The Economy

Over Christmas I got a first hand look at how serious the economic downturn is.

Thanksgiving is the busiest flying weekend of the year.

Closely behind is Christmas. It should have been hectic at the airports since Christmas was close to the weekend. Normally a ton of people would have been flying on Christmas Eve.

I was a little surprised when I got to RDU. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected. Security usually has long lines. Basically none this time.

On the flight from RDU to DCA - my jet had nine passengers.

Nine.

The plane was basically empty. I don't know why the airline didn't just cancel the flight and put us on a later flight.

Then, on the flight back Friday - pretty much the same thing. Took maybe 5 minutes to get through security.

The flight back had, oh, possibly 2 dozen people. Not much more. Again - basically an empty jet.

You can't fly planes with so few passengers and make money. Especially with the fares so low.

And the fact that the planes were basically empty on a major family travel holiday - even with low fares - that tells you that either people do not have the money to spend - or are afraid to spend.

The whole experience speaks volumes about the state of the economy.

Christmas 2008

Very quiet, relaxing day.

We all got together today for dinner - sister, brother-in-law, brother, sister-in-law, and Aunt S.

My sister fixed a great dinner - Duck L'Orange, wild and saffron rice, acorn squash, sparkling wine.

A couple token gifts to pass around.

Everybody else went into DC to help out at the homeless shelter. I stayed in Reston and got some reading done.

All the 'kids' are elsewhere this year - Tokyo, Chicago, San Diego.

Don't tell them I said so - but it was nice having an 'adults only' Christmas. I miss the kids and grand kids - but it was a really nice, quiet, relaxing day.

Tomorrow I fly back to Raleigh. Need to be at the Metro station by around 0900 or so.

Christmas Eve 2008

Flew up to NoVa this morning to spend Christmas with my sister (GH), brother-in-law (CH), brother (CA) and sister-in-law.

Took the Metro from National Airport into town to see the Portraits of Power exhibition at the Corcoran Art Gallery.

Excellent exhibition.

Afterwards took the Metro to the end of the line where my sister picked me up.

We’re planning to go out for dinner and then a quiet evening at their house.

Dulles vs. National

You can look at last Christmas’ entry to get my take on TSA and Dulles Airport. IAD (Dulles) is just 2 freeway exits from where my sister / brother-in-law live. But – after last year I swore I’d never use that airport again.

This year was the first time I used National (DCA) in decades. I thought it would be a bit of a pain since I’d have to take the Metro out to where GH and CH live.

Piece of cake.

It was so smooth getting through DCA and then a short stroll right to the METRO stop that’s adjacent to the terminal upper level. The drive for my sister to the Vienna METRO station was no more effort then when they drove to IAD to pick me up.

All these years I’ve been screwing around with IAD just because it was physically closer to their house.

The mismanagement at IAD in general and the total incompetence of the TSA at IAD is abysmal. I can’t believe the difference between the way IAD is run and the way DCA is run.

It really is night and day.

I’ll never use IAD again as long as I live if I have the choice to use DCA instead.

NC State vs. Marquette

 

Tough Loss.

With the game tied - Marquette put up a 3 pointer with 0.4 seconds left.

Not much else to say. It was a very hard played game. Marquette is ranked for good reason.

State was right in there with them. Just like against Davidson - a slight step off - and one basket difference.

Floor

If you click on the photo and look at the floor - you'll see it looks like an old wood gym floor.

It is.

It's our old Reynolds Coliseum floor. Rebuilt to be removable for the RBC Center and Ice Hockey.

The original floor in the RBC was a high tech composite wonder. But after a few years, we rebuilt our old, old gym floor and started using it instead.

Every once in a while some genius comes up with the bright idea of going back to a high tech wood, composite or synthetic floor. They are quickly beaten, er, shown the error of their ways.

Not Much

Not much going on.

Work is steady and nothing out of the ordinary. Pretty much routine days at the office - busy but routine.

Here at home, the same old routine as well. Put up a few decorations for Christmas. Cards are displayed on the table along with a small tree and a couple other decorations and a wreath on the door.

I've given away my basketball tickets until now. I'll be going to my first basketball game Monday. State plays Marquette.

That should be a good game and a chance to see how well State matches up with a ranked team. We've already played ranked Davidson in Charlotte. It was a close game which we were the better team until the last 3 minutes. Hmmmmmm . . .

Let's see . . . .

Watched The Darjeeling Limited Friday evening. It had a few good moments. Very few. 2 out of 5 stars. If you haven't rented it - don't bother.

Watched the first of the Bowl games Saturday. Congratulations Wake Forest. That was the bowl game I wanted State to go to. I'd have driven up to DC to see it.

State plays Rutgers in Alabama in a week. That should be a good game.

Oh, here's something I've been meaning to post.

Last month we were out inspecting a prison workshop in Moore County. It's where there is prep work for - taaaa daaaa - license plates.

I took this photo -

 

Future License Plates

That's about it. Like I said - not much going on out of the ordinary.

Weekend Update

Just a quick update.

Saturday a few friends came over and we had a hot dog and hamburger cookout. It was cold but hanging out on the porch watching the burger cook was pretty fun.

As one of the guests put it, "Who made the rule that cookouts have to only be in the Summer?".

I agree.

On a side note - a couple of our friends are Jewish - I got Hebrew National Hot Dogs. I like them a little better than Nathan's Famous. That's just a personal preference.

Saturday Evening

Nuke and I went on a marathon movie watching binge.

Fargo, Red Rock West, and The Big Lebowski.

All 3 are excellent movies. Fargo is clearly the best above the rest.

Sunday

Sunday was chore day around the house. Cleaning, laundry, spliced / repaired a water hose, odds and ends.

I Wanna Go To . . . . . .

 

Miami 28 - State 38.

What a great, fun game. It was exciting. There were big offensive plays and some big defensive stops.

State finishes 6 and 6 and is bowl eligible.

Personally, I think teams should be a minimum of 7 and 5 to qualify for bowl games - but, we'll take it.

State is called Moo U, Tractor Tech, Farmer John School. We tend to be a bunch of country folks, good ol boys. We really like football.

You'd have thought we qualified for a BCS bowl by the way we acted on a cold rainy Saturday.

Everybody stayed after the game was over. And we sang with, and to, the football team.

It sure was fun.

I hope we go to the new Congressional Bowl in Washington DC.

It's the bowl with the last pick - and we are kind of near (make that at) the bottom of the ACC bowl eligible teams. It's an easy trip to DC. We'd play a very good Navy team.

We'll find out in about a week.

Thanks

Thanks to Chip and Erika for going to the game with me and Nuke'em.

And thanks to all my friends and family who have gone to games with us this year, as well as in the past seasons.

A special thanks to Fritz. He usually goes to some games with us. But this year, he's been kind of busy over in Baghdad.

Take care Fritz. And we'll see you at some games next fall when you get home.

Awesome

State is having a losing season. We would make it to .500 if we beat Miami next weekend.

But the first step was going over to Chapel Hill today.

UNC is ranked in the top 25 and roundly expected to win.

State drubbed 'em. 41 to 10.

And honestly, it wasn't that close.

We've beat UNC, Duke, Wake Forest and East Carolina this year. Even with a possible losing record - that's pretty sweet.

ECU

Speaking of ECU - the Pirates have locked up the Conference USA East Division. ECU will have a fun time bowling this year.

Congratulations Pirates.

Happy Appy

And Appalachian State has won it's fourth consecutive Southern Conference Football Championship. It's off to the FCS play offs. Can ASU take the FCS National Championship for 4 years in a row?

Amen

The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Second Amendment

http://hasobamatakenawayourgunsyet.com/

Close Game

NC State beat Wake Forest 21 to 17 Saturday.

It was every bit as close as the score indicates.

We gave up a touchdown right before halftime. It shouldn't have happened. WFU ran the perfect 2 minute offense and we just looked addled. Halftime: 14 to 14.

The second half was a close defensive struggle.

It was exciting right to the end.

State was up by 4 points with just minutes left. Wake held us to 3 and out. We had to kick from almost our goal line and Wake got the ball at mid field.

Wake picked up a first down on forth down. And later dropped a pass in the end zone.

Finally on another forth down, close to our goal line, State sacked Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner and the game was over with about 50 seconds left.

Riley Skinner and Russell Wilson are both great quarterbacks. Both lines played great. Both defenses made huge plays. Basically - the teams were as close to even as you could get. It wasn't over until the final seconds.

It started to rain and turned cold during the game. The crowd stayed.

One of the more exciting games we've played this year.

You could see the turn around start with the Florida State and Boston College games. Both close losses. Then the win over Duke. And now this close win over Wake Forest.

Next up - at UNC. Then Miami at home Thanksgiving weekend.

Looking forward to it.

I feel Obamariffic.

Saturday Update

Had a good week working out of the office. Started right off on Monday after returning from vacation.

We were in the office on Tuesday but the rest of the week was spent in Stanly County and Harnett County.

Next week will also be field work in Lee County.

Football

NC State won at Duke today - 27 to 17. We're now 3 and 6. The remainder of the schedule is Wake Forest, at UNC, Miami.

We could win all 3 or we could lose all 3.

The win today was important. Usually football teams count Duke as an almost automatic win. But not this year. Duke is doing extremely well under new coach Dave Cutliff. Duke was favored to win but State has been improving and put together a solid game and an impressive win.

Thought about heading over to Durham to see the game. But decided to stick around the house instead.

Watched Alabama at LSU on TV. Those LSU fan do not like Nick Sabin.

Basketball

Basketball tickets arrived today.

Let's hope that Coach Lowe will keep the boys on the straight and narrow this year. Last year he let the kids get control of the team. The result was last place in the ACC. That's what happens when you let the inmates run the asylum.

All preseason, the quotes from Lowe in the paper have been along the lines of "I'm the coach. It's my way or the highway".

Which is good.

Everything is Beautiful . . .

 

"Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and Yellow, Black and White; They're all precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."


I am 52 years old.

I never ever believed that America would elect a black man president in my lifetime.

I was certain that hidden racism would cost Obama the election.

I was wrong.

Hidden racism was in the voting - but not in the numbers I was afraid of.

I'm pretty passionate about voting and America. But I'll never be a political junkie or one of those people who get overly wrapped up in a candidate or party.

But I must admit - when we, that is America, finally overcame our prejudices and were able to elect a thoughtful, intelligent, calm and deliberative man to our highest office, who just happens to have brown eyes - well - I teared up a little.

I'm so happy to have seen it with my own eyes in my lifetime.

Barrack - Tutu is very proud of you.

Ex-Senator Dole

Elizabeth Dole was born in North Carolina. But she is not a North Carolinian.

She's a carpetbagger who somehow got elected and was thoroughly ineffective. I don't know who she was representing. Maybe George W. It sure wasn't us back here in NC.

She can pack her bags and head back to her real home in Kansas, er, The Watergate in Washington, DC.

Legacy

Bush will be known for ushering in the Obama era, the way Herbert Hoover was known for ushering in FDR or Pete Best was known for preceding Ringo.

Cruise Day 8 Sunday Ft. Lauderdale – Raleigh

 

 

 

Totally uneventful travel day.

Walk off at 0730 - which means we carried our own luggage.

Got a cab right away and killed time at the airport until our flight.

Gave 2 soldiers a ride from RDU to Ft. Bragg. After all, we got home by 2 PM and had nothing else to do.

And that's about it.

Cruise Day 7 Saturday Sea Day

 

Did nothing.

Well – I did go see the ship’s master chef cooking show. Other than that – I walked around the boat and ended up watching football on TV.

After dinner (steak, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, ice cream sundae) we watched some of the ball room dancers.

Then, Nuke and I went to see the last show in the theater.

So - after spending millions of dollars on dancers, entertainers, cast members, props and musicians - how do you entertain people?

Give out about 200 balloons and let 'em entertain themselves!!!

After the show I went back to the room and fell asleep watching number 1 Texas get beat by Texas Tech.

Mack Brown. Heheheheheheh.

Cruise Day 6 Friday Grand Turk

 

Happy Halloween.

Why do they call it Grand Turk? Of the group of islands, it’s the smallest. By a lot.

It’s like a couple miles wide by maybe 4 or 5 miles long. The island’s population is about 5,000. The ship carries 3,000 passengers plus about 1,500 crew – so you get the idea of the size of the island.

I’m writing this in the morning having coffee and watching CNN. I think Nuke closed down the bars last night – but no problem – we don’t dock till 1300.

Afternoon

We took a cab tour of the island. That took all of about 10 minutes. Just kidding. But it really only took about 45 minutes to an hour. The island is essentially flat. From the ship, docked at the south end, you can see all the way to the light house, at the north end.

This place was devastated by Hurricane Ike which passed over about 7 weeks ago. It was a full Category 4 at the time. Power poles are back up everywhere but power is not returned to a house or building until the roof is secure. Because of the extreme damage – over half of the population is still without power living in homes without roofs.

There is snorkeling and diving here. Or just lazing out at the beach. But not much else. Unless wandering around looking at the cattle and donkeys that roam loose is your thing.

Evening

Man – a lot of people get seriously dressed up for Halloween. Here’s some photos:

 

 

There was trick or treating for the kids.

Saw another comedian and the crew’s amateur talent show in the lounge. Corny but fun. Went to the bar later and stayed up till midnight!!!!

Cruise Day 5 Thursday US Virgin Islands

 

 

Another port – another beach.

We signed up for the ship tour to Megan’s Beach. What is Megan’s Beach you ask? Well, it’s a beach. It’s basically a beach that is privately owned and operated. It has a bar, a shop, a grill and a nice beach.

The ship’s tour was basically the ride to and from the beach and admission. What would normally be a 9 dollar cab ride (times 2) was a 30 (roundtrip) ride in a truck. The grill was full of things like 6 dollar hot dogs, 18 dollar pizza, etc.

Megan’s Beach is pretty but it’s a rip off. The power of advertising. And the ship’s price to get there and back was the icing on the cake. Had a good time – just don’t like getting ripped off.

Dinner was Alaskan King Crab legs. Yummy.

Dinner ran long and I only got to see about half of the juggling comedy act. He was funny. I’ve really enjoyed the comedians on this trip.

People watched and then to bed.

Cruise Day 4 Wednesday St. Martin

 

 

Saint Maarten – or however it’s spelled.

Took a cab to Orient Beach. Been there before. Same as before. And before that. And before that.

Heavy rain storm though after about an hour. So, we had New York City priced cheeseburgers (with fries - $11.00!) and then came back to das boot.

Dinner was eggplant mango soup, salad, parmagana, and tiramisu (Italian night).

Before dinner, we spent some time in the wheelhouse bar listening to piano and guitar. I’m surprised more people aren’t in there – the music is wonderful. After dinner, Boseman and I went to another bar where the band was playing big band and swing. There were about a dozen older couples dancing. I mean really dancing. As in – they’d obviously had years of lessons and practices. Actual real dancing, with steps and choreography (and not just moving / shuffelling around) is something to watch. First class entertainment in my book.

Left the oldersters to their dancing around 9 PM. I needed to get to bed. I just can’t hang with the old geezers.

Cruise Day 3 Tuesday At Sea

 

Sea Day. I like those. Just laze around the boat and don’t do a darn thing.

I’m having room service coffee and writing this with CNN on (low). Nice and quiet while Nuke sleeps.

Having a nice quite relaxing time. I’ll add to this entry this evening to fill out the day.

Lunch in the dinning room – fillet of sole over mushrooms and spinach with lemon sauce. Dinner was bow tie pasta and tomatoes and green peas.

Saw the comedian in the lounge – very funny as expected. Tried to watch the move on deck. The picture was fine but they had the sound unbalanced. Too much bass which drowned out the rest of the dialogue.

It was Iron Man. Dialogue was everything in that movie so since I couldn’t heart it well, I left after about 30 minutes and went to bed. At 9:30. Paaaaarrrrrrty!

Cruise Day 2 Monday Princess Cay

 

I think this is the biggest ship I’ve been on. It is sold out and has a little over 3,000 passengers. That’s a lot of people.

Overall, I prefer a smaller ship. I don’t know why – it just seems better on a smaller vessel.

Our stop today was the cruise line private island. I bought 1 drink and immediatlly went to sleep. It’s true. And when I woke up, I went back to the ship for another nap.

Had pork and chilled mango soup (delicious) for dinner.

We went to a comedian / magic show in the lounge. I managed to stay awake for the late theater show. Or at least the start of it. It wasn’t doing too much for me and I was tired – so I left for bed after about the first 15 minutes.

Cruise Day 1 Sunday Ft. Lauderdale

 

Standing over the Bridge Wing is Cool!

Our cabin is on this top row - about 6 down from the front (where we are standing).

 

I just realized that the name Ft. Lauderdale implies a fort. Wonder if there was one, and where is it? Spanish?

Chuck and Brenda and Madeline visited Saturday night. Had a nice visit. Madeline is a sweet child, very happy.

Got up this morning and visited with Chuck awhile. Brenda and Madeline were still asleep.

Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Direct flight to Ft. Lauderdale and a quick cab ride to the cruise port. Unfortunately, there was quite a line to get checked in.

Lets see . . . spent time sitting aft and catching up with Boseman. Then after wondering around – had dinner and now I’m back in the room writing this.

Dinner was prime rib, shrimp cocktail and chilled pineapple soup. Nothing adventurous – just a nice good meal.

Travel days are tiring so I’m in the room at 9 PM and will be asleep soon.

Nuke is exploring and I’m sure will be one of the ones closing down the bars.

Odds and Ends

For those who haven't seen this yet:

http://palinaspresident.us/

Kinda cute, ya betcha.

Hint - click on the door more than once.

What else?

Lazing around the house. Waiting for football to start. NC State is at Maryland today. The line is Maryland by 10 1/2 but who knows . . . .

Chuck and Brenda and Violin will be visiting later today and tonight.

Plus - have to pack for the trip. Off to the Caribbean tomorrow. Yaaay!

DVDs

Watched Volver last night. Not all that good - not all bad. If it shows up as a Netflix in your mailbox, watch it. But don't make a special trip to video store for it.

Tonight was The Good Shepherd. Long movie. Very good. But long.

Getting Better +Addendum

We played Florida State last night. It was the Thursday night ESPN game. Plus the NC State Fair opened next door as well.

Traffic was awful. Still, we made it to the stadium on time for the National Anthem and kickoff.

FSU won – but not by much. It was a tight game the whole night. You can tell FSU was just a little bit better – but we’re not far behind.

This team has come a long was since the beginning of the season. With all the youth, inexperience, and injuries – we should have folded up a long time ago.

But no – these kids are hanging in there and it shows.

It may sound off, with only 2 wins, and one of those against a Division 2 team – but NC State is becoming a good competitive football team. Even with all the adversity – we’re darn close to being a top 25 team.

The fact that we are getting so much better with so little, and so many injuries – tells me the program is going in the right direction.

Last night was fun. Plus the Fair fireworks came right at halftime – around 9 PM. There we a LOT of fireworks – they lasted about 10 minutes.

It’s tough getting home at midnight and going to work early the next morning – but that only happens once a year so.

Next weekend (Saturday) my brother and sister-in-law and possibly the great niece are coming down to NC. They are having a sort of high school reunion at a friend’s home in Pinehurst. It’ll be nice to see them Saturday night.

That Sunday I leave for a week’s cruise ship vacation.

Then the election and, hopefully, a new direction for America.

Then we have 2 final home football games in November.

Then basketball season starts.

Yeah – I’ve lost over $30,000 in my 401k – but overall – life ain’t too bad.

Addendum - Raccoon Update

Haven't written about the 3 raccoons in a while - they are doing fine.

They look fully grown and healthy.

They still pal around together and I still feed them about 3 times a week. Basically they get leftovers and the occasional cup of dog food.

Tonight they got a fig newton, some popcorn, and 3 chicken wings from last weekend.

Their behavior patterns are set. While all 3 are very wary of me - one will come up to the door, wait patiently and take food directly from me; one will shy around and wait till I'm gone to get food from the bowl; and the last one is the most fearful and runs as soon as he / she sees me - coming back later to get what's left.

Edward R. Murrow

Watched Good Night and Good Luck last night. Good movie. Not a great movie but felt like it could have been. Somehow it just didn’t click. It's worth renting.

Moved it to the top of my Netflix list right after we watched The Majestic.

I sure am glad I've quit smoking.

Tonight we have Happy Feet, before the debate.

Nuke says we’ve seen it before but darned if I can remember it.

Hidden Racism +Clemson Addendum

I think the race for president is going to be closer than even the extremely close polls indicate.

There’s a phenomena known as hidden racism that will come into play. There are a percentage of white people who simply will not vote for someone who is black, such as Obama. They may not be overtly racists, but they have a lingering distrust of black people in general.

Back in the 30s and 40s and 50s – these weren’t the people who were active in or marched with the KKK. Instead, they were the ones who stood idly by in tacit approval.

And I think there’s a lot more of them out there than we care to believe.

In my neighborhood, just 4 short years ago, the developer / builder Lloyd came by one day and talked to me about a couple that wanted him to build a house for them – almost directly across the street from my house as a matter of fact. Who they were, where they were from, what they did for a living, etc. He gradually worked into the conversation that it was a mixed race couple.

Which went right over my head until Lloyd started laughing and said something to the effect of “Bill, you not only don’t care what color somebody is, you don’t even notice”. Which, I hope, is generally true.

Turns out that Lloyd was casually gauging the neighborhood to see if anyone would have any strenuous objections to a mixed couple moving in.

I was rather taken aback and told Lloyd that I couldn’t believe that people still thought or cared about such things. He told me I’d be really surprised at some of my neighbors.

Lloyd, who’s pretty religious, also said something that stuck with me – He said there’s a lot of church going people who aren’t Christians like they think they are.

I think we’re beginning to see that in some of the rallies – especially the Palin ones.

I’ve since come to think that some of my, solidly upper middle class (especially for Lee County), neighbors are closet racists. I’ve heard some amazingly intolerant and bigoted comments.

These people don’t come out and state they are bigots or wouldn’t vote for someone just because the color of their skin is different. I don’t think the polls pick up on that.

My guess, and it’s a totally unscientific guess, is that hidden racists will make up about 3 or 4 percent of the vote. Thus, I think that in the close states, unless Obama is up by 4 percent or more – I think those states will actually go for McCain / Palin.

Looking at the electoral / poll map (link in the right hand column) – I think the slightly blue states such as Florida, Ohio, Nevada and Colorado may actually go for McCain. Possibly by only a percent or so, or even less. They may be too close to overcome hidden racism.

States like Virginia which show Obama 51% to McCain 45% will go Blue but will be much closer – say 50% – 49%.

States like North Carolina and Missouri which have been drifting between Red, Tied and Blue will go McCain – say by 52% - 48%.

On the drive into work this morning I heard an interview with a ‘guy on the street’ in Ohio who said something that I’ve been saying all along – and the quote was something like this: “If Obama were white, it wouldn’t even be close. He’d be winning by a landslide”.

There’s still a lot of bigotry and racism in the USA. And tons more of it in the rest of the world. We’re not as civilized as we might think. Civilized behavior is a thin veneer on some pretty base emotions out there.

I think I’ve got 1 or 2 in my immediate family.

I think we're starting to see more and more of it surface as the election draws near.

Basically good people – but hidden racists who have ‘reasons’ for their views such as a President Obama would be looking out for ‘his’ people and not the rest of ‘us’. Or; Obama is a 'secret Muslim' who supports 'terrorists'.

Ignorance and stupidity are sadly still with us.

Make no mistake - this journal entry is not about the vast majority of folks who support McCain for legitimate reasons. People who may prefer a more conservative government or who may feel that Obama doesn't have enough experience, etc.

I'm talking about the fringe right wing nut racists - the so called 'Christians' who wouldn't recognize Jesus if they bumped into him on the sidewalk.

The bottom line is - Vote for who you want, but don’t make up crazy lies and stuff.

Movie

Watched Ironman Sunday. What a hoot.

Actually, not that great of a movie per se, but the acting by Robert Downey Jr. was over the top.

I think acting is overrated. They get too much credit. But then, they get too much blame when a movie flops. They can only work with the script that's handed to them.

But in Ironman, Downey was amazing. The scriptwriters wrote the script for everyone. Downey took his role and just ran away with it. He obviously ad libbed and it was perfect.

His robot, the one with the fire extinguisher, got some great droll laughs too.

Worth a rental.

Don't expect too much in the way of plot, continuity and such.

Just sit back, have a beer, and enjoy the ride.

Tires

Stopped at CrossRoads Ford on the way home to get an alignment and the tires rotated and balanced.

Even though it's an econo box, my car has a sports suspension, over sized wheels (for a little car) and Pirelli sports tires.

Story short - I needed new tires. The car has 50,000 miles and change. Goodyears and Michelins would have lasted about 60 or 70 thousand miles. But these Pirelli tires are 'soft' for handling more so than long wearing. In fact, the guys said they usually wear out at around 40,000 miles but mine lasted longer probably since most of my mileage is 'highway' due to my commute.

So, what should have been a $90 maintenance stop ended up being a $600 stop. Those tires are expensive.

Plus, I need to make an appointment for the car's 50,000 mile service - transmission fluid change, differential fluid change, fuel filter, injection cleaning, etc.

It adds up.

But boy, that car is still a blast to drive.

Clemson

Today, Tommy Bowden resigned as Clemson's football coach. Within the hour, acting head coach Dabo Swinney fired offensive coordinator Rob Spence.

Tommy Bowden is the Herb Sendeck of football coaches. A good man; a good coach - but not a great head football coach.

Rob Spence was a disaster and should have been fired a long time ago.

Good luck to Clemson.

It's tough to have your school's athletic program in turmoil. We went though the same thing 2 years ago in both football and basketball. We're still going through the pain of adjustment, rebuilding and transition.

Not Much News

Not much to blog about.

Work is the same. Home is the same.

Wolfpack is the same: 2 and 4. Sigh . . . .

We're halfway through the season. 3 home games and 3 away games left. My heart says we'll win at least 2 more. My head says "Oh yeah? Which ones?".

Tonight on ESPN it's Clemson at Wake Forest. Both teams are a bit of a let down. This game could have been between 2 undefeated teams. It still ought to be a heck of a game.

DVDs

Watched There Will Be Blood last night. God, what a depressing movie. Superb acting but geez, what a downer. And long too . . .

Also watched The Majestic. Cute.

Book

Nuke's Dad brought up some books for Nuke to read. I snagged The Art of Racing in the Rain. What a wonderful book. It's the end of life memoir of a dog. A very enjoyable read.

The dog, Enzo, knows a lot about Formula One racing and is looking forward to reincarnation as a man. Especially having opposable thumbs.

That One '08

Some arsehole stole my Obama - Biden yard sign.

Grrrrrr . . . . .

Vote

 

For the first time, I've put up a campaign sign in my yard.

Jason sent me this photo.

LOL

I think he's voting for Wasilla Chihuahua and the Geezer. I'm voting for "That One".

Hummingbirds

I think the hummingbirds have left for the winter. They go through the 3 feeders in about a week. I haven't seen them in a couple of days and the nectar in the feeders is not dropping.

Winter is on the way.

And I Quote . . .

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has just finished a new building in downtown Raleigh.

The official grand opening is today.

They were going to have BASE jumpers - you know - the guys who jump off building and bridges with parachutes.

That has been cancelled.

Here is the priceless quote from a front page article in today's News & Observer:

"Given the recent market activities, we just didn't think it was an appropriate time to have people jumping off of a bank building". - Jamie Averette Mitchell, RCB Bank spokeswoman

ROFL

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1240181.html


Veep Debate

The Vice-Presidential Debate is this evening.

Please, Oh God Please - somebody ask her to spell 'potato'.

Who Knew?

I honestly did not know that the Department of Defense (or somebody) executed 5,000 people after Hurricane Katrina.

Here's former Congresswoman Ima NutJob speaking on that very, heretofore unrevealed, topic just last week. She's the official candidate for President from the Green Party.



The sad thing is, there are people who seriously believe and support this stupid idiot.

Hot Tub Repair Redux +Addendum

 

Regular readers may recall that I had a problem with my hot tub last year. The circuit breaker kept tripping.

There were 2 attempts to schedule an appointment with the Thermospa repairman. One no show and another no show at the appointment time but he showed up on a totally different day when I wasn't home. And - he claimed to have looked at the tub but it was running fine for him. Uh huh.

Eventually, the electrician who wired my house replaced the circuit breaker and removed the air blower pump as it was showing a fault. However, when the pump was looked at by a local repairman - no fault could be found.

We reinstalled the pump and it's been running fine - until a couple of weeks ago.

The tub tripped again but this time the circuit breaker wouldn't reset.

Hmmmmm . . . .

Tried to call my electrician - but his phone number is no longer in service.

What gives?

So - called my builder and he happened to have his new electrician with him right there on a job. Made an appointment with Tim Gautier and he came to the house right on time yesterday.

In short order he tracked down the trip fault to the same air blower pump. When we pulled it out - you could smell where the motor was burned up.

Today I got on line and the pump manufacturer has an easy to use web site - Acura Spa. The air blower was listed right where it should be and I was able to place the order on line. Within 10 minutes I had an email reply from a sales person confirming the order. The correct PW type plug will be connected to the pump and it will be shipped tomorrow.

Now that is what I call a quick resolution to the problem.

Thermospas charges something like $100 per hour plus $50 initial charge or whatever - I can't recall exactly, but it's a lot. And my past experience was not good - hell - I never even saw the Thermospa technician since he was a no show - and he didn't diagnose the problem when he was purportedly here.

Tim charged me $40 for the service call. The pump, with shipping is $110. And it will be really simple for me to plug it in and connect it to the tub plumbing.

The total cost will be less than a service visit alone from Thermospas.

One good thing from the last go round with the hot tub. Danny and his crew had to lift the tub out of it's deck recess to get to the side where the pumps are. The side panels are held on by a screws in a column - which you can't access the bottom ones when the tub is in it's recessed spot.

Before we put the tub back - I removed all the bottom screws (28). So this time - I only had to remove the upper 2 screws in each panel column and was able to slide the side panels up and out - along with the insulation boards. Simple and easy.

The tub is only recessed about 6 inches. It makes it easy to step into and out of the tub without wood steps. And now being able to remove the side panels (without lifting the tub) - access and maintenance is a snap.

I can't believe Tim solved this problem in one short 45 minute visit.

When the new pump arrives, I estimate it will take me all of 15 minutes to install it. Actually, the pump itself only needs to be positioned at the end of the air conduit, a set screw tightened and plugged in to the control / power box. The real time is spent removing and replacing the side panels.

The tub is operational as is. In fact - the air blower was an option. Which frankly, I don't use all that much. Too powerful on the bubble jets which, ah, kind of hurt if you're sitting in the wrong spot. :-0

Actually, I could have just left the blower off. But there's a button for it on the control panel - so what the hay.

Instant Addendum

Got an email at 6:10 local time; 3:10 California time - the plug has been wired onto the pump and it's already been picked up for shipment by UPS.

Between Tim Gautier and the pump manufacturer - WOW!

Thermospas and former electrician only farked around with this (bleep)damn thing for weeks and weeks and weeks last time.

South Florida is no Bull

South Florida University came into town last night with a number 13 ranking and proceeded to show NC State why they are ranked so high.

I fully expected to lose, but you always want the kids to at least be competitive.

Last night, the South Florida Bulls took advantage of a young and weak Wolfpack and put together the perfect game plan. There’s no point in going into detail – the score tells the tale – 41 to 10.

Frankly, it wasn’t even that close. South Florida could have made it a lot worse if they had wanted to.

We have such a young team and are so riddled with injuries that we’re playing backups to backups and walk on players. Kids that came to State knowing they’d be on the scout team – but here they are in the game. These kids are playing so hard – it’s got to be tough on them.

Still, watching them play, you sense they will get better. They are struggling, but you see talent and coaching and a game plan. It’s just going to take another year or 2 for it to all come together.

Thanks to Nuke’s Dad Ward and his friend Chris for going to the game with us.

How Much Is . . . .

How much is $700 Billion Dollars?

If you had $700 Billion Dollars you could:

NFL

Own every National Football League Team - every one.

AND - you could own every NFL stadium every team plays in - every one.

NBA

AND - you could own every National Basketball Association Team - every one.

AND - you could own every NBA Arena every team plays in - every one.

MLB

AND - you could own every Major League Baseball Team - every one.

AND - you could own every MLB Ball Park every team plays in - every one.

NHL

AND - you could own every National Hockey League team - every one.

AND - you could own every NHL Arena every team plays in - every one.

Airplanes

AND - you could buy a Boeing 747 for every team that you own just to fly them around from game to game - that's 122 planes.

You'd have spent about $175 Billion Dollars.

AND THEN

You'd have enough money LEFT OVER - to do it all AGAIN - 3 MORE FREAKING TIMES!

NCSU 30 - ECU 24 +Addendum

ESPN Highlights


Post Game Celebration

The game was a hard fought, dead even, down to the wire classic. The stats were just about even all across the board. But the total offensive yards sums up the game exactly - NSCU 375 yards - ECU 374 yards.

In overtime, ECU had the ball first and fumbled. It's pretty much over if the first team doesn't score in overtime. Both teams get the ball on the 35 and can usually move into field goal range. For NC State - we punched it in to the end zone for a touchdown.

What an exciting game.

Thanks to Chip, Erica and Nuke for going to the game with me.

It was a blast.

Blue Tongue

This little girl sits a couple rows behind us. She was eating blue cotton candy and it turned her tongue blue.

Saturday Evening

Later, got a hotel room in Raleigh to do a little bar hopping. I was thinking about going to see the Batman movie on IMAX but I was too tired. Ended up watching football on TV in the room after going to the hotel bar. Nuke, being younger, in better shape, and more of a lush carried on with visiting local pubs.

This is the Raleigh skyline from the hotel room.

Addendum

There continues to be a lot of smack talk on the blogs and radio call in shows about last weekend's game.

NCSU won the game and we'll be able to talk junk to our ECU friends for quite a while.

However, in all fairness -

ECU should go on to a 10 and 2 or 11 and 1 season - win Conference USA - and play in a big time bowl. Maybe not a BCS bowl - but a big one none the less.

NC State will be hard tasked to reach 6 and 6.

Showdown

East Carolina Apartment Building

Official Car of East Carolina University

East Carolina University and NC State University have a love hate relationship. We love to hate each other.

Starting back in the 1970’s, NCSU was the only North Carolina and ACC team that would even consider playing ECU.

State has always been Tractor Tech, Moo U, Cow College – but compared to ECU - we’re high class.

Put it this way – State was a double wide with aluminum skirts on your own lot. ECU was the 15-year old rusted out rental single wide with the wheels still on (but no tires) and the car up on cinderblocks in the front yard.

State never would play at ECU. All sorts of reasons such as their stadium was too small; why go to ECU when we could travel to Florida, or Penn State - you know – real schools; and so on.

So the couple of times ECU won at NC State – their fans actually tore down the NC State goal posts! These were alcohol fueled affairs that resulted in near riots. And for a while – the games between the schools were suspended.

And I have been at every ECU @ NCSU game – including the riot games.

State and ECU have resumed their games. NC State has actually travelled a couple times to Greenville.

Last year, State broke its losing streak with an upset victory at ECU. Which didn’t exactly send ECU on a skid – but it did hurt them.

Tomorrow ECU comes to Raleigh flying high with 2 big upset back to back wins over ranked teams including Number 8 West Virginia. ECU is ranked 15 / 16 but since they are playing at NCSU they are favored by only a touchdown.

I got on Craigslist last night just to look. There were over 350 entries of people wanting to buy tickets. Clearly ECU fans are buying tickets at just about any price to be at their expected victory tomorrow.

The game will be very emotional as always.

Fortunately kickoff is at noon – so at least the purple rednecks won’t have all day to drink beer. Hopefully they can try and act like they’ve been to a big time game before.

NC State’s rivalry is with UNC. But ECU is the team you just can’t stand to lose to. At UNC – NCSU games, we tailgate together; watch the games together at friends’ houses or local pubs; and pull for each other when playing in the post season.

But EZU?

Fark ‘em.

A confederacy of Dunces

A confederacy of Dunces - And we the taxpayers get screwed.

In 2004, the SEC exempted five firms from required capital/debt ratio regulations.

They are: Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.

Thank you George W. Bush Administration.

You Suck.

Random Knowledge

I really like this great site:

http://www.unkno.com/

I am such a such a total geek.

Lamentations

Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.*

As of today’s injury report - NC State now has 10 key players out. Most of them for the season.

http://www.wral.com/sports/story/3549146/

That doesn’t count those who’ve been injured but have returned to playing time (such as quarterback Russell Wilson, Grade 3 Concussion).

How Oh Lord? How hath the Wolfpack displeased thee?

I don't have a goat or an ox. Will a raccoon do?


*Book of Job actually.

Kudos

Sitemeter is a handy little service. I think their enterprise part is selling traffic trends - I think. If you allow them to keep track of who clicks - or . . . something - anyway, you get a nifty counter and the ability to see who visits you.

Their user interface was (is) very simple, clean and functional.

Recently they’ve been warning us users that they were making improvements.

The changes were unveiled this weekend.

SUCK. BARF. CRAP.

A bunch of totally useless 2.0 looking graphs and crap. So FARKING what? Actual information was replaced by pretty colors and bar graphs and pie charts.

Here’s a little clue for all you young web designers. Just because you can ‘do something" doesn’t mean you should. KISS is ALWAYS the best choice.

However, in an instance of awesome good decision making – Sitemeter listened to their users and by the time the weekend was over – they had switched BACK to their prior user interface and pages.

Kudos to Sitemeter management!

And I hope you fired the dumbshit(s) who ‘sold’ you on the idea of completely trashing your old great system and replacing it with the new piece of trash.

Ford Focus

OK – Since I’m ranting about stupid changes for changes sake – here’s the low down on this year’s Ford Focus styling.

SUCK. BARF. CRAP.

The Ford Focus is a spiffy little car. Extremely well designed once they got rid of that crappy oval dash and went to the straightforward design.

Interior room is amazing for a car this small. Fit and finish is as good as on any car I’ve ever seen. Including high end German machines.

Simply an excellent car – especially for the money. The longer I have mine, the better I like it.

A nice clean deign. Elegantly simple. A tad underpowered - but not too much so.

So what did Ford decide to do?

Totally crap up the exterior design last year (and the dashboard too).

Why?

Because it would be ‘different’. Yeah – it’s different. It sucks.

Ford took a great, clean design and stuck on a bunch of – heck – I don’t know what to call it. Crap is the only word that comes to mind. What the heck is that plastic shit stuck on the front side fenders? I mean – that’s all it is. Nonfunctional plastic crap that stuck on the front fenders. The lights look like they were beat in to place with a hammer instead of the nice previous design that flowed with the rest of the car.

FORD - You had a great design! Tweak it sure. But why did you replace the exterior design and interior design with total crap? Like Sitemeter - you Farked up the user interface.

But - take a cue from Sitemeter. Fix future models and go back to it’s classic roots. And fire the dumbshit(s) who ‘sold’ you on the idea of completely trashing your old great design and replacing it with the new piece of trash.

Clean Crisp Design

Ticky Tacky Design - Needs a Fire Bird decal on the hood.

Booing Redux

I spoke about the booing in my last entry. And, I've referenced NC State fan's support and aspirations in the face of disappointing performance by the Football and Basketball teams.

I copied the following from an entry this week in State Fans Nation. A blog about NCSU sports.

I do NOT like booing under any circumstances. I can understand it, and the frustration we State fans feel, but I don't do it and I don't like when others do it.

The main thing I got out of this reprint was the support NCSU fans give the programs which is really amazing given the circumstances.

I am a very average fan and supporter. Between season tickets, booster club donations, pledged capital improvement donations and special requests - this year (a very typical year) - I'll pony up a about $4,000. In fact, my latest check to NC State for $1,156.00 cleared the bank this very week.

I get decent seats. Not great - but pretty good. There's a lot of fat cat donors above me - and a whole lot of people below me who contribute what they can.

The Carlton Tudor columnist quote at the end sort of sums it all up.

The following was copied from SFN. The only editing was my adding the emphasis in the Carlton Tudor quote.

State Fans Nation

A question about the boos in Carter Finley Stadium was bound to be asked, so Tom O’Brien had no choice but to respond last night on his weekly radio show hosted at Sullivan’s in Raleigh.

Coach Tom O’Brien talked about how annoyed he was with the fan’s reactions to Evans play on his weekly radio show.

“It’s pretty frustrating to listen to people boo thinking it’s going to make somebody better,” O’Brien said Tuesday “By booing somebody, you don’t make them better.”

O’Brien went on to talk about how the boos could be a turnoff to potential recruits who attend games.

“I think it was a bad situation, and hopefully we’ll be smarter than that in the future,” O’Brien said.

The intention of this entry isn’t to promote discussion of Tom O’Brien’s comments, but rather to point out some very impressive statistics regarding the supporters of NC State athletics. We did this earlier in the year when NC State fans were one of the few highlights of Lee Fowler’s annual report, but with the recent criticism from at least one member of the local media this seemed like a good time to revisit some of this information. Considering the results of NC State’s athletic department under the leadership of Lee Fowler, some people might be quite surprised to find that NC State fans have been supporting their programs in record numbers by almost every measure.

-NC State supporters ranked 9th among BCS programs in annual donations in 2006.

-NC State supporters ranked 14th among BCS programs in capital donations the five years prior to 2006.

-NC State fans have sold out Carter Finley for 8 consecutive seasons despite the program hitting an almost half century low point in 2006 with a 3-9 record. You have to go all the way back to 1959 (1-9, .100) to find an NC State football team with a worse overall winning percentage.

-Actual attendance (not visual estimates like in Chapel Hill) has essentially been at 100% capacity since the 2000 football season.

-NC State fans have ranked #7, #17, #20, #19, #16, #13, #17, #18, #16 in basketball attendance since the 2000 season. In 2008, NC State fans averaged 15,043 which was the 2nd highest total in the history of the program despite the team not making the post-season.

How happy would NC State fans be if the basketball program had half that number of top 20 finishes?

-NC State fans made the Wolfpack Club one of five booster organizations in the country to exceed 20,000 members this year.

-In the 2007/2008 athletic year, NC State fans set school records in football tickets sold (37,500), revenue from football tickets sold ($10.75 million), and revenue from basketball tickets sold ($5.6 million).

-Additionally, NC State fans donated the second highest total in our history ($25.4 million). This was a combination of an all-time high in annual donations ($10.0 million), the 2nd highest total in capital giving ($13.7 million), and what appears to be an all-time high in endowment giving ($1.8 million).

Caulton Tudor of the Raleigh News & Observer had an original take on our quarterback situation today and at the same time took the opportunity to stick up for NC State fans. Thanks Caulton!

"N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien’s decision to start Russell Wilson over Harrison Beck at quarterback on Saturday in Clemson likely will be debated by many Wolfpack fans right up to game time and possibly after the closing bell.

It should be, too. Based on Beck’s performance in last weekend’s win over William & Mary, there’s a legitimate argument for sticking with him. And if there’s ever been a fan base deserving of a voice, it’s the Wolfpackers. Their loyalty — in football and basketball — is far beyond the call of duty."

Weekend Update

Saturday Morning

Hurricane / Tropical Storm Hanna blew through overnight and this morning.

Or, as we call it here in North Carolina - a Thunderstorm.

Saturday Evening

 

Went to the NC State - Bill & Mary game Saturday afternoon. Sister and brother-in-law drove down from NoVa and went to the game with me and Chip.

State's defense is good. Which is the only thing that kept us in the game at the beginning.

I hate to have young college players booed. We (NCSU) generally don't do that. We are demanding - but we try our best to support the team. But over the past few years, our quarterbacking has been sub-par - to say the least.

Daniel Evans has been up and down in performance. A player is supposed to get better with experience. But last year, and going into the South Carolina game last week, and the first half last night - Evans was just awful. Granted - it's a team effort - but we had ZERO first downs until Evans was replaced by Harrison Beck.

The fans have had enough. There were scattered boos - then more and more as each offense series was 3 and out. On the first offensive series - Evans' first throw was an interception.

The defense was excellent - but it was clear the offense just wasn't going anywhere.

Finally, Coach O'Brien made the change.

The change and the cheers for Beck gave the offense the boost that was needed and we started moving the ball. Plus - there were some awesome (and lucky) catches. But I believe you make your luck. The ball has to be there to give you a chance to catch it.

Again, I can't say enough about the defense. The returning guys and the new guys are going to be something special.

But offense - last night - without Harrison Beck replacing Evans - we lose the game.

Russell Wilson will be the starting quarterback next week against Clemson. Beck will be the backup.

I still don't know how the rest of the season will work out. With key senior players who are injured, player shifts, some Freshmen and Sophomores that played awesome, and erratic disappointing play by other juniors and seniors - I just don't have a clue.

Yesterday could be the only game we win this year.

Frankly, I doubt it. 5 and 7 is possible. Any more than that would be icing on the cake.

Sunday

This morning I drove up to Wake Forest to pick up a new toy.

 

 

Complete with cup holder technology.


Thanks to Georgiana, Chuck and Chip for going to the game with me yesterday. Thanks to Chip for the game photo.

Little Raccoons

Yes – there are 2 not so little raccoons. The mama has been bringing them around every night now for about 2 weeks.

Usually it’s the adult raccoon that is skittish and the babies that don’t know to be scared of humans. Not this year. The mom will feed from my hand – but the kits take off like a shot as soon as they hear the door knob turn.

They are actually not really babies at this point. She didn’t bring them around to feed until they were pretty good sized – so they’ve had a chance to learn to fear humans already. Which is the way it should be.

I’ve been trying to get some photos of them – but they take off so fast – I’ve been unsuccessful.

They look pretty healthy and they are already aggressive with their mother when it comes to feeding at the bowl of food. Looks like they’ll be OK. And that’s also probably why I haven’t seen the cats for a while.

Football

Weak One of ACC football was a bust (pun intended).

Clemson started the Tommy Bowden Death Watch right off the bat. Virginia Tech was totally unprepared for ECU. UNC and Maryland squeaked by – who cares? And dear ol NC State just plain sucks.

This week our opponent is William and Mary.

Quite possibly the only game we’ll win all year.

Sigh . . . . . . .

Sister and Brother-in-law are driving down to go to the game (and return my SUV to me – yaaaaaay!) Wonder if they’ll get here in time for kick off?

Plus Chip is going to the game.

Hopefully Hanna will blow through here Friday night so that it’ll be nice and clear for the Saturday night game. Shouldn’t be too much of a big deal. (Ike, on the other hand, is starting to look kind of scary)

The Counterfeiters

The Counterfeiters is a very good movie. Difficult to watch.

Middle Age White Guys

No matter who wins - we'll either have a black President or a woman Vice-president.

Finally, it's no longer presumed that our leadership will all be middle age white guys.

ESPN 7:30 PM +Addendum

Things aren’t looking so good for the Wolfpack for tonight’s game.

We haven’t even started the season yet and our top 2 running backs and our top wide receiver (Jamelle Eugene, Toney Baker and Donald Bowens) are out with injuries. We were supposed to have a good running game - until now.

Our offensive line is so weak that Coach O’Brien had to move 2 defensive guys over to the offensive line. And to top it all off, senior guard Curtis Crouch came down with a case of cranial rectal syndrome* and Coach is letting him sit this one out in Raleigh.

We haven’t even taken a single game snap and we’re already beat all to shit and the team’s half depleted.

Quarterback Russell Wilson will be making his first college start tonight. They say he’s very mobile. Well, he better be. If I were South Carolina I’d be blitzing the hell out of him.

Run Russell run. Run for your life!

LOL


*head stuck up his ass

Addendum

34 to ZERO.

In spite of the score - our defense is very much improved over last year. But they had to stay on the field far too long as the offense couldn't sustain any drives. Sad to say - our offense is inept.

I had thought we would go 6 and 6. I'm revising that to 3 and 9.

What It Was, Was Football

NC State University at the Univeristy of South Carolina, Thursday, 19:30, ESPN.

What It Was, Was Football was recorded in Raleigh in 1953 for Capitol Records.

NC State at South Carolina

South Carolina and NC State have a lot in common when it comes to football. Actually, a good argument could be made that NC State aspires to be South Carolina.

What I mean is - the culture, the desire, the aspiration, the need to be a big time football program.

South Carolina has been on a football quest for decades.

Some trivia – NC State has been to over twice as many bowl games as South Carolina. And here’s something that would surprise a lot of people – South Carolina had ZERO bowl wins until 1995 when they finally squeaked out a win at the Outback Bowl.

For years and years South Carolina had been an outcast independent school. They left the ACC and decided to try and emulate Notre Dame.

Yeah – that was a good decision.

So then, South Carolina joined the SEC where they were the doormat school year in and year out. Think Duke in the ACC.

Yet in each of those dismal years, including 0 – 11 just a few years ago, the South Carolina faithful filled up Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. Not some rather wimpy sized stadium like Wake Forest, Duke, East Carolina or Boston College – Williams-Brice Stadium holds 80,000. And it was filled up every losing Saturday.

South Carolina has always had a big time football school mentality. They just didn’t have the big time program.

But that never stopped them from trying. Finally, this millennium, they hired Lou Holtz to work his magic. Which he did (along with leaving them in a bit of an NCAA cheating mess).

Instead of overreacting to the cheating, South Carolina decided to buckle down, fix the problems, and still go after a big time coach.

They got National Champion Steve Spurrier.

Spurrier is a lot of fun. He’s bright and energetic. He’s got a real big mouth. And he’s got an even bigger ego.

He’s probably the best college football couch in the whole country.

It’s probably tougher to win the SEC Championship than it is for a school in another conference to win the National Championship. If South Carolina is to ever have a chance at the SEC Championship or beyond – Steve Spurrier has got to be the best shot.

NC State opens the 2008 season Thursday night at South Carolina on ESPN.

At one point last year, South Carolina was 6 - 1 and ranked 6th in the Nation.

Then - they dropped their last 5 games to end up 6 and 6 (Which is alluded to in the video below).

Reading the preseason predictions - South Carolina is anywhere from a possible top 25 to a losing season disappointment.

My guess is that South Carolina should be favored by 10 to 14 points.

This is going to be a tough game. Two programs with aspirations and dreams. A rocking stadium filled with 80,000 screaming fans.

Southern college football as it should be.

The Downfall

This was put together by a Clemson fan. I’ve linked to it before. This scene from The Downfall has been used in numerous spoofs. But frankly, none has the meticulous attention to detail as this one.

You’d have to be well versed in the history of South Carolina Football AND South Carolina Basketball AND ACC basketball (Georgia Tech is alluded to but not specifically mentioned) as well as know a little about Southern Drag Queen tradition to get all the inside jokes. It sums up South Carolina football ego perfectly.

So, without further adieu -

Hitler – Fascist Dictator and Number 1 South Carolina Fan

Sunday Morning

Entry about nothing really. Just a couple of photographs.

I went to breakfast at Mac's Restaurant. This 1947 Mercury was parked outside.

 

Cool ride, huh?

On the drive home, the sky was full of pretty clouds.

 

What a nice day.

Odds and Ends

Joe Biden? A good guy I’m sure. But he would not have been my first choice. Early on I was leaning towards former Virginia governor Mark Warner. But he took himself out of the lineup.

I’m not really sure who would have made the best choice. I think Evan Bayh from Indiana would have been a better choice.

One thing I know, it would not have been Hillary Clinton. Not only would she be divisive (as both a president or vice-president) – it seems she does not possess leadership abilities.

I have just finished reading an article in The Atlantic about how her campaign for the nomination failed. In addition to totally screwing up her campaign, (which shows mismanagement) - here, a direct quote from the article shows a lack of emotional equilibrium.

“. . . her advisers couldn’t execute strategy; they routinely attacked and undermined each other, and Clinton never forced a resolution. Major decisions would be put off for weeks until suddenly she would erupt, driving her staff to panic and misfire.

Clinton ran on the basis of managerial competence—on her capacity, as she liked to put it, to “do the job from Day One.” In fact, she never behaved like a chief executive, and her own staff proved to be her Achilles’ heel. What is clear from the internal documents is that Clinton’s loss derived not from any specific decision she made but rather from the preponderance of the many she did not make. Her hesitancy and habit of avoiding hard choices exacted a price that eventually sank her chances at the presidency.”

We are about to finish 8 years with an incompetent frat boy dumb ass. I certainly wouldn’t want to trade for 4 or 8 years of incompetent psycho bitch.

I’m looking forward to seeing who John McCain chooses.

Football

Football starts Thursday - NC State at South Carolina. Russell Wilson is going to be our starting quarterback. I was surprised. I figured it would continue to be senior Daniel Evans. I don’t think it really matters – we’re probably looking at 6 and 6 with either of them.

Mike Glennon will get to red shirt which is a good thing. He’s the future quarterback but he’ll clearly have to fight for the starting job next year or the year after.

Movies

Watched The Constant Gardner. Pretty good – not great – but pretty good. Also watched Brick – OK – not really that good – but OK.

I Want My 2 Hours of Life Back

After all these years, I finally got around to watching Unbearable Pretentiousness of Boring on DVD. Special Edition no less. How did this crappy movie get such critical acclaim?

Probably the same critics that got all excited and wet themselves watching The English Pomposity.

Dude, Where's My Truck?

I’ve been thinking about getting a riding lawn mower for a couple of years. When Nuke was here pretty much full time, it wasn’t a pressing issue as he cut the grass. Grass cutting was part of his ‘rent’. Now, he’s overseas 70% of the time and getting a mower is becoming more of a serious possibility.

I’ve been looking at what’s available.

Basically it comes down to something in the $900 to $1,500 range for a good solid lawn mower of the MTD / Honda range. Or going all out and getting a John Deer or Yazoo lawn tractor and spending upwards of $3,000 or more.

After reading reviews and commentaries – I’ve decided that with my, relatively speaking, small amount of grass – the less expensive lawn mower (vs. lawn tractor) will do just fine. Something in the 36 to 48 inch mower deck range.

The best thing to do is to look for sales and such and get one at the end of this summer season.

Another option I am looking at is a second hand mower.

I got on line last night and started looking at the on line classifieds and Craig’s list.

If I find something in the $200 - $400 range and under 5 years old – I’ll look at it. Possibly from moving sales and such. Any more $ and I’ll just pony up the extra and buy a new mower with warranty.

So – last night I found 3 that looked promising. I figured I’d look at them this weekend and if one of them jumped out as a great deal – I’d buy it.

Just as I was getting the phone to call to set up times to look at the mowers – I remembered – I DON”T HAVE MY TRUCK TO PULL MY TRAILER TO GET A MOWER!

My SUV is in NoVa at my sister and brother-in-law’s house. They drove it home when my brother’s truck broke down while they were here in NC.

Brother’s pick up truck is fixed but I don’t really have anyone to go with me to pick it up from the shop.

It might have the right size hitch for my trailer but it might not. I don’t know.

Frankly, I’d rather use MY truck to haul MY trailer for which I KNOW everything works and fits and the lights and brakes hook up, etc..

That’s why I have that stuff.

Sister and brother-in-law are coming down to return my SUV to me on the weekend of the NCSU – William and Mary football game – which is next month.

So, I can’t realistically buy a used lawn mower until then. So, no point in calling these people to look at what they have for sale.

Come to think of it – I can’t buy a new lawn mower either – unless I want to pay extra for delivery.

Grrrrrrrrrrr

Post Script Saga

Let's see - truck broke down in June.

Found a local mechanic.

Repairs are going to be a bit more extensive than initially thought. And by extensive - we mean expensive.

The game plan was to have the truck repaired and to make the SUV / Pick Up Truck switch when the sister and brother-in-law came down for Uncle Raymond's birthday party. Best laid plans of mice and men.

From June to the September football game - yeah - that works.

I just thought of something else. Sister and brother-in-law are driving down on Saturday the day of the game. They plan to get a hotel room in Raleigh so they can get an early Sunday morning start back to NoVa.

Which means I will have to somehow make arraignments to get the Pick Up Truck to meet them in Raleigh.

I'd already decided to mail the tickets to them so they can just meet me at the game as they are always late. Always.

Last time (last year) they met me for a game - my sister insisted that it become an 'event' with tailgating. Which I don't do. OK - Fine. She wants it special for them so I'll go along with it. Putting up with that every few years is OK.

So I went way the hell out of my way and put together a pretty nice spread - not just some crap from KFC. I'm talking about real plates, special morning trip to a local brewery for fresh brewed beer - home made bread and cookies - the works.

Naturally - the calls start a couple hours before they are supposed to meet me at the stadium. Late start, traffic, blah, blah, blah, yap, yap, yap.

They ALWAYS have an excuse.

Bottom line - missed the first half of the football game. First time in at least a decade that I've missed kick off!

So last night I emailed the sis to tell her I was mailing her the tickets so we can meet up at the seats. I said I wanted to get to the game early as there are going to be some events going on. Which is true. It will be military appreciation day and they'll have some displays along with an F-18 fly over before the game.

And, I vowed after last time never to rely on them to meet me at a game on time again.

Of course, LOL, she emails me back to suggest that since something is going on before the game - we could all meet up early for it.

Yeah right.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me - ahhhh no - not gonna happen.

Tickets go in the mailbox this weekend.

And I still won't have a riding lawn mower.

:-)