I'll be back in November/December time frame, once the election is over with.

I saw, on my drive home today a bumper sticker that said:

Bush = Hitler

and then below that:

01-20-09, Bush's last day in office

The funny thing?  The first "thing" I thought of was Multiply.  How fucked is that?  So I'm out.  Don't want to deal with it anymore.  Don't care.  Call me whatever you want, I don't give a shit.  See ya in a few months.  One last parting shot:

It doesn't make a shit who you vote for.  If you really think "Candidate whomever" is going to make a difference for this country you're just plain stupid.  They're the same goddamned choices.

Sup bitches?

Any plans for the fucking weekend?  Me?  Thanks for asking, asshole.  I ain't got a motherfucking thing planned, other than a shitty-assed FFL draft on Sunday.   I'm gonna get my motherfucking drink on and my snack on, bitch, then I'm gonna grill me a big fucking slab of meat, have some friends over and get straight smashed all to hell.

What about you?

So...next Thursday the season starts.  Woot.  Can't wait.  Got my NFL Sunday Ticket (and Superfan, Natch*) all ready to go.  Are you ready for some football?

Anyway, on to the picks:

AFC North:  I see the Browns and the Steelers really as the only competition in this division.  The Ravens are old on D, and don't really have much in the way of an offense.  The Bungles are over-rated on offense (TJ Whosyermama is the #1 receiver on that team and has been since the beginning of last year).  I think the Steelers and Browns both make the playoffs this year.  I think the Browns win the division with the Steelers right behind them.  In order:  Browns, Steelers, Bengals, Ravens

AFC East:  The obvious pick here is the Patriots, right?  Yeah.  I agree.  I see them winning the division easily.  There's no competition from the sorry Dolphins and the Bills are another year or two away.  So that leaves a Favre-led Jets team.  Who Favre isn't used to.  Meaning they'll go 8-8 and he'll retire again.  Only one team goes from this division, the Pats.  In order:  Patriots, Bills, Jets, Dolphins

AFC South:  This is the most interesting division in the AFC, in my opinion.  You've got the perennial contenders in the Colts, a young upstart Texans team, and both the Jags and the Titans could make a run.  I still feel like the Colts are the team that will rise out of the South, but I see the Texans finishing up strong in the division.  This is the toughest division in the AFC in my opinion.  In order:  Colts, Texans, Jaguars, Titans

AFC West:  Another cake-walk for the Chargers.  The Chargers are the team to beat in this division, obviously.  Can the Broncos, with my sleeper pick this year for QBs Cutler make a deep run?  Maybe.  The Chargers are banged up.  The Raiders continue to suck, of course, and won't contend.  The Chiefs are horrible, they are years away from contending.  In order:  Chargers, Broncos, Raiders, Chiefs.

NFC North:  My division!  :-)  Every single ESPN/SI/CBSSportsline reporter is straight hating on the Bears this year.  Is there some validity to that?  Maybe.  Orton is only 12-6 as a starter in his career with 4 years in the system now, so I'm sure he's gonna suck big time.  Or not.  The Vikings have a great defense, really good Offensive Line, extremely suspect QB, and a question mark at RB.  That's right.  Can AD stay healthy for the entire year?  I think not.  I also think Green Bay has a suspect QB.  Rodgers has played all of 1 game in his career.  Sure, he had Favre to show him the ropes, but riding pine is different from actually playing.  The Lions...have stated that they have a renewed interest in running the ball.  The receiving corps is one of the best in the NFL, but they have no D and (it remains to be seen) so far, no running game.  You can't win in the Norris if you can't run the ball.  The Bears...have an old offensive line, a Defense that has not shown any intensity in the pre-season (which is fine with me, the pre-season means nothing) and they're starting a rookie RB.  It worked out for MN, but can it work out for the Bears?  I don't know.  This division is completely up for grabs this year I think.  Most people have the Vikes winning the division, but if AD gets hurt, or teams get out to an early  lead on them...they don't have the fire power to fight back.  Here's how I see it, in order:
Vikings, Bears, Packers, Lions.  There's a huge part of me that wants to put the Bears on top, but I'm a wuss.  You know what?  Fuck it, here goes:  Bears, Vikings, Packers, Lions.  The Bears are going all the way baby!  WOO!

NFC East:  Probably the toughest division in all of football.  It's really anyone's game.  I am not convinced the Cowboys can go the distance.  I know the talking heads are giving them a whole lot of love, but (and you can correct me if I'm wrong) but I don't believe they've won a playoff game in the Romo era.  So...the Eagles and the defending SuperBowl champion NY Football Giants are both still really strong.  The Eagles..I think one or both of the following happen:  McNabb and/or Westbrook get a season-ending injury.  If either of them are out, the Eagles season is done.  Westbrook is probably the single most important player for his team in the entire league.  Last year was the first time in a while he's been healthy enough to play the entire season.  I really like Westbrook, he's a beast.   The Giants lost some firepower on defense, with Strahan retiring, Osi out for the season, and two of their linebacking corps leaving for not as green pastures.  Here's how I see it:  Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, and then WAY WAY WAY down below that...the Redskins.  I think both the Cowboys and the Giants are playoff teams.

NFC South:  This division used to be the worst in the NFC, but I'd give that honor to the NFC North now, sadly.  Real quick, since I don't really care about this division, and the teams are a couple years away from being serious SB contending teams:  Saints win the division (I'm still not sold on them, to be honest) with the Bucs right behind them.  Carolina has too many issues (can Delhomme stay healthy, is Steve Smith even relevant anymore) and the Falcons are still a few years away from competing seriously.  Saints, Buccaneers, Carolina, Falcons.

NFC West:  Still the Seahawks to lose.  Hasselbeck is still somehow under-rated as a QB, despite his really bad Chunky Soup commercials.  That said...this is probably the second worst division in the entire NFL.  The Seahawks are the team to beat, followed by the Rams, Cardinals, and finally, the 49ers.


So..Superbowl:  I have the Bears beating the Colts, 31-17.  That said...I also think there's a damned good chance that the Colts win the Superbowl this year, beating a game, but overmatched Seahawks squad.

Thoughts?  Love it?  Hate it?  Tell me why.


*figure I can get away with a "natch" here since SW won't actually read this  :-P

Politics turns my friends/acquaintances here on multiply into mud-slinging tards.

I hate it.  I can't wait for this shit to be over with.

Dead serious.  I'd rather have a team of unskilled monkeys fling turds at me than read any of it.

For those of you who were honorably discharged after 01/01/1996 from the US Armed Forces, you're now eligible to open an account with USAA.

If you are like me, and didn't do this while you were active duty, you should look into it.

I don't know if they can match the rates I'm getting with S.F., but they offer other really awesome services besides car insurance.

So...I had the 8th pick of the draft in a 12 man league.  Picking 8th kinda sucked, to be honest, but whatever.  It was what it was.  Here goes:

QBs: Derek Anderson, Jay Cutler
RBs: Marshawn Lynch, Matt Forte, Justin Fargas, Fred Jackson*
WRs: Braylon Edwards, Wes Welker, Nate Burleson, Bobby Ingram, Chris Henry, Devin Hester**
TEs:  Dallas Clark, Own Daniels
K: Josh Brown
D/ST: Giants D

Thoughts?  Opinions?  I thought it was very interesting that Brady went #4 in the draft and P Manning went 6th.  I had my choice of either Marshawn or Portis. (as far as "top" backs go)  Thoughts on that?

*handcuff for Marshawn Lynch
**round 16 pick...if he works out, great, if he doesn't, no harm, no foul.

Friday night=a few drinks at the bar, my boy Dan the bartender was off, getting ready to go on vacation*, so we spent a significant amount of time talking strategy for FFL while he got tanked and I sipped on water.  *sigh* stupid being responsible crap.  Anyway, we went home around 10:30 (woo, we're partying like a rock star!) and crashed out.  I slept like crap.  Really badly.  Woke up about 5 times throughout the night.  Woke up at 5am, pretty much stayed up from then on.  Went and played basketball.  Did better than I was before, but I still get winded too easily.  It's rather funny, my mind is willing, my body is like "Dude, hold up a second, will ya?" on some of the moves and whatnot that I used to take for granted.  So it's frustrating.  I'm using that frustration though.  Motivation, baby.

After that, I went home and had the draft for one of the FFL leagues I'm in.  It was interesting.  I'll post my draft in another entry so ya'll who care can pick it apart  for me  :-)  I did find out that Osi Umenyiora (or however he spells his name) is out for the season (I picked the Giants D in the 14th round..can you believe the Vikes D went in the 5th round?  I shit you not) so I got that going for me, which sucks.  He's a beast.

Saturday night we watched a few "retarded" movies, Witless Protection and something else I can't think of the name of...it was that memorable.  Both were exactly as advertised, meaning dumb, but amusing in parts.

Went to sleep Saturday night and actually got some good sleep!  Woot!  Woke up at 8am, did some stuff around the house, went out and ate lunch, assisted Jen with her draft thought process (she has the first pick in the upcoming draft we have this Sunday, Hi LT) and where I go to look at injuries, stats, projections, etc.  So we got all of that straightened out for her.  It was fun, actually.  She's expressed quite the interest in football, which makes me quite happy.

Sunday evening I grilled some pork tenderloin we'd had marinating for a while.  It was damned good.  Sunday night we watched Vantage Point.  It was pretty good, I like the concept, but I nailed the "bad guy" about half way through the movie.  Irritated me, cause I was right.

Went to sleep.  Woke up this morning and didn't feel like hitting the gym...my legs are still sore from overdoing it last week (ran twice, played basketball twice, they're sore) so I got to work early.

Here I am.

You?


*this was the vacation down to Virginia Beach we were going to go on with them.  Rented house, two decks, two hot tubs, 6 bedrooms, 100 feet from the beach= NICE.  Then all the stuff in NM happened and now we're no longer doing anything...

I am putting this here because multiply likes to give you the first few lines of the body of text in the linky, and that would suck for those of you that want to see this movie and haven't yet.  Of course, you could just click the little delete button, but that's up to you.

So...the movie Gone, Baby Gone asked a question.  A child is kidnapped from a drug using selfish woman who basically doesn't really give a damn about anyone but herself.  Various things happen, but in the end, it turns out that the person(s) responsible kidnapped the child out of love and a desire to remove the child from said bad situation.

The movie poses the question, if you found out about the above situation, what would you do?

I watched The Fountain last night.

It was an interesting movie.  Parts of it I still don't get, and that's pretty unusual for me.  (Not tooting my own horn, simply stating a fact)  I thought Huge Ax Man did a good jorb.  I thought whatsherface that looks like Portman and Knightley did a good jorb.

I thought the effects were pretty awesome.  (It was a BR disk, so YMMV).

Anyone else see this?

Thoughts?

1) road construction on busy roads during rush hour.  Seriously, DOT, can't you figure this one out?

2) people who are mean to animals

3) line cutters, people that drive like they're the most important person on the road.

4) people who wait until the very last possible second to merge into traffic.  Especially irritating when there are signs up saying lane ends for 2 miles.

5) people that speed up after going slow in the left hand lane.  Normally they time this right as you're in the right lane trying to get around them.  Bonus points if they speed up long enough to not allow you to get around them then slow back down.

6) telemarketers.  Yeah, really.  I have a common first name, and am doubly cursed with a common last name.  What that means is...sleazeball telemarketers call in, hit the corporate directory, type in my last name (of which I'm luckily the only one in the company) and start asking me all kinds of questions about the company.  It's rather amusing.  Had one guy demand to speak to the CEO (and when I say demand, I mean demand) about his company's VOIP solution.  (For those that don't know, that's my primary job function.)  It was amusing, right up until the 3rd time he asked demanded to speak to him.  I instead told him that he would be speaking to dial tone and hung up on him.  Fucking sleaze.  Oh, and don't give me that shit that people need jobs and telemarketing provides them.  WTF ever.  I don't care.  Get another job.  The world needs ditch diggers too.

7) Politics.  Politics just sucks.  And it's funny, because people are so partisan they don't even realize it.  I mean, do you guys n gals really think "your side" is the white shining knight side?  Really?  Get over yourselves.

8) Religion and Atheism.  Come on, seriously?  Haven't we had it out enough over this shit?  Let it be.  Rob and Eth are going to think this is really about them, but that's just ego talkin.  :-)

9) me, because I feel like this list is too short, and any good list MUST have at least 10 items on it.  So screw you, me, this one only goes to 9.

Apparently Oliver Stone is making a movie about the life of George W. Bush.

This is the first I'd heard of it, so if this is old news, sorry.  But WOW.

Did you know that in order to have your VPN connect successfully you must have a working internet connection?

Did you know that I've had the same report issued to me twice now in the past 3 days that the helpdesk guys have had to deal with the same user about the above issue?

Did you know that a 20 minute "training" class on how to use the VPN is apparently not sufficient for some people?

Did you know that I am not in a position where I can fire this person, but I would in a heartbeat if I could?

Did you know that my company is essentially an "Online" company, meaning our customer service people often assist customers in troubleshooting their connections to/from our site?

Did you know that I find it amazing that we have a customer support person who is providing said support for customers when she herself doesn't have the first fucking clue about how a computer and the internet works?

Did you know that?

So, lately I've been making sandwiches at lunch, putting that fridge in my office to use.

Lunch today:

bourbon-glazed peppercorn smoked turkey
thinly slice deli salami
horse-radish mustard
"lite" mayo
"sandwich style" dill pickle slices
red onion slices
pepperjack cheese

and, because I am allowed some bad things, I also ate some "Fiery Habanero" Doritos.
Oh, and a bottle of water.

You?

How do you feel about comments being able to be deleted by the "owner" of the thread?

The weekend has come and gone once again.

Friday night...nada.  Went home, ate dinner, hung out on the deck, had a snoot of Bushies, called it a night.

Saturday morning, got up at 6:45, drove over to the park and played basketball.  Full court for 2 hours.  I was pretty wore out after that.

Went home, grabbed a shower, some lunch and sent out a few bills, etc.  Then we kicked it on the back deck, trying to get a little sun.  It was a gorgeous day Saturday, so it was nice.  After that, we went to a country club for dinner with a co-worker of my wifes.  It was a good time.  Sadly, this was the first time her co-worker had gotten out, really, since the death of her husband.  (Pancreatic cancer, Richard)  She is a pretty strong woman, that's for sure.  We had a very nice evening.  Back home, to sleep.  Work up around 10 on Sunday, ran to Costco, ate lunch, paid bills, reconciled the check book, etc.  For supposed "rich" people, we damned sure could use some more cash.  :-)  Then we watched the Olympics for a bit, ate some dinner, called it an evening.

We got up at a quarter to 6 and went to the gym.  My legs are rubber now, and damned sore, thanks to a brisk 8mph 30 minute run.  :-(  My joints aren't yet used to running...carrying all this weight is interesting.  I was intrigued at how quickly running came back to me.  I know that sounds kind of silly, but for those that know what I mean, you'll get it.  For those that don't, run.  You'll see.

Anyway, then it was shower, eat a granola bar and off to work.  Here I am.  Saving the day, as usual.  ;-D

So that was the weekend.  Nice, relaxing, but a little disappointing after we figured how long it would take us to get all our bills paid down.

My truck?  6 months.  Her car?  21 months.  Our Amex bill?  18 months.  The rest of her student loans?  2 years.  Of course, I did not factor in that when my truck was paid off, we'd double up on the Amex bill, then when that is paid off, we'd triple up on her car payment.  There's a reason I didn't, you can't assume you'll do something like that when you get there.  So we're not.  And it's annoying to think that two months in NM and Georgia was able to set us back so damned far.  Our debt is now larger than its ever been.  And that pisses me off.  We'll whittle away at it, but damn, you know?

How was your weekend?

So.  the weekend.

Tonight? Happy hour (maybe) at a co-workers house.  I always want to type that as cow-orker.  It amuses me.

Then after that I think I'll go home and watch Phelps win another gold medal.  Then sleep.

Saturday I'm waking up early and heading to the park to play some basketball.  Then after that we're having dinner with one of my wife's co-workers at a Country Club.  (but I haven't a thing to wear!) Then SLEEP.  I would like to sleep for about 16 hours straight, but that'll just fuck up my monday morning and sleep schedule.  So I guess I'll only sleep about 8 hours.  Which is sad, cause man, I'd love to sleep longer.

Anyway, that's it.  Oh, well, I am going to be doing some of this I think:




yes, that's right, I'm gonna make sweet sweet love to my remote control. 
Sup whichchoo?

Just a thought....maybe you have, maybe you haven't:

"Have you ever tried German-Chinese food? It tastes great, but an hour later you're hungry for power again."

ripped off from Dick Cavett

It's weird here.  Just a couple weeks ago, it was up near 100F, with a heat index well over 100.

Now?  Currently 76F...the overnight low tonight supposed to be down to 54.  That seems pretty odd to me for August.  I'm not complaining though, it's been pretty damned nice lately in the afternoons/evenings.

Perfect grilling out and eating on the deck weather.