Oh well, the end of another year is upon us... it is a time for Reflection, and then boozing youself to near oblivion to erase the painful memories from your head.

I could write a lot, say a lot, and generally ramble on about various highlights an lowlights of the year (and the fact that in 2.5 hours of ESPN "End of the Year Sportscenter" coverage they didn't ONCE mention the World Cup -- beyond a handful of Very brief clips during video mointages -- and gave Lance Armstrong little more than a passing mention... Assholes!) but it seem So contrived and... well, cliched, frankly... and I just don't feel like writing a lot, so I won't. It'sone of those "too much to say and don't know where to start so I'll just keep my damn-fool mouth shut" kind of things...

well, that was my super-lucky-special End Of The Year message... how inspiring...

Today has been the day of General Malaise and Severe Lassitude. My sleep cycle (the Circadian rythym, as it were) is still all fucked up, and now I may be perpetuating it by breaking my steadfast "no coffee after 3:00 pm rule."

I tried to go for a run. Knowing I needed to do Something to give my physiology a boost, I decided to head over to Discovery Park and do my 4.5 mile down-to-the-lighthouse-loop, in walk-jog form, knowing that running the whole thing was out fo the question. I ended up walking 2/3's of it, including All uphill protions. I feel like a bit of a pussy, but I also know that when recovering from illness, it is best not to push things too hard, or one merely extends the recovery period.

I haven't been sleeping all that well the last couple of nights, what with this cold and all. But I believe I am "over the hump" as I went for a jog (albeit Very slow) today, and am feeling clearly better. now I'm into the "not really sick but still a bit of a sniffle" stage that seems to last for the better part of a week.

Friday night, I took my "Nighttime" cold medicine about 10:30, with some "upper-respitory system cold medicine" (aka whiskey) and dutifully fell asleep about midnight. Unfortunately, I was Wide Awake by 5:00, the typical cold-induced insomnia, so I headed downstairs to watch some TV and take a couple more "Nighttime" cold pills. By 7 I was back asleep, but of course I didn't wake up until 11:30.

Last night, "we" headed out to Red Robin. It wasn't really my expedition, and I didn't even decide to tag along until the last minute, because I hadn't been feeling all that well most of the day. Ostensibly, this was supposed to be a chance for Laurie to hang out with her old high-school friends, but I got the definite impression that she doesn't really enjoy their company all that much. Greg was going along for obvious reasons, and it turned out that John Glover was planning on coming along, too, so I decided, "what the hell."

We started at Red Robin, on the Waterfront, where we met up with Laurie's friends Tara and Corene (we all went to high school together) and their respective sig. ot's. Red Robin kinda blows, and they charge Way too much for beer, and it was only meant to be a "jumping off" place before heading somewhere else. I immediately decided we should head up the hill to Kells, an Irish bar in Post Alley, because, as I put it repeatedly, "I know a guy there." The "guy" in question is in fact the co-owner (along with his borther) who I play soccer with.

The "Sig. Ot's" for some reason decided they needed to go somewhere else, and Tara and Corene agreed to meet up with them after hanging out with us at Kells for a while. They left after one drink.

So once we got there, we fought the crowds, grabbed a table, started downing the Black and Tans, and listened to Irish music. After a bit, I decided to go find Patrick, and he actually saw me before I saw him, which was kinda cool (as compared to me having to go up to him and jab him in the ribs or something to get his attention). I proceeded to spend most of the rest of the evening mostly ignoring "my people," instead hanging out with Patrick, his brother Jared, and talking with a friend of theirs, Lane'.

So, loaded up on "cold medicine" (aka Black and Tans), and having since returned to my table, we (now down to Laurie, Greg, and John) left about 1:00.

Once I got to bed, it was after 2:00, and I pretty much pased out right away. But once again, I was wide awake by 5:00. I got up, drank some water, and I honestly can't remember if I went downstairs to watch some TV or not. Anyway, at some point, I fell back asleep and once again slept until a little after 11:00. Tonight, i'm going to try to get myself back on a more "normal" schedule.

If you condsider that Thursday night I went up to Murphy's with Laurie, Greg, Jon (Cap'n Jon Szyperski, that is) and John (Glover), then we came back here and "post-func'ed," watching some Simpson's episodes on DVD, during which I stupidly drank some Scotch, I guess I have been going out a lot lately. As I recall, I didn't sleep all that well that night either (largely because of drinking the Scotch after all that beer at Murphy's!), and I can't really remember doing much of anything Friday. Oh well, I guess that's what they call "Good Clean Livin'"

Well, I never expanded on my Christmas day experiences, and I intended to, but I don't really feel like it now. Let's just say that Santa was good to me, and beyond the brewing equipment, I got some books and the Simpson's first season on DVD (I'm enjoying listening to the audio commentary tracks). Dinner was reall, really good, and I just finished off the last of the leftovers I took home. This has always been a favorite time of year for me, with the chance to play with my new Toy's, and now the New Year is fast approaching.

here are my "Pick 'Em" picks
Tampa over Chicago
Sandy Ego over See Hacks
New England over Miami
Philly over NJ Giants
S.F. 7x7's over St. L'ams
Raiders over Chefs

ugh... I'm coming down with a cold... this sucks.
Christmas was... it Was. 22 people at the 'Rents house for dinner and then the gift exchange. (just the Rents and I in the morning opening gifts), 5 of whom were 4 or younger, including two toddlers. Too much for me. But the spiced Xmas ale from Ambig-Dis was a real hit. I got some all-grain brewing equpiment (10-gallon kettle with false bottom and spigot, and sparger) so I'll be making Breakfast Stout, all-grain style, sometime Very soon.

.here are my pictures from X-mas day

I'd write more, but I'm just tired and want to drink some tea and read my book...

other than Greg, it was a lousy week for "Pick 'Em"

Jake (that's me!)
6 pts (yi yi yi!)

Tyler
12 pts

DanG
4 pts (well, I suppose it beats ZERO!)

Greg (who in the three weeks has participated, has gone 58/90, or .644!)
19 pts

Next week's games:
(Sunday night) Tampa-St Petersburg @ Champagne Ill. (aka Chicago)
(Monday night) San Fran 7x7's @ St. L'ams
C-addled See Hacks @ Sandy Ego Bolts
Miami @ New England
Philly Iggles @ N.J. Giants (Saturday game)
K.C. Chefs @ Oakland (Saturday game)

I gave you 6 games to choose from, note that two of them are on Saturday. As usual, pick your 5 you want, and'or I'll ignore the 6th.

I've been thinking about what to post today as my "Haulidaze" gift to my faithful readers (all 4.5 of you!). Originally, I thought of following last year's precedent and posting a porn clip, then some cute, fuzzy kittens frolicking, for those of you not interested in the porn, but honestly, it all seemed a little tired and contrived.

Then I though about giving y'all what I am giving myself today. Namely, nothing. To be left alone and not have to go anywhere or do anything. Sure, tomorrow will be the Big Family Thing, and I'm sure I'll get a bunch of presents, but Today is my Day, and I am sitting around, being lazy, and I refuse to go anywhere or do anything, or deal with anyone (although I may go for a jog around the Lake in bit). I can't think of a better way to spend my day.

But, in the end, that seems like a bit of a cop-out, honestly. So I'm left with doing Nothing because I suck and I'm lazy, is what it really amounts to. Oh well, at least its appropriate...

Then I decided to share with y'all a couple of my all-time favorite Haulidaze season songs: "Let Me Sleep" by Pearl Jam and "Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas" by John Denver.

oh, what the fuck... here's the sick, twisted, deviant porn clip and here are the cute kitties (I reccomend right-clicking and "save target as" to get these files)

DanG will be irritated with all these large file uploads to his server!

today I had a reall bad -- tragically, commically bad -- hair day... easily one of the 5 or 6 worst ever...

Well, thanks to the US Naval Observatory, we know that the Winter Solstice officialy hit at Dec 22, 01:14 Universal Time, which means Dec 21, 17:14 PST. So, this evening at 5:14 was officially the "low point," which means it's all uphil from here. Tonight will be the longest night of the year, and, as I understand it, using Universal time, Dec 22nd will be the shortest Day of the year (again, the "Universal Day" is 8 hours ahead of our "day," so things are kind of skewed in the translation. I'm not sure if the 21st or 22nd, in the Pacific Standard Time frame of reference is officially the "shortest" -- as defined by least sunlight -- day of the year, but they can only be seconds apart.)

So, I forgot to "mark" the official moment, and I'm kind of disappointed, but I think I wes en route from my house to the 'Rents for dinner, so there's not much I couldv'e done. I'm making up for it by enjoying a Ambig Dis Brewery X-mas Spiced Ale right now.

So, here is where I go on my rant about how our "Christmas" celebrations are almost entirely based on so-called "pagan" (or pre-Christian, or non-Christian) Solstice Celebrations, particularly the Scandanavian Yule festivities. In fact, "Christ's Mass", which was loosely observed at any time between Janurary and April for years, was moved by Rome in about 350 AD to coincide with pre-existing solstice observances. In other words, Christ wasn't born on the night of the 24th, it's just a date that was chosen by the Holy Roman Empire in order to move in on a good thing that was already going on.

I guess the point of all this, is that you don't have to be the least bit Christian to fully celebrate Christmas, name aside (and let's not get bogged down in semantics at this point). Basically, don't go to church, and you are celebrating the Yule, Saturnalia, or whatever you want it to be. It is an all-encompassing observance and celebration nearly ubiquitous to Northern Hemisphere cultures, regardless of religion. And, since "religion" before the Judeo-Christian thing really picked up steam was based on celestial and seasonal cycles, as was the calendar (the lunar calendar has 13 months in a year, and, of course, 13 is an unlcky number, so that went right out!), we're really talking about people who were a lot more "in touch" with the natural world, as compared to the Romans, who after adopting Christianity, decided to make everything arbitrary. I mean, why the fuck does the New Year begn on Janurary 1st? What the fuck is that? The New Years should start with the rebirth of the sun, on December 21st. Of course, if the calendar was actually based on the this, it wouldn't be "December 21st," but rather the 1st of whatever the first month of the year would be called. But I'm rambling.

So, If I had my druthers, we'd be talking about a celebration that reached it's peak on the Solstice, so "Christmas" as we know it would be on Dec 21st, and you'd have a few days of partying leading up to it, and then a few days after it, to observe the start of a new year.

So there you go.

I guess I should post my "Pick 'Em" picks:

Indianapolis over NY Giants
Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh
Oakland over Denver
New England over NY Jets
St. L'ams over See-Hacks

it just occurred to me I never posted the "Pick 'Em games for this weekend... it might be too late, but oh well...

(Sunday night) NY Jets @ New England
(Monday night) Pittsburgh @ Tampa Bay
St. Louis @ Seattle
Denver @ Oakland
NY Giants @ Indianapolis

As I write this, I am listening to Audioslave and drinking the very last bottle of Ambig-Dis brewery's Stubborn Jackass Barley Wine/Strong Ale.

So, as I was driving to Gig Harbor this morning, I had a bit of an anxious moment. My car started hesitating, like there was an ignition problem, or it wasn;t getting gas. The "check engine" light came on. I noticed my tank was at about 1/4. It was pretty cold last night, and has been pretty rainy lately. Can you guess what the problem was.

do do do do do do do, do do do do DO, dudoo-do-do-do
do do do do do do do, do do do do DO, dudoo-do-do-do
do do do do do do do, do do do do DO, dudoo-DA DA DA (dum dum)
(that was supposed to be the Jeopardy music they play during "Final Jeopardy"

Anyway, I stopped to fill up the tank, and dumped some HEET (tm) into the tank -- it's that fuel-line de-icer/water remover stuff. So, humidity, cold weather, condensation... that's about it.

Cousin Andy actually found the following rant, written as an email response, regarding the Mike Price to Alabama situation, Helpful and Informative. I'm as scared as you all are, and a team of psychiatrists has been dispatched to Andy's house to check up on his mental state.

So, I thought I'd post it for y'all in the Manifesto, making it officially a part of The Record:

A HA!!! But you are forgetting something Very important in this
equation: At Major programs, like UW or Alabama, Public or Otherwise, the athletic program Pays For Itself! By loading up a football stadium 6-7 times a year, plus TV money, bowl money, marketing, etc, (and in many cases, with help from the men's basketball team, and in a Very Very few cases, the women's b-ball team) the Entire athletic department can pay its expenses. We're talking scholarships (it is an absolute myth that football players are taking "opportunities" away from "average" students!), travel expenses, and, yes, coache's salaries, for not just the football team, but the soccer team, swim team, golf team... Whatever! In addition to this, it is a little-known fact that a large chunk of the coaches "guaranteed" salary comes from funds set up by The Boosters! Yes, big-money "fans" (aka donors, an example would be the UW's Tyee Club, aka the "Husky Mafia") "chip in" to pay the coaches salary. Makes sense, why do you think these people get So turned off when the team loses!

Personally, I agree, to a point, that some of these players Should be paid... but it has the potential to open up one Nasty can of worms. Beyond that, it turns out to be overwhelmingly complex when you look into it. Who gets paid? How much? Is it standardized and/or regulated? Who does so?

I'm not trying to be condescending, because I know you are generally smarter and more well-informed than the Majority of people who bitch about these things. In terms of the "he did it for the money" approach, well, you are going to hold your own opinion about that, but I hold the following truths to be self-evident:
1) in 14 years, Price had turned WSU from a perennial laughing-stock into a "were legit contenders every few years," which, frankly, is all the higher a program like WSU (or OSU for that matter) is ever going to get. I.E. Price had done "the job" at WSU, and there wasn't much else to go... except maybe down...
2) Price is, always has been, and always will be a football coach. His sons are football coaches. His daughter married a football coach. Coaching football is his life. In the hierarchy of College Football Coaching, which is his chosen, dedicated life's work, Alabama ranks far, far, far ahead of where WSU Ever will.
3) and yes, the money Was good

I listened to/watched most of his press conference today. I have chosen to take him at his word. I don't believe this is a callous, laugh-all-the-way to the bank kind of move. It hurts, it sucks, and if I was a Coug, I would probably be crying just thinking about it (as I am, in my position as a general, local "sports fan" with no real allegiances, who happens to root for the WSU football team, I would describe myself as "heartbroken.") That's life, I guess... I'm not sure what else to think/say about it.

I'm glad he will coach the Rose Bowl and finish out the season. I think it's the right move on all three sides: Price, Alabama, and WSU. I guess I just wish him the best...

Well, here's some breaking news, as I'm listening to Sports Radio 950 KJR AM right now, as David Locke and his producers are putting the pieces of the story together:
1) Mike Price, head coach of the WSU Cougs football team, is leaving for the vacant Alabama position.
2) He is adamant about, and it is apparently part of the deal, the he will coach the Rose Bowl for WSU, Jan 1, vs. Oklahoma
3) Top assistant Bill Doba will be named the new head coach for WSU tomorrow
4) He had a players-only meeting this afternoon, where he made these announcements to the team. Jason Gesser was seen leaving the room in tears (even though the Rose Bowl will be his final game for WSU, who can blame him?)

As someone who roots for the WSU football team, I can't Begin to express how crushingly disappointing this news is. Mike Price IS the Cougs. Even though Dennis Erickson had a couple decent years (before departing for Miami) before Price, Price Built this team form a perennial laughing-stock, and basement-dweller in the PAC-10, to a team making its second Rose Bowl in 5 years, and consecutive 10-win teams. He comes from an-in state high-school football factory that existed in Everett 30-40 years ago, emerging from a system that produced Dennis Erickson, and Keith Gilbertson (now a Husky assistant, and widely known as a top offensive innovator). Those three have played as big a part as Anybody in developing the wide-open, passing oriented, dynamic, spread-the field passing offenses that have become all the rage in college and NFL football. No one regularly ran the 5-wide set before Price at WSU, something you now see as a part of almost everyone's offense.

If you had come to me anytime before the last couple days, i would have bet Anything that Price would Never leave WSU. I'm pretty fucking surprised, to say the least.

As a coach, Mike Price regularly did more with less than just about any coach in the country. A lot of people may only remember the many 3 and 4-win seasons, and there were certainly a few of them, but could You get Anyone to go to Pullman?!!! This guy won two PAC-10 titles, and got to a handful of 2nd-teir bowl games, playing with half the deck of UW, Oregon, UCLA, USC, or Arizona schools.

Well, I haven't posted results in a couple weeks, because participation has been minimal and/or nonexistent, but here are the results from this weekend of NFL games: (season totals in parantheses, to be elligible for season totals, you must have participated in more than half of the weeks -- aka at least 7 of 12)


Jake (That's Me!)
12 (212/360 = .589)

Greg
14 (NA)

DanG
23 (168/330 = .509)

Tyler : send me your picks, Chumpzilla!
(91/210 = .433)

Tad : send me your picks, Chumpzilla!
(NA)

Using my amazingly complicated and highly secretive formula to calculate "first place points," here are the standings in that race:
1) DanG and Jake -- 2 pts each
2) Tyler and Tad -- 1.75 pts each
3) Greg -- 1.25 pts

AND! I never posted the final PAC-10 standings. The regular season is long over -- but stay tuned for Bowl Game Pick 'Em -- so here 's how it wraps up:
(there were a max of 266 pts available, to be eligible for the season totals, one must have participated in 5 of the 9 weeks, or 138 of the points, due to three 26-point weeks, and the bonus 8-point WSU-UCLA game... is that all complicated enough?)

Jake (That's me!)
186/266 = .699

Tyler
158/202 = .782

Tad
73/112 = NA

Greg
NA

DanG
160/258 = .620

So Tyler is the big Weiner!

Using the overly-complicated and needlessly secretive formula for "first place points," here are the final standing in that race:
1) Tyler 3.625 pts
2) DanG 2.125 pts
3) Jake (that's me!) 1.75 pts

I don't know what this means. Way back in September, I said something about all weekly winers being eligible to "win" whatever the "prize" was, in addition to the season totals winner. Soooo... if I were to hold a "random drawing" where the number of "raffle tickets" was determined by the above "first place points," I guess... I don't know how that would work...

Well, my fantasy football season is over... Antowain smith had 31 yards rushing and 41 receiving, and Christian Fauria didn't even catch a pass, so neither of them gave me Any fantasy points. So once again, I win nothing...

This weekend was the first round of our Fantasy Football league playoffs, after a 14-week regular season in which I finished 3 (out of 8) in points, and tied for 4th in won-loss record. All things considered, I had a pretty decent season.

Won-loss record determines the playoff matchups, and unfortunately, due to the vagaries of Fantasy Football, I was matched up against the team that scored the most points this season, by a very wide margin.

Well, the Monday night game starts in a few minutes, and it looks like it's all coming down to that. I am only 2 points down (thanks largely to Denver RB Clinton Portis!), which means I need either RB Antowian Smith or TE Christian Fauria (both of the Patriots) to score at least three points for me. That measn At Least 25 yards receiving from Fauria, or 50 yards rushing OR receiving from Smith, of, of course, a TD from either one, and I pull off the big upset and keep my season alive.

So, I'm going to watch the Titans-Patriots game closely tonight, as is Rich, who is three points behind Tyler's team and has Tennessee WR Derrick Mason playing tonight. I guess this is what Fantasy Football is all about, turning a game I otherwise might watch a little of but not really care about, into one I'll watch attentively. I'm ready for some footbal!

These guys have just wrapped up a comprehensive trip to every major-league sports venue in North America. You have to wade through some crap on the site, but they offer brief reviews and ratings on every place they visited. Pretty interesting. I'ts the kind of thing I should be doing with myself... if I wasn't a lazy slacker wasting my life away...

Well, it was actually rather nice this morning, with the sun even poking out a bit, but I got caught up in the Seahawks game (which they won, dramatically enough, in OT) and told myself I would go for a run or something when it was over. Of course, now that it has just ended, it has started spitting rain, and the wind has picked up a bit, and its looking like it could get nasty. I suppose that's what I deserve...

I should probably post my "Pick 'Em" picks, so y'all don't suspect me of cheating. I just got back from spending the evening at the Dog and Pony in Renton, WA (near the Boeing facility!) with Tyler and Angie and Co., and I am slightly buzzed and very sleepy. And these are the conditions under which I will make the following picks, just to prove to y'al that this is hardly a scientific process:

Atlanta over Seattle (the only question is how many rushing yards Vick will have)
St. L'ams over Arizona Cardinals
New England Patsies over Tennessee Flaming Thumbtacks
Miami Dull Fins over Oakland Ray-ders
S. F. 7x7's over G.B. Packers

I just got done watching "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer," and I am convinced that Hermie the elf and Rick Neuheisel are the same person:


Hermie, the misfit, outcast elf who wants to be a dentist


Rick Neuhiesel, head football coach for the University of Washington Huskies

Can it, you're Bender!


In the robot world, you are a bit of a lightweight in the colossal death league, but you do mutter "kill all humans" in your sleep - and after all, it's the thought that counts. We love you because you drink, steal, smoke cigars and gamble away things that aren't even yours. You've got what it takes. You're the right stuff.

Tell the world you're the Homer Simpson of the future with the following picture:

Which Colossal Death Robot Are You?

So my indoor team won a huge game tonight, 7-5, over a team that has defeated the previous few meetings. So why am I not in a good mmod about the game? Because I am a joyless asshole? Well, that is harsh, but probably correct.

I am in a slump, despite the fact I managed to score a goal tonight (on a rebound "tip in") I am just not getting any good touches. Whereas last week I felt like I was running around in circles contributing nothing, this week I felt like I was running around in circles, and squandered most of my touches with errant passes or ballhandling. I guess I made a couple decent defensive plays, and as always I showed a lot of "hustle," but for the second consecutive week, I just felt my overall effort and performance was severely lacking. But we won, so I should be really happy about that.

I can only play my way out of this "slump." It just doesn't help that from about May through September I was playing like an absolute stud, and my team was winning a lot. Then my play started to turn lackluster, as did my team, and now I feel like I am just playing like shit, even though I'm not, and I am probably being Much to hard on myself.

It certainly doesn't help that I was in a bad mood before the game, from this afternoon. I received Ryu's iMac on perma-loan over the weekend, and only got around to turning it on today, and hooking it up to my old WinTel computer that has been serving as "mine" ever since it was assembled from spare parts and slapped together last June. It isn't the greatest computer, and after getting it "set up" last June, I hardly used it most of the summer when Greg was in Chicago, using his instead. It wasn't until August that I really started using this on a regualr basis, and I still use Greg's a lot of the time, but I just wanted something I could download my digital camera pictures onto, update my website, and surf the net. This thing doesn't even have sound, and frankly I have no idea if it just needs some speakers, or a new sound card, so it is pretty lacking.

Of course, I have NO money to spend on computer shit, and beggars can't be choosers. And like I said, I still use Greg's computer to download songs from Kazaa, use Photoshop or Dreamweaver (even though both those programs are installed on this thing, and I haven't used Dreamweaver to update the Beer page in Way too long, but my neglect of the Beer page is another rant for another day) and his has a CD burner. This thing is Really limited by my small hard drive, but I have put out "feelers" on getting a bigger one, and that would solve most of my concerns right there. This thing runs Windows XP, with Microsoft Office, which most importantly includes Word and Outlook, two programs I like and am comfortable with. I've got Outlook configured JUST the way I want it to check my email, which is important.

I'm not a "computer person" which means I don't like to/don't want to fuck around with them. All my internet stuff, I realize, is like TV. If it went away, I probably wouldn't miss it after a while. But I have it, I want it, and like having it aorund as something to do, like TV. I've always said, I pay the TV bill to get sports and some of the cable channels like History, TLC, Discovery, and Comedy Central. But now I'm rambling. Where the hell was I going with this?

Anyway, I was excited about making the "switch" to the Macintosh, just like in the TV ads, until I realized this afternoon that it is going to be a big pain in the ass, I am going to have to abandon many of the "comfortable" configurations of this Wintel machine (and before Mac-philes start yelling, I am sure I can one day become comfortable with the Mac, in fact I KNOW I will become comfortable with the Mac, but that leads to my second point which is...) and spend some time "setting up" the Mac the way I like it. For instance, this afternoon, I decided to configure the Mail program on the Mac to check my emails, and I just don't like the einvironment compared to what I have on Outlook. Beyond that, I couldn't figure out how to transfer all my Outlook folders and address book over, which means I'd be started anew, which I don't really want becasue, as I said, I just don't want to fuck with it.

But I'm bitching, and rambling, and probably making a big deal out of nothing, and I really don't know where I'm going with this. I could just back up everything on this hard drive (to CD, via Greg's computer) and just start using the Mac, which I don't want to do becasue of the impending "culture shock" and having to fuck with things for a while, or I can just have these two things running parallel to each other on my desk, like I do now, and make a gradual transition.

So, this afternoon, realizing the prospect of the having to make a sudden switch irritated me, I just decided to go with the gradual thing. When will I wean myself off this Wintel? I really don't know.

It rained Really hard today, then it would slow to a drizzle, the wind would pick up, it would stop raining, then look like the sun was About to punch through, then get windy again, start to drizzle, then stop, then rain Really Hard, then the wind would pick up, then.... ahh, yes, what splendid late autumn Seatle-area weather...

here are next week's NFL "Pick 'Em" games:
(Monday night) New England @ Tennessee
(Sunday night) Arizona @ St Louis
Seattle @ Atlanta
Oakland @ Miami
Green Bay @ San Francisco

send me your picks... dammit!

Last night was Rich's b-day "party," and we all drank a lot of beer... but aside form that, I actually used the "movie" function on my digital camera for the first time ever. I really don't know why I have never used it before, and have even less of an idea why I suddenly decided to start using it last night... but I did. Neither if these are very interesting, in fact, they both suck, but here they are, in all their... uhh, glory: clip 1 and clip 2

here is your new pet, he likes to chase mice... can you make him purr or meow?

The fightin' Kitties of the Palouse game hasn't started yet, so I can still post a pick for that game:
WSU 23 UCLA 19
WSU's defense is pretty good -- except for gagging up a 10-point lead, with the Huskies on their own 8-yard-line with 4 minutes left in the Apple Cup -- and they have more playmakers on offense whether Gesser plays or not. The Coug's clinch the Rose Bowl, and try to salvage a season tainted by that embarrassing loss to the Dawgs.

Now for the NFL games:
Miami over Chicago
Green Bay over Minnesota
Philly over Seattle
Tampa Bay over Atlanta
New England over Buffalo

for some reason, despite my pick, I almost expect the 'Hawks to win. Think about it. Game blacked out, no one cares, 'Hawks toying with irrelevancy, shocking upset...

As I type this, I am drinking a Norwegian Christmas beer, Ya gotta love Bottleworks.

So, I finally attended a focus group at Gilmore Reasearch. For those of you who don't know, way back in late August, I put my name in with this company that puts on focus groups, where you go into a room and discuss shit for market research, and you get paid $75 for your two hours fo service to good old American consumer-hood. Starting in about mid-September, I started getting calls, averaging out to roughly about one every two weeks, in which they'd ask me a series of questions to see if I "qualified" for the group they were looking to fill. I would proceed to answer honestly, and then be told I wasn't what they were looking for, or something to that effect. It wasn't until I got a call about two weeks ago, wherein they were looking to fill a group on digital cameras, that I finally qualified for one.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't at all bad, the two hours passed pretty quickly, and at times it was kinda fun. I'd say it was Easy money, over all. Sure enough, one end of the room was a mirrored wall, on the other side of which were a bunch of people watching and listening to what we were saying, but knowing that was more amusing than anything else. This group steered towards getting prints from digital images, and getting film developed into prints and digital images online, or on CD's. It turned out to be for Photoworks, formerly known as Seattle Filmworks, which offers a plethora of services for digital and film imaging.

So, on my way out, I got a envelop with $75 in it. Beer money, I guess.

I decided I should really go for a run today, despite the appreciable soreness in my legs from my indoor soccer game last night -- actually, it is more of a general dead feeling in the legs, as compared to an out-and-out soreness -- and in fact largely Because of that soreness I figured I needed to get a run in. I really need to break through this "soreness threshold" that I have been suffering from for a while, I know the only way through it is to train a bit harder but I have been lacking the disipline for a while, and the last few weeks have been pretty pathetic, after I had a pretty good month of consistency.

I decided I would go 4 miles, 2 out and 2 back (the Burke-Gilman/Interurban trail has mileage markers, and one of them happens to be near Gasworks park), not caring about how fast I was going, and just push through it. Well, I was pathetically slow. My "out" miles were in a combined 20:39, which means I was pushing a tortoise-like 10:19.5 mile pace. To give you a bearing for this, when i ran the Marathon in 1997, I "completed" it in a hair over 9-minute pace, despite suffering from nearly crippling leg cramps at mile 20, and walking as much as running the last 6 miles. In fact, I Had been training for 8-minute pace, before my training schedule was compromised by illness. So 10:19.5 pace is pretty damn slow.

I managed to tear off scintillating 9:00 and 8:40 miles on the way back in, so it wasn;t as though I was holding back too much on the way out. I know I'm just not in very good shape right now, but I also know I'm a helluva lot quicker than that, on a good day. Oh well, I wasn't supposed to care about the times... I guess that mean I shouldn't take my watch.

I played in another indoor soccer game tonight. We had a lackluster game, a 6-6 draw, and I would say I typified the effort. I feel like I was pretty much crap tonight, not really contributing anything positive. I just felt like I spent most of the game running around in circles, not really doing much. I think I am going through a bit of a slump, but I have always gone through up and down cycles in soccer, so I just need to play my way out of it. My team as a whole has been a bit off for the last two months or so.

So, in the first half, I got the wind knocked out of me pretty good. I had my chest compressed pretty good, forcing all the air out of my lungs, then you can't breathe for a good 15 seconds, during which you feel like you're dying, then you're gasping for air for the next 30 or more seconds, then you slowly start to breathe normally, then you feel okay. It kinda sucked.

With the Haulidaze here, I've been hearing way too many annoying radio spots for jewelery, hawking their tawdry diamond wares. Due to creative and relentless marketing by legal diamond cartels like De Beers, we have been forced to associate diamonds with love, and/or happiness. This is pretty much bullshit. Ask someone who had their hands cut off by rebels in war-torn Sierra Leone how they feel about you fucking diamond ring. To me, diamonds "celebrate" greed, brutality, and exploitation.

I know most of you don't want to hear this, and probably have already stopped reading. Most people will probably just think I am a hopeless curmedgeon, with no sense of romance. Well, I guess I just don't choose to associate love with carbon.

Sure, diamonds are nifty. I know that. They have some fascinating physical properties, as well as being the spawn of intense pressure and heat deep inside the earth, requiring mind-boggling geologic events to bring them near enough to the surface for humans to obtain. But that is all rather beside the point.

Beyond all this, links have been established between terrorists networks, like our friends over at Al-Queda, and so-called "conflict diamonds." the jist of it is, terrorists "invest" in diamonds, which can be hard to track and are all-but guaranteed to hold their value (De Beers will see to that!) before their funds can be frozen in international banks. Remember that recent add campaign, debuted during last-years Super Bowl, which attempted to link marijuana to terrorist groups, and was a perfect example of the government's fervent anti-drug propanada campaign of half-truths and outright lies? Well, it should have featured diamonds, at at least it wouldv'e had some truth to it.

Well, I guess the Haulidaze are officially here.

Kind of a screwed up week last wek for "Pick 'Em" what with the Holiday and all
PAC-10 is OVER Except for one game, WSU @ UCLA, this will be worth 8 points

here are next week's NFL games:
(Monday night) Chicago @ Miami
(Sunday Night) Minnesota @ Green Bay
Philadelphia @ Seattle
Atlanta @ Tampa Bay
Buffalo @ New England
Oakland @ San Diego

once again I'm posting 6 games, but only five count, like last week, so send me five picks, or if you send six, I'll ignore the last one in the order

I'm trying to determine exactly what this says about me


-Which Homestar Runner character are you?-
brought to you by Quizilla

So, I'm back (actually, I got back last night) from my Thanksgiving Weekend trip to Olympia, Wednesday night to hang out with my cousin and go see Die Another Day, then to Chehalis, for Thanksgiving festivities on Thursday, then on to Rockaway Beach, OR, on the coast, to the Cabin woth the Cousin Andy to hang out, drink beer, and frolick on the beach for a few days.

The weather was great. I drank too much beer Thursday night and wasn't feeling too good most of Friday. Getting home was a bit of a chore last night. The traffic heading south Wed night and Thurs morn. was terrible.

So, anyway, now that November is over, and the "novel" is "done," I will be back to regular postings not only here, but over at P.O.D.