What?
I'm putting this up--safe from broadband-ilicious Alexandria--just in case anyone wants to discuss the clip show. I caught some of it while my grandparents were visiting, but was only half paying attention.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Spawning Update
No, not me, morons. I harken back to this post, as the Kellers are now proud parents of a baby boy. According to Don's wishes, this makes me Rich Uncle Steve. To help me fulfill this role, you may send donations to me I will be sure to spend wisely.
The world is enriched by one more geek. I helped ensure that with my shower gift.
The world is enriched by one more geek. I helped ensure that with my shower gift.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
The Amazing Trip Home--"If a Stranger Approaches You About Carrying a Foreign Object..."
A domestic Wisconsin cheese, I take it, is ok to carry for a stranger. :)
So here I am in Detroit Metro airport, spending $6.95 to access the wireless network (grr...that should be a service at this point), in a very lousy terminal because my connection has been delayed. Better than missing it I suppose. It's not clear if the crew has not made it from someplace else, or there are weather issues in Traverse City (a native heading home tells me they land there in just about anything), but while giving detailed updates on all sorts of other flights (South Bend's plane isn't here, Evansville's needed maintenance, Cincinnati passengers are being put on a bus if they want tonight), we got nothing until 20 minutes after the scheduled departure time. And little detail at that.
C concourse at Detroit Metro is a hallway, essentially, for gates 9-39. No seating. There's a large lounge out by gates 1-8 where we're supposed to wait until 30 min. before departure, and where they do make all the relevant announcements. But it's really poor design. (So is their wireless signup--it keeps telling me the username is in use, while I paid for 3 accounts. At least it's a known bug and a phone call to customer service got me straightened out, appropriately uncharged, in two minutes.)
I got up at 5, the shuttle came at 5:40 (ten minutes early), and I got to Dulles by 6:45 and out to the gate by 7:15. For a 9:20 flight. Yeah, next time, I drive myself or remember that the departure time means I need to be moving a lot earlier than that--and book a noon flight. Zzzzzzzzz.
I will update this post as necessary. I'll going to put it up now and maybe linkify it a little before I leave, but I want to surf around a little, since I'm paying for it.
The Pit Stop--Manistee, MI
Shortly after the initial blog post, the board out in the lounge said we were boarding...but no, as it turned out, that must have been an automatic reaction to the posted (new) departure time. We didn't actually leave until 3:45, for a nice little hour-long jaunt in a Saab 340 Turboprop. 33 Seats, and 8 empty despite the fact that they got 4 or 5 volunteers to change their plans. So weird. And yes, the delay was the crew had not made it in from Wisconsin. Probably debating theology with Bartleby and Loki.
Oddly enough, my cousin Mark was on the plane, connecting through from Raleigh. Had I only known, I could have bummed a ride to Manistee in his rental car.
When we got there...we got out on the tarmac. I haven't done that in a long time. Ah, out-of-the-way airports. What a joy.
In Traverse City, I was worried because there were fifty people who were waiting for the luggage when we got there. But something must have been really wrong with theirs, because ours came out first.
Drive home took us a while because it was snowing. Including the stop for dinner we got in about 8:15. Which means it was about 14 1/2 hours from door to door. I could almost drive that (Mapquest says 12:37 of actually driving time), although it would be far more exhausting. And, of course, it shouldn't have taken that long, but welcome to high-volume air traffic in the midwest winter. C'est la vie.
Thus endeth the travelogue. Merry Christmas, all y'all.
So here I am in Detroit Metro airport, spending $6.95 to access the wireless network (grr...that should be a service at this point), in a very lousy terminal because my connection has been delayed. Better than missing it I suppose. It's not clear if the crew has not made it from someplace else, or there are weather issues in Traverse City (a native heading home tells me they land there in just about anything), but while giving detailed updates on all sorts of other flights (South Bend's plane isn't here, Evansville's needed maintenance, Cincinnati passengers are being put on a bus if they want tonight), we got nothing until 20 minutes after the scheduled departure time. And little detail at that.
C concourse at Detroit Metro is a hallway, essentially, for gates 9-39. No seating. There's a large lounge out by gates 1-8 where we're supposed to wait until 30 min. before departure, and where they do make all the relevant announcements. But it's really poor design. (So is their wireless signup--it keeps telling me the username is in use, while I paid for 3 accounts. At least it's a known bug and a phone call to customer service got me straightened out, appropriately uncharged, in two minutes.)
I got up at 5, the shuttle came at 5:40 (ten minutes early), and I got to Dulles by 6:45 and out to the gate by 7:15. For a 9:20 flight. Yeah, next time, I drive myself or remember that the departure time means I need to be moving a lot earlier than that--and book a noon flight. Zzzzzzzzz.
I will update this post as necessary. I'll going to put it up now and maybe linkify it a little before I leave, but I want to surf around a little, since I'm paying for it.
The Pit Stop--Manistee, MI
Shortly after the initial blog post, the board out in the lounge said we were boarding...but no, as it turned out, that must have been an automatic reaction to the posted (new) departure time. We didn't actually leave until 3:45, for a nice little hour-long jaunt in a Saab 340 Turboprop. 33 Seats, and 8 empty despite the fact that they got 4 or 5 volunteers to change their plans. So weird. And yes, the delay was the crew had not made it in from Wisconsin. Probably debating theology with Bartleby and Loki.
Oddly enough, my cousin Mark was on the plane, connecting through from Raleigh. Had I only known, I could have bummed a ride to Manistee in his rental car.
When we got there...we got out on the tarmac. I haven't done that in a long time. Ah, out-of-the-way airports. What a joy.
In Traverse City, I was worried because there were fifty people who were waiting for the luggage when we got there. But something must have been really wrong with theirs, because ours came out first.
Drive home took us a while because it was snowing. Including the stop for dinner we got in about 8:15. Which means it was about 14 1/2 hours from door to door. I could almost drive that (Mapquest says 12:37 of actually driving time), although it would be far more exhausting. And, of course, it shouldn't have taken that long, but welcome to high-volume air traffic in the midwest winter. C'est la vie.
Thus endeth the travelogue. Merry Christmas, all y'all.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
The Amazing Race 6--"They Should Probably Have Some Counseling"
Programming Note: The Race moves to 8PM EST this week, due to the Kennedy Center Honors, I think. I haven't seen the Race schedule beyond this week.
And CBS sucks, as they gave away the next locale in their commercials. But not as much as Jonathan and Kendra.
And CBS sucks, as they gave away the next locale in their commercials. But not as much as Jonathan and Kendra.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Cold Builds Character
Actual Special Weather Statement on Weather Underground tonight:
I've moved to a land of wusses. I had to actually enjoy putting on my gloves and my Canadiens toque this morning to scrape the frost of my car windows--just to spite these heat-craving losers.
... Potential winter weather late this weekend...
Cold air moving into the region late Friday will set the stage for the possibility of some winter weather Sunday and Monday. A low pressure area moving down from the Great Lakes combined with low pressure developing off the Atlantic coast will likely bring enough moisture for snow at some point between Sunday morning and Monday afternoon.
At this point it is to early for specific details on exact timing or amounts. This is only a statement to alert you to the possibility of snow late this weekend. Stay tuned for updates on Friday and through the weekend.
I've moved to a land of wusses. I had to actually enjoy putting on my gloves and my Canadiens toque this morning to scrape the frost of my car windows--just to spite these heat-craving losers.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
"I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
Not to suggest Be'elzeBud deserves to be identified with even as sympathetic a figure as Lando Calrissian--or that Linda Cropp is remotely as cool as a Sith Lord--but that quote struck me as the right headline for my DC Baseball Shenanigans post.
The DC sports punditry is frickin' ballistic over the DC council--in particular, Linda Cropp--performing its democratic function to try to keep DC from being the next locality to hand out oodles of corporate welfare to a sports franchise. Read the Washington Post for your updates. News items mentioned below won't have links; you can find them at the Post or ESPN or what have you.
Latest word is that MLB, in a fit of pique, has suspended all promotional operations in DC (baseball operations--e.g. player signings--continue.) They are also offering refunds on season ticket deposits. Someone needs to explain to them that this is how a democracy works--I know in Chicago, if the Mayor-pharaoh gives you his word, it's done. But Mayor Williams didn't have his ducks in a row here.
Linda Cropp is among those positioning her self for a mayoral run, and some have accused her of grandstanding--in particular, by wavering between support and sabotage. The first vote (bills have to go through two readings) was postponed from November, as is her power as Chairperson. Then she stuck this private funding amendment in very late in the session--she certainly could have put it in early, when it could be debated by less weary councilpersons. Some interesting takes by a local political reporter are in this Post online chat transcript from today.
Be'elzeBud isn't going to want to take any deal with private financing, even if it is somehow found. But here's why I think they end up in DC anyway:
1) No viable alternative. This is the biggest, richest market--they really wanted someone else to come through with a stadium for free so that they didn't have to deal with Angelos's territorial issues, and no one did. No one will now either--there's no sudden upswing of political will, plus MLB is over a barrel. And with the Marlins casting about, looking for a home, the last thing needed is to try to develop two viable options where none exist.
2) This isn't Portland or Vegas screwing with them, it's DC. Various political critters have cast their eyes at steroids, the anti-trust exemption, etc. Unless MLB controls the spin so that the DC city government takes all the flak--so far, so good on their part, btw--they may have to worry about irking people in a position to cause them other troubles.
3) The players association wants a permanent home found. That was part of the push to be out of Montreal by 2005--players were getting tired of the Montreal/San Juan nomadic existence. Taking them back to Montreal will draw howls from them, at a time when they really need the union to come along peacefully on the steroid issue. This is minor, and MLB is stupid enough not to act sensibly on this, but it's there.
4) Contraction can't occur until 2006. I don't think they can get the Twins out this time--the popular and political will in Minnesota will prevent that--but the Marlins might be a option, since Loria is at the heart of this mess anyway. But I can't imagine baseball is willing to take crowds of 300 for a doomed team for two years--certainly not in Washington, and if they go back to Montreal now it'll be even worse. They do hold an option on Stade Olympique that needn't be exercised until Dec. 31--the stated date that an agreement in DC must be settled. But they're not going to want to let this fester, with 29 owners paying to prop up a dummy team. It's already, after only two years, beginning to smell as bad as it looks.
The DC sports punditry is frickin' ballistic over the DC council--in particular, Linda Cropp--performing its democratic function to try to keep DC from being the next locality to hand out oodles of corporate welfare to a sports franchise. Read the Washington Post for your updates. News items mentioned below won't have links; you can find them at the Post or ESPN or what have you.
Latest word is that MLB, in a fit of pique, has suspended all promotional operations in DC (baseball operations--e.g. player signings--continue.) They are also offering refunds on season ticket deposits. Someone needs to explain to them that this is how a democracy works--I know in Chicago, if the Mayor-pharaoh gives you his word, it's done. But Mayor Williams didn't have his ducks in a row here.
Linda Cropp is among those positioning her self for a mayoral run, and some have accused her of grandstanding--in particular, by wavering between support and sabotage. The first vote (bills have to go through two readings) was postponed from November, as is her power as Chairperson. Then she stuck this private funding amendment in very late in the session--she certainly could have put it in early, when it could be debated by less weary councilpersons. Some interesting takes by a local political reporter are in this Post online chat transcript from today.
Be'elzeBud isn't going to want to take any deal with private financing, even if it is somehow found. But here's why I think they end up in DC anyway:
1) No viable alternative. This is the biggest, richest market--they really wanted someone else to come through with a stadium for free so that they didn't have to deal with Angelos's territorial issues, and no one did. No one will now either--there's no sudden upswing of political will, plus MLB is over a barrel. And with the Marlins casting about, looking for a home, the last thing needed is to try to develop two viable options where none exist.
2) This isn't Portland or Vegas screwing with them, it's DC. Various political critters have cast their eyes at steroids, the anti-trust exemption, etc. Unless MLB controls the spin so that the DC city government takes all the flak--so far, so good on their part, btw--they may have to worry about irking people in a position to cause them other troubles.
3) The players association wants a permanent home found. That was part of the push to be out of Montreal by 2005--players were getting tired of the Montreal/San Juan nomadic existence. Taking them back to Montreal will draw howls from them, at a time when they really need the union to come along peacefully on the steroid issue. This is minor, and MLB is stupid enough not to act sensibly on this, but it's there.
4) Contraction can't occur until 2006. I don't think they can get the Twins out this time--the popular and political will in Minnesota will prevent that--but the Marlins might be a option, since Loria is at the heart of this mess anyway. But I can't imagine baseball is willing to take crowds of 300 for a doomed team for two years--certainly not in Washington, and if they go back to Montreal now it'll be even worse. They do hold an option on Stade Olympique that needn't be exercised until Dec. 31--the stated date that an agreement in DC must be settled. But they're not going to want to let this fester, with 29 owners paying to prop up a dummy team. It's already, after only two years, beginning to smell as bad as it looks.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Monday, December 06, 2004
Geee-mail
I have five (5) (v) gmail invites. I will send to the first people who post in this thread who want them.
If you don't want one, well, enjoy your worthless, miserable life.
If you don't want one, well, enjoy your worthless, miserable life.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
The Amazing Race 6--"What If It Isn't Sanitary?"
"Then you'll die a horrible, disgusting death, before the whole world, on CBS tv."
Ok, some of the things they are doing aren't entirely safe, but you've got to figure the producers aren't going to put people in any real danger. The worst injury of TAR 5 was on the pier, for goodness sake.
Maybe the roadblock is "contract cholera."
Ok, some of the things they are doing aren't entirely safe, but you've got to figure the producers aren't going to put people in any real danger. The worst injury of TAR 5 was on the pier, for goodness sake.
Maybe the roadblock is "contract cholera."
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Here we go...
The San Francisco Chronicle claims to have gotten a copy of Jason Giambi's grand jury testimony in the BALCO investigation.
In it, he admits to use of steroids and human growth hormone.
Pop some popcorn, sit back and watch. We're going to be here a while...
UPDATE:Bonds too. Although he claims he didn't know he was being given steroids, while prosecutors had documents that would indicate otherwise. Not that I necessarily believe the fuzz...this is still very disappoointing to me.
In it, he admits to use of steroids and human growth hormone.
Pop some popcorn, sit back and watch. We're going to be here a while...
UPDATE:Bonds too. Although he claims he didn't know he was being given steroids, while prosecutors had documents that would indicate otherwise. Not that I necessarily believe the fuzz...this is still very disappoointing to me.
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