Never Doubt The Power of the Tiki

Pitter Patter ...Pitter Patter... redux

Duncan walked up to me the other day and handed me something that he didn't quite understand, but was full of meaning for me... a picture of him in a frame, a frame that said "#1 Big Brother."

Yeah, that's right. The plumbing still works, we're having another kid. Aside from answering my own questions about my virility (which I really had none of, but I find funny to say, so bear with me), it's interesting to me how different this feels than the last time (when Jenn just told me she didn't think she was going to be able to play in our next indoor soccer season).

First of all, there's not any fear like last time. Duncan is a two-year-old now, and he's happy, healthy, and we're financially secure. I have no fears that we can't keep this going with another kid.

And of course, this time I know what's coming: sleepless nights, countless diapers, lots of laundry, more little toys all over the place, even more tiny socks (the socks! they're everywhere! ARRGGHH!!), power-chucking breast milk, and all the stuff that goes along with an infant. Plus the absolute joy at seeing a little life grow in front of your eyes.

What I don't know is a little unsettling, but not too much: how is Duncan going to handle being a big brother? Is he going to be helpful and happy to have a sibling? Is he going to be one of those kids who is resentful at having the attention taken away from him at times? I'm sure it'll be a combination of the two: the boy loves babies now, but certainly does like having the attention. He's a ham.

And how are we going to handle things like different schedules? Just simple things like the Little Gym - Duncan and the sequel are going to have to be in different classes due to their ages. And we're definitely going to need a new car - we barely all three fit into the one we have now. I have to sit in the back with Duncan because the passenger seat in front has to be pushed too far forward to fit his car seat; I simply don't fit up there.

I'm sure we'll sort it all out. But it certainly does get the mind reeling a bit.

Ice Bike!

Well, today was the coldest yet - a compression-shorts-loosening 6° wind chill factor. Add to that the fact that the wind was probably worse for a cyclist due to the increased wind factor from just riding a bike.... and I'm surprised I didn't lose parts. MY parts, not the bike.

But the funny thing is, it wasn't really that bad to ride in. I had the same stuff I always wear:

• my work socks
• hiking boots
• polypropylene long underwear
• bike tights
• long sleeved t-shirt
• fleece jacket
• windbreaker
• balaclava
• helmet
• 180s earmuffs
• bike gloves.
  

And it was fine. Sure, it was a tad chilly, but the glasses once again made the problem of too much tearing up go away, and just being out and getting some exercise made me warm. I wasn't exactly sweating when I got TO work, but I wasn't uncomfortable.

Layers, layers, layers. Not just for tortes any more.

Pink Floyd and the Environment

Here's a great video: some parkour, some trick bike riding, and some vigilante environmentalism. I like it!

Little Things Count

Last night on the way home, I took care of a problem that was starting to plague me greatly with the advent of our snowy weather.

Having caught a few snowflakes in the eyes on the way to work with our recent snowfalls, it was time to get a pair of glasses for riding. So I got some Tifosi Slip glasses at BikeSource with a polarized lens. Makes a world of difference to have those on, let me tell you.

First, the obvious - things stay out of my eyes. Snowflakes, dust, etc. You wouldn't think that a snowflake in the eye would be that big a deal... but it is. Stings for a second and then you have a few seconds where your eye recovers. And you spend the entire ride squinting and hiding your face. Second, the wind and cold that was making my eyes water (not a real danger while riding but annoying at times) is gone. And today was a good test of that, with a 19-degree (Fahrenheit) temperature.

The venting on them is great. Even when I wear my balaclava and my breath gets pushed up under the glasses and they start to fog, that fog goes away quickly when I get moving. Nice design on the vents. And they cover my entire eye area, so that my eyes are well protected. Quite a bargain!

Oscar Nominee Fiasco

Well, the nominees for this year's Academy Awards are in, and once again, I've seen NONE of these movies.

So, I'm going to offer up my own personal award nominations for your approval, based on the movies I've seen this year:

Best Supporting Actor

• Mads Mikkelsen - Casino Royale

Best Supporting Actress

• Judi Dench - Casino Royale

Best Actor

• Daniel Craig - Casino Royale

Best Actress

• Eva Green - Casino Royale

Best Soundtrack

• David Arnold - Casino Royale

Best Original Song

• "You Know My Name" - Chris Cornell and David Arnold - Casino Royale

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Neal Purvis and Robert Wade - Casino Royale

Best Director

• Martin Campbell - Casino Royale

Best Picture

• Casino Royale

Some thoughts:

1. Hey, who are you callin' fan-boy?
   
2. Perhaps I need to see more movies.
   
3. Nah...
   

New Crew Trainer Can't Be Worse Than Last Year's

The Crew issued a press release today that I found interesting...

CREW NAMES JASON MATHEWS HEAD ATHLETIC TRAINER

MLS veteran spent four years with Chicago Fire and was named 2003 MLS Athletic Trainer of the Year
For Immediate Release: Monday, Jan. 22, 2007
Contact: Dave Stephany , 614-447-4190

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Jason R. Mathews has been named the Crew’s new head athletic trainer, General Manager Mark McCullers announced today.

Mathews spent four seasons as head athletic trainer for the Chicago Fire (2002-05) and was recognized following the 2003 campaign as the MLS Athletic Trainer of the Year. He has been the athletic trainer of choice for several U.S. Soccer national team camps and is a founding member and current treasurer/secretary for the Professional Soccer Athletic Trainers’ Society (PSATS). Prior to MLS, Jason was the head athletic trainer for the Chicago Steel of the Junior A United States Hockey League.

“I am very excited to be joining one of the pioneering teams in Major League Soccer,” Mathews said. “I believe that Sigi is bringing a level of excellence to the team that will spread throughout the organization. I was honored that the Crew, Sigi and Dr. (Pete) Edwards contacted me and that they appreciated and respected the work I had previously done in MLS. I am not only excited about being a member of the Crew family, but also being a member of the Ohio Orthopedic Center of Excellence.”

Mathews earned his Master’s Degree in Exercise Science from California University of Pennsylvania in 2006, having received his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1999. He also holds an advanced certification as a performance enhancement specialist (PES) through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

“We are very fortunate to have found a trainer of Jason's background and abilities to bring in,” said Crew Head Coach Sigi Schmid . “He has MLS and U.S. National Team experience and is a welcome addition to our staff.”

A native of Maryland , Mathews is a veteran of the US Army and has run the Chicago Marathon twice. He and his wife, Trang, have two children, Ethan and Emily.

The Columbus Crew is Ohio 's Major League Soccer club, anchoring a diverse sports and entertainment enterprise. One of the league's Charter Members, it will open its 12th season overall and ninth in first-of-its-kind Columbus Crew Stadium on Saturday, April 7, when it plays host to the Eastern Conference-rival New York Red Bulls.

– www.TheCrew.com –

My friend Brian once made a comment to me regarding the fitness level of Ken Griffey, Jr., saying that he wouldn't have been injured so often if he would do a little work on fitness in the offseason. Not being a Reds (or even a baseball fan), I wouldn't know the details there. But I do know how often the Crew was able to keep a stable lineup from game to game last season with all the injuries they suffered... about twice.

I think.

If that.

Now, the Crew has some holes that need fixing, that's for sure. Lack of a forward, as I've pointed out in the past (and hopefully dealt with properly with the signing of Andy Herron), the de facto "expansion team" status of the club, and the youth of the team all contributed to make last MLS season as painful to watch as any number of hooked-chain-flying-out-of-puzzle-box scenes in a Hellraiser movie.

I'm not trying to read too much into the hiring of a new trainer. Perhaps the old guy just moved on. But it just seems like a good move to have a team who suffered so much from the injury bug that they renamed that bug to "the injury dengue fever" to have made. Sure, not all sports injuries are fitness-based. But many of them most definitely are.

Later Addition: Just read in the Dispatch that the Crew's previous trainer did move on the Red Bulls**t of New York, but those were the only details given. Sigi did say that the trainer situation wasn't to blame for the two injury-plagued seasons of the past two years, but then again he wasn't about to sabotage anyone's career, probably.

Another Example of Helping Children Learn...

The scary thing is, this almost makes sense.

It's Amazing How The Human Mind Works... Occasionally

It boggles the mind sometimes, doesn't it? You just want to grab people by the head and yell "IT'S NOT ABOUT THE PRICE AT THE PUMP!"

Federal Way, WA Schools Decide That "Learning Is Bad"

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that Federal Way, WA school leaders are banning the viewing of An Inconvenient Truth in their classrooms, based on justifications such as this (from the Seattle PI):

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."

There's a good reason for that, Frosty: the Gore movie is based on scientific evidence. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that there is any sort of "end times" where everything will burn up. That is a religious belief, one that has no place in public schools.

The article goes on to state the following:

School Board members adopted a three-point policy that says teachers who want to show the movie must ensure that a "credible, legitimate opposing view will be presented," that they must get the OK of the principal and the superintendent, and that any teachers who have shown the film must now present an "opposing view."

Let's look at these three points, not in order. Point 2, the OK of the administrators, is just legalese. Points 1 and 3 are basically the same thing, and here's the problem there: there simply ISN'T a credible, legitimate opposing view any more. Even noted climate skeptic Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) was unable to find two skeptics in the US to speak at his recent Senate hearing on the topic, he had to import one from Australia.

So, by making such rules as this, the school board in Federal Way is basically barring any attempt to use the Gore movie as a classroom tool - which is exactly what the movie is.

But this also sets up a very scary precedent. Let's say, for a moment, that someone takes the school board to task on whether the Holocaust occurred, despite all the overwhelming proof that it did. By this sort of justification, the school district could be required not to teach that millions of people were killed in Nazi concentration camps unless they bring someone in with a different point of view.

Here's the point: in the scientific community there is very little if any belief that climate change isn't happening and that it hasn't been exacerbated by human pollution. Similarly, in the historical studies community, there is little belief that the Holocaust didn't happen.

But with this policy in place, then any time someone in the community disagrees with something their child is taught, then they need only bring it to the attention of the school board in order to get its teaching removed from the school until a suitable differing opinion can be found to fulfill the three points.

Basically, this climate change stuff is the de facto truth. There's evidence from all corners of the globe that points to human activity as making the world hotter. And the folks in Federal Way are doing their students a great disservice by disallowing the viewing of Gore's movie based upon the whims of a few fringe lunatics.

SuperLiga: Now Watch The Big Leagues Ignore The Little Leagues in CONCACAF, Too!

One of the big criticisms of Champions' League play in Europe has been that the format favors the English, Italian, Spanish, and German leagues, and doesn't give enough credit to the leagues from Holland, Scottish, Portugese, and so forth. Now, MLS and FMF (Mexican Football League) are trying to do the same thing in North America by introducing the SuperLiga.

This league, basically a head-to-head Champions' competition with four clubs from each league playing each other in two groups, pretty much just IGNORES the fact that there are a couple dozen other federations with leagues in this confederation. It also ignores the fact that there is already a perfectly viable Champions Cup in this confederation, and that Costa Rican teams have won it a few times in the past few years. But where are these teams in the SuperLiga? No where.

If MLS had to learn something from Europe, why did it have to be that the money will always trump fairness?

Spiegel Online's Atlas Of World Religions

No, not that Spiegel. The one that's worth a crap.

Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, has put out an atlas of world religion. It's definitely worth a look. Also, while you're there, sign up for Spiegel's international newsletter and get the view of another country on world events.

Crew Draft Picks Not Surprising

Crew goal location for 2006 season

Today was the MLS Superdraft, and the Crew has, not surprisingly, picked three forwards.

Why is this not surprising, you may ask. Well, look at the statistics sheets for last season:

---

GOAL-SCORING TOTALS
       OVERALL     GOALS FOR
TEAM                      RECORD     TOTAL  AVG
D.C. United               15-7-10      52   1.63
FC Dallas                 16-12-4      48   1.50
Chivas USA                10-9-13      45   1.41
Real Salt Lake            10-13-9      45   1.41
Houston Dynamo            11-8-13      44   1.38
Chicago Fire              13-11-8      43   1.34
Kansas City Wizards       10-14-8      43   1.34
New York Red Bulls        9-11-12      41   1.28
New England Revolution    12-8-12      39   1.22
Los Angeles Galaxy        11-15-6      37   1.16
Colorado Rapids           11-13-8      36   1.13
Columbus Crew             8-15-9       30   0.94

---

That's right. The Crew scored a grand total of 30 goals all season. That's less than a goal per game (32 games). Now granted, we had a lot of injury problems this season. But that's not, by any means, a reason for not scoring more goals. The simple fact of the matter is that the Crew's forwards all suck. A LOT.

I used to give Jeff Cunningham of the Crew some grief for being offside a lot. But it was always with tongue in cheek, as Cunningham was an extremely prolific scorer. Though rarely given credit for it by Crew fans, Cunningham was the top scorer in the league over a two-season period. And he was the top scorer in the league last season, for Salt Lake City.

On the other hand, we had two forwards this season, Jason Garey and Joseph Ngwenya, who were offside more often than not. And each of them had five goals. TOTAL. Cunningham had 16. Five players in the league had 11. Our top scorers? Five. That's 10 total - less than those aforementioned five guys.

So it's really no surprise to me that we went for more forwards. And I won't be surprised to see either Garey or Ngwenya on the chopping block as the preseason draws to a close.

Sigi, I sure hope you've got something planned for this season. Because last season was painful.

Extra Note: Looks like the Crew Nation was well-represented in Indy at the draft! Good work, Crew fans!

Beckham Amongst the Yanks

If you're a soccer fan, you've heard of David Beckham. If you're not a soccer fan, you've probably STILL heard of David Beckham. He's the most popular player in the world, and he's coming to our shores.

In the past, I have gone a bit ballistic when MLS has brought in players who are past the twilights of their careers and gone after other players of similar ilk just for their names. Lothar Matthaeus may be the best example of the former. The guy came over to MLS and it was clear from the moment he got here that we were his version of retirement community shuffleboard. And when MLS started going after Paul Gascoigne, I almost had a spastic attack right then and there. Gascoigne would have been more of the same, plus attitude problems out the wazoo.

In fact, I can only think of one big name player who's come over to MLS from Europe and actually improved his team: Youri Djorkaeff. Some of you may say "What about Thomas Dooley?" My repsonse to that is "I said BIG NAME PLAYERS." Dooley, as good as he was, was a good player in Europe but by no means was he a big name.

Now we have Beckham. And you know what? This may be a shot in the arm for the league. While it's doing okay financially and is stable, it's not growing as quickly as most soccer fans (and the league itself) would like. But a name like Beckham coming over to MLS? That's going to put fans in the seats all over the country. Freddie Adu nearly caused Crew Stadium to sell out on the occasions he was here, and he was an untested player. Beckham would probably sell out in minutes.

And the other thing that his presence may do is show other European talent that this league is legitimate. And he'll help to make it more legitimate via his presence and also by what he can teach our players here. We may actually being to see soccer, instead of the sprint and foul game that we usually see in US Soccer.

The only downside? Well, he's playing for the Galaxy. 'Nuff said, there.

Now we just have to get John Hartson to come over to Columbus.... oh, wouldn't that be sweet...

You hear me, you Yank bastards? I'll put my big Welsh noggin through your puny defenders all day long!

iPhone Jonesing

I'm not generally a person who HAS TO HAVE the latest technology. If something works for me, I generally like to use it until it's no longer functional, then go for the next item. There are a few exceptions: TiVo, for one. But I drove my old '87 Mercury Lynx wagon for years until I was told to buy a new car (with heat) or I was being dumped. And then I drove my Mercury Mystique until it basically died, and now I ride the bus or my bike.

That being said, I am currently frothing at the mouth over the demos I've seen for Apple's new iPhone.

Great. Googly. Moogly.

Have you seen this thing? It's absolutely amazing! I mean, basically it does everything that my Motorola SLVR L7 phone does with the music and the calling people, but with the Apple-ed interface and the most unique touch-screen I've ever seen. I am SO getting one of these when they come out. Cingular - please make sure you support this!

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

Too Much Hoopla Sunk the Buckeyes Early

OSU controlled the BCS Championship game outright.... for about 10 seconds.

Then their out-of-control celebrations put a serious crimp in the Heisman Trophy appointee's style as they injured Ted Ginn after his touchdown run on the opening kickoff.

Makes you wonder how they'd have done if ND had just let Ginn score on the opening kickoff last year in the Fiesta Bowl.

Another Cold Bike Ride, Problems Almost Solved

Today's bike ride was a 22 degrees Fahrenheit venture that my Christmas gifts all helped to conquer. Mom and Dad got me the Cannondale Chamois tights and Gloves, Jenn got me 180s earmuffs, and I threw on my polypropylene long undies and balaclava and was just about perfect. Most notable was that my hands weren't being brutalized through my up-till-now adequate fleece gloves as the Cannondale gloves did the job well. The only exception to this was my legs were a TAD bit chilly with the very light wind.

Now, this was an all downhill trip so my legs don't really get a chance to get warm while I'm going to work, but that doesn't change the fact that it's cold out there and with a heavier wind it's going to be brutal. A pair of wind pants would probably do the trick nicely. I know of a couple that I'm looking at online right now, hopefully they won't be too pricey. I had been using my Columbia rain pants but they're not so great in the cold weather, though they rule for rainy weather.

Smith, OSU Shown Lacking in BCS Game - As Expected

I'm sure you've heard the score of the BCS Championship Game, and you've heard that tOSU got an amazing 82 yards in the game.

Eighty-Two.

EIGHTY-TWO. And most of those yards were from Antonio Pittman.

Which means that the guy who won the Heisman finished 4-for-14 for 35 yards and ended up with the lowest passing efficiency rating of any quarterback in BCS history. And mostly got his clock cleaned all night as his vaunted unstoppable offensive line was pummeled by Florida's speed.

Now, the point I'm going to make here is to show you that I WAS RIGHT. And so was anyone who said that Troy Smith wasn't worthy of the Heisman this season due to the power of the rest of his team. They made him look good all season, and he obviously was just a "good" player at best. When faced with that good a defensive line, he folded.

Let's compare: in a 47-21 loss to Michigan, Brady Quinn threw for 234 yards and 3 touchdowns. In a 44-24 loss to USC, he threw for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns. And in the Sugar Bowl against LSU, a 41-14 loss, he threw for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns.

So even in losing efforts (where the majority of the losing was by the defense), Quinn put up good numbers (well, fair numbers in the case of LSU). Smith? Nope.

Once again, the Maxwell Award got it right (as well as, apparently, the Cingular award) and the Heisman got it wrong. Maybe it's time to start ignoring the Heisman as the end-all and be-all of college football individual awards.

The final point I'd like to make is that the Big "We Can't Count" needs a championship game. If you're not going to play everyone in your conference (which OSU COULD do, but that would leave room for only two patsies on their schedule other than their conference "rivals") then you need to have a championship game. As in 2002 when OSU didn't play Iowa and therefore ducked a major conference powerhouse, OSU didn't have to play Wisconsin this year (who WON their bowl game). A championship game would serve two purposes: 1) it would legitimize the "conference champion" and 2) it would give the team one more game closer to the bowl game.

The Big "We Can't Count" would be well advised to stop listening to their juggernauts in OSU and U of M who don't want to lose the "importance" of their big game together at the end of the season and simply instate a championship game.

And one more thing: the Heisman folks need to stop awarding their prize before the season's over.

The Boy Makes Me Proud

Duncan brought this book over to me last night to read to him. I almost cried I was so happy.

Of course, we ended the evening with One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and How Do Dinosaurs Count To Ten. The boy likes his Geisel and extinct reptiles.

Spectre of Willingham Still Looms Large Over Irish

I couldn't do it.

As much as I do and always will support the Fightin' Irish, I couldn't watch another bowl loss this season. I stopped watching after LSU scored their first TD of the second half, and went to bed. Part of this was because I was just really tired after unwisely staying up playing Splinter Cell two nights ago, but the other part of me was the weariness of seeing my team try desperately to overcome the carnage that Tyrone Willingham has wreaked on it for three years.

A friend of mine told me that he thinks Notre Dame screwed Ty Willingham over by letting him go after only three years. I think this is a fallacy for the following reason: Ty Willingham was simply not willing to do what it took to attract top rank talent to Notre Dame across the board.

Now, some of you will say "oh, Brady Quinn isn't top rank talent? Jeff Samardzija isn't?" I'm not going to disagree with you there: those guys are first day draft picks, no doubt. Maybe even Victor Abiamiri and Derek Landri. But that's where it ends. And the real problem isn't in the high-profile roles: it's in the down and dirty grinder players: your two lines (offensive and defensive), linebackers, and particularly our defensive backs. Let's put it this way: look at our linebackers and d-backs: each of them featured a player who had to be converted from another position (Travis Thomas at LB, Chinedum Ndukwe at safety) in order to fill a need. And both decisions also left us light at other positions.

Notre Dame, on its own as a name and as an academically high-ranked school, is going to attract a few smart talented players. That's where Brady Quinn and his ilk show up. But let's face it: recruiting isn't something you can do by just walking up to some recruit's door and saying "hi, I'm from Notre Dame." You have to put some work into it, particularly with all the media bad-mouthing that goes on. And for whatever reason, that wasn't something that Willingham was able to do on a national basis like Notre Dame requires.

LSU dominated us last night because of their two lines and their defensive backs. We couldn't break through their offensive line enough to put pressure on Jamarcus Russell, nor stop them from setting up a good running game. Their defensive backs were able to cover our receivers well enough that Quinn had to take too much time in the pocket. ND never stopped trying, and I have all the respect in the world for the drive of our players. But if the size and speed aren't there, you're never going to be able to get anything done.

People say Charlie Weis is overrated. Well, I look at it this way: he's currently being asked to excel with players who are outclassed at almost every position by the opposition. And for the most part, he's succeeding. The only teams who have beaten us in the past 2 years, with one exception, are GREAT teams. Michigan State (the exception), USC and OSU last year, U of M, USC, and LSU this year. And hell, we almost beat USC last year.

Check out this blog entry at Her Loyal Sons. They say it much better than I can, particularly when I'm so full of vitriol.

Update: More support for this thought (though a little less giving than my own words) from Dan Wetzel at Yahoo! Sports.

I'll Take Potpourri For $1000, Alex

Just a little bit of catch-up to cover the holiday happenings here, before I go off tomorrow on whatever the result of the Sugar Bowl is.

• Christmas was great. I got to spend some quality family time at home with Jenn and Duncan and he really had a good time (though I'm getting a little weary of his Wiggles piano). Duncan also got a pair of padded (of course) hockey sticks and a ball. He's happy as a clam - the kid has picked up on hockey as his favorite sport, for whatever reason, and he runs around the house with one of the sticks, not flailing it around as much as I'd feared, and having a great time trying to hit the ball.
  
  For myself, I got a lot of James Bond stuff from my wonderful family; a pair of bike tights, some gloves, and a pump/repair kit from my folks; a beautiful Irish sweater from Jenn; and some other fun trinkets from various other folks. The tights are going to work out nicely, I think, plus they show off my sexy legs really well. ;)
  
  The one disappointment - our global-warming-addled climate not having enough snow for me to take Duncan sledding on the sled I restored for him for his gift. Hopefully we'll get some of Denver's weather.
  
  
• The best bowl game I've seen so far is the Fiesta Bowl and the upset win by the Boise State Broncos. Despite my disappointment that the Glendale staff didn't paint half the field blue for the visitors from the potato state, the game was the most fun to watch of all of them. Normally I hate the NCAA's overtime structure, but darn it if that wasn't a great one. To watch a team actually go for a two point conversion instead of playing it safe and taking the one-pointer to force a second overtime period was a joy. And I always (with one notable exception, Jenn) enjoy watching Big 12 teams look like a bunch of over-hyped jokers.
  
  And the incurable romantic in my heart appreciated Fox covering the post-game proposal by Broncos star running back Ian Johnson to his cheerleader girlfriend... true Americana there!
  
  
• I started a new twist on my workout routine - instead of saying "I'm gonna work out every day" or something like that, I am going for numbers this year: I set a goal for the year of 100,000 Hindu squats and 30,000 Hindu push ups from the Matt Furey Combat Conditioning workout. And keeping track of those reps all year long will hopefully help me to have something to really strive for. We'll see... check out my other blog if you're curious about how that's working out (no pun intended).
  
  
• The Sugar Bowl has me a bit scared. LSU is gonna be tough, and we've not played up to our potential in a lot of games this season (with the exception of the Penn State game). Hopefully Weis has the boys ready. And hopefully we'll be surprised as we were back in the Cheerios Bowl a decade ago.
  
  
• I watched a great documentary from Discovery Times that I'd Tivoed a couple months ago (finally) called Addicted To Oil. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman, it goes into the damage that oil does to our national security and to our climate, really breaking it down and showing the effects on both our security and the world's weather. He also goes into oil alternatives for both vehicles and general consumption, pointing out the good and bad of the various ideas. Very cool - check it out if you have the chance.
  
  And yes, I still need to see An Inconvenient Truth though I know most of what he's talking about already.
  
  
• On a similar train of thought, I watched Syriana over the holidays. This movie was outstanding though very disturbing at parts. Theatrically, it was a bit confusing, though that's part of its charm - you never are quite sure what's going on any more than the characters themselves are. It's definitely a movie you can see over and over and make new connections all the time.
  
  But the more important thing to take from it is the hypocrisy of the oil industry and its proponents in the government. The part that got me the most is when the eldest son of the emir, Nasir, is talking about how the US wants his brother to be the new emir because they consider him a Communist, simply because he decided to sell the country's oil to China as they offered him the best price (a very capitalist idea, wouldn't you think?).
  
  Go see this one if you haven't already. Though, if you're looking for a typically buff and sexy George Clooney in it, you're going to be watching the wrong movie because he reportedly put on 30 pounds for the role.
  
  
• There are still a couple things I want to get for my biking experience - a set of bike lights for the dark days and for my own safety, and some panniers so I don't have to use a backpack (and hopefully are a little more waterproof than the backpack I'm currently using. A set of fenders would also be nice - so I don't have to keep putting on rain pants.
  

I think that's everything.

Unfortunately, I Get This A Little TOO MUCH

You know you're a dork when you can actually pick out the Star Trek episodes in videos like this:



Thanks to Carrie for pointing this video out.

The Hate-Roll

Some people have a blogroll, I have a hate-roll. Consider it my list of pet peeves, I guess. An ongoing project of mine, it's therapeutic.

Sports:

1. People who refer to MLS as "The MLS." The league's name is Major League Soccer. We don't call baseball "The MLB," do we? Pay attention to what you're saying.
   
   
2. Members of the sports media who can't see through their personal likes and dislikes well enough to deliver an unbiased report. I'm talking to you guys, Mark May and Frank Deford.
   

Language:

1. The omitting of the words "to be" from sentences. Example: "My broken watch needs fixed."
   
   
2. Mis-spellings on publicly-viewable items. Example: A high school message board that says "Congradulations Football Team!" or something like that.
   

Frappr Map

If you'd like to join my Frappr Map and tell me where you're from, I'd love to have you join!