Deep Thoughts

One of my all-time favorite quotes...

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Today I feel Old

Colleague 1: "I'll be in late today as Baby X has her 6 month checkup."
Colleague 2: "I'll be in late today as we have our first ultrasound."
Me: "I'll be in late as I need to pick-up some Celine Dion tickets."

Yikes.

Economic Collapse or Financial Panic?

A good dose of perspective from one of my favorites authors - TMQ!

"Economic problems are likely to be with us for awhile, but also likely to be resolved -- the 1987 panic and the 1997 Asian currency collapse both were repaired more quickly than predicted, with much less harm than forecast. Want to worry? Worry about the fact that the United States is borrowing, mainly from foreign investors and China, the money being used to fix our banks. The worse the national debt becomes -- $11 trillion now, and increasing owing to Washington giveaways -- the more the economy will soften over the long term. It's long-term borrowing, not short-term Wall Street mood swings, that ought to worry us, because the point may be reached where we can no longer solve problems by borrowing our way out. TMQ's former Brookings Institution colleague Peter Orszag, now director of the Congressional Budget Office, was on "Newshour" last week talking about the panic. Orszag is a wicked-smart economist -- for instance, he is careful to say pension holdings have declined, not been lost like most pundits are saying, as if there were no difference between decline and loss! The below exchange occurred with host Jeffrey Brown. Remember these words:

PETER ORSZAG: One thing we need to remember is we're lucky that we have the maneuvering room now to issue lots of additional Treasury securities and intervene aggressively to address this crisis.

JEFFREY BROWN: Wait a minute. Explain that. Lucky in what sense?

PETER ORSZAG: That people are still willing to lend to us. If in 20 or 30 years we continue on the same path, with rising health-care costs and rising budget deficits, we would reach a point where we wouldn't have that ability."

More Perspective

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
- George Orwell

The Plan (Revised)

Drive to PDX!
JB #166 from PDX (23:59) to JFK (08:12)
AirTran from JFK (08:30) to Howard Beach (08:45)
T#A from Howard Beach (08:55) to Broadway/Nassau (09:30)
T#4 from Broadway/Nassau (09:40) to Grand Central (09:55)
-Kick it or step out to the Blarney Stone
T#4 from Grand Central (11:30) to 161st (11:45)
-Monument Park, et al
***First Pitch: 1:05 PM***
T#4 from 161 (16:20) to Broadway/Nassau (16:50)
T#A from Broadway/Nassau (17:10) to Howard Beach (17:40)
AirTran from Howard Beach (17:50) to JFK (18:05)
JB #165 from JFK (19:35) to PDX (22:54)
DRIVE HOME!

AirTran round-trip: $10.00 (Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard - 2 x $5.00)
MTA round-trip: $7.50 (1-Day Fun Pass)
Parking $7.00

The Patriot Act - a little perspective

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- Benjamin Franklin

The Plan

JB #166 from PDX (23:59) to LGA (08:12)
B#72 from LGA (08:48) to Junction Rd (09:00)
T#7 from Junction Blvd (09:10) to Grand Central (09:30)
-Kick it or step out to the Blarney Stone
T#4 from Grand Central (11:30) to 161st (11:50)
-Monument Park, et al
***First Pitch: 1:05 PM***
T#4 from 161 (16:30) to Grand Central (16:50)
T#7 from Grand Central (17:00) to Junction Blvd (17:20)
B#72 from Junction Blvd (17:38) to LGA (17:53)
JB #165 from LGA (19:35) to PDX (22:54)

Round 6 - splat

Awful...abysmal...atrocious...and that's just the officiating. The announcers, the crowd, the fakers in green...absolutely horrible - there was NO WAY the Lakers were getting that game.

But, still, the Lakers played the most horrible game I've seen in forever. Basketball is a simple game - drive the ball, force the action, find the open man and REBOUND. The Lakers did none of this. Kobe will get the blame for this AGAIN. But, seriously, with Vujacic and Radmanovich jacking early 3s and playing ZERO defense, even Jordan wouldn't have won.

Kupchak still has some work to do - a big nasty to clear the board - wherever the next Charles Oakley is, he's got to trade Odom.

Bah....I hate the celtics.

Round 5 - another exhale

Lakers squeek through - they are not in championship form. :-( An omen for the bloodbath to follow.

Round 4 - crushed

Arrghhhhhhh.







Well, we'll see what this team is made of. An historic collapse. Enough said.

Round 3 - finally an exhale

The ship has righted and all is good again in the World. Lakes got rewarded for their aggressiveness - too bad they couldn't make the freebies. Form is holding and Game 4 will start to show us the real tenor of this series.

In a long series, the team that can successfully make the right adjustments will win it. I'm giving the edge to the Lakers on this one. If the C's can somehow steal 4 (not likely) then, different story. But, if it goes the distance, the Lakes have the biggest advantage. I'm really looking forward to that Game 6 - close em out in Boston!! 21 years seems like only yesterday.

Round 2 - the fix is in

After 30 years of watching NBA basketball, I will agree that the officiating is generally horrible. But, tonight, for Laker fans, it was atrocious. Its been awhile since I've seen suck erratic and one-sided calls (38-10 free throws!!). Almost like they said "Let's put LA in a huge hole and see what happens". Amazingly, they almost pulled it out. Looks like 3 straight for LA in LA - more familiar rims and home-cooking calls.

I'm still holding to the 2-0 Celtics, 3-2 Lakers and tense game 6 to C's and Game 7 to the Lake Show. We'll see.

Round 1 is in the books

Quite a frustrating night. Not unhappy but frustrated. Lakes have seen the best the C's have and came up short. The C's have *not* seen the best the Lakes have. That's why it was frustrating.

Clearly, if the C's win, PP will get the MVP. He is that important to the team. When he was out in the 3rd, Lakes made a huge run. If Pierce is compromised at all, Lakes have an easier path.

On the other hand, Kobe doesn't mean any less to the Lakers. Off night (off as in choppy) for him. They had sooo many open shots. Felt disjointed and rushed. Twill be interesting to hear the post-game chatter.

I still feel good about the series. Looking like 7 games for sure. 1/2 for C's 3/4/5 for Lakes 6 for C's and Seismic Game 7. Getting shivers thinking about that last - tho I'd love for Lakes to go 4 straight and close it out in Game 6. But, this already smells like a 7 Game Knock-down Drag-out affair (rubbing hands).

Larry Bird is the antichrist...

If it's truly possible to quiver with excitement, this week is it...for basketball fans. The best NBA team ever (Lakers) against the beantown bozos. The best part is we get a steady diet of highlights from the TEN NBA Finals between these two teams.

This reminded me that Larry Bird is such a despicable player. And, he is NOT the "basketball jesus" contrary to what many say (here and anything related to basketball by Bill Simmons). If he was, why haven't the Pacers won anything since he's been running the show (they did win 3 ABA championships)?

Plus, he's a Celtic. That, by definition, makes him evil.

Its funny but anyone under 30 probably doesn't realize the malice that Lakers and Celtics fans have for the other's teams. Even The Truth knows the Celtics are evil - you know he was laughing and had his fingers crossed!!

And, he was captain of the ugliest starting five in the history of basketball - Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish.

And, he was in those stupid commercials with Jordan. Ugh!

Go Lakes!!!

Can they sweep?

one down, 3 to go. I'm thinking the Spurs had their best shot to steal home court and blew it big time. I originally thought Lakes in 6. But, now?

Did it!

Stepped up to the plate and let the Spirit do so good work. David just looking for some money for food or a movie. We'll see if he follows through and finds me for a refill.

Praise God!

New Style

So, with a little prodding from a colleague, I've updated both my blogs(!) with a little more sizzle. Also, I was able to "fix" a configuration so that certain content wouldn't show up in a certain place. So, all good there.

Now that the bug is fixed, I'll be posting back here more on the current Silly Season and the Good News.

Ciao.

I'm Splitting Up (with) My Blog

Wow.  Google really is taking over the world...

"Your blogs are now accessed with a Google Account..."

...funny how we used to think (fear?) that about Microsoft.  Or, maybe its just my blog! :-)

Also, please note that this blog will become exclusively for my non-Jive, Political, Religious views.  I've established a second blog for non-Jive, non-Political, non-Religious posts here.

Thanks.

Hoops Heaven This Weekend

Never in the history has there been the hoops we'll see this weekend. CBS @ 300 PM Saturday and see ya Wednesday...

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament - UCLA/Memphis and UNC/Kansas - woof
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/tournament - Stanford/UConn and LSU/Tennessee - dbl woof

I'm not sure which will better. We'll just have to watch all 6 games. :-)

(looks like espn is expecting a few hits for the Men's side, eh?)

Ciao.

Realistic Goals & What To Do When You Miss Them

My new commute has afforded me the opportunity to catch up on some reading. One book I'm running through right now is "Wars of Blood and Faith", a collection of articles by Ralph Peters.

WARNING: Mr Peters is retired Army so espouses a *very* pro-military viewpoint - you've been warned. I've included the link for context.

In the article "Plan B for Iraq", published in Armed Forces Journal, he says this:

"We must not only prepare for the worst, but calculate how to turn it to our advantage."

This struck a chord with me. I've heard the saying "Plan for the best and prepare for the worst" many times. However, in practice, I've mostly seen folks do the former and ignore the latter (cant? or wont?). Of course, in context, Peters' statement reflects the seriousness of the truly life and death decisions our military face in the field. In the software development world, we don't have quite the same consequences.

But, it seems this view can be quite useful - what happens after things didn't work out the way you wanted them to? Take the outcome and work it to your advantage. Seems easy. But, in practice...

Ciao.