Happy Birthday, Fry!

Hope birthday is so amazing, your hair turns blonde again ... err ... yeah ... blonde.  Happy Birthday!

72 HOURS!!!

Til I'm at Fenway for Yankees vs. Red Sox!!!!

I'm an uncle

Congrats to my sister and brother in law ... and Happy Birthday, Luca. Welcome to the world little buddy!

Facebook Post of the Day

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!! The USGS has determined that the epicenter of yesterday's earthquake was in a cemetery just outside of DC. The cause appears to be all of our founding fathers rolling over in their graves! 
p.s. - Thanks to my friend Ali for posting!

Loyalty and Respect

When one of the Navy SEALs killed on August 6 was laid to rest, his dog refused to leave his side ... Rest In Peace Petty Office 1st Class Jon Tumilson.

EARTHQUAKE !!!

I don't know about you, but that quake yesterday (the one that CNN and NBC wouldn't stop talking about) really shook me up.  So much so that the elevator isn't working, forcing me to take the stairs, and we lost AC for 42 seconds! 42 seconds ... ahhhhh! 

Ok, I get it ... if you were in DC or VA, it would be frightening but for the media to keep going on and on and on about how it was felt in Atlanta and Nashville, at significant levels, is just wrong ... really wrong. I've been in an earthquake, they suck ... I hate them ... this wasn't one of those. 

Anywhoo ... enough about my ramble on it ... let's make fun of Wolf Blitzer:

• Naturally, there is a nuclear power plant in VA so CNN had to wonder if it was going to "melt down".  Quote of the day came from some random engineer who responded to the following question (not verbatim): "Question -- Do you feel that this earthquake is going to have the same effects as the reactor in Fukishimia, Japan?"  Response -- "Well, Wolf, not really because this was only a 5.0 instead of an 8.9 and most importantly, a 70 foot wall of water didn't hit the reactor." 

Here are some pics of the damage:  LINK

Libya is free ... of Toyota Priuis!

Since I've been relegated to 1/2 days of work, more on that in a bit and still working more than a full day just in a dark cave in the afternoon, I've watched a good bit of coverage from the shores of Tripoli and the "freedom" of Libya. I figured I'd bullet out my thoughts or else the stream of conscious paragraph form might cause migraines:

1. The Libyan Freedom army, bunch of ex-Iraqi insurgents backed by NATO in Nike / Adidas track suits, have "taken" back Tripoli.  And by taken back, they have driven their Toyota Highlanders into town, fired off a couple hundred celebratory rounds and then left when the snipers started to pick off the soldiers celebrating in the streets.  Quick military note (Eindhoven, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Paris in 1944) -- make sure you've cleared the town of the enemy, before celebrating.


2. CNN is all over this and their reporters are getting shot at and unhappy. Why ... because they are imbedded with insurgents who have the military strategy of a four year old who is playing Stratego. Remember Stratego ... the spy dude was my favorite piece.


3. Ghadaffi's kids were captured ... or maybe not.  I know that the one that was captures sure looked free when he was standing on top of a tank shooting a member of the Libyan Freedom Army.  Seems that our defn of captured and free are different. For instance, if I'm standing in New York City, I have not occupied the city with my army, I'm clearly just standing in New York City. 


4. I've asked this question for years ... why must people in the Middle East (I'm considering changing its name to the Middle Least) insistent on firing their rifles in the air to celebrate.  Here are my issues with that:  1. Bullets must come down, 2. Perhaps you might want to save your ammo ... the track suits give off the impression you not the greatest supplied army in the world, 3. If the enemy is still in the city and your heaving hundreds of celebratory rounds in the air, what are you going to do when they come around the corner because you have pretty much wasted all your ammo and announced your presence to the bad guys? 


5. And most importantly, are those people not worried about crazy Gaddafi? Here's a guy that blew up a passenger plane and has a good deal of mustard gas and other fun, exciting WMDs ... and yes, he still has them. There's nothing preventing him from using them on his own people ... I mean, he's been shooting them for the last couple of months and I promise he won't surrender.


6. The sad part ... this looks like Iraq all over again. Who's going to stop the looting and clan fighting once Gaddafi is going to die? (see Iraq, Yugoslavia if you want proof of religious / ethnic freedom after a republic falls). 


7. If Obama sends more troops from vacation, he ought to be exiled to Greenland with out a parka. Let the French sort this one out ... they were eager to start it, so let them finish it.

Peace all you hard workers trying to save the economy and your jobs, Obama out ...

Disclamier: This post may or may not be the cause of Post Concussion Syndrome -- the anger symptom.  

"Well, the economy is crap, everyone in Congress is fighting, Joe is in China and since I just told Syria what's up ... why don't I go on vacation," thought the anointed one as he stared at the ceiling in the Oval Office earlier this week. 

Well, that's what I'm assuming he's thinking because he sure doesn't want to get his hands dirty and get to work. I bet that "town hall" campaign (oops, it wasn't a campaign tour, sorry Axlrod) was super tiring (and for the record cheap for us tax payers). You know, after not answering questions to the media (sans a REAL hard hitting interview with Wolf Blitzer that said NOTHING) and talking for 20 minutes in a couple of campaign friendly towns, the anointed one probably needs a vacation.

Seriously, go on vacation. Stay on vacation. Have a staycation ... don't care just please don't' come back.  Honestly, I bet the stock market improves while your gone and your approval rating might go up since people would rather have you on vacation than doing NADA in DC.

The sad part is that when things are bad at my job and sh*t is hitting the fan, I can't just take a week to kick it on the company dime because 1. I'd get fired and 2. I can't do things on the company dime. Enjoy your vacation ... 

But be prepared for some horse sh*t, dramatic return to Washington on Wednesday as he prepares to SAVE the country!  Garbage ... absolute garbage ... anyone seen my meds?

Someone get this boy a helmet

One of the many reasons for not writing much lately has been the result of some serious spaciness as well as sever headaches caused by a nice smack on the head a few weeks ago.  After a quick visit to the neurologist this morning, he confirmed that yes ... I had Concussion #6.  Aside from Chris Miller and the chick from Garden State, do you know anyone except Jed that's had 6 concussions?

The even better news, I have Post-concussion syndrome which symptoms are defined as:  The condition can cause a variety of symptoms: physical, such as headache; cognitive, such as difficulty concentrating; and emotional and behavioral, such as irritability.

That's funny ... so that means if you've been around me in the last month I have been irritated, stupid and in pain.  Well those symptoms pretty much sum up the last ten years. 

So does this mean my life is about to turn in to Garden State?

Anyone seen my DeLorean?

Today has been so much fun, I actually goggled DeLorean / Time Machine to see if there was a way to go back or fast forward time.  Pretty much, the sky is falling ... and I say that because a giant tree limb hit my car on the way into work this morning as well. Yeah, that will wake you up.

Lucky for me, no damage but I've learned that if things are going to happen, you should bet on it will happen to me ... unless that "happen" is winning the lottery. Needless to say I've donated so much to the lottery / education system, I'm pretty sure there will be an elementary school named after me soon. 

So that made me think, if I had a DeLorian, what personal things would I go back and change (aside from today and the current goat rodeo):

1. This morning ... and pretty much all of this week. It's just been a giant festering terd from minute one except for the weather. I'm loving the 60 degree mornings!


2. Throwing Greg Mulucknik (Sophomore Year, Catcher for Duke University) an 0-2 Fastball, belt high that he hit so hard, it broke the sound barrier and landed about 520 feet away. I still have nightmares about that pitch.


3. Owning a Pink Bicycle when I was a teenager -- just a poor, poor decision


4. Car accidents 1, 2 and 3 which all resulted in concussions:  I'd like to go back and just say, "Hey Jed, just get a cab home. You know these women don't know how to drive and being the passenger is only going to cause you broken bones." Granted, accident 3 did have a man driving but for the sake of argument, let's call him a woman.  


5. Mumford and Sons and Arrested Development in concert:  I saw both of these bands live and I want my time back.  Also, I guess you can add the movies Kansas City and What Dreams May Come -- two movies I saw in the theater (both were dates) that I wish to never see again.


6. 2001 and 2002 - Two years filled with poor decisions and I'd like to go back and re-arrange a few events.


7. Not investing in Google ... I had a chance, but I think I bought some furniture or a TV or something.  


8. The night I bet $2,000 on Black (roulette) because Wesley Snipes said, "always bet on black".  Guess what ... always bet on Red


9. The comment I made as I walked off the baseball field my senior year in college, "Yeah, I'm done with running. You won't see me running unless I"m being chased by the cops."  Fast foward 40 pounds and I think I should have never stopped running. 


10. My first three months in London:  I wish I would have had a better attitude about it all ... would have been a much better time and good chance I would still be there.  Not that being back is bad, but when you compare Atlanta and London ... enough said, you can't compare Atlanta and London other than they are both cities and both have people.


11. Sundance Film Festival:  I worked Five of them and only have a handful of drunken actor stories ... I should have more. Oh and yes, Jeremey Piven is a clown.


12. Taking Red Pants and WWJCD to Felini's for lunch and then backing my six week old Explorer into a concert pole resulting in $7,000 worth of damage. 

These are just a few and I'm sure there are thousands more but I found it a fun exercise to attempt to sway a pretty lousy morning. 

Uh Oh ... Problems for Smiling Joe and POTUS in Iowa

And to think ... this is just the beginning of the madness for the White House. I'm not a Tea Party supporter by any means, but they are going to cause the anointed one a few problems in the next 14 months. I do feel sorry for Smiling Joe ... I bet Michelle punished him and took away his bottle of bourbon for the night.

Nice Guys Finish Last

Based on this story, time to go back to the days of Mad Men and start dressing down all the "really smart" people in the office. Since I'm motivated by all things involving green dead presidents, time to start cracking down in the office. LINK

(CNN) -- Leo Durocher was right: Nice guys finish last. Or at least they earn less, according to a new study.

"'Niceness' -- in the form of agreeableness -- does not appear to pay," the authors conclude starkly. There are upsides to being nice in the office, such as being better liked by co-workers, the authors say, pointing to a raft of earlier studies.

But the bottom line, according to four studies they conducted, is that "agreeableness is negatively related to income and earnings." In other words, nice guys earn less.

And the authors do mean guys. They found that men who are nice, in defiance of gender stereotypes, "do take a hit for being highly agreeable," suffering a "backlash" that shows up in their paychecks. Women, on the other hand, do not appear to get the same benefits men do for being disagreeable.

"Do Nice Guys -- and Gals -- Really Finish Last? The Joint Effects of Sex and Agreeableness on Income," by Timothy A. Judge of the University of Notre Dame, Beth A. Livingston of Cornell University and Charlice Hurst of the University of Western Ontario, is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The findings resonated with workers around the world.

"You have to be ruthless in the corporate world," said Farhana Qaosar of Sydney. "If you have a weak spot or dare to show it, people will take your advantage. That's how it is. You don't succeed because you know more but because you can adapt."

The study made sense to Matt DeFaveri of Cleveland as well, he said. “A company full of people in agreement would have a hard time establishing or maintaining any kind of hierarchy," he said. "Someone has to differentiate themselves from the pack, and being 'disagreeable' seems like a way to accomplish that. I don't think it's fair to associate disagreeableness with meanness, though."

Jessica Fearnow of Sacramento, California, found the study explained things for her -- and drew some cold comfort from it.  "I was just thinking about how I am not making that much more than I was as an intern" nine years ago, she said. "I guess that makes me a really nice person?"

Happy Tuesday

Lots of things happened this weekend ... but we won't talk about any of those political issues. Let's focus on something fun:

• Caught up with Skrat, The General and Officer 173 out in Suburbia to talk about the good ole days at SHS. Great time and always fun to relive some of my most memorable years of playing baseball. Of all the days I played baseball, my Junior year in High School was by far the best. Some amazing team mates, friends and most importatly, the best coach I had in all the years I played baseball. 


• Friday and Saturday I attended the festivities for Athen's Girls wedding. It was a great time by all and I'll post some of the picture (and yes, all the bride shots are from behind the group b/c I"m not the photographer). Always good to meet up with some old friends and watch two happy people get married. I've known Athens Girl for over 20 years so you gotta love a wedding where one of your longest friends get married.  Oh and all the UGA connections and announcements were entertaining ... there was even an ex-Atlanta mayor in attendance.  One key lesson / think Jed forgot ... a flask ... always carry a flask. 


• In my latest move to purchase dangerous things, I acquire a .22 Walter hand gun. Granted, it's only a .22 but it is a ton of fun to shoot. My only advice, be careful of the casings flying out the side. I have two blister marks on my forearm from when the casings bounced off the wall onto my arm.


• Started coaching baseball again and wow ... did I miss baseball.  Of course, it is always good to have some good "students" and after about 10 minutes, all of my drills from HS and College came back to life. I'm thinking that once I'm over this professional gig, I'm going to go rebuild a High School program and win a few championships ... or lose a lot ... but we will have fun a long the way and probably cause a few fights. 

Hopefully more rants and emails to follow this week. No travel for 10 days and it actually looks like I'm going to have some free time. I'd do almost anything to remove all the drama from life and have a quiet couple of weeks.

Come and get your beatin' rioters ...

If your on the side of the rioters, then you should delete this web address. Love this video of the London police putting a serious beat down on some hoodies on their bikes. Any chance these guys can play inside linebacker for UGA?

Some pics from San Diego

The Carrier is the CV 70 USS Carl Vinson (where they dumbed Bin Laden) and the rest are of some random places and Polar Bears ... I love Polar Bears. 

The London Riots

I've been fixated by the London riots because I'm concerned for my friends as well as I once lived in that lovely little village by the river.  The scenes are appalling and it just makes me think what would happen here if these riots broke out.

Through all of this, I'm amazed by the way the English leaders have stepped up (or so it appears from this side of the pond). Like them or not, at least they are vocal and working through the issues. I mean, our economy collasped (once again) yesterday and our Congressional douche bags are on vacation, while the puppet in charge is blaming everyone behind a podium without taking questions.

David Gergen (CNN) wrote a great piece yesterday (link) about how we need leadership like Winston Churchill but we just don't have it -- well, that's more of my take on the article. But the fact is that in a time of crisis, Churchill rallied his people to get behind an idea and solve a situation rather than blame or fight with others. It's a great lesson / article that our leaders should learn, but I'm afraid that they have their heads stuck up the way up their ass and won't find the time to read the article.

Here's part of Cameron's speech from Number 10 this morning about the riots across London. Like him or not, its a pretty direct speech that gets right to the point and states solutions that the government is doing to fix the situation.  You would never hear this from any of our "leadership" - we would somehow figure out how to blame Bush first, then complain about Tax cuts before getting to the real issue. I love how he ends it ... "now if you excuse me, we have work to do"  ... not, later bitches, we're on vacation ... or ... POTUS will not take questions after the press conference.


"And I have this very clear message to those people who are responsible for this wrongdoing and criminality: you will feel the full force of the law and if you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishment.

"And to these people I would say this: you are not only wrecking the lives of others, you're not only wrecking your own communities - you are potentially wrecking your own life too.

"My office this morning has spoken to the Speaker of the House of Commons and he has agreed that Parliament will be recalled for a day on Thursday so I can make a statement to Parliament and we can hold a debate and we are all able to stand together in condemnation of these crimes and also to stand together in determination to rebuild these communities.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, there is important work to be done. Thank you."

Obama should be a de-motivational speaker

From 9 AM to 1:35 PM, the market was crashing slowly (400 points).  Five hours ... 400 points. From 1:30 to 4 PM (2 and half hours) it went down 260 points ... that's kinda a fast crash. Wonder what caused that drastic reduction ... Oh, yeah, the annointed one went on air and started talking about taxing the rich and blaming others because they didn't make a deal on the debt issue.

Nice job, annointed one. Please leave ... goto Hawaii, Chicago or somewhere but please leave. And stop blaming everyone else ... if you would have developed a plan, they you have the right to blame others - but you didn't. So ... simmer, simmer down now.

Ok ... off soap box ... and off to sleep. Lots of info and catch ups later or tomorrow.

Ahh ... San Diego ... that's German for ...

I've only been here for 24 hours but have decided that San Diego is amazing and certainly a future spot for vacation.  Granted, I've only been to a few places that are touristy or work related, but so far, so good. Any time you can switch 100+ weather for no humidity 80+ weather is a tremendous win.  Some take aways from day one:

• Seersucker: Amazing restaurant. Naturally, we ate at another Top Chef restaurant because that's what Jed does :).  We had a number of amazing things including a pulled pork / peach dish, best beef tartare I've had in years, skirt steak with chimichuri / mint and Bernese sauce and since its a Top Chef restaurant, you have to have a braised short rib and a scallop.
• On a wander, we stumbled into Petco Park, made our way through the outfield and the park surrounding the stadium.  We were escorted out by security, but they sure were friendly.  So far, everyone out here is amazingly friendly ... a bit odd and aloof, but friendly. 
• Since I have two 1/2 marathons pending, we went for a jog around Petco Park and the waterfront. Aside from the fact I went running right after a heavy lunch and felt like vomiting the whole time, it was amazing - only because of the scenery. Beautiful area and even though its hot, it doesn't really feel that bad because there is zero humidity. 
• My hotel, Omni, is connected to the convention center and Petco Park which means win / win for work and for fun.  Petco is a fantastic park and I love how they have mixed it right into the city.  Dear Atlanta -- learn this and stop building stadiums in shitty neighborhoods. 
• On the way in from the airport, we passed the USS Carl Vinson (CV 70) -- better know as Osama Bin Laden's last known residence.  There are also a number of Boomer subs and guided missile frigates / destroyers in the bay and we all know how much I love to look at warships. 
• And English might be the third most spoken language ... of course Spanish is one and Russian seems to be number two. 
• The local news is so bad it is amazing ... it really is like watching Anchorman. Oh and all the weather women are preggo. 

Ok, back to work - off to the convention center to build things and then drive around San Diego and pick up equipment for the event.  Hope to take some more pics and find a few minutes to get away and try something else new.

Greatest Birthday Gift EVER

The picture says it all ... FENWAY BABY!!!! Thanks Retired Sorority Girl ... this might be the greatest gift EVER.

An Update from 35,000 feet ... and no, it's not about the idiots in DC

Once upon a time, Delta loved to fly ... and it shows. Well, out with the old and in with their new slogan because this crew doesn't love to fly.  Here are some fun things about my flight to the left coast:  TVs are broken, all movies are $9.99 (ten dollars to watch Fast Five -- really?), there is a menu but they didn't stock any sandwiches (5:30 hour flight), someone evacuated their colon in the seat next to me, condensation dripping down the walls on to the seat is normal and pretty sure the captain just addressed all of us in Finnish.  Yay!

Oh well, at least the destination will be nice. Jed is taking his skills to San Diego for a week and hanging out at the 2011 BlogHer conference.  Needless to say, Jed is there for the work but will be curious what it 4,000 female bloggers think.  Me thinks I'm going to need another vacation soon.

Much much more to come because rumor has it, San Diego has the ocean, polar bears, good food, a baseball team and a few other fun things that I'm not aware of at this moment. 

Pretty sure the only people who like this deal are Asian ...

... because judging from the reaction in the Asian markets vs. the Western media, the US financial markets and in DC (aside from that shanty on Penn Ave.) no one is really pleased with the "deal".  The lead story on CNN is titled:  The Deal: Plenty for Everyone to Hate.  Seriously -- Obama's network is even saying its crap (and you should see what his party is saying about him Link ... if I were Hilary, I'd consider running for president ... ASAP."

Looking forward to seeing what John Stewart has to share ... I bet it will be Comedy (INSERT WORD) - he can no longer say GOLD because he just sold it for $1,600 an ounce.

Looks like we are all going to need someone to blame and I say we pick on Joe Biden. Since POTUS refuses to do anything but take praise and hurl out lame / vague criticisms (even to his own party), let's just blame all of this on Smiling Joe. He's got on a 24/7 perma-smile and I'm going to guess that he's frequently drunk, so let's just say it's all his fault and move on. We are going to need someone to blame when POTUS' new "committee" doesn't decide on the budget and he invokes his executive power to raises our taxes. I'm not fully behind raising taxes because I feel we should cut spending and programs that don't make sense (cough cough ... national healthcare) first. The way we are headed, they ought to show a video on all inbound flights titled welcome to the United States of Europe.

POTUS will get his wish ... someday soon, we will all be apart of a nationalized healthcare system - either because we will have all lost our jobs and that's our only choice, or the Chinese will have called on their assets and acquired our nation. 

Personally, I'd rather go out fighting ... WOLVERINES !!!!!