopping $1 off all of my projects. Granted I don't do many.

Basing this project on many past projects, I give it a 7% chance of survival. Web based projects usually run in the 70% chance of survival, but I guess you do what you know.

Also to be noted I am working on updating my template to support 3 column again. This time without tables. Oh how I hate floating div's.

Downloading Ubuntu for Alienware Sentia

2008-07-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, I bought an Alienware. At the time, Alienware was one of the edgy companies that was producing high performance machines. I ended up buying what was considered their business series laptop, the Sentia. This was really before they started tacking on numbers after Sentia so as best I can tell, it is a model 223. It's not a terribly fast machine, but it did set me back some serious cash and add on to it the problems I have had with it, I really regret purchasing it.

First and foremost the battery for the CMOS has never really worked. It is always dead. This would be less of a problem if the CMOS settings from no power would allow you to even use the laptop. Nope. Everytime I power on, I have to blindly go through the bios settings and restore to defaults as the LCD screen doesn't work otherwise. I would replace it, but the model number on the CMOS battery is non-standard. I could use a CR1220, but this is a ML1220 which is supposedly rechargeable. I am afraid if I use the CR series, it will burst into flames.

Second problem as of now is the main battery is dead. Although the laptop is now roughly 4 or 5 years old... I guess it is to be expected minus I haven't really used it much.

The third problem was one I created. The power plug had gotten kicked at some point and the power connected liked to emit blue sparks or not work on occasion. This with the lack of battery rendered the laptop completely unusable.

However today, I decided that I must restore this laptop to working condition. I removed 25+ screws and multiple panels to expose the inner workings. Wouldn't you know it, I had to disassemble pretty much everything to just get to the power connector. When I got there I was expecting a broken solder point so I had the solder iron all ready to go. Not to be the case, as the plastic housing that holds the connector in place was the culprit and cracked good. After applying some Loctite Super Glue, and holding for 20 minutes, I was able to reassemble the laptop. Unfortunately I had one extra screw and the touchpad isn't hooked up anymore. Overall though, it has been restored to usable, I just can't power it down.

So now, I have decided that I would drop ubuntu on it. I have Redhat 9 on one of my desktops but it rarely gets used. Right now I am looking for something that I can do a little development work while I wait for Miranda to go to sleep while I sit in her room. It looks like I have 11+ hours of downloading before I can attempt an install so it may end up waiting till next weekend for installing.

So hopefully, in the future I can share some of the mini projects I am working on.

Potential solution to puking

2008-07-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Michelle may have figured out one of our puking problems. Basically Miranda has a tendency to puke. Many things can cause it, but one stumped us. Some nights she would just suddenly start whimpering and puke was going to be coming soon. Well it turns out that if she eats dinner well, and then follows it up with her normal cup of milk, it exceeds the capacity of her stomach. Yup, that's it.

Sigh.

That doesn't stop her from throwing up when she gets too upset so I will likely still be spending every evening hanging out in her room. But at least one mystery solved.

Joss Whedon

2008-07-18T18:52:00.001-07:00

So there has been a little bit of a buzz on teh intarweebs about Joss Whedon's latest endeavor, Dr. Horrible. Basically it really hits on one of my personal favorite songs by Jonathan Coulton called Skullcrusher Mountain. What happens when a super genius villian is in love? Well I can say it is terribly interesting. You should definitely check out the video for Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Seriously. First off it stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. Second, the music is good. Third, it is definitely bite sized at under 14 minutes per act (so far as Act III hasn't gone up yet).

I watched some of Mr. Whedon's early TV shows, but I didn't recognize genius until Firefly. But this really is a wonderful work and quite enjoyable.

"Why" #

2008-07-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

I am here testing at work instead of riding the train.

July 7, 2001

2008-07-07T08:03:00.001-07:00

So 7 years ago today, Michelle and I were married. That is 7 years, 1 kid, 2400 miles, and countless other things that have occurred between here and there. And in all of that, I am still deeply in love and quite happy. We may not do anything out of the ordinary today (planning with children can be difficult at times) but it will still be special.

So what does one do the day after the fourth?

2008-07-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well in my case you make one trip to Lowes to pick up a few minor things (propane included). Second you fix the tonneau cover to the truck which broke off last year. Third you clean the living room and family room. Fourth you play some Super Mario Galaxy cause you little girl is hooked on the fat italian plumber.

So late last year, the pin that hold one of the two arms on my tonneau cover broke off. The single one didn't have the strength to hold it up, and put too much strain on the back of the cover. So after a couple of tries I found a size bolt that worked well. So if this one breaks, I am in serious trouble.

And I was surprised to find that Miranda likes to watch either Michelle or I play Super Mario Galaxy. "Mario Jumping!" "Mario Swimming!" "Mario two eyes." Really cute and fun to see her so excited.

Mucked some more with my template

2008-07-04T11:10:00.001-07:00

I am pretty sure no matter what I do, I won't be happy with whatever changes I make. I will likely revisit this on the next rainy day we have in Seattle (no jokes please). But on the plus side, editing all my ridiculous advertising chunks was very easy. Look at my widget, I have a page recommendation, but it does point to the main page . . . from the main page. Sigh.

Work looks to be going back to a reasonable level. Launch pushes always bring more hours to make sure we make it as good as possible for customers, but still meet any sort of obligations we have. So I am very tired, but recovering.

Lately, I have been playing with twitter. I am still not sure about it's use as to me it has always felt like blog light. Right now I am primarily using it to update my facebook status as I really never log into facebook unless someone sends me a message and it emails me. I just don't have much compelling reason to use it. Twitter I worry about as I don't want to fire off tons of this little snippets every day, so I try to keep it to 2 tweets a day at most.

Now that work is slowing down, hopefully I can get back to my two blog posts a week. And also maybe beat GTA IV soon.

Don't muck with your template at 4am

2008-07-01T08:54:00.001-07:00

Well I was doing to testing by adding a new widget for my advertising column when I accidentally clicked save instead of preview. Needless to say, I quickly grabbed a template to use until I get my old one back operational (or maybe create a new one).

Either way, most of my major work project of late is somehow tied into the amazon widget on the right. Which recently released, so that is where I have been.

Happy Birthday Jason!

2008-06-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to 30

Now you can't give me crap for being 30 and you being in your 20's :P

Bacon Floss?

2008-06-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon? Mint? Nope.

I am not sure how I feel about this. I think I would prefer soap as generally I am looking for a "clean" flavor and feeling when I floss. But it seems I should post something about a bacon related item. If I would have remembered earlier, I would have posted about the 3lb. of bacon in a can.

Replies

2008-06-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks Jay for the book recommendation. I will likely grab a copy when it gets into a translation I can read. Although an interesting NPR report I heard recently discussed that some of child behavior problems stem from a lack of unstructured play. The basic premise of the research was that by allowing children to play outside of the control of adults allow kids to develop the skills to self-regulate. This also gives them skills in determining power structures in the groups of kids and learn what is acceptible in dealing with other kids. I think there is something there. At the same point, as parents, we are so heavily scheduled, we end up doing the same to our kids, even if unintentionally. But when I looked at the reasons you put in from the book I thought some just didn't make sense.

Reasons listed:
destruction of the larger family unit, thus loneliness of the parents with the resulting desperate need to connect with the inmature child
pressure to perform makes parents push kids harder than they can actually take
lack of role models for healty parenting, both for parents and for kids
misguided, romantic drive for freedom of mind and action, even in a 2 year old (the Flower Children are reaping a harvest they did not expect with their anti-authoritarian attitudes)
lack of understanding of the healthy development steps of a forming mind

So let's see if I can make another numbered list to talk about them.

Alright, I totally buy this one. Add to it smaller family sizes has led to smaller family groups. And add into this one, the break down of local neighborhood groups. Remember when you knew all your neighbors?
What is meant by this? Is it a lack of giving praise? Honestly I think this ends up only affecting small pockets of parents. I think more likely you get parents that are involved in their prior lives and fail to give the appropriate time to their new lives with kids.
Dysfunctional begets more dysfunctional is the basics there. In the end, we will tend to fall back as parents to the same things that our parents did. Those are our role models. As for kids, it comes down to us as parents.
Yep.
I am pretty sure that we are further along understanding the developing mind than we were 20 or 50 years ago. But the bottom levels of understanding in society are probably at what we were years ago though, is that bad?

Really, I try to compare what society is like now versus 50 years or 100 years ago. Is what we have as a society better or worse than before. I honestly think we are doing better just because we have time to think about these problems. But then we take these things that could help us get better and we blow them out of proportion.

Alright I think talked to long on that topic given I only planned to give thanks :)

To James on the same thread, personally responsibility is not a trait we have instilled in the current culture. Definitely is something we should work toward.

Otherwise, that is all I have for now. Back to work, since deadlines are looming.

I hate Big Media

2008-06-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard, there was a tragedy in the Akihabara district of Japan. 7 people were killed and many injured when an individual with an unhealthy mind decided to go on a rampage. I really feel bad for those that have suffered.

What has got me a bit irritated this morning, is how it was covered in the New York Times. They have taken this horrible event and then applied a hatred for video games in it. Sigh, why do they feel the need to do this through a time of suffering for the people in that area of the world.

Offending article

He also wrote that he liked the popular video games Tales of Destiny, a fantasy role-playing series that employs the distinctive art style known as anime, in which adult characters often resemble children, and Gran Turismo, a car racing game in which the cars can crash and suffer damage but the focus is on racing rather than destruction and human figures are rarely visible.

Review: Maple Bacon Lollipop

2008-06-07T14:12:00.001-07:00

Alright, ish was kind enough to send me some Maple Bacon Lollipops due to the fact that we have hypothesized that all things bacon are good. I want to reaffirm that guess as these are quite good if and only if you are prepared for what they are delivering. My first try at the lollipop was not a good experience. I wasn't sure what to expect, but at the same point the lollipop just didn't sit right.

The part the initially surprised me was how not sweet this lollipop is. The maple flavor is subtle, and not overly sweet. It was kinda water down flavor. The second part of the flavor that hits you is the underlying salty, smoky flavor that is there as well. It really tastes like you took your bacon and dragged it through the last bits of maple syrup still on your plate. You can really see the bacon pieces in the lollipop as well.

Highly recommended to bacon lovers.

Lord Stanley's Cup

2008-06-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

Well I was able to watch the NHL finals this year and it offered a great experience for me. The main reason for that is because my two favorite teams were playing for it all, although my favorite is the Wings. Overall I found this cup well played by the Wings, but the Penguins did not until their back was against the wall. Especially in game six when the started having better puck control and being more aggressive as the Wings got the puck. So I am looking forward to next year and I really hope that the Penguins can keep their team together.

Back from the Midwest

2008-06-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a bit of an absence from blogging and the web in general as I toured around the portions of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan visiting friends and family and letting Miranda get acquainted with them. We had a couple of rainy days, but really ran into absolutely lovely weather sitting in the mid 70's most of the time.

Originally we were supposed to go to a wedding on Memorial Day weekend, but in the end the travel was trying and Miranda can be a bit stubborn and exhausting, so we made a quick change in plans and headed to Michigan to let Miranda unwind from being placed in a harness for a long time. This gave us an extra day with my grandma where Miranda could be her goofy self and skin her knee.

Sunday though was a party my parents put together and they were able to get a lot of my relatives together and just have a nice cookout. We were able to get another Aunt and Uncle to visit on Memorial Day, and overall it is was a very fun weekend. Even managed to get a bit of sunburn on the bald spot.

Tuesday, Michelle and I had one of very few and infrequent dates. Went to El Rodeo and caught Ironman. Great food and a fun movie.

We then spent the next 4 days slowly visiting my friends from high school and seeing all of their kids. We also spent a day going to Grand Rapids where we got Miranda's photos done by Sadies. I think next year, we are going to use our friend Jodi as she takes some really good pictures. Either way, once I get the pictures I will be sure to post and share.

Either way, we spent some more time with family and friends, and on some level we were very sad to go. We caught Michigan at a beautiful time and it is good seeing all the folks were are friends with. But in the end, we are exhausted. Miranda was exhausted. So we spent all day today traveling back to our home in the Northwest.

Don't forget your night vision

2008-05-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

Night Vision is really the best way to avoid falling into a puddle.