Help us now, Jessica Simpson, in our Redskins time of need

Dear Jessica,

I've never asked you for much, but if you can help me out on this one little issue, it'd sure be super duper.

If you and your big



hair, can please give Mr. Romo a telephone call before the game that'd be great. Or heck, why not even just show up to the game unannounced to wish him well? And if you were to get caught on camera, it sure wouldn't hurt for your whole PR game.

The Redskins are struggling, so we can really use the help. And if it makes you and your supposedly very religious father (who wh*re's you out, and has done so since you were 15) feel any better, then our religious coach Joe Gibbs will surely pray with you before and after the game.

Thanks a bunch!

Good xmas video

NOT endorsing the candidate, but still a good video:

Mitchell Report: Middle America is immune?

The Mitchell Report is out (full stats of named players here).

Did no player in middle america ever use them? Is this proof of the viral element of the drugs in question and their uses?

Where can I find a timeline and a "flow chart" of players and where the use is being alleged?

8/15 Food breakdown

Calories Eaten Today

	grams	cals	%total
Total:		1329
Fat:	64	572	44%
Sat:	35	318	24%
Poly:	5	46	4%
Mono:	19	173	13%
Carbs:	75	280	21%
Fiber:	5	0	0%
Protein:	63	251	19%
Alcohol:	29	208	16%

1329 isn't so bad, and I did mow the yardS for about 45 minutes, and rake leaves. But it's still not a focussed exercise/workout plan...

Dook suchs

Yes Johnny, they do suck. Both at football, and with any attractive women.

Needless potshot? Ok, I admit it. There's no need to point out how bad the football team is.

But evidently their football team SUCKS.

I'll disagree with ESPN and say the "biggest disappointment" was the team, the record, and probably the past 20 years.

Duke

The highlight: A 20-14 road win against Northwestern. The lowlight: Everything else. Duke finished 1-11 (0-8 in ACC play). Ted Roof got fired for his 6-45 record. The Blue Devils lost the season finale to -- gasp -- North Carolina. In overtime. Duke finished the regular season last in the ACC in total offense, rushing offense, scoring offense, total defense … you get the picture. If you're a Blue Devil, it just doesn't get much worse. Wait, yes it does: Since 1996, Duke has had four winless seasons and eight winless records against conference opponents. During that span, the Blue Devils never won more than four games in a season.

MVP: Junior receiver Eron Riley provided a burst of productivity to Duke's otherwise forgettable season. His 20.8 yards per catch led the ACC and ranked fifth in the nation. Riley was second in league with nine touchdown catches -- four of which came against Navy. Unfortunately for the Dukies, it didn't matter.

Biggest Disappointment: The season finale. Against bitter rival North Carolina. The final play of regulation. With 1:25 remaining against the Tar Heels, Duke drove 58 yards to set up the potential game-winning field goal with one second left on the clock. But freshman Nick Maggio missed the 40-yard attempt. Duke lost 20-14 in overtime.

What's next: First the Blue Devils need to find a coach. Then they need the support of the administration. The stadium needs a facelift, and the infrastructure of the program -- relationships with the admissions office, the money to pay the coaches and academic support -- all need to grow. Other than that, the players are set. Duke will have 10 starters back on defense, along with quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and Riley.

ESPN Reviews MD's Football Season

And it don't look so hot.

The gist? We stunk; injuries played a bit part, but we didn't make the plays and didn't have the skills needed.

If there is a QB controversy next season, well then shoot me. On the heals of the hoops team losing to the OH-IO Bobcats, well, I'm close to giving up.

Oh, and I love Erin Henderson. He gave it all to the team, and he better get something in return from the NFL.

Maryland

Yes, the Terps beat two top-10 teams in one season for the first time ever, but at the end of the day, neither Boston College nor Rutgers was in the top 10, and Maryland wasn't better than 6-6 (3-5 in ACC). An absurd amount of injuries -- particularly to the offensive line -- prevented this team from reaching its true potential, but it never quit trying. Following three straight losses, the Terps stunned ACC runner-up Boston College with a 42-35 win and after a rather ugly loss at Florida State, rebounded with one of its most complete performances of the season to close it out with a 37-0 win at NC State.

MVP: Linebacker Erin Henderson led the league with 11.1 tackles, but even more impressive is the fact that he injured nearly every body part in the process and kept on playing. It started with a stinger in his right shoulder at camp. He had an ulcer in his cornea at Rutgers, and hurt his knee, causing damage to his LCL, meniscus and popliteal ligament. He broke his thumb against West Virginia, and injured his back against North Carolina.

Biggest Disappointment: It wasn't a play or a game -- it was a pop quiz, and speedy Florida transfer quarterback Josh Portis got busted cheating on it. He was ruled ineligible for the season and spent 2007 on the scout team for the second straight year. He would have finally had his chance, as starter Jordan Steffy was out with a concussion.

What's next: Odds are Ralph Friedgen re-opens the quarterback job and the speculation plays out over again. Can Steffy earn his job back? Has Chris Turner earned the right to keep it? Will Portis ever play at Maryland? The bigger question on offense is how successfully the Terps will run the ball without seniors Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore.

Mark Zuckerman is an idiot

"The Washington Nationals, by all accounts, were a significant success in 2007. Young players emerged. Old ones rediscovered their top form. The organization positioned itself well to transition into its new ballpark. " Mark baby, are you kidding me?

He gushingly continues, "Manny Acta and Jim Bowden, though, still weren't content. Sure, they could bring back the same roster in 2008 and expect further improvement. But the Nationals' manager and general manager wanted more." Oh, how intrepid that Bowden is. What guts, what an over-achiever. He won't hold steady at 73 wins, not THIS guy!!!

This is bad from any perspective you take. Jimmy "Hairdo" is no genius, though he has made several good (Dmitri) and bad (Guzman) moves.

But that first line, it kills me. I don't know a single Nats fan, who upon review and reflection of this past season, would say "Yeah, I was definitely pleased with it. That was a successful year." The 2007 season was all filler and no meat. They just wanted to not be glaringly putrid, so that we can get into that shiny new stadium and pump up the attendance. That'll buy them another 2-3 seasons of sub-.500 baseball.

Collins comes in, playcalling opens up

Wow.

Yet it seems that with Collins in the game, Al Saunder (Sub-Chief Advance Pro Temperate of Offensive Considerations, or SCAPTOC) felt more comfortable with the playbook. Either that, or Gibbs fell asleep and an intern started calling the plays.

We've seen glimpses of the opened up offense, notably against Dallas. The biggest point proven? We need to open it up, and we can't wait till the season is over. Too late though..


And for Jason?

Washington		Comp	Att	Yds	Pct	Y/A	Sack	YdsL	TD	Int
J. Campbell		10	16	100	62.5	6.3	0	0	0	0

We can only hope he is healthy, as the odds of another stellar Collins performance ain't high.

But tonight, he looked like an all-star. And as Gumbel said with great emotion, for him, this was Collins' "best game of the century". And of the past decade as well.


T. Collins QB
15-20, 224 yds
2 TDs


Possible Ewing theory at play?

Portis out as well?

Stomach injury? At least we scored two TDs, our D looks good, and the Bears look inept.

And thanks Cris Collinsworth for your general concern for our players, very classy...

If any were left, all the wheels (and the spare) are off the Skins wagon

Campbell "with a knee", Cooley with something else. Todd Collins (which sounds like a cocktail from the 50's) getting stripped.

Horrific.

Recession proof home improvements? No thanks

MSN suggests 5 "recession proof" home improvement tips:

• paired back kitchen upgrade
• paired back bathroom remodel
• in-law apartment/s
• new exterior siding

The focus of their article is on improving a house, but almost all are cosmetic in first nature, with other functional/amenity benefits as well (kitchen upgrade means better appliances, right?)

 

But what would make more sense for someone who is struggling with their budget (and may not be able to make their new mortgage payments? A more efficient furnace, A/C or water heater; filling holes/gaps in your walls/foundation that leak in air; and increasing the insulation in your attic. In an increasingly energy costly future, these improvements will save you X now, and X*1.10 in 3 or 4 years.

 

And since it's next to impossible to sell a house these days, you better make your house more livable and cheaper to own.

"StickK Business" - Keep your promise, or else

StickK seems to have an interesting concept, if you don't meet your personal goal/promise, charity gets to benefit for your loss (or lack of loss, if you're trying to drop pounds).

StickK Business

via The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog by EricPosner on 12/4/07

Suppose you want to lose weight, and you have been unable to stick to a diet. Your aspiration is sincere but your will is weak. Fortunately, a solution is around the corner: you enter a contract with StickK, a new company founded by Ian Ayres, a Yale law professor, and some of his colleagues. Under this contract, you must pay StickK $1000 if you fail to lose (say) 10 pounds by the end of the year; the $1000 sum is handed over to a charity. If you lose the pounds, you pay nothing. (StickK will make money through advertising and in other ways.) A third party is retained to verify that you have lost weight. Ayres and his colleagues argue that this system will be more effective than alternatives at helping people lose weight, go to the gym, stop smoking, and achieve other personal objectives that require self-control.

Some nice legal questions arise. The system can work only if the contracts are legally enforceable. If they are not, the customer pays no penalty for failure except embarrassment, and one does not need StickK to expose oneself to embarrassment for failing to keep a public commitment to lose weight. But courts are unlikely to enforce such contracts. There is no consideration for your promise to pay money to StickK if you fail to lose weight—no quid pro quo, which is legally required for an enforceable contract. StickK does not give you anything in return for your promise to lose weight; nor do you give anything to StickK in return for its promise to pay the charity if you fail to lose weight. A rare zero-sided contract, there is no quid and no quo.

But there is a more serious difficulty. As StickK itself recognizes, it is important that the charity not be too attractive. If it is, then you will not feel bad if you fail to lose pounds—the money goes to a deserving group like the homeless—in which case you will not have a strong incentive to keep your commitment. To solve this problem, StickK will not permit its customers to choose the charity. But the problem remains. The money has to go to some charity, and at least some customers will turn out to favor that charity. For those customers, StickK can't supply the needed incentive to keep their commitments.

What StickK needs to do is donate your money to an anti-charity, a group that almost no one approves of: the government of Sudan, say, or the tobacco industry. Perhaps if you know that breaking your diet makes you complicit in genocide, you will resist that slice of chocolate covered cheesecake. Let's hope that the Sudanese government does not realize that it can cut out the middleman, and make money from obese Americans directly, by agreeing to take their money if they fall off their diets. Indeed, if Ayres' business model is sound, we can imagine a future emporium of self-control entrepreneurs, with Sudan, North Korea, the tobacco industry, baby seal hunters, and pedophiles all vying for the business of the overweight, the underdeveloped, and other sufferers from weakness of will.

Fridge to eat a lot of rice - Emerald and Oregon State?

Well...

We found out where Maryland stands, and it ain't so hot. San Fran is definitely better than Boise, but is it better than NC? At least with NC it'd be mostly local traffic...

Oregon State - with no research, all I can say is I know they have a football team, their baseball team is great (!), but I know nothing about the football team.

Research shows they recently beat a weakened Oregon.

Let's see what these guys have to say: 1, 2, 3 (wow, they are serious!).

Why wait for NYE? How about a weekly resolution?

I hate New Year's Eve resolutions, I disagree with waiting for the end of the year to resolve to improve one's self. While it's cliche, I like to consider the premise of Kaizen (改善). Which when I learned of it, meant "the process of continuous self-improvement".

So my focus for the upcoming week? And what I will spend the first 15 minutes of my work day on? Being a better, and more involved boss. How will I do this?

• Personally interact with every single of my 23+ staff (as Team Lead)- Often times I don't see them for an entire week, preferring to "leave them alone" and let me work my own items.
  
• Review their most current milestones and deliverables - I feel like additional focus from their front line manager will assist them.
  
• Interact with each Team Lead in my Section (as Deputy Section Lead) - As a team Lead, mentioned above, I have a few people reporting to me. As a Deputy Section Manager, I have 83+ in the form of 5 teams. I don't have a solid understanding each week of what they do. I need to do a better job.
• I'm going to coordinate the week - I'm going to spend the other first 15 minutes of my Monday and make sure I know what is due, in my Section and my Team, and let people know I'm aware.

Things may not go better, but I'm not going to feel like I've forgotten or neglected things.

Skins use S. Taylor as an excuse?

In post-game press conference and interviews, both Joe Gibbs and Jason Campbell (two of the worst Redskins performers) invoke the name of Sean Taylor as "reasons" for the loss.

I've been through personal losses in life, I know what it is like. So I won't say that they haven't suffered. But to use the name of Sean Taylor, and that they lost focus down the stretch of the game? When they've blown every other game in similar situations???

Frankly, it's disgusting. They blew it. They played poorly. They made numerous poor decisions. And to say "Oh, well, you know, we were bent up over Sean." That's horse****, pure and simple.

Let's play this game. You think Sean Taylor would have been excited with the poor level of play today? You think he would have been excited with Gibbs BLOWING a last minute timeout situation?

Shame on you all. If you're going to claim that Sean is an integral part of your season and situation, the be real and admit he had no role in your loss. You made bad plays, YOU messed up, YOU lost the game.

The ultimate sign Joe Gibbs has lost it???

The time out heard round the NFL world. WOW.

Since his return he's been known for horrible clock management. Now this.

His mistake cost the team (assuming a miss on the originally spotted kick).

But a 51 yard kick is WAY different than a 36 yard kick.

Result? Skins lose. Gibss must look stupid, but expect an "Aw gosh, gee wiz" post-game press conference response from Gibbs.

Damn shame...

Can someone please teach Jason Campbell to throw the ball away?

Just a rant from a fan:

How many times must we watch you get sacked for a loss? Wasn't the safety today enough to for you to realize that you are doing something wrong?

Sure, you are playing with a beaten up and run down O line. Sure, you have undersized WRs. Sure, Portis isn't known for his blocking (though Rock Cartwright gets it done better).

But let's learn this lesson. Throw the dang ball away.

Dear USMA AD,

Something needs to be done, and quick. USMA football is sinking (well, what's the land equivalent of sinking, since this isn't about USNA?).

You heave a wealth of dedicated and smart athletes. They will literally do anything you ask of them. But your offensive schema isn't working. How do I know this?

Date	Opponent	Result/Time	Record/Tickets
September 1	at Akron	L 22-14	0-1
September 8	Rhode Island	W 14-7	1-1
September 15	at Wake Forest	L 21-10	1-2
September 22	at No. 14 Boston College	L 37-17	1-3
September 29	Temple	W 37-21	2-3
October 6	Tulane	W 20-17	3-3
October 13	at Central Michigan	L 47-23	3-4
October 20	at Georgia Tech	L 34-10	3-5
November 3	at Air Force	L 30-10	3-6
November 9	Rutgers	L 41-6	3-7
November 17	Tulsa	L 49-39	3-8
December 1	at Navy	L 38-3	3-9

You actually played a pretty good schedule. So maybe things can be fixed if you stop playing BC and Georgia Tech. And how could you have known Wake Forest and Rutgers would get really good? But beyond those four, and the newly (in the past 5 years) revived USNA team means you played 7 other teams who are barely real I-A schools.

Do NOT go I-AA (or whatever we call it now). This would be the death knell of your program, as you'd be relegated to second-tier status, and you'd kill your recruiting (for football at least), and it'd be the ultimate sign that you can't compete.

So what do you do?

Gimmick offense.

It's the only way. The triple-option at USNA is legit, and you don't have to take on that offensive system (though a trip-o on trip-o game would be great), but you need some offensive system that teams don't see anywhere else all year. Gimmicks won't fix the D, but they can be helped if your O improves.

Also, you need to either be an overall bigger team, or just faster/quicker everywhere. How bigger? I mean, CB's that are 6' 22olbs; or Safeties that are 6'2" 230lbs. Hit everyone harder. You can't match other schools in size in your lines, so you have to bigger elsewhere.

And/or, you have to be at least as fast and quick. If your Linemen are smaller, they better get quicker. So instead of recruiting OL/DL from HS, get LBs and TEs and teach them the Line skills they need. Focus everything on quickness and technique. We know your guys have the focus to make this happen.

Please don't let one of the most illustrative programs die. We're worried. While on the surface USNA fans were excited by yet another win, but "deep down in places they don't talk about at parties", they are worried. Remember, the rivalry is about "brotherhood". They wan't you to play well, and they don't want you to dwindle on the vine.

This can be done, you can be fixed. You just have to face the situation as it is.

Sincerely,

Sports Fans Everywhere

Done deal

Trade is done!

Hate to see Schneid go, and for Church's sake I hope he rubs it in our faces every time we play (but the odds of him being an every day player aren't any better with the Mets than Nats). Now we need to get another catcher to help Flores with the workload. It'll probably be a veteran guy who is good with the glove and not much with the bat, which is fine by me.

Go Nats!

Posts you wish you wrote part 1 - "Nats: Trade Schneider to the Mets for Milledge now!"

I never wrote it because the Mets signed a catcher and I thought it was done for them.

But the super great Capitol Punishment  lets us know that there are rumors of a Nats trade with Schneider (along with Church) to the Mets  for Milledge!!!

I won't care that I didn't write the post if it happens, but I want to retroactively state that I've been thinking this for two weeks, and if I have to, I will get an email from a co-worker proving it!

998

998 unique visitors, a little over a half of them with help from Sports Illustrated.

Bryant Gumbel on NFL Network, the cure for insomnia

Good grief, does this guy realize he's on tv? I've seen more life in moldy lindburger cheese.

Cris Collinsworth isn't an energetic guy to begin with, but he sounds downright vivacious compared to the "boring one".

Gumbel (of Gumbel 2 Gumbel fame) sounds like a constipated accountant talking about dance moves.


Good thing all you Green Bay fans got satellite tv!

Green Bay fans, resist!

Don't get satellite tv just for tonight's game. Go old school, listen
on the radio!!! Don't give in, don't let the NFL mafia hook you.

Radio, be about it...

How to spend a lot of time at work, and do NOTHING

Why go to work and get stuff done, when you can go and be there a lot but do nothing?

In that vein, here's my general weekly schedule:

• Monday: two 2-hour meetings
  
• Tuesday: one 2-hour meeting, one 1.5-hour staff meeting
  
• Wednesday: 1 hour staff meeting, with two 2-hour meetings every other week
• Thursday: one 4-hour meeting, or one 5-hour meeting three out of the four weeks in a month
• Friday: one 2-hour meeting

So that's: 4, 3.5, 3, 3 and 2 hours each day (if you average) of meetings a week. For a total of 15.5 hours out of my 40 hour work week.

Add in daily schedule and action item review of 15 minutes/day, with 5 extra minutes on Monday's to preview the week, and 5 minutes on Friday to review. That's another 1.5 hours a week.

So now I'm up to 17 hours a week, or 42.5% of my week in meetings that I can't get out of, I've tried.

Then when I'm actually at my desk, the poor people who work for me are coming by to try and get snippets of "leadership" or update me on status. So let's just assume I spend 30 minutes a day on that. I'm up to 18.5 hours of "non-work".

Add in some bathroom breaks, random chit-chat, and a fleeting notion that I might not be 100% focused all the time, and I'm easily up to 20 hours/week.


How I combat this, in a follow-on post...

Update to Taylor

I originally covered his shooting and fan/media response below, and he has sadly passed away.

That's a terrible shame, and what a waste of great potential and ability.


But here is an example of what I was talking about, Skins fans at a vigil at Redskins Park:


I think it's great that people cared enough to respond this way, and sports figures obviously play a big role in certain people's lives. I only wish people paid as much attention on a daily basis to victims of drunk drivers, innocent kids who get caught in a drive-by, or the dozens of US soldiers who die serving their country in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc.

What's an appropriate fan reaction to an athlete's misfortune?

Sad news that Sean Taylor was shot early Monday and is in critical condition (1, 2, 3). And it appears that he is somewhat stabilizing after he lost massive amounts of blood.

As a fan though, the question remains: What is an appropriate reaction to an athlete's misfortune?

(It should go without saying, but I absolutely hope Sean Taylor recovers and is fine. Forget his football career, I hope he can be with his child and future wife again. Football would be an added bonus at this point.)

When it's an opponent and it's not life threatening, there is often times glee and excitement. At some point I'm sure I wished for some opponent to get injured as well, though these days I typically politely request a non-serious injury. Or as an old coach used to say, that the player is "hurt" and not "injured" (hurt meaning they can't play for a few minutes, injured meaning their arm is falling off).

When it is indeed serious, the rallying and support can be tremendous (witness DC and Redskin teammate/staff/ownership response, and it's pretty well known that Coach Gibbs is a religious man). Thoughts, hopes and prayers rush in. Media coverage abounds. And here in DC, our ESPN affiliate that is owned by Redskins mogul Dan Snyder

But do our famous athletes "deserve" this special attention? Is Sean Taylor getting better medical treatment because of his sports status? Is he getting it because of his wealth? (which at first blush seems the same, but if you can pay for better treatment...)

And then what about the sadder part, like say if Taylor were to regrettably not recover? As with many sports tragedies would we get shots of the next Redskins game with teary eyed fans? Taylor's loss would be regrettable, but more so than the other thousands who die everyday? More so than the other dozens (hundreds?) who get shot each day in a tragic event?

Taylor has a troubled past, not worth repeating. But all reports indicate he turned a corner on that a while back. Let's hope that tragedy didn't literally burst into his house and find him after he got on the straight and narrow.

College Football Coach Sumo Wrestling Playoffs

After a day of football and beer, I've come to the realization that we need a college football coach sumo wrestling playoffs. Forget the real football playoffs, this is what the people need.

And we have two great potential finals contests:


Kansas' Mark Mangino

vs

Maryland's Ralph Friedgen:

Darkhorse contest, fatty Charlie Weis:




And our host?



(there is so much going on in that picture, must resist comments on Majerus leaning over, or his bulge) Majerus always looked huge, but compared to Ralph or Mangino, he looks darn near svelte.

Hokies pop Cavs collar

Hokies prevail in the useless battle of the Commonwealth.

And Clint Sintim shows great sportsmanship with a needless personal foul attack, I mean tackle, on the VT QB. His profile is empty, so are his sportsmanship skills....

Terps just got tiny screened

They are now the tiny picture on the split screen 42" tv.

Yes!

u got it, babe

Terps: What's going on?

We're amazing right now!

Play calling? Good
Performance? Great
Blocking? GREAT!

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	10	4
3rd down efficiency	5-8	0-4
4th down efficiency	0-0	0-0
Total Yards	249	58
Passing	110	54
Comp-Att	11-13	8-11
Yards per pass	8.5	4.9
Rushing	139	4
Rushing Attempts	22	8
Yards per rush	6.3	0.5
Penalties	2-10	0-0
Turnovers	0	1
Fumbles lost	0	0
Interceptions thrown	0	1
Possession	17:57	7:58

Your Ron Burgundy?

You, me, and Braxton Dupree

Braxton, not the suicidal other Dupree.

MD wins, MD wins, MD wins! I was worried there, that we wouldn't topple the pre-seaon 5th ranked Patriot League team, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (formerely Engineers).

Gist looked decent, shaky at times, but he's an amazing athlete.


Dupree also did a great Moses Malone impersonation by throwing "shots" off the backboard and rebounding them for easy lay-ins. Sad part, Malone did it on purpose, Dupree was just missing that badly.

"The Family Man" - thoughts

The movie.

I've seen the end of this movie before, and maybe 33 seconds of the beginning, but I'm in it for the long haul, till the end.

Based on what I know of the movie at 8;33pm, here are my thoughts.

You ever wondered about decisions you've made in your life, and how they could have resulted in a totally different life? Yes, I'm channeling the Talking Heads. So here are the moments at my ripe old age I can think of (not in chronological nor significance order, just off the top off the noggin'):

• Joining the cross-country (XC) team the sophomore year of high school (HS). My lab partner, who I kind of knew since 7th grade, asked me to join. I randomly said yes, for absolutely no reason. NONE. This to me is the biggest decision I've ever made, and it was random. It may not be that important, but it has felt like that to me (to date). But I joined. My grades improved. I made two of the best friends of my life. I ran a lot. We laughed a lot. I made other great friends. We did a LOT of dumb stuff. I mean a lot, and it was awesome. They've to this date had more impact on my life over anyone but my parents. If one of them was a girl, I'd say they were my other parents. But K's not that cute (he does have nice eyes though). But all this helped me reshape my life and where I was going. It did lead me to want to go to UPenn and get a business degree and law degree. And I got turned down.
  
• Rakhi the Gupta. She suggested I apply to Bucknell, as a "safety school", because she was going there. WOW. I got turned down pretty much everywhere, except for the Honors program at MD, and Bucknell. My Dad told me to "go away to college", and I worried about the cost implications (which were HUGE), and so I did. Had I been to Bucknell prior to my decisions? No. Did I tell the alumni interviewer that I wouldn't go there because I was going to UPenn? Did I write out my application with pen? Both yes's. Wow, again, wow.
  
• I never listened to my Dad when I was little and learned to switch hit before the age of 17. Had I done so, I very well may have been a better baseball player. Had I been better, I may have gotten into UPenn, or at least played ball at Bucknell. This would have changed things. Don't know how, but it would have. At least I may have been "cooler" in HS, and for sure I wouldn't have joined XC. Baseball in HS was a pain because I didn't get along with most of the other guys. Um, they were jerks. It's true. Ask around.
  
• Not taking a job with Accenture . Remember them? (holy crap they still exist! good for you guys) I had an offer with them my senior year of college, comparable to my PwC offer. But I thought PwC would be better (this was after a trip to NYC up in the World Trade Tower's restaurant and hearing about soaring bonuses, ha!!!!!!). This turned into an offer to go to DC instead of NY/NY. Wow, awesome. This was huge. It may be bigger than the HS XC thing, but that one preceeds this, so the potential impact is larger.
  
• Joining PwC softball. Thank you CD! You offered to join the team after you heard I played ball, and we were slightly friends, and it was awesome. First, I had tons of fun and made more great friends. Second, it led me to a particularly cutie I hope to spend the rest of my life with (Hey you, don't mess it up! ;-) Plus you're the only one reading this).

I think that's the list. At least as I'm aware of it at this particular point in time. More to come I'm sure.

No next day turkey or stuffing

Stuffing, dressing, whatever!

I have none.

Not having to prepare Tday foods is sweet, but not having the leftovers suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

I love turkey sammiches, I love stuffing, LOVE IT.

Remember when Xzibit made music?

Xzibit, remember him? He used to make music, now he pimps rides (and I tend to watch, dang).

He also happens to be 33, hasn't blogged since September 18th.

According to his discography he last put out tunes in 2006. I know I'm not a hip-hop fanatic, but I do listen. And I haven't heard of any of these:

1. Invade My Space ft/ Jelly Roll
2. Rollin’ ft/ Jelly Roll
3. Ram Part Division
4. Say It To My Face ft/ Kurupt & Don Blaze
5. The Donnell Rollins Show (skit)
6. Scandalous Bitches
7. Concentrate
8. On Bail ft/ The Game, Daz & Kurupt
9. Family Values
10. Black & Brown ft/ Jelly Roll
11. The Whole World
12. Poppin Off ft/ DJ Quik & King T
13. Movin’ In Your Chucks ft. Too Short
14. Thank You

I have leaves in my hair

Yup, I do. That's all.

Fridge and Napoleon kiss and make up?

Turner plays poorly. Fridge benches Turner with great aplomb. Steffy stinks, Turner back in.

What else is there to say? This was the second week in a row where Fridge pulled Turner. In the BC game the move got LOTS of boo's. But that was more because Turner was playing well and the move cost us a delay of game.

I blame "Sordan Jeffy". Actually, that's not a bad thought. Anyone else think that Jordan Steffy has been chirping in Ralph's ear, telling him how he'd make better decisions than Turner? Questioning Turner's commitment? Hmmmm.

Anyway, Turner says they have made up:

(Fridge: Hey, so we ok?
Turner: Yeah dude, totally. Wanna go surf?
Fridge: Did you say Surf 'n Turf? Let's go!)

Maybe this was just a result of Fridge being hungry? You know, like all those Snickers ads? That may explain this image as Fridge motions for more ribs:



Oh yeah, MD plays NCSU. WaTi predicts the "Terpies" win.

I don't care about the Amazon Kindle

I know dork tech bloggers love writing about the newest of new shiny things. And the 450th version of an "eBook" may in fact be the one that sticks. But could you guys keep your reviews to less than 15/person/day? And could you stop linking to each other and writing a review of a review of a review? And then a point by point counter to that re-re-review?

What I want is an RSS reader where I can vote on liking or not liking content (because by "reading" it I evidently like it) and then maybe it would learn to pre-screen entries almost as if it were junk. Then I can pop into the posts labeled as junk and scan them there. And then there could even be a "recommended" tag from Google Reader to tell me that it's learning and these are what it has for me.

Till then, I get 98 posts a day on the Kindle.

On-demand only tv model?

I've been decreasing my tv consumption recently with the lack of good programming, steady demands for time, a conscientious effort to not over watch silliness, and overall lack of interest.

In tv's place I've been listening to the radio more, and just been a busy fellow. Tonight, I wondered "Could I just stop paying my full cable bill, and only pay to watch the 2-3 shows a week I watch?"

It's a matter of economics in part.

I pay for cable, plus a digital service so I can TiVo stuff (plus internet). But what if instead of $60/month (or so) I could pay $2/per show? Would I watch as much? Do I "value" shows at that rate?

I'd like to pay attention to how much I watch a week and divide that by the total monthly cable cost. I do watch a lot of sports, but I could cut back I bet.

An interesting thought experiment...

To dos for the house, weee

Add 15 more to-dos for the house to the list:

1. Roof: Check roof and around vents, skylights and chimneys for leaks. Repair as necessary.

2. Attic: If there is no ridge vent, keep gable vents open year-round to ensure proper ventilation.

3. Gutters: Clean gutters and drain pipes so leaves won't clog them and be sure they drain away from the house. (Fall: In cold-climate areas) Drain outside faucets. 4. Fireplace: Clean fireplace of ashes. (Fall) Check chimney for loose or missing mortar. Have chimney professionally cleaned. Make sure damper closes tightly. (Spring) Leave damper open for improved ventilation if the home is not air-conditioned 5. Filters: Remember to clean or replace filters once a month, or as needed. Check and clean dryer vent, air conditioner, stove hood and room fans. Keep heating and cooling vents clean and free from furniture and draperies.

6. Safety Equipment: Ensure that all smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers are in good working order. Replace batteries in appropriate devices as needed, or at least twice each year.

7. Air Conditioner: (Fall: In cold-climate areas) Remove window air-conditioners, or put weatherproof covers on them.

8. Refrigerator: Make sure your refrigerator door seals are airtight. Test them by closing the door over a dollar bill. If you can pull the bill out easily, the latch may need to be adjusted or the seal may need to be replaced. In addition, if you have a coil-back refrigerator, vacuum the coils at least twice each year. Your refrigerator will run more efficiently with clean coils. Also, stock up! A full refrigerator uses less energy than an empty one.

9. Faucets: Check for leaky faucets in kitchen and bathroom(s). Replace washers as necessary.

10. Windows and Doors: Seal drafty doors and windows. If you added up all of the small cracks where heating and cooling escapes from a home, it would be the same as having a window open. Replace seals as needed.

11. Storm Windows and Screens: (Fall) Take down screens (if removable type) and replace with storm windows. (Spring) Remove, clean, and store storm windows (if removable). Check and patch all door and window screens. Put screens up (if removable type).

12. Siding and Paint: Look for cracks and holes in house siding or paint. Replace caulk if necessary. A carpet knife can work well for cutting away old caulking from house siding. Slice down alongside it from both directions with the hook-like blade, then use the knife to lift out the old caulk bead intact.

13. Basement: Check basement walls and floor for dampness. Be sure to clean dehumidifier regularly, if you have one.

14. Heating System: (Fall) Have heating system serviced. Change filters.

15. Hot Water Heater: (Fall) Drain hot water heater. Remove sediment from the bottom of the tank.

Tasks tasks everywhere - but not at home

Oh, I have tasks at home, that's for sure.

But I don't know what they ARE. Why? I keep my tasks together at my office computer with MSFT Outlook's Task List. But I can't access that list at home (unless I constantly kill trees and print them out).



I want my tasks at work, and at home. And for that matter, anywhere I am on a computer or my cell phone (with new, not so fast, Cingular wireless internet).

Remember the Milk is a pretty good tool. I have used it, never fell in love with it, and found its offline capabilities really not so hot. It has integration with Google Calendar, but it really slows down that tools performance. And instead of having to click on a drop down list to see my tasks for that day, I want to see all my tasks for every day I'm looking at (duh!).

So in a recent Gmail survey I got, I demanded a Task List feature. So that puts me up there with about 450,000 other people.

There are a million or so other online tools, but few have the Gmail integration. I also would like Outlook integration, but that doesn't seem likely.

Sigh. Killing trees it is?

No Xmas lights yet!

No no no!

Yet a distant "neighbor" has done this.

Sidestep - what's the definition of neighbor? I think of your next door neighbor, but clearly it can include a few houses down. But how many? 5? 10? Was the house that is technically 4 houses over that burned down a "neighbor"? Or since it is across another street are they too far away? These are the things I think about.

But a "neighbor" (you can do anything you want with "quotation fingers") has put them up.

It's not this bad:

But they are up, that is all that matters.


If I see more of this, I'm going to string you up:


And then throw water on you!

Useless link blog

This might end up just being a transparent attempt to link to a wide array of posts elsewhere on the web in the hopes it'll get 3 more people to view this stupid blog.

So why do it? I don't know. Anyone who bothers to write on the internet wants more clicks and readers (any real writer wants more readers). I'm not doing this to get views, but I'm caught in the stupid phase of worrying about it. I'm better off just focusing on using this as a journal (?), but even better off writing about things that pop in my head, or having any comment on other blogs I read.

Oh well, here we go!

• Marginal Revolution, "Why are there no grocery stores in poor neighborhoods?" - The answer? Several factors: they have failed in the past, the companies are used to having giant parking lots, it's hard to have a car in a city, real estate is expensive, low profit margins, and others. In Baltimore, where I have a friend in the know, they get by this by having very very expensive corner stores.
  
• Top 10 Legal Mistakes for Technology Companies - These apply to more than just a tech company, such as JG Architectural, which sells top-tier "green" flooring products. Do I know the owner and founder? Have I done "consulting" for him? Yes and yes.
• Turning the Tables on Telemarketers - THIS IS AWESOME. First, I love Get Rich Slowly. Read it, subscribe to the RSS feed. Second, they give you a series of questions to ask them, which if they answer "yes" to, you can sue them! I have to include them:

1. “Are you calling to sell something?” (or “is this a telemarketing call?”)
2. “Could you tell me your full name please?”
3. “And a phone number, area code first?”
4. “What’s the name of the organization you’re calling for?”
5. “Does that organization keep a list of numbers it’s been asked not to call?”
6. “I would like my number(s) put on that list. Can you take care of that now?”
7. “And does the company you work for also make telemarketing calls for any other organizations?” (If they answer no, skip the next question.)
8. (If yes) “Can you make sure your company won’t call me for any other organization?”

• Cheap Healthy Good - Chock full o' good tips. I'm all for frugal, not cheap. My boss recently confirmed I'm frugal, and not cheap. Which is nice. But I also do about 57% of his work, so who knows...

That's it, maybe every other day I'll do this, at least I'm adding in comments. I WANT to do comments, I want to add something. We'll see.

And yeah, STILL not doing a good job with business related content that I want to have here.

What happens when a funny writer impersonates a movie exec?

He films it in his apartment with two tv's in the background, and he's not as funny as The Daily Show. Oh go figure, The Colbert Report writer isn't as good as Jon Stewart's lackey.




Filmed in his so-so apartment. And I'd make fun of his hair, but...

"7 Foods to Keep You Young"

From MSN Health (http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/dietsforconditionsarticlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100174352&GT1=10613):

• Olive oil
• Yogurt
• Fish
• Chocolate
• Wine
• Blueberries

Check, check, check, check (yes!), check (YES!), and check.

I've done my part MSN Health, now you do yours...

Mini-coach leaves the Terps, Gary responds by sweating

Michael Adams has left the team for family reasons, as the coverage below notes, this isn't the first coach to leave in the past few years. However, most coaches have left to go be head coaches elsewhere.

I'll miss the little guy, and his crazy sideways freethrow shooting…

BaSu (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/basketball/mens/bal-sp.terpshoop15nov15,0,6904706.story)

WaPo (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402499.html)

WaSu (none)

It never rains in college park (a new site I'm reading a bit as it's a MD student who has beat me to some posts) covers it here.

How to fill void of no tv? With tv, duh.

Sure, there's that little "writer's strike", and shows are derailed (Leno, Letterman, Daily Show, etc). Wah wah wah.

Ok, I do shed a slight tear for Friday Night Lights and The Office. After that I miss The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

How can one find a way to fill that void? Which, in 2003 was 1,745 hours a year, or 145 hours a month, which is six complete days of TV a month. Ah, if only. No no, or yes. Either way.

How to fill the void? Sure, there's weird answers like reading, or exercise or even . . . human interaction.

But forget that crazy wacko hippy stuff. If I want to waste time, I'll go hug a tree (and I have the t-shirt to prove it). Here are REAL options:

• Sports - its competition, usually violence, hero worship, and fits the stupid "reality" genre (it's real people so it's reality)
• Cable - There's this Home Box Office thing, I heard in the 80's it was pretty sweet. I also heard they had a popular show about NJ recently, I dunno
• YouTube - If you really search YouTube, you really should try hugging a tree, it's more fulfilling
• Surfing - Just straight out interweb surfing, that was big in the late 90's, so it's delightfully old school
  
• TV online - All those weirdo networks, they put almost all their shows online. Here's The Office, enjoy.

So there's 5 easy options. Be about it.

Boom goes MD hoops

MD narrowly escapes the mighty Hampton Pirates. Recap here.

But as the season progresses, Boom's presence will dictate how MD plays. He's the only physical down low (not like that) presence.

He fouls out all the time? We lose.

We plays tough? We win.

Tonight??? 4 fouls, 6 points. 2-6 FG, 2-6 FT.

MD was 17-27 on FT, a putrid 63%.

Less turnovers. Better shooting. Less fouls.

That equals: Play GOOD FUNDAMENTAL basketball.

Economics as comedy

Via Get Rich Slowly, I found this HILARIOUS clip of an economist who is funny.

Yes, I wrote "economist" and "funny" in the same sentence.

Here's the proof:

It's 5:53 PM EST

And if feels like midnight.

I may be in bed by 7:44, it's hard to tell at this point.

Destined to repeat our mistakes, again

Where I work, we discover mistakes that are being made by lots of people in lots of different places.

And as always, we find out that this version of mistakes, is following a prior version from at least 5 years ago. Ang guess what, we made the same mistakes 10 or 15 years ago!

I know exists in all businesses and all organizations, but, it's just so dang frustrating.

Terps Boxscore Breakdown: Exhibition in poor performance

Here are the relevant stats via the MD official box score:

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-26 30.8%   2nd Half: 16-29 55.2%
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-7  14.3%   2nd Half:  5-8  62.5%
F Throw % 1st Half:  9-13 69.2%   2nd Half: 12-18 66.7%

That would be doodie for overall first half shooting, and PURE DOODIE for 3 pointers. And then
a noticeable increase once the starters aren't playing.


DRASTIC improvement in the second half.

I only listened to the first half, but what I heard was not good. Turnovers (3 to Gist,
3 to Boom, 5 to Greivis) and fouls (3 in the first half to Gist, 4 overall to Walker).

Hayes has the clear strongest performance: 4-6 (2-4 3pt), 5 rebounds, 12 points, 3 assists, no turnovers and a steal.


So take your pick, either the first half was jitters and we recovered in the second half (let's hope for this), or the first
half shows the real identity and it'll be a looooooooong year.

Your tax dollars at work (on a map)

Ever wondered where all your tax dollars go? Sure, we all do.

Ever wondered where they go GEOGRAPHICALLY?? Thank you tireless researchers and Google Earth!

Here are the "1,500 earmarks in the House Defense Appropriations bill":



via: http://lifehacker.com/software/google-earth/map-where-congress-budgets-your-taxes-319889.php
originally: http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/node/4172
Google Earth KML: http://www.sunlightlabs.com/earmarks/house_defense_earmarks_08.kml


The click through data (once you view in Google Earth) aren't always stellar (data is plural, remember), but there are hidden gems for sure. The sheer volume of money is worth it.

Ralph's waist line has gone to his brain!

That was my Dad's response to the below quote from the honorable Ralph Friedgen:
"Once we start striving to be the best then we're never going to reach our potential."

Lost in Translation

Amid the poor on-field performance of the Terps this season, there appears to be a new "factor" in the loss to UNC: signal calling mixups!

As mentioned on the Sun's excellent Terps blog (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2007/11/mixed_signals.html, http://blogs.trb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/35615)"

"It's a combination of things," Turner said. "Coach Friedgen calls a play over the headphones and then we signal it in. I don't know. I just call the play that's signaled to me. I don't know if it's him saying one thing wrong, or the signaler saying one thing wrong ... a lot can go wrong."

Let's examine this further:

Play called by Fridge over the system >> play goes to play caller >> play caller signals Turner

Let's assume that Ralph, with his many decades of professional experience isn't messing things up. So is the mix-up residing in Turner or this mystery person? And let's call that person Sordan Jeffy.

If it's not "Sordan", then who IS signaling the plays?

And nice of Turner to imply that he's definitely not making any mistakes on plays, I'd love to hear Ralph's take on that…

And is our rehabbing line mixing up blocking schemes? Are WRs running the correct routes?

Gary William's boxers all in a Gist?

As Heather Dinich kind of points out (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2007/11/gist_and_milbourne_suspended.html) MD will be without two of its starters for its season opener, but it really doesn't matter since the game is against Northern Florida.

And if you're going into super spin mode, it gives Gary a chance to play some freshman and test them out in a "real" game. Sure, most of our freshman played better competition in HS, but no matter.

Let's see how the heated match up Concordia in tomorrow's exhibition goes...

Terps Greivis over their failed football team, look at the Hayes of the future Hoops season

Things from the MD bball camp were sounding great, with Gist stating "This is my opportunity to give them what I did not have" and providing leadership (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102101788.html). He's having player-only meetings, he's talking about priorities and dedication. NICE!

And then he gets suspended with Landon Milbourne (Milbourne Supremecy?)! (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/06/AR2007110601080.html)

Concorida Stingers! North Florida! It's all the high-flying action you'd expect! (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2007/11/45_its_basketball_season_in_cp.html)

Look out for those Ospreys, they have a lot of legs on the team. And you wouldn't want to look past them to the winner of that enticing Tulsa-Hampton matchup (what the heck is the CBE Classic???).

Terps crap the cardboard box

Most kids keep their pet turtles in a cardboard box, and that's where this joke of a football team belongs as well.

There are so many factors involved here: numerous injuries, limited play calling, more injuries, stupid mistakes, injuries, and really LAME play calling.

The Post offers "Mistakes Prove Terps' Undoing" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/03/AR2007110300901.html.

And departing Terps blogger Heather Dinich had some quick observations: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/maryland_terps/blog/2007/11/sunday_replay_2.html I see 9 penalties for 67 yards and 2.2 yards per carry.

BC is going to KILL the Terps, and there is no hope for a bowl game (which they should turn down because they are that putrid).

Eating machine

That is what I am today.

• Morning shake with fruit (mix of berries and others) and a spot of protein
• At least 4 little pastries with chocolate at a meeting
• Two mini kit-kats left out for an idiot to take
• Spicy flaxseed chips from Trader Joe's (http://traderjoes.com/product_categories.html)
• Half of the pasta, chicken and veggies that are leftovers from last night's dinner

It's a bit hard to do all the math, but I'm fearful of the pastries. That tasted like at least 200 calories per. The shake was no more than 200, so that's 1000 there. Two mini kit-kats has to be at least 300, the chips are about 200, and the actual lunch I brought is 500. So that's a robust 2,000 for the day.

FATTY!

She snores

Not the real she, but the doggie she.

Cute little tiny doggie snores.



PS: This is only half as cute given she farted three times in 20 minutes before falling asleep.

PPS: And less cute given that she pees every time I see her if she hasn't gone out in the past 20 minutes.

PPPS: And less cute if she's leaving poops on your newly purchased hardwood floors.

Uggggh, house update

This is the "bad news" edition of my "how not to sell a house" saga.

 

From my realtor (www.crrealty.net) about this weekend's open house results:

 

"I had a total of 5 guests visit your house yesterday during the open house.  3 of those guests were neighbors (not from the culdesac).  Obviously the neighbors were just curious.  1 of the 2 would not say a word.  The other individual is working with Long and Foster, and saw the ad in the Washington Post.  She said the house was very nice, but did not give any other indication of interest.

 

The biggest concern that I have at this moment is that in 2 weeks, only 1 Realtor has shown the house.  It's a combination of the time of year and the current market conditions.  I think we are priced appropriately, but it's a tough market right now."

 

So the good news (there is some?) is that the house has only been on the market for 2 weeks, so there's no need to panic. Yet.

 

The bad news is what is above. 2 weeks. 2 realtors.

 

And the online tour views (http://ckstevenson.blogspot.com/2007/11/house-tour-updated-stats.html) are starting to slow down a little.

 

 

I set a longer timeline view of the option of renting the house. But that would be if the house is on the market for 4 or 5 months. Which puts me into March, which is when the real estate market starts to heat up...

House tour updated stats

http://www.VisualTour.com/show.asp?t=1262557

Tour View Details:
Tour created date: 10/20/2007
# of times the tour has been emailed: 0
# of times the tour has been viewed: 126
# of times the tour has been downloaded: 0
Average tour views per day: 7.88

# of views by location

homesdatabase.com = 67
yahoo.com = 1
visualtour.com = 16
homeseekers.com = 3
realtor.com = 14
base.google.com = 1
trulia.com = 3
Our website or other portals = 21
--------------------------------------------------------
Total Tour Views: 126

Phone is up!

15th manual reset, and it now works!

No phone, no digital cable, lots of boos to all

My phone went dead earlier today, won't work unless it is plugged into the charger. But it can't access the network.

I got a new digital cable box, but it doesn't get a signal.

Found out a woman working for me, her son is mentally ill and she may have to put him into a facility.

BOO!

I'm offering $0.23 to A-Rod

Since the Toledo Mudhens can make an offer (and here)to A-Rod (1, 2), I can too.

Mr. A-Rod, for a total of $0.23 over the next 10 years, I'm asking you to play baseball (and "other duties as they arise") for the ckstevenson all-stars.

What's your response?

Terrapins Deleted (from TiVo)

I had set up "Terrapins Rising" with auto record on my TiVo, but thennnnnn the Terps have stunk up the house and totally ticked me off. So they are GONE! No more. I refuse to TiVo the program anymore.

What was interesting when I watched, Chris Turner always seem calm and relaxed. Steffy always seemed like he was playing a part, like he wanted to appear as though he was a starting QB. His performance on the field? Somehow worse than "Terrapins Rising".

Some interesting reviews of the series are here and here (let's just say they aren't positive).

No more debates for at least 5 months

A never was, a hag, a never will be and a guy who is photogenic but has no substance:


But at least people know them (there was a recent poll saying over 50% of Americans couldn't name a Republican candidate, there's hope for you Ron Paul!).

WaPo is live blogging the non-story debate. Would having that job be considered torture by the UN? Would Dick Cheney consider it worse than waterboarding?

Odds are no one said anything new, no one convinced voters that they are good, but money and valuable electrons were wasted.

Here's to you, 21st Century American politics! (remember, someone once voted for Howard Taft and Martun Van Buren...)

Elevator up or down?

Yet another picture:



There is a lot going on in the picture the more you examine it. I only wish the arch at the top had been in the center of the picture...

Splashing water

From my flickr.com account:

No digital cable, no internet!

I'll admit it freely:

I'm stealing internet from a neighbor. So:

Dear Neighbor,

I'm stealing your wireless internet. I apologize, but my digital cable and internet are not working. I'm suffering. Et tu html?

- Me.

I can use regular cable with my tv, but no digital. Thank you Cox Cable, you suck! After 5 different calls, I've got nothing going here. First call I found out they didn't register my equipment at my new address, even though I gave them 2 weeks notice. So they fixed that. The next 4 calls were repeats of me telling them I moved, that things weren't working, and them asking me to turn stuff off and on in various orders.

Oh really??? Turn off the cable box? MAN! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT!!!!! Shockingly turning off my TV didn't help, but at least this last guy was really nice and pleasant. What I enjoy the most with Cox is the boiler plate language they use:

• Sorry for your inconvenience, I apologize for your lack of service.
• What's your full name sir? Ok Mr. xxxxxxxxx, let's see what I can do.
• Ok sir, tonight I did _____, and _____, and _____ (which equates to NOTHING!). Have a great night.

And others, but they were other stupid things. I loved the last bullet with every call. It made it more laughable when nothing worked.

Oh, and your voice recognition system SUCKS. And it shouldn't take me 3 minutes to get to a person to get help if I constantly press 000000000000000000000, or yell "TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE!"


So the final recommendation??????????????????????????????????????????????????

"Well Mr. Jefferson" they used my street name instead of my real name, "I recommend you take your equipment in to have it replace. Can I recommend the Richmond location to you?"

Let's just say, I don't live near Richmond.

I'm hating you Cox. Expect a pissed off call in 8 weeks to tell you I hate you, and I want a lower rate.

Survey question: "Approximately how many miles do you drive per day?"

WOW.

Um, I dunno. Google Maps it is!

Well, 18.4 miles each way to work. 7.4 to the lady's place. Add in miscellaneous driving during the day, and the odd trip to "the house that must be sold" (27.1 miles), and I came up with 42 miles a day.

That's 210 miles during the workweek, plus another 50 or so during the weekend. 260 miles a week.

Times 52 weeks, is 13,520 miles/year. That is LOW. Because I'm well over 100k miles after 6 years of car ownership.

Oh, and I have a coolant leak, and probably an oil leak. BOO.