Apple ~= Microsoft

Oh yes they are.

This is how the iTunes update process works now ... if you let iTunes do it, it tries to force Safari on you (pre-checked, but no thanks, already got Firefox, move along, please), makes you shut down all your "QuickTime" apps (I've played a QuickTime movie maybe once ever), hides the setup file someplace you can't find in case you aren't ready to shut down yet so you have to download it all over again, blah blah blah.

Of course, if you have an iPhone, you have to do all that before you can even consider updating it. (Not syncing, updating.)

not fun.

Never mind that my iPhone is mysteriously neither charging well nor holding a charge well.

At least Apple's customer service is still (mostly) good. If there were a Microsoft Store in town, I would take in my mPhone, and they would agree that it wasn't working, but point out how wonderful the new mPhone Vista was, and wouldn't I like to upgrade to that instead? (They can even get me the upgrade price!)

EDIT: Oh yeah, one more thing: apparently it installs Bonjour as well, whether you want it or not.

I don't, especially because no one even asked me if I wanted it. (At least QuickTime is labeled as part of the installation.) Thankfully, my firewall dutifully asked me if it should let Bonjour do its thing, and I said no. I'm a little touchy about unknown applications trying to access things on my network.

Progress, er, sort of

So on Tuesday I practiced Run to the Hills on Hard, and it didn't go so well. I tried again today, speeding up the pace, and this is what I found:

76% for the first fast part at 70% of normal speed from before, but
72% over the whole song at full speed.

Now, keep in mind that it only tracks notes hit and not extra notes hit, but still ... one of the problems I seem to have is matching the on-screen rhythm with my thought of the rhythm. Apparently I was going too fast? Who can tell? (It's really, really hard to tell what you're doing wrong when you're playing a fast passage.) The 72% is even better because I got really tired the second half of the song, plus I lost my rhythm and couldn't bang out the l-r-l, r-l-yellow r part much. (And I would miss bass drum notes somehow.)

Someday I'll get through this one. Then it'll be Next to You. (crap) But not today, or this week, or maybe even this month ...

That's something to be proud of

Well, actually, no, it's not. Brian at mgoblog (see my blog list) posted an update about Kevin Grady, a current Michigan player who may be in a wee bit of trouble. (NOTE: he's on a new site and there may be some ads there that will interfere with your ability to read the page. I recommend AdBlock Plus, unless you're using IE, in which case I recommend Firefox and AdBlock Plus.)

You can also read the original article here. Anyway, the point is that Mr. Grady blew a .281. (If you don't know what BAC means, go Google it and come back.) Remember, the legal limit everywhere now is .080, and in general, blood tests aren't measuring your peak BAC. For one thing, unless you're really, really stupid, you're not actually drinking when you're asked to take one – you stopped already. For another, road tests usually measure a bit low, so that cops don't get you at a .08 and then take you down to the station for you to blow a .06.

(Sorry, slight delay. There's a bit of weather coming through.)

Now, I've been drunk a few many more times than I (literally) can remember, and I may have visited that neighborhood before, but I can't ever say for sure that I was there. I did approach that once on a blood test, but I can't tell you what it felt like, because I was completely out of it. All I know is that it involved a lot of hard alcohol very quickly.

(Sorry, another delay. Tigers just hit a home run that barely cleared the wall and actually fell back into the field of play. The Indians OF tossed the ball back into the stands. That's a very nice thing to do, especially considering Detroit's up 8-2.)

Anyway, most people can't reach that number. Physically can't. Their bodies will refuse to consume that much alcohol: they'll either pass out or throw up repeatedly.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on with this kid, but I'd guess he could use a little guidance.

I am not a real drummer

Not at all. Slowed Run to the Hills down to 70% and I can still hit only 76% of the first fast part. I understand the rhythm now, but it's a lot to get through ... on the other hand, I can get the l-r-l-r l-r-l-r l-r-l-r l-r-l-r r-l-r-l-r part, mostly, but of course this is 70% again.

I don't think I will be able to get all the way through Expert drums before Rock Band 2 comes out. Or maybe ever. I would love to finish Expert guitar too, but I still can't get those stupid solos, even with the Strat. (I even failed a Boston song on Expert. boo.)

It may be break time anyway. Lego Indiana Jones is on its way, and I am working on Mario Kart Wii as well so that I don't suck so badly the next time I play.

Of course, I'm sure I'll be playing more this weekend. So by "break" I really mean "a day off from drumming because it kind of hurts my wrists to practice too much."

You're talking about what?

Today, I saw one of the greatest tennis matches ever. I'm not much of a tennis fan, although I do watch occasionally (well, sometimes I watch for tennis, and sometimes for, well ... I'd guess I followed women's tennis to some degree since my teens), but even I could appreciate what was happening here.

Roger Federer is one of the best players in the modern era, perhaps one of the best ever. He's dominated tennis like very few in history. On the other side, Rafael Nadal is one of the best young players in the modern era, but prior to this year, very few people knew how good he was, other than on clay (he's won the French Open four straight times, the last three over Federer). If it weren't for the one, the other might be dominating in a way that would make Tiger jealous, although some might say the competition from the one spurs the other ...

Anyway, for a change, Nadal beat Federer on grass, snapping Federer's streak of Wimbledon titles at 5 ... he nearly took it in straight sets, then Federer won two straight tiebreakers to force a fifth set, but he couldn't break Nadal's serve in the final three sets (no fifth-set tiebreaker at Wimbledon), and instead of becoming the first man in over 80 years to come back from two sets down, Nadal becomes the first in a quarter-century to win the French and Wimbledon in the same year.

It'll be on ESPN Classic tomorrow at 7 PM. I recommend you watch it ... it'll mean so much more than I could explain.


Random thought: my iPhone wasn't holding a charge very well, only going up to about 80% and draining more and more quickly. Finally, it ran out yesterday, so today I got it charged ... and it's back up to 100%. Funny, I didn't know it was one of those batteries. Good thing, too, because it's the standard can't-replace-it-for-less-than-a-fortune Apple battery.

Well, you know, Microsoft and Apple have more in common than you think

The Wings did what?

Oh yes they did.

All I could say was "what?"

I didn't even see they'd re-signed Brad Stuart and picked up Ty Conklin earlier, although those are significant moves as well. (Don't think Pittsburgh won't miss Conklin, maybe not as much as Hossa, but it'll hurt. Ask the Wings how important a backup goalie is.) But this, well ... obviously no one wins the Cup in July, but what Detroit's done in two days so far sure hasn't hurt their chances.

Work and rambling

So, now that it's over, I can tell the story.

In the middle of March, my employer let me go. They were kind enough to include a generous severance package (for those of you who don't know, Indiana is an at-will state, meaning people are employed at the will of their employers and can be let go for pretty much no reason at all), including a little COBRA help and an arrangement with an outplacement company. Outplacement people aren't like recruiters: their job is to give you tools and advice to help you land a job, but they don't actually contact for you.

So I wasn't too worried, not at first. I had severance coming, plus a cushion, so I'd be all right for a while, and I had various contingency plans just in case. Besides, I had solid ColdFusion experience, so I'd be fine ...

except that there aren't a lot of ColdFusion jobs available around here. (I own a house, so I can't relocate.) But that was okay, because recruiters were calling me from the first week I was on Monster ...

except many of them simply wanted to read me jobs posted online, or call me about the same jobs. Of the ones that actually wanted to match me to a job and called me in for an interview, most of them were looking at Java positions, which wouldn't be a problem ...

except that it turned out companies looking for senior Java developers didn't want me because I didn't have enough Java experience, and companies looking for entry- to mid-level Java developers didn't want me because I didn't have enough of it.

So finally, I get a call from a recruiter on the 18th of June. We've got a position we think is a good match for you, why don't you come in. Sure, no problem. We set up an interview on Friday, the 20th.

This guy's a good one. First, we talk about me, about what I want, what I'm looking for. Then we talk about the position. ColdFusion, bits of .NET and SQL Server, but mostly CF. Sounds good. A bit of a pay cut, but that's to be expected. So I say sure, let's pursue it. We talk some more and I leave.

Later that afternoon, he calls me back. We got you an interview, how does Wednesday sound? Sure, I say, let's do this. We set up interview prep with them first, then the interview at their office right after.

The prep stuff was great (especially because it started with the Wonderlic test, yes, that one ...). They do the same thing with the interviewer, so I think we were both ready for it. It went really well. It was set from 2:30 to 3:30, but at 4:15, when we were still talking, the senior recruiter popped in to make sure we were all right.

So the next step is for them to interview some more people, then do second interviews the week of the 30th, and maybe hire by the end of that week. Yeah, that's fast. They had projects piling up, in part because the last guy who was placed there (by another recruiter) didn't work out at all.

Thursday, I get a call, or maybe Friday. Second interview Monday at their place with the CFO, followed by lunch with the team (it's a small team, four people including the manager), and then a brainstorming session about one of the projects with the manager (the position reports directly to him). Sounds good. I scout out the place on Saturday and am ready to go.

Monday the 30th, interview time. Everything goes well: turns out the CFO used to work with a couple of people at my old place. Lunch is good, although no one else can go (the help desk person is too busy and the on-site hardware guy had to fix issues from a power failure on Sunday). The brainstorming session goes well. I talk to the recruiter afterward and give them the OK to accept an offer if one is made.

Monday evening, they say guess what, you can celebrate a new job. You start Tuesday morning. (I said I could start right away ...) So, to recap: on the 18th, they contact me. On the "31st", I start work. (It's easier to figure out if I write it that way.)

Pretty nice, huh? Guess I should have been adjusting my sleep schedule faster. (One of my good friends warned me not to let it slip too far. oops.)

It's working out pretty well so far. We'll see how I feel about the job in a year. I tell you what, I feel a lot better about this one than I did about my last one over the last two or three years.

Other random thoughts:

• They are finally paving 37. Thank goodness. Of course, they do it at night, so I get caught from time to time, but it's sure worth it.
• The new fireworks law sucks. Now, instead of a few illegally loud noises, you get all kinds of crap late at night before the 4th. Of course, you can't legislate common sense or courtesy. too bad.
• My iPhone forgot for a bit this evening that I do not work on GMT. That's GMT-5, my friend. Maybe it was jealous of the new 3G iPhones. (Can't get one. Termination cost is too much and I am not so fond of this one.) It should be jealous of the Crackberries they have at work. I may end up with one of those anyway ...
• On 126th near 37, there's a railroad crossing that has new signs beneath the stop sign. A complete stop is now required and a rolling stop will get you a $115 fine. It may seem steep, but at a crossing that has no lights and no gate, you might do well to keep in mind that the lesson you'd learn about stopping from the courts is much easier on you than the lesson you might otherwise learn about momentum and trains.

A word means just what I choose it to mean

You might have noticed last night that the Angels no-hit the Dodgers and lost. It's pretty rare. Only four other times in history has a team given up no hits and failed to win.

• Red Sox-Indians, April 12, 1992


• Yankees-White Sox, July 1, 1990 (four runs on no hits???)


• Orioles-Tigers, April 30, 1967


• Astros-Reds, April 23, 1964

Unfortunately, baseball-reference.com only has data for individual games back through 1956, so I can't show you any more. (Also, the link is to the Play Index that returns fewest hits allowed by a team, so if you don't subscribe – and I recommend you do – then you won't be able to see the whole table.)

More, you say? But you showed four.

Ah yes, and there's the rub. You see, one of the things Mr. Small-Market Man has done in his infinite wisdom is to decree that a no-hitter is no longer a no-hitter unless it was at least a nine-inning game.

But wait, you say. The Dodgers and Angels played nine innings.

Ah, well, that doesn't count, you see, because the Angels didn't pitch nine innings. See how that works?

Me either. Look, regardless of what Mr. [expletive deleted] thinks, a no-hitter is a game in which one team allows no hits to the other team throughout the entire game. That's it. I really don't understand what put this idea in his tiny little brain in the first place, or why he felt like this was an important thing to do, rather than something else like, say, punishing steroid users or un-juicing the balls ...

The worst part about it is that now Retrosheet no longer tracks no-hitters of less than nine innings, so if you want to find out about David Palmer's five-inning perfect game in 1984 or the Andy Hawkins 4-0 loss mentioned above, you have to hope they happened since 1956, or else you have to dig them out by hand.

Worse yet, notable performances like Ernie Shore's 27-out "perfect" relief performance and Harvey Haddix's amazing 12 perfect innings against Milwaukee (retiring Mathews, Aaron, and Adcock FOUR TIMES IN A ROW - you'll never see a game like this ever again) are pretty much lost to the common eye. In the old days, these were listed along with actual no-hit games because of the nature of the performance. (Amazingly enough, Haddix's game score was "only" 107. Just eight strikeouts ...)

It's amazing what Selig has done to baseball during his tenure, and I do not mean that in a good way. I mean it in the same way as I'd describe what Bank of America has done to banking or what Comcast has done to the cable industry.

Today at BWW

I almost forgot. There was a Clapping Guy at BWW today.

I'm sure you've seen one if you've ever been to a sports bar. A Clapping Guy is a guy who insists on celebrating everything his team does: in football, it's the guy who claps when his team scores, forces a punt, gets a first down ... sometimes even when they catch a pass. What makes them noticeable is that they do this when rooting for a team that no one else likes, or when watching a game that no one else cares about, or both. (Don't confuse this with Drinking Guy, who celebrates only because he can actually tell what's happening at that point in the game. Be very careful not to confuse this with Gambling Guy, who celebrates whenever his money does something well. Gambling Guy can be very dangerous, especially if he has bet against your team. Know him, respect him, fear him.)

Today, Clapping Guy was celebrating when the Sox (his team) drew a walk. Hey, I know Sox-Cubs is a big rivalry, but you know what? It's a 162-game season. You're an American League fan. A walk is insignificant in the context of the game.

Also, it's 4:30, and no one else in here cares. Clap for a grand slam. For a walk, sit down and shut up.

Fortunately, once the Sox had a big lead, Clapping Guy either left for good or disappeared until his friends showed up so he can drink for real.

Renteria is what?

I know, I know, fish in a barrel, but anyway, apparently Lynn Henning of the News thinks that Renteria is beginning to look like an utter liability at shortstop.

My understanding is that the Tigers signed him to improve on Guillen's performance, not to be Omar Vizquel, and in that respect, he has succeeded. You name it, Renteria's improved it: fielding percentage, range factor, zone rating, revised zone rating. A better criticism would have been to suggest that Renteria's performance at the plate has not been what the Tigers hoped to get from him.

Certainly, there's an argument that facing AL pitching will drop the average NLer's numbers, and Renteria is 33, not 23, so he's not likely to improve (nor even maintain, not necessarily), but nonetheless, Renteria's RC/27 is 3.48, below Sean Casey's 2007 level of 5.09 (remember, the idea was to put Renteria at SS so Guillen could play 1B with Cabrera coming in). Even Inge posted a 4.10 RC/27 last season, so hold off on commenting that Guillen is actually replacing Inge at 3B ...

Anyway, the biggest problem the Tigers have had is not defense at SS, but pitching, and Renteria isn't going to be taking the mound soon. If you're going to be criticizing an acquisition, it should be Willis (or maybe Jacque Jones, but of course he's already gone), not Renteria.

ESucksPN

So I'm watching the NBA draft for their Fan Zone so I can fill out a survey afterward, and I've muted it now, because really, there's only so much Stuart Scott and Dick Vitale you can take at a time, and of course they still employ STEPHEN A. SMITH ...

And it's the Pistons' pick, and I see the top four available ... Chris Douglas-Roberts, good, they could play him at the two and trade Rip ... no, wait, D.J. White, and then McDyess can come off the bench again.

And they take him! Wow! I think it'll be a good matchup.

And then ESPN shows this graphic:

17.8 points, 10.1 rebounds (led SEC)

Are you kidding me? How stupid are you? Really? SEC?

Maybe it's a one-time error.

Nope.

2008 1st-Team All-SEC

Wait till I get that survey. Whoever wrote the text for that graphic should be fired. If you can't match teams to major conferences, you shouldn't be doing television.

Edit: Noooooooooo ...

Proposed trade

SEATTLE RECEIVES:
Rights to D.J. White

DETROIT RECEIVES:
32nd overall pick
46th overall pick

Are you kidding me? Why would you trade two for one unless you are blowing up and starting over?

Joe Dumars gets an F for this one.

Update: Okay, now that I've calmed down a bit and read some insight, I suppose it might not be such a bad deal. The guy Seattle "took" at 32 has skills ... the fact that he's a project scares me, but as someone at WIS pointed out, this is the same GM who saw value in Prince, Stuckey, and Maxiell, so perhaps I should wait a bit before pulling out my favorite Mel Kiper Jr. rant.

Also, as I read in the Detroit News, this means Detroit has no first-round pick and thus no guaranteed contracts to offer ...

Sorry, D.J. Hope you like Oklahoma City. (Seattle owners = thieving, lying bastards. Flip side = city of Seattle saves hundreds of millions on a new arena it doesn't need.)

Heavy Hitter in reach

Finally got past Don't Fear the Reaper on Hard drums. Man. That one was difficult ... at the end, when it's blue blue/foot blue/foot red/green blue blue/foot blue/foot red/green for the first half, and then instead of normal blues, it becomes blue/red/blue with the feet at the same rhythm, I skipped those extra reds. Too hard. I nearly failed, but I didn't. ha ha.

Up next, at some point: Run to the Hills. I have to figure out how to do l/r/l, r/l/r over and over again, with the first five on red and the last one on yellow.

Two songs left: Run to the Hills, which I haven't tried solo, and the worst Police song I've ever heard. I don't get credit for any of the bass notes, so I guess I have to practice it.

STOP TELLING ME I'LL LOSE ALL PROGRESS IF I LEAVE. I DON'T HAVE ANY PROGRESS TO SAVE. REMEMBER, I JUST FAILED THE SONG. L2PROGRAM.

Ouch

Dark objects absorb heat.

It's summer.

You would that someone who just scored a 43 on the Wonderlic would put these facts together and not stand in a parking lot in bare feet.

Oh no.

It's all right, the blisters are small and should heal in a couple of days or so.

"Microsoft sucks" is redundant

Today's battle: the Add a Printer wizard doesn't work. (Of course, the real battle is getting my non-USB LaserJet 4 to work with XP ...) Naturally, the solution is to update Internet Explorer. Glad to see it's not a vital part of the Windows operating environment.

Anyway, it didn't work. IE, that is. So how do you update it? Why, through Windows Update, of course, which requires ... IE. Yeah, that's what I said too.

So I had to download IE again and install it over the old copy, and of course it has to lock all these system files (but of course, it's not integrated into Windows) and it locks up my laptop big-time. Hard reboot follows, and I finally get the problem solved.

No wonder people make big bucks installing software. Some of this crap is just too much for the average user to go through.

E85 this

Sure, corn-based ethanol can't possibly be blamed for higher food prices, even though it uses, well, food ... and the fact that GM has basically staked its future on ethanol at the expense of any other type of alternative (like, say, hybrids) probably doesn't scare you away from it either ...

but this should. Sure, it's not as bad as a low-mileage gas car, and someday maybe corn-based ethanol will be worthwhile, but right now? no.

The last thing we need to be subsidizing is something like this. Maybe in January, our new president will get the chance to start fixing crap like this. (You know, investment tax credits and stuff like that.)

So not RL, it's funny

So I'm playing WSOP 2008 on the 360 – basically, you play WSOP events and cash games in between – and of course I am low on cash because I am not that good at poker. (Sure, luck is a pretty big factor, but if you have less skill you need more luck, and I was losing hands on A-K suited and Q-Q ...)

When you play a WSOP event, afterward you might get a call from one of the pros at your table inviting you to a cash game somewhere else. You can play those games at any time to build up your bankroll so you can play in more events (unless you finish in the money, the WSOP events can drain you pretty quick).

My in-game cell rings, and it's Jennifer Tilly, telling me that she'll put up the money for me to play in a $5K cash game ... I'm not sure what was better about it, that it happened while I was trying to decide where to lose cash first, or that her in-game voice was too funny (Jennifer has lots of money, Jennifer will pay for you ...), but hey, playing with someone else's money, no problem.

Of course in real life, I would be imagining what I'd have to do to work off that debt ... yes, I know she's married, but it's my imagination, go find your own.

Rock Band!

Just spent pretty much the whole afternoon and evening playing Rock Band. That is simply an awesome game.

Also, I still can't play Run to the Hills on hard drums. I know what I need to do, but my hands can't figure it out just yet.

That is all.

Random thoughts

• Apparently some people think that Guitar Hero III is better than Rock Band because you're always playing notes on the guitar in GH, whereas in Rock Band, sometimes you don't play (because it's like you're in a REAL BAND where OTHER PEOPLE GET SOLOS TOO). Funny, most people think that the extra notes on the GH III charts are a problem, not a bonus ... anyway, this is going to make Guitar Hero: Just Like Rock Band take off like a shot. Well, at least among the less intelligent crowd ...


• Great slide in the Reds-Yankees game last night: the guy slid on one leg, keeping the other off the ground until he passed the catcher, then tapped the plate, beating the tag. Catcher thought otherwise. Catcher was wrong.


• Also, a great catch by Brian Giles to end the Tigers-Padres game last night, although it reinforces my position that all baseball stadiums need something like the protective netting around hockey rinks ... he flipped over the little wall around Petco and landed in a handicapped-seating area. Okay, maybe netting wouldn't have helped him that much, but make the walls higher, not just so players don't go flying into the seats, but so jackass fans can't reach into the field of play and interfere with balls in play. (When it helps the home team, it's just dumb. When it hurts the home team, it should be grounds for banishment for life.)


• You probably don't like soccer much, or don't watch it much, or don't watch other than the World Cup and occasional MLS games, but Euro 2008 is on now, and if you didn't see yesterday's quarterfinal match between Turkey and Croatia, well ...
  
  They played 90 minutes with no goals. In this tournament, in elimination matches, that means two 15-minute halves of extra time (not sudden death - they play the full 30 minutes), and then PKs if it's still tied.
  
  For the first 28 minutes, nothing much happened: a couple of good opportunities, a couple of good saves. But then a Croatian ball passed through the box and was moving toward the corner, just along the goal line ... not having seen the previous match in Euro 2008 when this happened, the Turkish keeper chased it down, but a Croatian beat him to it, flicking it into the box where it was headed behind the keeper frantically dashing back to the goal. 1-0 Croatia, and with just a minute left plus injury time, Turkey looked defeated.
  
  Turkey pressed forward frantically, but Croatia blunted their attack and played a long ball ahead. With Turkish defenders ahead, the attack was offside ... the Turkish keeper, who'd come way out of his goal, quickly launched a free kick. It landed short of the box, was flicked on to another Turk, who blasted a shot off a Croatian defender ... and in! Two minutes into injury time, it's 1-1. A minute later, it's time for PKs.
  
  Rule #1: don't miss the net. Make the keeper save it. So Croatia ... misses the net. Not once, but twice in their first three kicks. Turkey did not miss; when Croatia's fourth kick was saved by Rustu, Turkey advanced.
  
  Sure, maybe there wasn't so much action in the first 90, but the end of that match is one thing that makes soccer such a special game.

Good riddance, cheater

Good old MGoBlog pointed out a little tidbit that I'd missed ... seems that Robert Reynolds is going to retire from the NFL, basically because he was dumb enough to get caught using steroids enough times to earn a one-year suspension.

This should surprise no one, as Brian and The Realests both point out. Aside from the fact that Reynolds went to Ohio State (one should always use "graduation" carefully with respect to that school), he's best known for choking Jim Sorgi during a game. Yes, the same Jim Sorgi who owns a Super Bowl ring and spends his Sundays closely watching Peyton to see if perhaps today is the day when he will get to take a snap from center.

See, Sorgi was actually a pretty good QB in college, and anyway ... well, never mind. Suffice it to say that "good riddance" sums up Reynolds pretty well

Wal-Mart sucks

Obviously you know this already, but sometimes it helps to keep repeating the line, over and over again ...

because people don't always believe you, and then something like this happens, and then they're forced to believe you.

A receipt-checking policy at a store like Wal-Mart is really, really stupid. Then again, so is Wal-Mart.

It's NCAA football time

Well, no, it's not, not exactly, not unless you are dedicated to the sport 24/7/366.

But the preview guides are starting to come out, and those are always good for a few laughs ... on the other hand, if you want to see a little more interesting analysis, check this out. EDSBS itself linked to it ... something positive about all 118 I-A schools that that don't have their own exclusive network television contract.

Enjoy!

Sabermetrics + politics = win!

Yep, that's right. I knew this Newsweek subscription would come in handy. Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus fame has a website, FiveThirtyEight.com, where he uses tools similar to his PECOTA system for baseball to project electoral results ... not only that, but he links to and blogs about other sites that do similar work, like voteview.com.

What does this mean? Several things. For one, there are practical applications for that kind of analysis all over the place, which to me helps to legitimize its use for baseball. (Dear sportswriters and scouts who fear this system: suck it.)

For another, at this point, McCain seems to be as likely to win the election as the Penguins were to win the Cup: a definite possibility, except for the facts. Barring an inexplicably bad decision by Babcock (such as, say, selecting Clinton as a running mate), the Wings should win.

Of course, when the stars line up like this, there's always that nagging feeling of insecurity: can we really win? Will it really be as good as it could be? (One in nine projections give Obama a landslide in the electoral college.)

Well, let's put it this way. Indiana may not be a solid red state, and if Indiana's figured out what's been happing in Washington, well, the elephant can stand aside for a while and watch the donkey fix things for two or four years, at least.

Zarcade

I like video games.

I know, it's hard to tell from my blog and my profile and other places you may have seen me around the web, but it's true.

In fact, I like them quite a bit. Apparently some people are interested in knowing exactly how much I like them, so I have some pics and some facts ...

Computer room

This is where I do the old-school PC games and classic console games; this shot is facing the computer desk: that's a SlikStik arcade control panel on my desk. Unfortunately I can't link to their site because they've apparently gone Chapter 7, but rest assured that the console works just fine. (Um, except for the trackball. You know why arcade owners hate games like Golden Tee? Yep, it's true. Guess I'll need to fix this myself now.)


The second pic is facing away from the computer desk. On the left, there is an Intellivision with the Intellivoice module, and below that a Sega Genesis with an arcade stick. (I have the 32X in the closet, but no games for it.) On the right, an Atari 5200 with trackball controller (I luvz me trackball games), an original NES with Advantage joystick, and a Nintendo 64. (The Nintendo systems are the only ones I bought new: we had an Intellivision growing up but I think it was killed in the fire, I had a 5200 that I may have sold during the dark times, and I gave away my original Genesis and games to someone who needed it more.)

Not pictured: my Game Boy collection (original, color, advance, all originals), Atari Lynx (2 - my second and third), and Nintendo DS and DS Lite (originals). I also have a spare 5200 in the closet for parts (from California brother, picked up at a garage sale: brother +1).

Living room

From left to right: Rubbermaid storage for various accessories (2 Xplorers for 360, 2 Gibsons - one wireless - for PS2, one Stratocaster for 360, and one dance pad for 360); mic and mic stand for Rock Band (doesn't work for KR: AI Encore; Konami = suck); consoles (Wii, 360, PS2) and DVD player, plus an HD DVD player (where are my cheap movies?) and an arcade stick for the 360; drum set for Rock Band (throne not pictured). In the foreground is the laptop on which I am typing this; I use that for the rare gaming I do these days.

Not pictured: various Wii controllers, extra 360 and PS2 controllers.

UPDATE: I forgot about the N64. oops. Super Mario 64, one of the few games that completely changed the console world.

Why GTA IV isn't all that

So today, I'm catching up on some of the other achievements and working on other random things. I decide I'm going to work on the swimming part of the Liberty City Marathon (of course if they knew what they were doing, they'd have called it a decathlon - ten events - but whatever), 40 miles. I've got 1 done, so I've got a ways to go.

I swim for a bit, climb into a boat and drive, jump back in and swim, walk on the shore, and so on. At one point, I look up and notice that I'm taking damage ... from ... uh, I don't know. Fatigue, I guess?

So I panic and swim madly for sure, but of course action fatigue sets in and so Niko can only swim at slow speed for a while. (I guess that experience in the war didn't really help any.) Finally, I crawl onto land just before I die.

As I'm making my way back to civilization, Packie calls me. Sure, I'll play pool. So I head toward a street where I can catch a cab.

I pass a hot dog stand. Hmm, I'm almost dead, I could use one. And here is where some of GTA's many flaws converge:

• There's someone standing on the hot spot, so I can't buy a hot dog; worse yet, I start circling him, moving back and forth to try to find out how to get where he is.
• Naturally, he takes exception to me, but I don't want to start anything because I don't have a car or life. He takes a swing and takes the last of my health.
• I wake up outside the hospital, without my untouched life vest (I guess even though they can resurrect you with all your weapons, they take your body armor). However, now Packie no longer appears on the map.
• I don't come pick him up (because I don't know where he is), so of course he texts me and is mad.

Awesome.

Rockstar, you're playing with fire. GTA has a fairly committed fan base, but honestly, there are problems with GTA IV. A lot of them. You need to address some of them before GTA V comes out, or you're going to end up like EA (I know, from an economic sense that would be great), with some casual fans who like the games and hardcore enemies who hate how solid franchises were slowly brought down to earth.

At the very least, next time, give me an option to tell my friend "Sure, I'll play pool, but I'm dying on the beach right now. How about two hours?"

Dear Powers-that-be,

I'm not sure what exactly it was that we did, or who did it, or whatever, but anyway, on behalf of the residents of and visitors to the state of Indiana, I apologize for all of it.

Sincerely,
zlionsfan

P.S. I thought I should clarify for anyone interested that I have been fortunate to avoid any damage from the rain. This is basically a plea on behalf of those I know who have not been so lucky.

Happiness is being a Wings fan

I was out at BWW with some friends last night after volleyball; Game 6 was starting soon and we were talking about it. One of my friends, a woman who's a big NFL fan but not so much into the other sports (yet), was surprised at my approach (I was fairly confident that the Wings would win, but not too worried if they didn't). Partly from our NFL discussions, she'd come to believe that I was pessimistic about all Detroit teams, and to be fair, both the Tigers and Pistons have generated some pessimism recently.

The Wings, however, are an exception. Over the last 15-20 years, they've enjoyed success they hadn't seen since the '40s and '50s, and certainly over the last 12 years, they've been the best franchise in hockey (perhaps of all time, considering that they're playing in a 30-team league and not a 6-team league).

I explained it briefly to her, but I don't think I did it justice. Look at this history, and tell me what your approach would be.

• 2007-08: 1st in NHL, 1st in West, 1st in Central, won Cup


• 2006-07: t-1st in NHL, 1st in West, 1st in Central, lost in conference finals


• 2005-06: 1st in NHL, 1st in West, 1st in Central, lost in conference quarters


• 2003-04: 1st in NHL, 1st in West, 1st in Central, lost in conference semis


• 2002-03: 3rd in NHL, 2nd in West, 1st in Central, lost in conference quarters


• 2001-02: 1st in NHL, 1st in West, 1st in Central, won Cup


• 2000-01: t-2nd in NHL, 2nd in West, 1st in Central, lost in conference quarters


• 1999-2000: 2nd in NHL, 2nd in West, 2nd in Central, lost in conference semis


• 1998-99: t-6th in NHL, 3rd in West, 1st in Central, lost in conference semis


• 1997-98: 3rd in NHL, 2nd in West, 2nd in Central, won Cup


• 1996-97: 5th in NHL, 2nd in West, 2nd in Central, won Cup


• 1995-96: 1st in NHL, 1st in West, 1st in Central, lost in conference finals


• 1994-95: 1st in NHL, 1st in West, 1st in Central, lost Cup finals

In that 12-season span, they had the best record in the league 6 times (and tied for the best one other time), best record in the conference 7 times, and they won 9 division titles. Sure, they lost in the first round 3 times, but they made it to the finals 5 times and won 4 of them.

That's not just success. That's dominance.

So no, the prospect of the Penguins winning Game 6 didn't trouble me much. I didn't like that the Wings lost Game 5, and I've seen Detroit lose tough series before (although it should be noted that they haven't lost a Game 7 since 1994 against San Jose - for that matter, they've only played two Game 7s since then: Stevie Y's double-OT goal against St. Louis in '96 and the wonderful shellacking of Patrick Roy in '02). But the Wings have played so well this season, especially late against Nashville and Dallas, that I figured the odds of them losing three straight games were pretty slim.

And if they did, who am I to complain? They'd have still won 3 Cups during my lifetime. Only seven franchises have won more than that in the history of the NHL. Even if you look at only post-expansion Cups, there are three teams who've won more than Detroit prior to this season: Montreal (10), Edmonton (5), and the New York Islanders (4). There are many, many fans who'd pay to see that kind of success from their team (like in Toronto, for example).

I remember following the Wings in the '70s and early '80s, when they really sucked. For part of that time, there were 21 NHL teams and 16 made the playoffs. For 4 straight seasons, the Wings were one of the five teams that missed. They lost in the first round the next two seasons and then missed again the next season. This was a bad, bad franchise, and so it's that much nicer to see them so good for so long.

It also takes away a lot of the pain that the Lions cause. Sure, they've sucked for decades, but that's just one sport in four, and when the other Detroit teams have been so successful, does it really matter that one of them is so bad?

We win!

Sorry, Pittsburgh, the officials can't give you this one. Nice try, though. I'm guessing there should have been a penalty on Malone for interference, and there definitely should have been a penalty for Datsyuk being taken down at the end, but you know what? It doesn't matter, and that's what Babcock was probably telling his players after Game 5. Don't call them yourselves, and if the refs don't call them, don't worry about it.

It's nice to see the best team in hockey win the Cup ... when was the last time that happened? Oh yeah, 2002, the last time the Wings won. :)

The only problem is that because the five-year rule is cumulative, now I can't complain about anything Wings-related until 2017.

Maybe 2018, if the skipped season doesn't count.

Almost there ...

It's difficult to explain what it's like to be rooting for the best team in a league, especially in a sport where you can only get one point at a time.

Maybe I'll get a chance to talk about it a little more on Monday. For now, let's just say I'm very happy.

Series over

One way you can tell when a team is beaten is when they start taking cheap shots at the other team - usually it's just a couple of players, but they typically won't miss a chance to do it. Jarome Iginla would be proud at the way that Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone have been playing in Game 2.

Michel Therrien should take note, though. Just as Iginla took boneheaded penalties against the Wings in 2007, so has Malone in 2008. In Game 2, all three of Malone's penalties were offensive-zone penalties, and the third was early in a Pittsburgh power play. (Roberts took a minor penalty as well, but at this point in his career, he's clearly a designated agitator anyway. he's got nothing else to contribute.)

Obviously the Penguins can come back, and certainly a 2-0 series lead isn't invulnerable. If Pittsburgh wins Games 3 and 4, it's a best-of-three series. However, they're not going to win if they don't score, and there's nothing in Game 2 that indicates they will do so.

One of the knocks on the Wings since maybe 1995 is that they're not "tough" and that they can be beaten with "physical" play (Mike Modano was one of the players who brought this up most recently - he probably still thinks he can't be checked). Usually, "physical" play is a euphemism for enforcement, and Pittsburgh's lucky Detroit doesn't have anyone like that. (McCarty is well past that point of his career, mostly being a Roberts-type guy, and no one on the active roster really does that, except maybe Chelios as a pest-type.)

If the Wings did, one of the Pens would likely get run late in the game. There have been quite a few shots exchanged late in the game (translation: weak officials, although Detroit just got a power play as a result of some of this), and usually that's when your "tough guy" has to "send a message".

Unless you're in Calgary, in which case your "tough guy" doesn't realize he's really the best player on the team and can't spend five minutes in the box.

Two games down, two to go.

EDIT: Pittsburgh just committed another penalty, another shot to Franzen's head, this one after the whistle blew. Brian Burke would be so proud.

Ed Olczyk still doesn't understand what the Penguins need to do to turn things around.

Maybe that's what got him fired in Pittsburgh.

EDIT: Now it's out of control. Well hey, the NHL would have stopped this if it really wanted to. They don't care. Wonder why the NHL is a second-tier sport, relegated to the cage-fighting channel? There is no enforcement. No postseason game should ever devolve into a brawl. Ever. And this wasn't a baseball brawl, either. It was Osgood getting run by Sykora (are you kidding me? Sykora? not at all a guy I thought would do that) ... one thing I noticed was that Franzen was on top of someone, not exactly discussing the economy. Can't say I blame him much.

If the NHL isn't going to protect you, then you feel you have to protect yourself, and that never works. It didn't work in the '70s and it doesn't work now. There is always someone else who will keep it going. The NBA realizes this. The NFL realizes this. MLB doesn't, but Selig's an idiot anyway.

Olczyk thinks the Penguins can build off this. Uh, sure. I guess now you get points for cheap shots.

Fixing baseball

If I were commissioner for a day, and by "commissioner" I mean the position in these hypothetical questions that has absolute power and can write decrees that will take effect permanently even after I leave office (because really, if that weren't the case, then how dumb does the question become?), this is what I would do.

I would fix scheduling.

Yes, scheduling. Ignore the DH for now, skip the idiocy that is homefield advantage in the World Series (novel idea: do what every other sport does and decide it by the record of the competing teams), and focus on baseball's main problems.

That's right, problems. I can kill two large birds with one well-placed stone.

The first problem is unfair scheduling. Most franchises realize it and very few columnists seem to understand it (Google "unfair baseball schedule" and see what happens). The idiots who figured that three-division teams would be a good idea didn't bother to consider the problems with an uneven number of teams, either within or between divisions. (If it's a 24- or 36-team organization, you're fine. You need the same number of teams in each division for fairness and an even number of teams in each league for scheduling.) We know wild-card competitors won't play the same schedules, but when division rivals don't play similar schedules, there's a problem. (Look back at the 28-team NFL, when a fifth-place team would make a run at a division title the next season, and you'll see what I mean.)

The second problem is unbalanced leagues. Of course, with 30 teams, you have to have unbalanced leagues. 15 and 15 means interleague play all season long, and no one's dumb enough to buy into that. No, really, not even Bud.

So here's how to fix it.

Expand to 32 teams. I know, I'm not really a proponent of expansion, but we need to divide by 4 (you see where this is going?) and if you think you are going to contract by 2, good luck with that.

Besides, there are population areas that could probably sustain major-league teams no worse than, say, Miami does. The two largest MSAs without teams are Portland (2.1 million) and San Antonio (just under 2 million). Both already support major-league teams in other sports and do so rather well (except when the Blazers' owners are total morons).

Note that the greater Montreal area has 3.6 million people and the Vancouver area has 2.25 million people. From a population perspective, these would naturally be the expansion markets you'd want; as a bonus, you'd have three Canadian teams in the American League (ha ha, joke's on us) and Seattle would finally have a local rival. (Well, they'd have that with Portland as well, but anyway ...) Montreal did sustain a baseball team, just not one run by a guy who has no idea how to do it. Funny how the same thing's happening in Miami. Think MLB realizes Loria's a franchise-wrecking jackass? Nope, me either.

Anyway, we'll look at both concepts.

Realign into four eight-team divisions. Yep, we're getting rid of the Central divisions. It doesn't work now and it gets into the stupid wild-card thing.

How do we do this? Well, we go back to the old-school alignment from 1993, but keep teams in the leagues where they are now, and add the two expansion teams to the AL. We will have to shuffle teams around, of course, to get to eight per division ...

(Sorry, but I'm linking to my Google doc. Hand-typing HTML tables isn't my thing.)

So take a look at my solutions and then follow along.

Option A: US expansion.

1. The two new teams are Western teams, so they go to the AL West.
2. The easternmost team in the West, Chicago, moves to the East.
3. As in the real-life three-division alignment, Chicago and St. Louis move out of the East and Atlanta and Cincinnati move into the East.

The AL was pretty much set anyway, and Chicago could play in either division (and will, as you'll see below). In the NL, we keep geography in mind, moving the Reds and Braves where they belong. (St. Louis has to play in the West, and it will be easier to convince them if the Cubs move as well.)

Option B: Canadian expansion.

1. The two new teams are on opposite sides of Canada, so they fit perfectly into the existing seven-team divisions.
2. Again, the NL realigns by switching Chicago and St. Louis with Atlanta and Cincinnati.

One benefit of this option is that Montreal and Toronto are now divisional rivals, and if you're a hockey fan, you now have five of the Original Six cities represented in the AL East. (Chicago really does belong in the West here.) Vancouver fits geographically with Seattle, and the NL realignment keeps teams separately fairly well between east and west.

Now, the final touch:
End interleague play. It's a joke anyway. Sure, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago fans love it, but really, aside from those rivalries, nothing else really has the same ring to it, and we don't need any more Detroit-Arizona games.

Simple, regular scheduling. Fourteen games against each divisional opponent, eight games against each opponent in the other division. Divisional play dominates the schedule again, and everyone in the division has the same schedule.

You really should take just the division winners in this scenario. I suppose you could take the two next-best records if you wanted, but that's up to you.

Will it ever happen? Only if you're playing Out Of The Park. In the real world, no chance in hell. MLB doesn't do intelligent things. Not any more.

Big

If you've never been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then you won't understand.

It's big. Big. Now, you can look up the Wikipedia article and read the facts about it – capacity of nearly half a million people, kilometer-long straightaways – but you won't really appreciate it until you're there.

I've seen a NASCAR race and an F1 race there, but this was my first 500. I was volunteering and working an early shift, so I didn't stay for the race itself. The souvenir tent was on the inside, so it was my first time inside the track.

It was cool to be there early and see the stands so empty on race day (yes, we get there really early to set up), but when we left at the end of our shifts, it was amazing to be inside the track while the race was running. (There are tunnels under the north and south ends of the track for access to the massive infield area.)

We were walking back to the parking lot (alas, no shuttles running during the race), and it was something to look around in all directions and see people seated off in the distance ... at times, the cars were far enough away that you really couldn't tell the race was going on if you didn't see the pylon or one of the big-screen TVs. (Think about it ... could you hear something more than half a mile away?) Then you'd see the cars flash by, practically at eye level, and gradually the sound would dissipate. All the way on the inside, people are moving to infield seating, walking around looking at the garage area, the souvenir stands, the Hall of Fame museum ...

Oh yes, and because you can bring your own beer (shocking!), most of them are happy, especially with the weather we had today. (Mid 70s, sunny. Perfect for viewing.)

I've been in Michigan Stadium before, but only once, when I was little. Since then, the largest field I've seen was probably the Silverdome, seating 80,000 at its finest. With five times that many people in that area, let's just say it was a good idea to leave early.

I do recommend that you go at least once, especially if you live anywhere nearby, just to say you've been. It isn't like the old days, where you'd have four solid weekends of fun and a massive party in the infield, but it's still amazing.

Sports apocalypse

Joe Paterno makes sense. In fact, more sense than most who speak out on this issue, and JoePa is 137 years old, so that should tell you something right there. (No, not that he's senile.)

The Celtics lost the Eastern Conference Finals. Well, okay, they only lost Game 2, but they can't win on the road, and Doc Rivers is still their coach. Bet on them if you like. I'll keep watching hockey myself - hopefully one Detroit team will wipe out its opponent quickly so I can focus on the other.

The Yankees are still in last place. Of course, the Red Sox are now in first, but so what? You can't have everything. Where would you put it?

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still

O Spring Update, how I longed for you
I dreamt of your sweet glow on my dashboard
Of fixes, and patches, and DRM that works
But now, you say you cannot be
And hope I will survive without you
Go to hell.

Or not quite. xbox360fanboy reports that the one thing Microsoft will be doing is addressing the DRM issue. (If you haven't heard about it or been affected by it, here's the deal: Microsoft licenses DLC to a console and a gamertag. If both are present, no problems. If only one is present, then it has to check with the server to confirm you're really licensed to see the content - this is typically if you're using a new console because your old one broke. So if you play offline, or Live is down, or you have some crappy port like Sonic where the DRM checking doesn't work right, you can't use the content you licensed.)

In theory, when this tool is rolled out on xbox.com in June, you'll be able to consolidate your licenses to a single 360. (In the past, you had to call support and they would address a single issue for you. Yeah, right, like I'm spending 30 minutes on the phone for someone to tell me to try rebooting the 360.)

We'll see. I really would like to play Sonic again. Wait, what am I saying? That game was incredibly frustrating.

Updated Rock Band spreadsheet

Sorry folks, I've been delinquent. My Rock Band DLC spreadsheet should be updated through, I think, last week's content (prior to the no-longer-exclusive-to-Europe DLC).

I took out the formatting for master tracks vs. cover bands because it didn't seem to be working, and I added tracks that I don't personally own (now that I can get that info easily from the Rock Band Store).

Enjoy!

P.S. I added a link to it on the left, so that in a couple of months when this isn't on the front page, lol, you'll still find it easily.

Confessions of a fool

I live in the Indianapolis area.

One year, I had Lions season tickets.

Why? Well, for one thing, I'd been to my first Lions game the year before, and it was kind of nice to be around a bunch of people all rooting for the same team. (And they beat the Packers, and that Favre guy.) And I had some extra money and some time on my hands. (Too much time on my hands ... so I do this ...) And they were good. (Relatively speaking. They'd just made the playoffs for the fifth time in seven seasons. And they had a pretty good running back.)

So I bought the tickets and was immediately acquainted with one of the sad facts of NFL fanship (and, I suppose, pro sports in general).

Exhibition games are included. At full price. Yeah, not going to those.

So anyway, I went to the first five regular-season games, watched the Lions play like crap, figured out how long a drive it was if you made it twice in one day, and then skipped the last three games (Thanksgiving, cold weather, and Christmas).

But through all that, I never got treated like this.

Yep, they messed with a season-ticket-holder's seats (happens from time to time, especially with reconfigurations), promised to fix it, and then didn't. And then when he wrote to see if it could be resolved, the guy presumably forwarded it to his boss, copying the ticketholder, asking for help.

And the boss wrote something back, relaying a not-particularly-complimentary exchange about similar issues, mentioning that it wouldn't be addressed this season, using a four-letter word that sounds like "Firetruck".

And he replied to all.

oops.

The Consumerist posted something about the article as well, and then Football Outsiders referenced that, all the while trailing confused fans from other teams in their wake. You mean you can just go up and get more season tickets? (Teams like the Packers, Giants, and Redskins have long waiting lists. Long, as in bequeathing places on the waiting list to heirs.) And why would you root for this team anyway? Is it any wonder they stink when management treats the best customers like that?

That's right. That's my team. Heck, that's the team that's the reason for my username.

Not a well-respected Division I school.

Not a school with a slightly better academic reputation.

And not the CFL team. (Too bad. They've won more titles, all more recently than Detroit's last title, and they're coming off a 14-win season.)

Nope. My team is the team run by fools, clowns, and jackasses.

It could be worse. There are other cities with a lot less to cheer about. I've got a team in the Finals in one sport and a team in the semis in another; my teams won titles in 1984, 1989, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2004, and they made the finals in 1995, 2005, and 2006. At least only one of the franchises is a complete wreck.

Geekasaurus!

Four stars! Won't Get Fooled Again! Expert/Expert!

That's right, I did that. Over a million fans, too, because it was in Moscow. (No, I'm not doing the Endless Setlist on E/E. Probably not ever.)

You can kind of track the band's progress here. I say "kind of" because you can really only see our score and fans, and even then it may not mean a lot at first. Just know that you can't break 1 million unless everyone in your band is playing on Expert.

Also, I still can't get the Blink song to download properly. I blame that on EA.

Suspense? Um, no.

The Wings have certainly made things interesting this postseason, from splitting the first four with Nashville to letting the Stars back into the conference finals. However, they do have this knack for shutting the door firmly on their competition, and yesterday was no exception.

There are few things quite like the feeling you get when your team is the favorite in a game that will eliminate the other team, and shortly into the game, you see there is no doubt that your team will win. It wasn't quite as special as the 7-0 rout of Patrick Roy and Colorado the last time the Wings won the Cup, but nonetheless, it was much better than watching a nailbiter.

It's true. People talk about how close games are so exciting, but what they really mean is that winning a close game is exciting. Watching a solid win for your team is better. Trust me.

Too bad the NHL is copying the NBA with respect to the Finals ... Game 1 on Saturday night? Maybe they're afraid they won't get enough June games on the calendar. News flash: the ratings will suck on Vs no matter when the games are played. (That's right. The NHL is so dumb, they don't have their finals on a network channel. Even the NBA isn't that dumb.)

Yahtzee agrees with me

What? Who?

Yahtzee. Escapist Magazine. Zero Punctuation reviews. (Yes, that's what it means. Five-minute reviews with no punctuation. Just watch one.)

Anyway, he reviews GTA IV, and he likes it. Well, actually, he thinks it's really good. On his scale, that translates roughly to "Best Game Evar." (He's a critic in all senses of the word.)

Also, we see eye to eye on the faults we find with it.

Cars that drive like battleships (unless piloted by AI)? Check.
Tiresome escort missions with people who don't know how to find cover? Check.
"Friends" calling you up and expecting you to make it across town in an hour? Check.
Terrible visibility (didn't they have color in New York in the '90s)? Check.

Read the review, but avoid the ads - there's a pop-over ad at the beginning that can be closed and an ad at the end after the review is over. Bonus points to Yahtzee for the Skid Row clip at the end.

Vs = Versus Sucks

Here is another reason why: late in Game 4, the Wings are down two and pulled their goalie on a power play. What does V show at the top of the screen? "Empty Net". Why? Well, it's too helpful to show power-play time remaining, so they went with the less-helpful information. Five-on-three? Doesn't matter. Not important.

Also, if you want to know one reason why Dallas is down 1-3 in the series after winning tonight (thanks in part to a blown call by the refs, disallowing a goal by Datsyuk), here's a hint. With just over two minutes left, a Star takes a penalty for delay of game, lifting the puck over the glass into the seats. Who is it? Brendan Morrow, the captain. Well done, sir, that's about as dumb as you can get ... well, except for the guy who took the hooking call with about 35 seconds left in the game. Keep in mind that even in the modern NHL, in the playoffs, referees rarely call additional penalties during a power play. (Case in point: Steve Ott lying on top of Holmstrom late in the power play, then pulling his helmet off. Outmanned teams frequently resort to this kind of play. Idiot announcers refer to this as "letting them decide it on the ice." It's no coincidence that many of these announcers were former mediocre players themselves.)

Anyway, who was this other guy? Alternate captain and former captain Mike Modano.

The last thing you want late in a game is to be down a man. Now you're down three (remember the empty net?). They didn't give up any goals, but they sure tried.

The Wings will win in five - this was a desperate effort by the Stars, and it did pay off temporarily, but Dallas is not good enough to win two in a row from these Wings, much less four.

Sad but true

I had an interesting thing happen today. I can't give you most of the details, but I can tell you this much: I met a former NFL player today. He played for several years, a long time ago. (Some of you might recognize the name; many probably would not.) He was a nice guy, married to a nice woman, but it was obvious that what happened during his career had left long-term effects on him. He knew it, and his wife knew it, and they both could explain it pretty well, but they couldn't do anything about it.

I've met very few current or former players before and talked with fewer still. This was the first time I'd come face to face with what's been in the news for the last year or two with respect to former players from the olden days and what they aren't getting from the league.

Football is a brutal sport, and it exacts a terrible toll on many of those who play it. I will do my best to remember that when I watch.

Observations

Yeah, not bad. That's from 6000/768 service. I upgraded from 1500/384 because a) the price of that was going up and b) the price of the faster service was less than I paid originally - they cut prices about six months ago. Pretty nice. Hope that should help with any XBLA issues I might have.

Also, I was in a waiting room recently and worked out something pretty cool. The carpet there had a pattern that looked roughly like this:

00__00--00__00--00
00__00--00__00--00

except picture the dashes at the top instead of in the middle. When I first looked at the carpet, my brain interpreted the 00s in diagonal lines, as if there were something connecting them. I looked at the pattern close to my feet, so I could focus on it, and saw what you kind of see above. I looked out again, and this time my brain looked at it as if there were only rows, no diagonals.

Basically, it didn't get a clear view at first, so it saw the larger shapes and figured there were probably lines between them. (It's not too different than looking at black squares with white lines between them and seeing black squares in the intersections.) Once I gave my brain the correct mapping, it interpreted the pattern correctly, so it knew what I could see farther away.

If your brain has seen something similar before, it maps a new thing onto that memory until you provide it details to distinguish the two. If it's unlike anything you've ever seen, your brain can't interpret it correctly, so you may have no idea how to explain it.

Sorry, that's just science babble, but I thought it was cool.

Oh yeah? Well I don't care!

So yeah, I didn't get the late-night delivery I wanted. Supposedly it's out for delivery now. whatever.

I seem to recall this happened before with Amazon. Well, that's it! No more pre-orders from them! Ever!

I thought I'd look it up, just to ensure I wasn't forgetting anything ... and it turns out that it was EBgames.com, not Amazon. I think it was Mario Kart: Double Dash for the GameCube.

oops.

But that doesn't really matter. If I really want a game on launch day, I'm better off driving around for an hour and finding it live than paying extra to get it delivered and then finding out the day of arrival that it's not coming.

It's a shame that there's really no pressure in B2C relationships that you'd see in B2B ... granted, it's not about the money (I'm sure that'll be refunded) as much as the promise. I just don't feel like there's any urgency on UPS' part to deliver the game.

Well, it's not like I pre-order that many games anyway. I sure wouldn't do it if I had to put down a deposit ...

Update, 2:10 P.M.: It's here, finally. Of course I'm in the middle of a long Culdcept duel and won't be able to play for a while ... and today is supposed to be a DDR day ... grrrr ...

3-0

Well, I never would have guessed Game 3 would have turned out like this. The Wings held on to win, 4-3, but it was a great save by Jose Theodore that kept the Avs in the game late (on a breakaway by Dan Cleary), and even more surprising, Colorado pulled their goalie with about 1:30 left and not only got no shots on goal, they didn't even get the puck in Detroit's zone.

Andrew Brunette put in a couple of power-play goals that kept Colorado close, but really, this is the difference in talent between the two teams. Despite that, Games 1 and 3 have been great games, and this is what people should remember about Detroit-Colorado playoff series, not that fighting and thugging crap. (Note: pretty much all the cheap-shot players on both teams have moved on. Hopefully Claude Lemieux is having back problems somewhere.) The NHL needs to understand that you can have a really good game between two good teams that doesn't involve dropping the gloves every five minutes. (Don't think the NHL approves of thuggy play? If they didn't want it around, teams like Anaheim and Philadelphia wouldn't be able to play two consecutive games without calling up half an AHL roster: they'd have multiple players serving lengthy suspensions.)

The third period tonight was about as exciting as hockey gets. It's a shame the NHL screwed itself by burning an entire season for greed and settling for some third-tier network that can't even show all the games in HD. The Penguins are one of the more significant stories in sports the last ten years, and chances are most people have no idea at all. (I will say, though, that there are hockey fans around. Last week at BWW, there were some Pens supporters cheering the comeback win against the Rangers. We were surprised to hear cheering that didn't match any of the baseball or basketball games we saw.)

The what is where?

So, like five hundred thousand other gamers in the US (or so Take Two hopes), I preordered GTA IV, and just for kicks, I spent the $5 to have it shipped next-day instead of second-day air. So I figured I better get up early today to ensure I'd be at the door when the UPS man arrived. (It's not a big deal, usually, because they can leave most things, but sometimes you have to sign, and on rare occasions, you can't change it, you have to be there anyway - see UPS Ground Sucks.)

Today, I checked the status of my package.

US 04/28/2008 2:55 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Well, that's normal, although sometimes it says where it originated. This should be followed by arrival in Louisville, then departure, then arrival in Indy for delivery.

PHILADELPHIA,
PA, US 04/29/2008 2:20 A.M. INCORRECT ROUTING AT UPS FACILITY / THE PACKAGE WAS MISSORTED AT THE HUB. IT HAS BEEN REROUTED TO THE CORRECT DESTINATION SITE

Um, what?

panic. I'll have to play something else today.

Then calm arrives. Of course this happens from time to time. They'll ship it back to the Louisville hub, then ... um ... fly it up? It's a two-hour drive, so I doubt they'd drive it ... hmm ...

PHILADELPHIA,
PA, US 04/29/2008 10:42 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

Okay, that's better. Back on track, but when will it be here?

LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 04/29/2008 12:33 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

Not bad. It still has to be flown up here, though. I'd say 12:57 P.M. for departure scan from Louisville, 1:45 P.M. for arrival scan in Indy, and then 2:45 P.M. for "Out for Delivery."

Naturally, the whole time the status has been "In Transit - On Time", which is what I would tell a panicky customer who was worried that a very important shipment would be late.

Updates to come, but let's just say that right now, I'm unhappily playing Culdcept Saga.

Update, 2:15 PM: Yeah, it's not arriving today. They just updated the status: "In Transit." As in "Not On Time."

Oh well. It's not worth spending an extra $50 or $60 just to get it now, assuming I could find a copy of it.

boo.

I'm getting my $5 back from Amazon.

Update, 5:35 PM: but wait! There may still be hope:

LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 04/29/2008 4:24 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

Right, so it did leave Louisville today. That's a good sign. Still, even if it's scanned in Indy at 5:25 P.M., I'd be surprised if it's on a truck and at my door by 7.

Surprise me, UPS.

Update, 8:25 PM: Closer, closer ...

INDIANAPOLIS,
IN, US 04/29/2008 7:32 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

Of course, it doesn't say "Out For Delivery". It may actually be out, and the data may be out of date, but I doubt it.

boo.

Free Bird!

I just beat Free Bird on Hard.

Four stars, even.

I am getting better. I made it to the fourth set on Expert, too. My wrist kind of hurts, but still.

My 360 won't tell you about it tomorrow, not directly, but it will tell you that I added one achievement. Can I get a hell yeah?

P.S. I saw some of a rerun of the CMT Awards Sunday, and I remembered several reasons why I like country music.

Ha ha ha ha ha

The cheap-shot team in Calgary is playing San Jose in the first round. Ordinarily, I wouldn't mind seeing a strong team eliminated so the Wings have a smoother road, but aside from my brother's preference for the Sharks, I hate teams like the Flames. I believe they are the main reason why the NHL has been relegated to Vs, that and the fact the NHL apparently doesn't care. I'd like to see Calgary, Anaheim and Philadelphia swept.

Anyway, ha ha, the cheap-shot Flames whacked one of the Sharks and got caught. Power play. Then another one tried something else and got caught. Two-man advantage. Then another one flat-out slashed a Shark in what probably should have been a four-minute penalty, but still, drew another penalty. If you're scoring at home, that's three Flames in the box. I'd guess that happens about once every 20 years or so.

Kudos to the refs for calling what they see. I hope the Sharks win 5-0 and that Iginla is injured starting a fight as I'm sure he will if the game is out of reach at the end. What a bunch of thugs. Go Sharks!

'70s horror returns

Well, it's time to move on ... my employer decided to become former. It's for the best for everyone, I think. Anyway, I had a phone call with a recruiter scheduled for 3 PM today.

At 2:45, my phone line went down. (I figured this out when my internet connection disappeared.) Aha! Neither my cats nor my house want me to find a job. What they did not know is that I am not left-handed. Actually, that I use my cell phone and already had relevant pages open in my browser.

Magically, the problem went away right before the recruiter called.

Uh-huh. Busted. Watch it, house. Just because you're in high demand doesn't mean I can't call an exorcist.

Stupid coaches

Dear Rick Barnes,

YOU LOST. STOP FOULING.

Good God. I think it's time to go to something like four free throws for fouls beyond 12 or something like that. You're down 17 with a minute to go. YOU LOST.

What a bunch of hacks.

Billy Packer, always 30 minutes behind the action, just noticed that perhaps the fans might get upset if Texas kept fouling. (They've been booing loudly for the last three fouls. Even they realize the game is over.)

Also, CBS sucks. That is all.

l2count

Dear math-challenged announcers, and you know who you are (Mr. Manaman),

When a team is down late in regulation or overtime, generally speaking, yes, they do need threes. Example: you're down 4 with 20 seconds left. If you hit a 2 right away, and you steal the inbounds pass and hit another 2, then no, you didn't need a 3. In any other situation, though, yes, you did. (It's also possible to foul, watch them miss two, and then come down and hit a two, but about as likely.)

What is much, much, much more likely is that your opponent is going to score again. Anything less than 10 seconds a possession is luck. You should expect your opponents to hit free throws, not hope that you'll somehow hypnotize the ball out of their hands. If they get two free throws per possession, you need three points per possession.

Learn to count.

CBS = teh suck

CBS can go f themselves. The announcers did everything but paint their faces blue at halftime.

You got the team you wanted. Make sure to root for them against West Virginia, too. Normally, biased announcers favor the underdog, but it's cool, don't worry about it.

wow

Not sure how to describe today. All I know is that a) I need to save some money so I can experience more of this tournament and b) if I went to the doctor, he'd say no way, not going to happen. (I think I'd rather have a female doctor, actually, not for that reason, but I'd rather not have a man checking out my parts. Anyway.)

Wisconsin has officially set the sport of basketball back 10 years. Good God. And yeah, Beilein has some work to do. Michigan looked awful. A decent team would have beaten Wisconsin. I'm glad MSU won, because the rest of the day sucked ...

until just now. I should have left the radio on. Hearing Don Fischer announce the end would have been priceless, but I was angry at the refs and I switched it off.

Anyway again, we watched the first two games, ducked out early and got a table at the Claddagh 15 minutes before everyone got there, headed back to watch Purdue lose a heartbreaker, and then saw Minnesota show IU why Dan Dakich is not the right man for the job. (Of course, it could also be that IU has too many players who don't realize maybe D.J. White should get the ball from time to time.)

Also, I got a free grande frappuccino at Starbucks, because they made the wrong one, which makes up for their stupid system where they have only three baristas anyway and they serve cold and hot drinks on opposite sides, so you can't ever find out if yours is ready.

One of my good friends, who is totally awesome, got tickets to a suite for the evening session. If I didn't mention this before, she's awesome. Anyway, the seats were great, and on top of that, one of the people there knows Landon Turner, so he invited Turner to the suite. (If you don't know who he is, check out his site. He was one of the key players on Indiana's 1981 national champs; he was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident, ending his collegiate career. Most people who saw him play would say he had definite NBA talent. From everything I'd heard, he's a great guy, and I'd definitely agree.)

As a bonus, Wayne Duke stopped by as well. If you don't know him, look him up. (Big Ten history.)

I did kind of have a little too much caffeine, so that didn't help. But it was a great day. (I recommend the General's Meatloaf at the Claddagh.)

Totally worth it. Bring on the dance!

P.S. Portland State won its conference. Did your school?

Oh yeah, I forgot. Some drunk jackasses from Ohio State (shocker) sat behind us, thankfully on a level up, and every other word out of their mouths was a word I will not repeat on this blog. Suffice it to say that "earmuffs" doesn't quite cover it. Probably Yankee fans too. Anyway, to them I say ha ha, your team lost, and no one cares that you stole beer from suites. (Big Ten tournament = no beer sales.)

Also, I had the worst back spasms I've ever had. Ever. I thought at one point I would have to fold myself in half to make them stop. It's possible that sitting in an arena seat for four hours and then sitting on a short stool for two hours set it off. I think it's because I drank about seven Diet Cokes at the Claddagh and didn't go to the bathroom. Why do I say that? When I got to Conseco and excused myself, after reprising the scene from A League of Their Own, the back pain was gone. If that's anything like what pregnant women can go through, wow, I never want two X chromosomes as long as I live.

Champs!

We goin dancin! We goin dancin!

I hate you, 2K

So I rented MLB 2K7 to make up some gamerscore. I spent an hour modifying the Mets and Tigers to set up a good game to get a ton of points. I play the whole game, and guess what?

no achievements.

no gamerscore.

You know what? I broke up with you first. Before you even called, I decided to break up with you, so none of this matters, we broke up anyway, and I did it. You know what this is? Me hanging up on you.

bang.

And this too.

bang.

EDIT: okay, so it's because they hid an update as "Hey, download these stadiums!" And I said no.

I'll fix it later.

Congratulations, cheaters

Good luck with that fouling press and those moving screens in the tournament. I hope you make it myself. I'll be betting heavily on your first-round opponent.

If betting were legal, of course.

Boo Sharks! Boo ref!

So I went to the Joe tonight, first time ever. awesomeness. Pictures to come later if I remember.

We got there early, got in when the gates opened, very cool. Arenas are always smaller than you think when you're older. It was nice to finally be at a home game, although the crowd was pretty quiet. (I hate scoreboards that tell you when to cheer. I know when to cheer, idiots.)

Too bad the Sharks scored early and kept up the pace. The third goal was crap - off the net and onto the ice, but of course the Wings stopped playing and waited for the whistle. Bad idea. Stupid ref wouldn't review it. Um, that's why the NHL has video review. Expect an apology. Don't expect a penalty for the ref.

Great experience, though, until we got back to Ann Arbor. We kind of went a different way through town, which meant that instead of my brother and sister-in-law getting back to their B&B right before the snowstorm, we drove around in it. Not fun. Good thing it was a rental.

Boo Sharks!

UPDATE: apparently it's not a reviewable call, because goodness knows we're not allowed to see whether or not a puck went out of play. (Upside to black netting: less visible to fans. Downside: less visible to refs.)

Hello, my good friend

Ah yes, there you are. Your solid blue casing, your familiar buttons ... that 10-key pad I know so well ... trivia, dear trivia, we are reunited again.

Stopped at Damon's for dinner (ribs, yum) and trivia. Surprised that the one here in Ann Arbor is all SD. Dominated as usual (topped the board on Get Reel, which was a pleasant surprise). Then back to the room for some 360 gaming (got to work on that Auto-Challenge). A quick 150 on arcade games should give me a good start. It's a one-week challenge. Too bad Avatar isn't arriving soon.

I didn't bring any retail ones because they'd look bad in SD. Wonder if that Wyndham in Chicago has HD in the rooms? Can't remember.

Cheater

I just came up with a great analogy. I think it's great, anyway. If you don't, too bad, you'll notice I didn't add a poll to this post.

Here's the deal. It's like Sampson has a white-collar job with this big company, and he's stealing mechanical pencils. Cheap ones, you know, 89 cents or something like that. Maybe the first couple were accidental: you have one in your hand near the end of the day, you get a phone call or run into the boss' office or something, you put it in your pocket and forget you did that, and you get home and there it is. It's just one pencil, why take it back?

But eventually he realizes that no one's really bugging him about the pencils, so he starts taking a few of them home a day. Just a few. No big deal yet. And as he doesn't get caught, he takes more, and more, until he's taking home a couple of boxes at a time.

What he doesn't realize is that all the pencils have RFID tags, and so his company knows he's doing it, so HR calls him in.

"Dude, you can't be taking pencils home with you like that. It's getting out of control."
"What do you mean? I'm not taking pencils home."
"Um, yes you are. Hundreds of them. You've been doing it for weeks."
"No I'm not."
"Alright, here's the deal. You've been stealing pencils. A lot of them. However, it's not like you're stealing computers. Yet. So, no more vacation time for you. Actually, it might be better if we relocate you to another part of the company, so you can kind of get a fresh start.
"But here's the thing: no matter what, DON'T STEAL ANY MORE PENCILS. I don't want to see you breaking any rule or law, but definitely don't steal any more pencils."
"Um, okay."

So yeah, his coworkers are saying "Dude, you got transferred because you were stealing pencils? That's weak!" Well, no, it was because he stole a bunch of them over a period of time and wasn't really forthcoming about it.

Well, time goes on, and what do you know? All of a sudden, pencils are disappearing again. So they call him in.

"What did I tell you? No more stealing pencils! And now you're doing it again!"
"Um, no I'm not."
"The hell you aren't! We track them, you know. We can tell you every single pencil you've taken."
"Those weren't stolen. See, one of my coworkers, Rick, he was doing this project, and he needed a lot of pencils, and I told him that if it was work-related, then he could use some from work if he took them back when he was done, and so he did, but he got busy at home, and he couldn't take them back, so he asked me if I would take them back for him, and before I could answer, he drove up in his truck, dumped them in my yard and took off. And I couldn't just leave them there, so I brought them inside, and I was just getting ready to take them back when you called."

See, it's not the pencils themselves. I realize that's not a major issue itself. (I also realize that the NCAA isn't limited to pursuing a single coach at a time, which seems to be a main point of that "argument." See, they can bust Sampson for pencils and someone else for manslaughter AT THE SAME TIME. Very clever, they are.)

It's that he stole HUNDREDS of them. MORE THAN ONCE. And LIED about it. BADLY. Now, I've never done this myself, but I know people who have ... when you are on probation for something, don't get caught doing it again. Just a tip.

But it's okay. He can always get a job announcing. Hell, Valvano did it, Packer does it, anyone with basketball experience can. Clean ethical background not required.

sweet!

I finally got past Vasoline and Green Grass and High Tides on Hard drums. In the same night. (Practice, practice, practice.) Working on the seventh set now.

And on top of that, I was one of three winners in x360a's seventh-day contest, so I'm getting two free games, College Hoops 2K8 and Culdcept Saga.

And I get bagels tomorrow, imported from Ohio.

And I have a helpful cat assisting me with this post, or perhaps subtly reminding me that it is time for bed. (Okay, it's the latter.)

Sunday ftw!

Good weekend

So I got my replacement guitar from EA (and two customer sat surveys: um, yeah, slow response, fix it - next!), and proceeded to rock out with the Pastries through our Hall of Fame induction. 100 gamerscore for that? w00t!

And this little basketball thing. Purdue +1. It's like the men's team is suddenly good or something. We'll see for sure Tuesday, or not. They could easily lose and then go back to where they were projected prior to the season, which is to say, first-round NCAA out at best.

Or they could beat the Spartans, and lock down the Big Ten lead for a while, and ... we'll see.

Also, it's cold.

Wheel: squeak

So, while some people were receiving something more than an apology for their broken Rock Band equipment, others were getting nothing. nothing at all.

Yep, nothing.

So I added a new issue and said Hey, where's my stuff?

nothing. nothing. nothing.

So yesterday, I updated that issue and said hello? I'm not happy.

Today, I got two messages: an apology (their system had a problem and didn't automatically send out my guitar) and a tracking number. Second-day air.

good. Of course, I don't get a game for it ...

Calle 1, cancer 0

As is too often the case, good news is infrequently reported here; bad news generally hits the front page. Allow me to change that today.

Calle and I came back from the clinic today. She had chest X-rays and an ultrasound today, and everything came back clean - no sign of anything bad. Naturally, there are no guarantees, but for now, things are as good as we could imagine. She's healthy, happy (except for this morning: not keen on fasting or going to the clinic), and just a little lighter (I'm not saying she had a pound or two to lose prior to this stuff ...).

Her next appointment is in the middle of March, just to see how things are going. If that goes well, we'll do another one six months down the road or so. For now, things look good.

One nice thing to all this is that it served as a reminder to me that all cats will eventually die, even mine, and I need to be prepared for that. That may not sound like a "nice" thing, but it's important to understand how life works. Enjoy the time you have with your cats, and when that time is up, remember your cat well.

Kevin McCullough is an idiot

If your name is Kevin McCullough, and you're not responsible for this post, then I'm sorry, and you should go after this guy for giving you a bad name. (so to speak)

It is worth noting that Townhall.com bills itself as a "conservative web community," and that it apparently takes pride in the bloggers it employs who are also talk radio hosts.

I consider the linked column an excellent example of trolling at its finest: starting with a basic fact (Mass Effect is a game for the 360), taking another fact (containing leading scenes), and spinning it so far into half-truths and outright lies that combating it directly is nearly impossible.

I will leave you to draw your own conclusions from this.

And I'm going to buy a copy of Mass Effect.

TV! TV!

omg no tv n00b teh sux0r.

So New Year's Eve, the satellite is out. This is not news: I've had good reception in heavy rain, snow, pretty much everything except high winds. We had high winds and rain, so yeah, that I could understand.

Tuesday, reception is fine (although I went out to watch football and get my annual case of bronchitis; I may have failed and got only a sore throat instead), same thing up through Friday.

Saturday, friends come over to play Rock Band and watch football. Except ...

771.

Yes, by coincidence, that's the calculator trick to say ILL. So I have no satellite. Undaunted, we run out to Radio Shack (I use the un-royal we - I stayed here and sent money) to get an antenna, which I'd been meaning to get because we can't get CBS in HD through DirecTV. Football is fine, but other TV is not.

Same thing Sunday and Monday, so I call customer service. (My throat was just a little, little sore, so I was hoping one or the other would get better.) They're coming by Wednesday. We'll see. I bet it's just a bad cable somewhere up above.

I don't even care if it's something stupid. I just want to know what it is so I can fix it next time. Hell, one prolonged outage in X years that I've had the service, not so bad.

And it's not like I don't have a thousand games to play. I'm not sure that's an exaggeration, either.

XBLA review: Sensible World of Soccer (5/10)

I wanted to like this game, I really did. It's a port of a PC game, I believe, because the season you start in career mode is 1996-97, and it looks like the World Cup it lets you play is the 1994 Cup. The premise is pretty cool: you can play as pretty much any national team or in any one of the leagues in the world, in a friendly, league competition, or career mode, where you buy and sell players and get job offers and such.

On top of that, gameplay has been simplified: it's one-button play. So, in theory, this would be a great game for a novice, right?

Wrong. Completely wrong.

The frustration meter pegs at 11. How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways ... you can't switch players (on defense, the A button does a sliding tackle), and invariably the computer will give you control over a guy nowhere near the play. The computer always knows whether or not it has the ball and will tackle or run to the ball appropriately, whereas you will frequently lose possession because there's no indication to tell you you have possession. The computer knows where all of its players are at all times, and you don't, so its goal kicks will give it possession at midfield, whereas yours will be stolen and turned into shots on goal 90% of the time.

The strategy part of the game is very cool, and I might try just simming games and coaching, but honestly, unless you owned the PC version or are willing to put in hours and hours to raise your skill enough to manage the game, I can't recommend this. I was taking top club teams against bottom teams or solid national teams against minnows and getting beat over and over again. I'd like to keep playing until I get the hang of it, but frankly, I get tired of 70 minutes of fun soccer and 20 minutes of BS every match.

zlionsfan's rating: 5 bookings out of 10.

Oh, yes, the cat

We had a minor scare recently. Calle went in for her (hopefully) last dose of chemo last week, and the tech noticed she was lighter than usual and more scared, down a pound or so. The oncologist checked her out thoroughly and found nothing, blood test came back fine, so we didn't know what was up.

This week, she did seem to be more of a lap cat (bad sign, if it means less energy), but she was still chasing after Josie; jumping on the counter poorly, but still doing it. So tonight, in addition to dry food, I put out a can of wet food.

Suddenly, the cat disappears and is replaced by a transmogrifier, and before my very eyes, cat food becomes a nitrogen/oxygen mix. I think I even heard a pop from the vacuum that the air filled.

Looks like she just decided not to like that dry food any more. sucks for me. Fortunately, I have some of the wet food left, and it's easy to get more.

Also, I've apparently discovered for the (n+1)th time that I'm allergic/sensitive to cigarette smoke. Not much of a big deal - I wait for symptoms, go to prompt care, get my meds, wait it out - except that friends are coming over to play Rock Band and stuff tomorrow, and the Expert-level singer is out of commission.

Drums, here I come.

Bam!

Green Grass and High Tides.

Lead guitar.

Five stars.

Hard.

Axe Assassin.

Happy New Year!