The Green Bag

Just because I don't blog much myself, it doesn't mean you guys should stop!! I miss reading your comments and news!! I'd much rather read a blog than have my inbox brim over the top with messages!!! No one's blogged since 10/19!! What's up with that?? Jeez!! PLEASE blog!! I miss reading your blogs!

If anyone cares, I put some pictures from our Hallway Decorating on my xanga.
www.xanga.com/wasian_princess

Yeah, a lot of entries today, but I gotta post one more. Last night a verse from the Alice Cooper song, I Love America, popped into my head. I wonder why...

I love the Tigers, but I hate the Mets
I ride my Hog, but I race my Vette
I gotta job, but I'm still in debt
I love America

Go Tigers!

I've made a conscious decision to not blog about politics here. I've decided that if I get the burning desire to tackle political issues, I'll take them over to chacadwa.com and air them there, but the past couple of times I was going to do that, I decided that it wasn't that important, and didn't blog it at all. But this ain't about politics directly, it's about the ads. And there's a lot I could going to say about those, but I'll limit myself to this:

Sometimes, political ads backfire. Badly. There is a particular proposal on the ballot - I'm not going to say which one, because that's irrelevant - and the only information I have about that proposal at all is the negative radio ads that run against it. I have no doubt that ever word of those ads are true. For a given value of true. These ads are incredibly insulting to my intelligence, because they're so blatantly spinning the facts to get an emotional reaction.

I was saddened yesterday to hear that longtime CBS news reporter and anchor Christopher Glenn had passed away. The name may not be familiar, but I doubt that anyone in my generation would not recognize the voice that anchored the "In The News" broadcasts that dotted the landscape between Saturday morning cartoons.

I might have forgotten all about Christopher Glenn, but was surprised to find him anchoring the evening CBS news broadcasts when I started listening to news radio during my drive time. Later, he moved to my morning commute with the CBS World News Roundup. I'm not sure I realized that he'd retired in February, but I did notice that he hadn't been anchoring recently.

"I walked through fire today and I didn't get burned." - Claire Bennet

In March, I gave a nod to the CBS drama, The Unit. I still make a point to watch it, and we even rented the DVDs to catch up on the first season episodes we'd missed. But The Unit's status as my favorite has been supplanted by this fall's new NBC series, Heroes. As far as I'm concerned, pretty much all of the other shows I've been following have jumped the shark. I'm sick of the whole CSI franchise, and Jack's morose attitude on Without A Trace. We gave up on 24 back in the third season because it was just too hard to watch, but I think it would have jumped for me by now, anyway. We're not sure if The Unit is going to have the necessary staying power in the long run, but it's still developing at this point, so we're happy for now.

"A man becomes preeminent, he’s expected to have enthusiasms.
Enthusiasms...
Enthusiasms...
What are mine?
What draws my admiration?
What is that which gives me joy?
Baseball!
A man stands alone at the plate.
This is the time for what?
For individual achievement.
There he stands alone.
But in the field, what?
Part of a team. Teamwork.
Looks, throws, catches, hustles.
Part of one big team.
Bats himself the live-long day,
Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on.
If his team don’t field...what is he?
You follow me?
He’s no one.
Sunny day, the stands are full of fans.
What does he have to say?
I’m goin’ out there for myself.
But... I get nowhere unless the team wins."
-Robert De Niro as Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987)

And then, of course, it all turns very shockingly bloody. Even so, this is probably one of the finest movie monologues of all time, and an incredibly perceptive view of life, teamwork and (obviously) the gentleman's sport of baseball.

Anyone who would accuse me of being a fairweather fan would be mostly accurate. I watch the Red Wings during the playoffs, and maybe even some post-season Pistons games. In my own defense, I did watch quite a few Lions games last year, and that wasn't exactly a triumphant season.

At The Old Ball Game. Click for Gallery.

Now the Tigers have rekindled my enthusiasm for baseball. Before we went to the game in September, I had to work hard to name four current Tigers. My ignorance has since decreased greatly. If you asked me "Who's Your Tiger?", I'd have to say Magglio Ordóñez, if only because he was one of the bigger stars in the game I attended, and he's got a really cool name. Now, of course, he's a hero.

So is it just the fairweather effect that has me glued to the MLB post-season? Even to the point of watching the NLCS games? Yeah, that's a big part of it, but hopefully there's more to it.

Howdy. I don't blog much; there's just too much to keep track of; but an occasion worth mentioning came up and I thought I'd share it... last saturday on the September 30th, I went to my first ever formal dance at school!! It was so awesome and my mom took pictures so maybe she can post them in the gallery. My dress had spaghetti straps and it was navy blue. I was so happy. Oh my gosh, I loved it. So cool!!

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Yep, that sounds pretty ominous, and it's the title of the current Windows Secrets Newsletter.

Lest you think otherwise, one simple fact stands out: you will upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. It isn't a question of "if." Only of "when."

In this issue, Woody Leonhard gives readers some plain-English info on Microsoft's upcoming browser release. Funny thing is, thanks to this morning's Stormtrooper shenanigans, this is the second time I've encountered the phrase cannon fodder today.

Some clever folks on Wikipedia have taken the time to explain, in great detail, how the Stormtrooper Effect and Character Shields protect our heroes, never letting the bad guys get the upper hand. Meanwhile, back in the real world (or at least in Maine) evil villains have resorted to Craigslist to seek henchmen and beautiful female accomplices.

Courtesy of that morning dose of reddit.