Finished Product

Not sure if I ever actually posted a finished pic or not... but here are the cornhole boards.  

No Excuses

No real "reason" for the break in posting... chalk it up to laziness I suppose.

NCAA

I'm not going to spend a ton of space on this but...  there has got to be some changes in the NCAA.  Really two main things have just happened that prove, in my mind, beyond a shadow of a doubt that the NCAA is one of the most corrupt organizations in America that is so focused on money that they will throw common sense, logic, fair play out the window.

• Cam Newton.  NCAA ruled he is eligible because it was his dad, not him, that was asking for the cash.  While unfortunate that a parent would exploit their son like that, the NCAA has set a dangerous precedent.  Oh... so it was mom and dad that was trying to get paid?  Well by all means, go ahead and play.  Basically this now means that every shady parent of a blue chip recruit will be walking around like a bellhop, extending an expecting hand.  Now I'm not so down on humanity that I think this scenario is the "norm" which is exactly why I think the NCAA missed a golden opportunity to say, "Enough is enough" there is no grey area here.  If you accept, or in this case, attempt to accept money or other compensation as a collegiate athlete there are consequences.  One has to really really wonder if there were other motivations here, with the SEC title game and a BCS title game looming... those games would not be near as exciting with a Cam Newton-less Auburn.
• Second also involves NCAA and football and the BCS, now I could rant on my hatred of this absurd process for DAYS, but I'll say this.  IF the projections are correct and Boise State (11-1) their loss being to a #17 Nevada ends up playing in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against a 6-6 unranked Clemson who got WORKED by Wake Forest, Maryland, and... Presbyterian?  This is an insult of epic proportions, and if it comes to pass I may boycott college football in 2011.  I'm not even joking, as a fan I'm tired of this mess.  I really think running up the score is poor form, but I honestly hope that IF given the opportunity Boise State hang as many points as possible on Clemson if that happens to be 100 so be it.  

Dinosaurs

Harry Potter Part I

So after a much longer than anticipated the wife and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I.  To start, I will never go to another movie theater in KC again.  The AMC Mainstreet 6 is phenomenal.  A bar in lobby, comfortable seating, and best of all, you can order tickets online and pick your exact seat.  Phenomenal.   Anyway, back to the movie.  Movie was great, every bit as good as I hoped it would be.  As I've commented before, books to movies are always going to have holes, gaps, and changes - it's a given.  That being said I feel like they did a pretty solid job taking this one from page to screen.  I think part of it is because they have 5 hours to make it work versus the standard 2.5 hour run time. 

I will say my favorite part, which is an odd favorite part, was the story of the three brothers and the deathly halllows.  I thought the way they handled this very important story was pretty awesome.  The only truly bad thing is that we have to wait so long for what is sure to be an amazing finale to this series.

Video of the Week

Preview is finally here and it looks awesome.

Remember

CoD Black Ops

Every bit as good as advertised, for those who are interested in such things... 1AM bed times are not kosher.  Actually glad to be out of town next week to catch up on my book.

iPod Fail?

So everyone with an iPod and an active iTunes account has songs and/or artists on there that they would be, for lack of a better terminology, embarrassed if played in front of mixed company.  But nevertheless, it remains on in your library and you dust if off every once in awhile and give it a listen when no one is looking.  For me, it's Taylor Swift.  Now, her stuff sounds incredibly odd when preceded by Rise Against, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, or one of many other relatively homogeneous bands that dominate my nearly 5 GB music library.  I'm not even a huge fan of country music, I mean I listen to a lot of it and I appreciate it for certain.  But it's not my go to genre by any means.  But with her music, I think it's the voice.  She just has a tone to it that is just really relaxing.  Anyway... what prompted this was buzz on Twitter and what not about her performance on the recent CMAs, which I attached below.  It was pretty awesome, I will say.   

  

PS Stop laughing, you know you have something on your iPod that's right in this same wheel house....  

New Video Game Day

It's new video game day and I am very excited as I often am on this day.  After my two previous video game desires got horrible reviews  they were no gos on the the purchase front (one of which was borrowed and confirmed as a solid decision), I have high, yet measured hopes for Call of Duty Black Ops, I don't think there is any way possible for the storyline to beat Modern Warfare 2, but they did bring in some big guns for voice overs such as Gary Oldman.  So there is potential, but with such a disappointing year in video games thus far, I've gotta approach this with caution.  If preorders are any indication it'll be epically awesome or a colossal bust, because early indicators have it paced to beat MW2, which put up HUGE numbers.  I'm picking this up after work and ... it'll likely be a late night/early morning combo.

Video of the Week

Maybe the best video game commercial I have ever seen...  Kobe? and Kimmel with an RPG? no talking frog or horse with creepy human characteristics can top that.

Picture of the Week

Sign from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear... hilarious and awesome, it is now my new desktop background on all PCs.

Election Day

I truly and sincerely hope that the winners of today's elections will remember that they represent the people.  The people are in need of some sanity.  I hope they check there personal and party agendas at the door and do what is right.  I'm really truly trying to remain positive about it but given the environment and the amount of mud that's been slung this campaign season, I see more of the same taking place and no true change.  The preschool bickering has to end, compromises need to be made in order to make progress.

I'll be heading to participate in the process this afternoon, because as small as one vote may be in the scheme of things - if I want to criticize things I should probably participate in the process.  Big thing on the MO ballot is the City Income Tax.  I hope it's defeated and the city has to decide how to make what they have work.  I understand there is a shortfall due to the commuter nature of the KC metro area and KCMO is in general a business center and not much for residences, but hitting KC residence who already pay property tax, vehicle tax, sales tax, etc. with another 1% is pretty tough to swallow.  Other cities manage (I *think* KC and St Louis are the only cities with a tax, could be wrong on this point).

I will again renew my efforts to pay attention to politics given the new faces that will likely be in Congress, but as with the past - I can only take so much of watching preschool children fight over who gets to play with the Transformer.

A Game of Thrones

**Book-It has finally been updated with a new book!**

Finally picked up a book to get back in the reading groove.  Harry Potter was just so good that it has taken me some time to find a suitable follow-up.  I really needed a series to keep me going (see gap in HP to now as Exhibit A).  After many options were explored I picked up the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin.  For those unaware HBO has picked this series up for a show beginning in 2011, probably after Boardwalk Empire and their teasers for this spurred my initial interest, it literally gave me chills.  So after some light Google searching  I asked my brother if George R. R. Martin (author) rang any bells with him, and low and behold he had and gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up citing it as an all-time favorite.  The chills and his ringing endorsement led me to go ahead and just dive into it, despite it's hefty appearance at 800 pages (and that's book 1 of what is 4 so far...).  200 pages deep and I will say that I could not be more impressed, great writing, great story, fantastic all the way around - and I mean look at the guy, how can this guy not tell a good story?  The story is fantasy but not too extreme.  One thing I especially appreciate is how well us utilized names.  Now, doesn't sound like a big deal, but I think I would be a huge fantasy fan if it wasn't for keeping the names straight.  George does an awesome job of making names about 50/50 there are some made up names but also some normal names like Jon, Ned, etc.  Which makes tracking storylines a lot easier.  The storylines... don't want to give anything away but I'll just leave it at wow... I expected things to move slow in book 1 given it's 800 page length and the length of the series in general, but the storylines' hit the ground running very fast, which was fantastic.

If you're in the market and ready to invest some time, I'd highly recommend this as well - I'll update again at the end of the book, but 200 pgs in I doubt my opinion will change.

P.S.  I'm predicting now that this will be one of the best series HBO has ever produced.

I Need a Hero

Stumbled upon a fantastic new website: Hero Complex, site is part of the LA Times, and while generally I avoid all things California, this site is aweseome.  Great news on Movies, TV, and Video Games so far the posts have been brief and focus on what the fans want to know with little of the gossip (although there is some).  I'd absolutely add it to your daily website check. 

PS  Given the time this site is FULL of Harry Potter features

Video of the Week

This video has me so very  conflicted... I'm not sure if I should laugh or be a little excited?  Probably because I can't tell if the girl is serious about thinking she's really flying.

New Page

I added a new page to the top bar ^^^^ 'Race Results', made this one so I can post my results from races I run and keep track of them.  Also, Garmin has a neat feature where I can post a summary of the race including the Google Map of it, kind of a cool feature.  Times on the watch are unofficial though, times in the summary are the official chip times.

Texas Rangers

This is a great story of a team the Texas Rangers celebrated their win of the MLB Divisional Series (which is kind of ridiculous, not that they won but that players celebrate this in the same manner as the World Series, but that's beside the point).  The story really started when the Rangers clinched a spot in the Divisional Series, they did the customary thing that baseball players do and spray booze on each other, which is a waste for sure, but fun none the less.  Well, as it's well documented and I believe I've talked about here too, one of the teams biggest stars, Josh Hamilton (one of my favorite baseball players), is recovering alcoholic and drug addict.  So to avoid the temptation, he stayed on the field and did some interviews, rather than go to the locker room.  This was pretty sad really considering his significant contributions to the team and the season.  But for once, athletes surprised and actually did some good.  The Rangers conducted their most recent celebration and playoff advancement with Ginger Ale.  Josh got to participate.  Which is a great thing, especially given the days of Albert Haynesworth, LeBron James and others' selfish behaviours.  This team changed tradition to ensure that one of their own could participate.  Hopefully others, individuals and teams, will take notice and put the team first (I put a link below).

Texas Rangers Josh Hamilton Celebration

Always Sunny

I'm really not sure how I've missed this show for the last however many seasons, but I am really sad that I passed on this show.  Always Sunny is one of the funniest shows on TV in my opinion, I will say the brand of humor on this show isn't for everyone, but I'll tell you it is right in my wheel house and I laugh hysterically each and every week.  Not sure if I'm gonna try to get my fingers on the old episodes via netflix, iTunes or some other medium, but I do know that this show is on the DVR for keeps.

Picture of the Week

The countdown is more official... less than 1 week until the Harry Potter Movie Marathon, 6 movies, one day, in preperation for the epic conclusion:



News Notes

• Sign that you are a questionable candidate for political office: a commercial that opens with you stating emphatically that you are not a witch.  I mean unless you and Doc Brown went back to Salem circa 1692 or if you were part of Bill and Ted's school project and the phone booth broke before they could get you back to your own time period, this should not be an issue.
• I have a feeling that Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity is going to be far bigger and produce a more far reaching and serious impact amongst the people than anyone in the media or politics is willing to acknowledge.
• Brett Favre... if he did send these pictures he's an idiot.  But I have to question the timing, this happened and it doesn't become and issue worth reporting or making public until 2 years later and in the weeks prior to the Vikes vs Jets game?  Not saying sending unwanted pics or making unwanted advances on a woman is ever okay, but 2 years and right before a matchup of new team vs old team, all I'm saying is this has to raise a few red flags.
• Justin Bieber talking smack on Tom Brady?  Yeah Brady's hair looks girlish, but are you serious, the man is a Super Bowl Champ, MVP, with one of the hottest women on the planet, he on the other hand is a kid, who's voice sounds slightly girlish and will, by historical accounts, be another one hit child star who is a nobody once he hits puberty and his voice goes Peter Brady.
• Bill O'Reilly is pulled a pinhead move last week on the view, by referring to Muslims as murderers of 9/11.  Now grated that was their religious affiliation, but making such a broad and sweeping generalization is something that someone who is as critical as Bill is should not make.  Everyone has a religion, a race, and beliefs that are shared by many - painting the masses by the actions of some is a slippery slope that shouldn't be perpetuated by someone who is in a position of influence.  Every group has people that live on the extremes of their beliefs/principles these people should not be used as examples of the norm though.  Bottomline, he should know better.
• Chilaen miners, so nice to actually see a good story in the news...  Gotta love that these guys made it out alive and largely unharmed.

KC 1/2 Marathon

The day came and went, and I must say that the hills of Kansas City were extremely humbling.  Time wasn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be, but I wasn't necessarily mad about my time, a bit disappointed, but not mad.  I ended up finishing the 13.1 in 2:00:45, my goal was 1:45:00 - 1:50:00, and I was on pace for that until about mile 10.  At that point the hills finally caught up with me and things feel apart in a hurry, my legs quadrupled in weight which made the last 3 miles some of the most difficult I've run to date.

You think about a lot of things while you are running for 2 hours.  And honestly, I will say that my mind was buzzing with generating reasons for why I was going to come up long on the clock.  Training, weight gain, cold, course, playlist, you name it.  But at the end of the day, something that one of the expo speakers said rang in my head, essentially he said that a single race or event shouldn't define anything and if you pin too much to time then you are setting yourself up for potential disappointment.  You need to train and go out and run as best you can, you need to have a goal as something you want to achieve, but over the course of a race many things can happen and sometimes, its as simple as it just isn't your day.  I think in part, Saturday was that, just not my day.  Don't mistake, I feel good about the time, but the competitive side of me, just has a tough time stomaching not beating my previous time, I will hand it to the streets of KC, this course was far far far more challenging than Chicago, it's winding hills and generally uphill grade, was a pretty formidable challenge.  So while I knew matching times would be a challenge, I still remained hopeful.  But bottomline, new terrain, new course, new baseline to work from for future races.

Next up is the Ward Parkway 1/2 Marathon, I think in April?  Should be a flatter so a little bit less challenging in that regard, but it's still KC so the hills will be a factor I'm gonna have to get used to.

**Side Bar** So as I said Friday, spent entirely too much time crafting the most glorious running playlist the world has ever known, song 1 played awesome, song 2... wait this is song 2?... yep iPod was stuck on shuffle.  So the playlist was all for not, still got to hear great tunes, but sure wish I'd have heard them in the order I'd intended.  

Race Day Playlist

So as an important part of every race (to me) is the playlist.  Without my iPod running is pretty awful.  Now granted, I spent far more time, well... obsessing over this list trying to get the right songs at the right times, etc.  Well after much a-do here is the playlist I'm using tomorrow, hopefully it'll work out:

1. Airplanes - B.o.B
2. Son't Gonna Rise - Citizen Cope
3. Alone I Break - Korn
4. Believe - The Bravery
5. Calling All Skeletons - Alkaline Trio
6. Papercut - Linkin Park
7. Not Afraid - Eminem
8. I'm Goin In - Drake
9. Shimmer - Fuel
10. Never Too Late - Three Days Grace
11. Kids - MGMT
12. The Good Left Undone - Rise Against
13. Don't Let Me Fall - B.o.B
14. Bad Romance - Lady GaGa
15. Move - Thousand Foot Krutch
16. Magic - B.o.B
17. Dynamite - Taio Cruz
18. Don't Look Now - Far East Movement
19. Cinderella Man - Eminem
20. Indestructible - Disturbed
21. R-Education (Through Labor) - Rise Against
22. 1901 - Phoenix
23. Savior - Rise Against
24. Stronger - Kanye West
25. Bombs Away - Kyle Andrews
26. Prayer of the Refugee - Rise Against
27. Telephone - Lady GaGa
28. The Night - Disturbed
29. Forver - Drake
30. Fully Alive - Fly Leaf
31. Day 'n' Nite - Kid Cudi

Movie Hype

Yup... geeking out again, can't wait for this movie.

Cow Tongue

In my recent trip to Bakersfield I had the privilege to eat at a Noriega Hotel, a Basque style restaurant.  (The Basque people are an ethnic group primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country, a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-eastern Spain and south-western France.)   The experience was truly a unique one.  The meal was served family style in a big hall with rows of long tables.  As with most family style meals there was far too much food and everything was delicious.  The food was all fairly straight forward i.e. the flavors weren't especially spectacular or bold, but they were different from the norm in subtle ways that let you know that you weren't eating traditional American food.  There was however one thing that stood out as a delicacy in this part of the world that I had never had, and that would be... cow tongue.  Pickled cow tongue to be exact (pictured at the left) now this was VERY intimidating to me because, well, it's cow tongue.  I had a tone of other thoughts at the time but, can't really recall them now.  So I'll cut to the finale, it was actually very good.  Tasted a bit like roast beef to be perfectly honest.  The one complaint that I had was that it was pickled, the brine I think gave it a lot of flavor and thus the taste of the tongue was somewhat lost.  I really want to try tongue again in a tacos.  Which I've heard are pretty awesome.

Video of the Week

News Notes

 Not a slow time in news, but I'm short on time so I'm just taking two things right off the top.

• Albert Haynesworth, ya'll remember him the guy who got carried away and acted out a scene from American History X during a 2008 game against the Cowboys.  The most recent highly sought after free agent, and more recently the guy that couldn't pass a conditioning test.  As a side bar, in college we had to do a 300 yd shuttle test and as college students our times were substantially faster than his required time.  You'll say well, he's older... he's also a world class professional athlete that is one of the highest paid in the game we were NAIA college football players.  Anyway, not talking about that today,  since the season is 3 games in and Shuttle-gate buzz has died down and McNabb is now getting all the DC media attention, Mr. Haynesworth was interviewed about Shuttle-gate on DC's 106.7 The Fan,  Here's what he said:  “I guess in this world we don’t have a lot of people with, like, backbones,” Haynesworth said. “Just because somebody pay you money don’t mean they’ll make you do whatever they want or whatever. I mean, does that mean everything is for sale?  I mean, I’m not for sale. Yeah, I signed the contract and got paid a lot of money, but … that don’t mean I’m for sale or a slave or whatever.”  Yep, he made reference to being a slave.  Albert, slave (n) a person who is held in servitude as chattel of another.  Albert, Albert, Albert.  You have a 7 year, $100 million contract with $41 million of that guaranteed in the first 3 years.  Having to switch to a new position, show up to practice, and do a conditioning test doesn't exactly make you Kunta Kinte.   
• Congress still sucks.  I just can't believe that our "Democracy" (I'm going to start referring to it in quotes, so picture me doing the standard "air quote" gesture)  It's more of the same, infighting and bickering amongst the parties that stalls out meaningful legislation.  I think there should be a new rule that would help them out.  Items must be passed one at a time.  Now initially this will be more work for them, but it is nonsense some of the things that get passed and don't get passed simply because they are attached to a no brainier bill.  Can't remember if it was Simpsons or Family Guy, but they did an episode where something idiotic got approved simply because of a paper clip.

Video of the Week

TV

I'm a TV watcher.  I like TV.  A lot.  I have a ton of shows that I love and don't miss unless there's a really really good reason.  It's because of my "ridiculous amounts of TV watching" (my wife's words), I feel like I'm an authority on TV programing, self proclaimed yes, but an authority nevertheless. 

Now as a self-proclaimed authority I am going to tell you the two things that annoy me about most shows.  1) They are on too long and have no direction.  It happens nearly every season there is a break-out hit show that just blows people away, great concept great ratings, just a solid piece of programing.  Season 1 is a bang, Seasons 2, 3 the same results.  The only problem... the creators didn't really have enough in the tank for 4+ seasons.  So they jump the shark as they say, they twist the story beyond what it was ever intended to be, it loses focus makes no sense and then just disappears into oblivion.  See Heroes.  The show was great and I feel like they had some great ideas and great stories to tell but they went on too long, they drug the show out beyond the story and it started to suck.  2) Creators and networks think that all shows need a twist.  We get Sixth Sense was awesome.  No one saw it coming.  It was first of its kind, amazing.  But come on man... you can't pull it off in every case, sometimes the story is just the story and it should be straight forward and clean.  See Lost clones, The Event.  Now... I've only watched 2 episodes but the herky jerky flashbacks and cryptic nonsense is already old.

At least I can count on HBO... TV series that are amazing.

Picture of the Week

3-0 Sunday, great atmosphere at Arrowhead.  Chiefs are off to a fast start, this team has grown up a lot faster than I'd thought possible.  My 9 win ceiling for this team may have been too low, here's to hoping I was wrong (this one time).

Life Update

Again, too much has happened too fast.. the past few weeks in snapshot form:

• Home for cousin Ashley's wedding, great times with family, too short as always but niece and nephews are growing like weeds and all is well.
• Chiefs have started with a bang 3-0!  I'm pretty sure it's my presence that is the key to this whole thing.
• Work is work, about 1 trip a month for the rest of the year, which is pretty good considering my past jet setting ways.
• Fall is here and that chill is creeping in on the air and I absolutely love it.  Soup is one of my favorite foods and it is nearing full on soup weather.  I love it.
• Harry Potter Party is rapidly approaching... the new trailer has made the wait nearly unbearable.
• Fantasy football is in full force, my teams are stupid, top scoring team that is 3-0.  Why is it that my team is always playing another high flier, 3 weeks in a row.
• Chicago weekend was great.  Graham Elliot food was amazing.  A tad overpriced compared to other fine dining restaurants we've been to, but the food was awesome and I would recommend it.  Tip: go with the a la carte, not the tasting menu, won't get quite the variety, but in my opinion it's the tasting menu that is overpriced, not necessarily the food.
• Speaking of rapidly approaching... KC 1/2 Marathon, emotions are mixed, legs are feeling very heavy for some reason these days.  Hoping this is nerves and over thought and less a physical thing.  Getting some new shoes tonight so, fingers crossed shaving a few oz will help.

I'm pretty sure that there's roughly 32 things that I've forgotten, I need to do this kind of update more often.

Attack of the Killer Tomato

So I've written before about my distaste for this fruit... however in my ever vigilant quest to expand my pallet I reflected and determined that I'd mastered most of my demons, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, all fell one by one.  I dove into new cuisine, including sushi, carpaccio, and cow tongue (more on this later).  But still the tomato remained, my nemesis if you will.  It too must fall.  Rather than tip toe into battle, I confronted the enemy guns blazing.  YJ's Snack Shop was my Little Big Horn.  Turkey sandwich please... Now in the past this phrase would have been followed with an immediate and stern "no tomatoes."  Not this time, not this day.  While the tomatoes addition to the sandwich was not exactly fireworks in my mouth, it wasn't half bad.  That day was a small victory for me and I began down a road where I no longer feared this fruit.  This is not to say I'm not 100% over my distaste, I still can't bring myself to voluntarily add a tomato to my meal.  For example, Subway, no tomato on the sandwich.  However, In N Out, Double Double, as is, tomato and all.  So essentially the rule that will hopefully lead to full and total acceptance is this:  I will not ask for the tomato to be held or removed from a food item that is intended to be served with tomato, however if it is an upfront and/or optional addition I will still refrain.  Some may laugh at a 29 year old man writing about his internal struggles with tomatoes... I wrote that hoping to respond with a witty parry that would make you feel bad for laughing at me or at the very least make me feel better about you laughing at me, but I got nothing it is pretty funny.

Odd Thoughts...

He walked into the room.  His breath quickened and his heart began to race as the cold air touched hit his face.  Every footstep echoed through the room cold cavernous room, but even this sound could not distract him from the feeling that something was wrong.  Something was out of place.  But he'd been here before, he'd been here a hundred times, it all looked so familiar.  So why did this time feel so different?  Why was there this pull, this nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was amiss, something was wrong.  As he approached the corner he could no longer hear his footfalls as his racing heart overshadowed the sound of footsteps in his ears.  He feared what was around the corner, but it was too late, too late to turn back now.  As he rounded the corner and their was a rush of relief that washed over him as he saw them; there they were lined up in a row, glistening in white, a totem letting him know all was well; urinals.  He let out a long sigh of relief, he had not walked into the Women's bathroom.

Cooking Shows

I'm hooked on cooking shows and I'm not talking necessarily about Food Network, in fact the Food Network is probably toward the bottom of the list really.  Not that it's bad but I like the competition aspect of things and so enter the cooking competition shows.  Iorn Chef, Chopped, Master Chef, Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Hells Kitchen all are great shows. 

Top Chef and Top Chef Masters get top bill my book, jumping to my two of my favorite shows on TV.  I think I like these two shows best because they deal with "real" chefs.  Top Chef features up and comers but up and comers that are already somewhat established with restaurants and/or legit careers.  This contrast to Hell's Kitchen is very nice, where you have people who can't cook a steak (I can cook a steak). 

However the worst show is Desert Chef or whatever that terrible new Bravo desert Top Chef clone is called.  It's like these guys are compensating for their the fact that they make cupcakes by being ridiculously over-the-top dramatic.  I watched 15 minutes and was done.

P.S. Ed should have won...

Sanity...

I've said it before... Jon Stewart is hilarious, he recently announced a "Rally to Restore Sanity" to be held in Washington DC.  So funny I nearly wet myself, below is his description.  Suggested signs include: "I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler" & "I'm not afraid of Muslims/Tea Partiers/Socialists/Immigrants/Gun Owners/Gays... But I am Afraid of Spiders".  Honestly his humor laced political news is the only way I can tolerate even listening to the nonsense that is politics these days.

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Who among us has not wanted to open their window and shout that at the top of their lungs?

Seriously, who?

Because we're looking for those people. We're looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it's appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. Or Charlie Chaplin in certain roles.

Are you one of those people? Excellent. Then we'd like you to join us in Washington, DC on October 30 -- a date of no significance whatsoever -- at the Daily Show's "Rally to Restore Sanity." Ours is a rally for the people who've been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) -- not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence... we couldn't. That's sort of the point.

Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; the Million Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest; or the Gathering of the Juggalos, but instead of throwing our feces at Tila Tequila, we'll be actively *not* throwing our feces at Tila Tequila. Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice. Or don't. If you'd rather stay home, go to work, or drive your kids to soccer practice... Actually, please come anyway. Ask the sitter if she can stay a few extra hours, just this once. We'll make it worth your while.

Video of the Week

While I wouldn't say I'm a "YouTuber", I do subscribe to several (probably too many) YouTube channels.  I know, I know, YouTube is just for funny videos, although I come across several that make me seriously question the sense of humor of some people.  But all that aside a new channel that I subscribe to is called Black Box TV, now this is not a funny channel the creators are YouTube personalities I'm familiar with and they make videos that are horror/scifi ish in nature.  But bottom line for only 3-5 min of video they are very very good.  The most recent episode definitely warrants sharing, I swear this short video is better than the last 3 movies that would be in a similar genre, combined.  If you like it I'd encourage you to subscribe to them so you can check out all the new ones.

News Notes

Pretty interesting happenings in news these days, I mean it's all totally insane but still remains interesting.  So here we go

Burning of ... anything.  This whole thing is just another situation that baffles me.  The media reporting on something by saying that they shouldn't be reporting on something.  Just because we have Freedom of the Press doesn't mean that it's a good idea to give everything national attention.  I think that Freedom of the Press should come with some inherent responsibility to take a look at the bigger implications of what you are reporting.  How does reporting and publicized some whack job in Florida's antics do anyone any good?  All this is going to do is send an already volatile situation further into a tailspin.  It's fruitless.  I'm not saying we need to tiptoe through the tulips on the issue of the Middle East, Terrorism, etc. but there's little sense in unnecessarily fanning the flames by giving credence to a movement in BFE Florida that would have otherwise been attended by maybe 8 people and maybe made the local rag on page 2.  Now it's a global issue and I'm sorry but questioning if you should be giving this guy publicity won't unring the bell.  It's just irresponsible and dumb and that goes for the idiots in Florida too, but that's an entirely different rant all together.  I'll just say this:  Painting everyone with the same brush is a dangerous game.  There are lots of whites, Christians, men, women, hell pick any dividing characteristics who have done morally terrible things... but you can't judge the entire group by the misguided actions of the few.

Along the same line Fox News... wow.  I truly feel sorry for any American who gets their news 100% from only one media outlet (i.e. Fox News, MSN, etc) because the slant on things these days is absolutely unreal.  I know I've mentioned this before but the most recent interpretation of an interview takes the cake.  One of the leaders of the Muslim group working on the Mosque in NY, said basically he was concerned about the actions that extremists might take if these burning took place, were publicized, etc.  Fox reported this the next day as him making threats of violence against the U.S., which based on their soundbites sounded credible, but if you actually read/watched the full interview, it couldn't be further from what was actually said.  Bottom line it is just plain sad that there seems to be no where in media today where one can get a true report of what has happened.
  
Jets and sexual harassment, this has potential to get me in hot water so I'm gonna step lightly.  First and foremost, harassment is never okay and the situation should be dealt with and disciplinary action should be levied.  But.  This is a two way street.  The NFL needs to seriously, evaluate their policies on women in locker rooms.  They preach and preach to players about avoiding situations that have the potential to result in something that is undesirable.  Placing a young, attractive, provocatively dressed woman (and for that matter men) but women especially in a locker room with 53 men most between the ages of 24 and 35 is a recipe for absolute disaster.  Should they be able to control themselves, absolutely.  Some of these guys put their foot in their mouth on a regular basis with zero provocation whatsoever, you but this woman in there and it's like taking an alcoholic on a brewery tour, it's just not smart.  Furthermore, I Googled the reporter, before forming an opinion I recommend doing the same and watching some achieved interviews and judge for yourself.  Again... not justifying what they did and if they did something there should be actions taken, but come on, the Jets are the only ones guilty in this.


Politics... still can't care... still want to care, but it's just so very hard.  When your solution to stop a brush fire from spreading is to pile more brush in front of your houses, I really don't know that I can get behind the logic. 

Tax cuts... I don't want to pay taxes anymore than anyone else, but with the Bush tax cuts set to expire soon, increased taxes for some segments of the population are likely on the way.  I think the appetite for some modest increase in taxes would be better received if the Gov wasn't walking around with a blank check.  Government spending is absolutely out of control at all levels, local, state, federal.  You can't expect people to willingly pay into a system that is digging a hole of debt that appears to be deeper than any ladder in existence, yet they keep digging.  Furthermore, tax burden needs to be spread more evenly I think that everyone should pay some form of income tax.  If it's 1%, 0.5% or 0.25%, everyone should pay into the system, there should be no free lunch.  Everyone lives here everyone must contribute something. 

Weekend Wow

Whew... Labor Day weekend was a 5 day whirlwind.  
Thursday had the Chiefs final preseason contest against the Packers, finally picked up a W to head into the season with the taste of victory, countdown to Monday Night Football at Arrowhead is on like Donkey Kong.  It's going to be a mad dash to get those boards done though, needed a few more coats of paint than I'd anticipated.  
Friday we had the obvious celebration of 5 years with the wife, which I wrote on already.  We celebrated by heading to St Pius X for some Friday Night Lights football.  hadn't been to a High School football game in forever, and I'm hooked I'm now a St Pius fan and will be at all games possible.  Side note Charlie Weis' kid plays for Pius and I walked right by him, had to restrain myself from giving him a hearty man-hug.  Speaking of man-hugs, 
Saturday was KSU day at the Reyes casa, stayed up late, ate too much, and watched KSU get a big time W.  It was awesome to be able to watch the Cats.  
Sunday was initially a recovery day but ended up being a rib-straviganza with several great friends.  Ribs turned out pretty well for a first attempt at cooking them "Talty" style.
Monday, quick trip to see Beth's grandma and pick up a KSU hat... FINALLY found one that didn't look idiotic.  
Wow... have to rest next weekend, oh wait, heading to Chicago, sleep is overrated anyway.

5

Seems like only yesterday I was in Topeka for a hectic day, but today I hit the 5 year mark with the lovely wife.  Not really enough space to say all that should be said about the shenanigans that she puts up with, pretty much daily.  So I'll leave it at a picture.  Can't wait to celebrate with some football this weekend and then Chicago next weekend should be good times all around. Love honey!

Cornhole!

So not a lot new on the blog front partly because spare time has been consumed with construct of Cornhole (bags) boards in preparation for tailgate season.  For those unaware, Cornhole is a yard game played with bean bags (or corn bags), it's in the horseshoe family, much like washers.  Anyway, it has been quite the process and I am now ready to paint, which makes me very nervous because I have what I think is an ambitious paint scheme in mind.  Below are some pictures of the process.

Materials time, really not a lot involved here, some 1/2" plywood, 2'x4' and some 1"x3"s.  One trip to Home Depot Folks, that's a project record.  Truck, 100% justified.  Okay so maybe not 100%, but darn it it was nice to not have wood riding shotty or to have to wait on Beth to get home from work... Gotta love flex Fridays.

Here we have the beginings of constrcution, pretty simple to make, a frame, a hole, couple legs.  Really you can make it as complicated or as Plane Jane as you want.  I went with the folding legs, which took me every bit of 4 hours to figure out how to do.  So yep, I went complicated.  While I'm better now with the jigsaw, it's still not my best friend.

Here we have the boards and legs primed and ready for paint, hopefully that'll be done by Friday night.  Going Red/Yellow with the KC Arrowhead on one and a vertical CHIEFS type on the other.  Hoping that it looks good, fingers crossed that Mrs. Lebo taught me well enough that I can knock it out.  The hand stayed pretty steady with the razor while cutting the stencils, so I'm hopeful.

Video of the Week

Picture of the Week

Told you the pups are gettin big...

Life Update

Back form banking school and wow does it feel good to be in my own house with my own stuff.  I did absolutely nothing this weekend and it was glorious.  I have a feeling I'll pay for it in the coming week though as we clean and such for the weekend.  Going to go pick up my Chiefs tickets tonight and I am so very excited I can hardly contain myself.  I've already begun calculating how much chili could fit in my turkey fryer.  Tailgating is one of my most favorite things to do and sad sad sad to say it's been a long time since I've been able to do it.  On the agenda for next week is Cornhole boards.  This has been a long time coming but I have renewed sense of motivation with the coming Chiefs football season, I think that our tailgate experience would be somewhat diminished if we don't have some bags of corn to toss around.  Plans are in hand and I think a trip to Home Depot is in order. 

Outside of that, not a lot new going on puppies are growing like weeds - Dublin pretty much doubled in size, not sure when or how that really happened but it did.  Beth is good, her job is good - I'm pretty jealous of her iPhone and Deck parties.  Running is going well, hard getting back into it but I'm pretty close to back to form, which I measure by my average pace.  Race is coming up sooner than I'd like - the KC course scares the bojangles out of me, lots and lots of hills.  I absolutely hate hills, which is why I'm only doing a half in KC.  It is new shoe time though which is always a good time.  But yeah, that's really about all I can think of.

iBlog

Product people lazy, I think they've just given up.  Conceded defeat.  Period.  Is it just me or is anything that comes out today, that is remotely the slightest bit related to electronics, they just put a lower case 'i' in front of the thing's name and call it a day?  I can just picture the brainstorm meetings:

"So guys, I'm really excited, we've got this toaster, the thing is amazing! it toasts bread, bagels, buns, the works!  All to golden, delicious, crunchy perfection, every single time, with no burning what so ever. It's great.  But, what do we call it?"

"umm...."

"umm..."

"the... iToaster?"

"BRILLIANT!!!  to happy hour everyone!"

Ridiculous.... I want that job.

Recovery

I briefly touched on this a few posts ago and debated long and hard about doing a post on it, but after many many hours of listening I really don't think my few sentences really did it justice.  If you like great music, you need to purchase, if you haven't already, Eminem's Recovery album.  It is one of the best CDs I've ever listened to, I have literally, without exaggeration listened to the CD roughly 20 times, beginning to end, since I bought it.  It is that good. 

He's still a little angry don't get me wrong, but it's a much much much more mature sound, more focused and, for lack of a better way to say it, a "smarter" album.  The anger is more channeled into the lyrics and it makes for some pretty mesmerizing flows.  The whole CD is a journey, starting with addressing his best friends death (Proof) to apologizing for his last CDs which were, frankly a mess, due to his issues with drugs and booze, which he also touches on a lot.  The maturity comes through in that there's no "gimmick" song on the album, which I truly appreciate.  There's no Slim Shady or Made You, no MTV costume "funny" song.  Everything is raw and you can tell there is a lot of passion behind each and every lyric that leaves his mouth.  For example, below is probably my favorite phrase on the whole CD:

Fuck catching lightning, He struck it

Screamed shut up at thunder,

Flipped the world upside down and made it rain upward

That's one of many amazing flows, but probably my favorite, and it's in my favorite song, Cinderella Man.  The video for Love the Way you lie is pretty brilliant too, Megan Fox and a Hobbit, it's great.  I know I've gone WAY over the top here but trust me when I say the CD is that good.  A friend once asked me if I could only have 3 CDs to listen to for the rest of forever, Recovery was one of my 3. (Michael Jackson's Bad and Journey's Greatest Hits were the other 2 if you are interested.)

GSB

As I mentioned a few days ago, Banking School is proving to be a whirlwind of learning.  It also is a very representative throw back to college days:

Blue Powerade... BU people know what I'm talking about here, this tasty little drink was a staple at meal times and it's presence at UW makes me wonder if Coke realizes that there are other flavors of Powerade and Blue flavor is probably not their best effort.  Nevertheless I've consumed many a glass of this tasty beverage.

Here is my classroom where I spent my 8-4 every single day, it's every bit as huge as it looks and while I've lucked out and had an empty seat to my right and left, but if I did have people on my 3 and 9 o'clock I have zero idea how I'd manage taking notes and not freaking out about personal bubble invasion.

And last but not least here is my home for the two weeks... the pictures really don't do the space justice and I mean that in a bad way.  UW housing has got to do a good job with their pairing of roomies because there is zero personal space in this cozy little bungalow.  You're pretty much living right on top of one another.  And you can kinda see the closet in the top one, so I have no clue how ladies function in these rooms cause closet space is nonexistant.  I will say the bed is actually a lot better than I anticipated, I've slept pretty well, actually better than I generally do in a hotel, which I find very odd.  The size is lends itself well to amplifying that good old dorm room smell, concrete, tile, musty carpet and sweaty clothes... nothing says home like those fragrances swirling in and about your nostrils. 

Video of the Week

Ouch

This post really isn't for the faint hearted and tiptoes ever so gracefully along the thin line of oversharing. I've started running pretty heavy and focused again in efforts to prepare for the KC half marathon, which I've heard is a pretty brutal course hill-wise (there are no hills in Chicago so his will be interesting.  In the course my training I've taken all the precautions to avoid every  type of injury or ailment that I've experienced in training for my last two races, you know, building off my past  experiences, learning from my mistakes, all that jazz.  But despite my very best efforts, I've managed to chafe not one, both both nipples.  I'll wait for the shock of this statement/laughter to end.... done yet?  ... So I lied I'm not tiptoeing the overshare line, I'm pole vaulting over it Dan O'Brian style.  Ok, moving on, this hurts like hell and it's one of those odd feeling nagging, burning hurting pains, that almost annoys you to the point of hurting.  Imagine sandpaper being rubbed on your skin very softly and slowly for about 30 minutes, that's how this whole process got started.  The worst part about the whole thing is that now that it's happened I'm stuck with it.  Some of you will suggest band aids, these do not work, unless you staple them on of have no sweat glands.  They fall off roughly 22 seconds after stepping outside, it's humid in KS/MO, people have been known to break a sweat walking to the mail box.  Body Glide, yep I own the deodorant stick size of it and use it religiously and somehow the chafe managed to happen.  Oh,  I almost forgot, this brings me to another fine little batch of irony... now that it's already chafed, Body Glide, ya know protection, burns like hell when applied.  So I have that to look forward to.  But perhaps worse than all of that combined, the body glide burn, the 30-40 min of sandpaper like rubbing is, drum roll, the shower.  There's a special sort of pain that takes place when water hits an open wound, and I get to experience it four times a week, it's awesome.

Anyway, I would apologize for the oversharing but really this is my blog and I needed to vent and get this out.  According to Google countdown, 65 days to the 1/2 hopefully things will heal up a bit by then.  

Chiefs

Today I became a season ticket holder.... I can barely contain my excitement.

Question of the day is now:  Who's jersey do I buy? 

Busy Bee

I had intended on posting nearly daily updates from GSB and it was a grand idea in my head, but in practice is proving to be not at all practical.  They have us on a constant run, four classes a day with one 15-20 min. break and about an hour for lunch.  So 8:30-4:10 it's all business.  By the time I run and then eat, the day is shot and my brain hurts so bad that I long for my concrete slab, I mean bed.  College is spanned over four years so basically the information is kind of self-paced to some extent, they feed it to you buffet style.  You walk up with your tray, take what you want, go chow down, and then get a new plate and go back for more.  Here, they take the entire buffet, put it in a blender, hit puree, jam a tube down your throat and start pouring.  Apologies for the graphic, but that's what it's like, yesterday I felt like I sat through 2 months of yield curve course work in about an hour and a half.

In all seriousness though I am enjoying it, dreading the projects, but enjoying it.  I do have some rather interesting observations though that I hope to have time to put down this weekend, so I don't forget about them.

Wrote this like:  Cory Doctorow... this guy and I are on the same page

Birthday Partay & The Weekend

Let's set the scene, a hot summer day, an annual celebration commemorating a birth, a water park full of slides.  Any guess on the age of the birthday boy and guests?  29.  The answer is 29.  This weekend about 20 some 27-29 year olds took over Oceans of Fun, reverting back to simpler times where it was acceptable to run around and hoot and holler (but not on the pirate ship apparently).  Twas a wonderful time and my first time at Oceans of Fun and I must say I did have "Oceans" of Fun.

Sunday came with my departure to Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin.  I'll have to post some pictures later, campus is awesome.  My dorm room however, well it's what I imagine minimum security prison cells to look like, wow it's depressing.  All I have to say is if you go here you'd better like your roommate because there is zero shot of personal space.  But the bed was surprisingly comfy and the A/C was cranking so all in all I can't complain.  Hopefully classes will go smoothly, I'm armed with Starbucks, 5 Hour Energy, and Gum.  I hope to avoid resorting to more drastic measures. 

I wrote this like:  Cory Doctorow

Running Again

Finally getting back in the swing of things running-wise.  Got my training plan loaded on the calendar, race picked out, and ready to go.  Word to the wise - if you are in race shape, don't stop running.  I stopped, or rather ran very very inconsistently for about 4-5 months.  Man it's brutal, I wouldn't say that I'm "starting over," because when I started I could barely do 3 miles, and I'm still able to to 3 at a pretty brisk pace, however beyond 3 is going to tax me quite a bit.  The whole process is being both complicated and compounded by the stupid hills.  I hate hills.  Chicago is flat, closest thing to a hill is an on ramp.  Missouri, for those that are unaware, is not flat.  Which makes training day after day even more taxing.  There's also a bit of complication because there's not miles and miles of lake front trail to run on, so finding enough run-able space is also a bit of a challenge.  But alas, I'll get it done and I'm looking forward to the Kansas City Half-Marathon on October 16, it'll make the 3rd 1/2, so, good times.

I wrote this like: Stephen King

Idea Thief

So I stole this... kind of...  well actually more like borrowed, let's go with borrowed this idea.  There's a website called "I Write Like" basically you paste in a writing sample, hundreds of cyber gremlins read your prose, and then take a vote using the scientific method of folded pieces of paper and a giant hat ... and in a matter of mere seconds tell you which writer who actually gets paid to write you write most like.  So... the theft, sorry borrowing, comes in that I saw this on a friend's blog (insert plug for: But Anyway...) as a widget, tool, whatever you want to call it, in the sidebar.  But Anyway, (see what I did there), I'm going to try, to paste my blog posts in there before I publish and I'll report the results.  Now, I'll do this until I get either a bunch of repeats so I now which author to sue for taking my ideas and writing style before I have a chance to write them or until I get bored with it which will most likely be only a few weeks from now, so enjoy it while it lasts.

I wrote this like: Cory Doctorow

News Notes

Brett Favre... he's going to play, he just wants a bit of an fawning over him for an ego boost.  He was one play away from a Super Bowl and had a career year, he's not walking away from that.  We just need to let him go on his merry way.

Cali and Prop 8... Gay marriage has been in the news a lot in recent years, ya know church and state they're separate, a bulk of the arguments against same sex unions fall back to religion.  While I'm not going to share my opinon on it, I think there are two fundamental pieces to a marriage: 1) the religious sacrament and 2) the legal courthouse issued piece of paper.  Religion should decided whether or not to honor the union as a "religious" sacrament.  The courthouse should decide if it's okay to buy family health insurance and be considered a "legal" family.

BP Oil... About time.  You'd think if you were undertaking an operation, you'd have plans for the worst possible scenario, like say a rig explodes.  I mean they are in hurricane alley, I can't believe they'd never once considered the possibility of a rig explosion and a massive leak miles underwater.  One more in an ever growing list of reasons why we need to find something else.  The internal combustion engine was invented in 1823... hear that geeks 1823, in the 187 years since then we've not come up with something better?

President... Don't even care really, I tried to care I really did, but the constant bickering back and forth between the red guys and the blue guys has grown tiresome.  Until Government starts serving the people instead of acting in its own self interest the road to improvement is going to be a very long one.  Nothing makes sense and if one of your guys didn't think of it, it's a bad idea no matter what.  It's just plain sad.

Palin's... I swear if I hear any more about this kid and her on again off again, which magazine will pay me for this story, life I'm gonna scream.

Jersy Shore... in Miami is as popular as ever.  I wonder if they realize people watch this show and are laughing AT them, not with them, AT them.

Wake-up Call

As with most people I require the assistance of an alarm clock to coax me out of bed every single morning.  I have recently switched to waking up to the radio, generally this is a more peaceful option than the ear piercing beep beep beep beep that most alarm clocks that aren't ridiculously priced use.  Anyway.... I was setting it last night and checking the volume level and a Britney Spears song was on, I thought to myself, wow this would be an awful way to start the day.  Then and there I decided to implement the Whoops I Slept in Leave Day.  How it works is simply this: if my alarm goes of and it's a Spears song I will roll over, go back to sleep and put in for annual leave for that particular day.  Because the way I figure it if the day starts off that way... nothing good can come from that point on so best to just avoid potential land mines the day may hold, stay in bed, maybe play some Call of Duty, and just relax. 

Update: this morning was a save morning, wake-up tune: Katy Perry

Inception

It's not very often that a movie exceeds expectations in my mind.  Mainly because if I'm super excited about a movie I build it up and build it up to a level where, I'm not even really sure if it's possible for anything to live up to it.  All of the above is why Inception was such an awesome surprise.  I was pretty excited about seeing the movie, but didn't have a lot of expectations going in other than being entertained.  I was entertained and then some, the movie blew me away.  I liked this movie a lot.  It was visually stunning and the story was really smart and really well written.  I was initially angry at the ending but upon reflection I think it was very smart and I get it now.  I honestly think Christopher Nolan is becoming my favorite director.  Who, upon some imdb research learned directed Memento, which is another little known great movie.  Anyway, this makes two for two, Dark Knight and now Inception.  I don't buy many movies but Inception will be purchased immediately.  If you haven't yet seen this movie I highly highly recommend it, visually it's awesome on the big screen so I'd recommend seeing on the silver screen.  Oh, btw, when did the geek from Third Rock from the Sun become a bad ass?  He was awesome.  He is for real, I was sceptical after the abomination that was GI Joe, but he was really good.

This movie also brought about something a bit disturbing to me.  I think Leonardo DiCaprio might be my favorite actor.  I shudder even writing it, but you can't deny he's come a long way since Jack (Titanic).  Before you judge, look at the resume since: Gangs of New York, Blood Diamond, The Departed, Inception, and while I haven't seen them yet I'm pretty sure I'll put Shutter Island and Body of Lies on this list.  Two of these movies are probably in my Top 10, Inceptions and The Departed.  So yeah... I'm now a Leo fan.  Crap.

Restaurant Log

New joint added.... location: Spokane, WA

Update...

Wow... so much to update not sure where to begin and I'm sure I'll leave out a lot.  I guess most notable was the Reyes/Uden wedding extravaganza, this thing was EPIC.  Rehearsal was a blast, wedding was beautiful, reception was so much fun I'm still not fully recovered.  In all seriousness though... It was a great wedding and really do feel very very lucky to be friends with both of them and honored that I was able to be a part of their celebration.  I can't even do a full description justice, I'll just say there was a Rick Roll, intors that put the Bulls to shame, a huge dance party, it was a great great time.

E-Stractions... unfortunately I've relapsed and am back on some of the old e-stractions, Mafia Wars, and have added a host of new ones, foursquare, I've pretty much accepted the fact that e-stractions are a part of my life now and are here to stay.

Recovery, the new album by Eminem, possibly the best CD I've purchased in the past decade.  Phenomenal lyrics, fantastic songs.  He's still angry as ever, but much smarter and focused in his lyrics.  If you liked any of the his last albums this one should be on your purchase list for sure.  I've listened to it begining to end at least 8 times with zero complaints on any song.

Spokane was pretty nice, actually got outside for 2 runs along the river, great great scenery.  I'll have to get some pictures next time I'm there cause the river hist some nice rapids and rock formations that are pretty impressive.  Works was... ehh... nothing to exciting, which is good and bad, good cause it's less work but bad cause it's really hard to find a way to write a report and do a presentation on "good" news.

I know in my week of clouded onsite work, I for sure left out a bunch of stuff so a random post of two is not entirely out of the question.