World AIDS Day - 1 December 2004

Happy world AIDS day! Cover your willy and inform yourself!

Hamilton sacked

Read the BelieveTyler.org, and the November 23, 2004 post of Tyler's side of the story.

November 23, 2004 post is Tyler's side of the story.

After reading Tyler's side of the story it's easier to see why he and his team contested the two positive tests. One at the Athens Olympics where he won the gold in the time trial and the other at the Vuelta a Espana where he withdrew after 12 stages due to a inflamed stomach. I'm hoping Tyler will be able to clear his name and get back to cycling cause if Tyler is cheating, everyone is cheating!

Gooooo 9er's!

Emailed to me by my friend Jim out in Arizona.

A seven year old San Francisco boy was at the center of a courtroom drama this morning when he challenged acourt ruling over who should have custody of the boy. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents so the judge awarded custody to his aunt. The boy confirmed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and refused to live there. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents the boy cried out that they beat him more than anyone. The judge then decided to allow the boy to choose who should have custody of him. Custody was granted to the SF Forty-Niners this morning as the boy firmly believes that they are notcapable of beating anyone.

Well, they did beat Arizona.

Making the Holiday Card

Our friend Becky had the great idea of using this picture we got at Disneyland a few weeks ago as our holiday card. Karin put the plan into action by scanning the drawing and erasing the Disneyland logo, which was bottom center. Then, because I had Adobe Photoshop on my computer, I added the text. Karin purchased card stock and matching envelopes and printed up the cards. Then it's time to merge the names and addresses to print on the labels, Karin will take of that. Stamp em, stick em in the mail and Happy Holidays!

Martha Stewart Christmas Slippers, I couldn't resist

Let me know your sizes. Christmas is tight this year.
How to make bedroom slippers out of maxi pads:

• You need four maxis to make a pair.
• Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part.
• The other two wrap around the toe area to form the top.
• Tape or glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot part.
• Decorate the tops with whatever you desire, silk flowers, etc.

These slippers are:

• Soft and Hygienic
• Non-slip grip strips on the soles
• Built in deodorant feature keeps feet smelling fresh
• No more bending over to mop up spills
• Disposable and biodegradable
• Environmentally safe

Three convenient sizes: Regular, Light day, and Get out the Sand Bags.

Happy Turkey Day...

Well, Thanksgiving is here again as it has been for the past 380 some-odd years. Wonder about the history involving the Pilgrims and Indians who supposedly made this day famous, I did.

Here is a link to a Thanksgiving History article which was fairly interesting and informative until I came across this site linked within the article. This other article is written by a Native American teacher and historian and it dispells some of the myths of Thanksgiving, I suggest you give it a read.

Take the Thanksgiving test to check your knowledge about this special day. I only got 40 of 100 point, so no desert for me! It helps if you read the Thanksgiving History article first, most of the answers can be found within.

Here is a site with simple explanations about harvest festivals from other cultures.

Well, it's time to stuff a turkey, consume twice my daily intake of calories, watch some football and celebrate harvest time.

Happy Day

Beer.com's Virtual Bartender

Just ran across this and thought I might share. It's the Virtual Bartender, go ahead, order something! My favorite commands are "top off my drink" and "bottoms up."

B-ball Fighting, Round 2...

Ok, the game is over, the suspensions and fines handed out and the sports psychologists are analyzing, but still no arrests.

Read the article here.

If you didn't read the article, here it what I find to be the most important portions of what was mentioned.

There is an increasing argument that players these days are different. They're younger. They make huge amounts of money.

"I think because they have this sense that they are entitled, and everyone does everything for them," says sports psychologist consultant Karlene Sugarman.

Are fans changing too?

"They may respect the basketball playing, but they don't respect them anymore as people," said Gail Solt, of JKF University sports psychology.

I strongly agree with the last statement above. Fans just don't respect the players like they used too and for good reason. Think of basketball heroes of the past. Michael Jordan, pretty good guy all around. Larry Bird, fairly spotless rap sheet. Dr. J or Magic, how can you say anything bad about those guys. On and on and on... I have trouble thinking of any "bad boys of basketball" beyond Dennis Rodman. Oh wait, there was Bill Laimbeer. But in general, the bad boys of the past were bad on the court, they were tough competitors not gangsters.


Today's heros in basketball all have had issues with the law and or authority around the court. Prime examples are Kobe Bryant, Latrell Sprewell, Ron Artest (I believe him to be a nice person, but misunderstood), and the 2002 - 2003 Portland Trailblazers. I think that just about everyone on their roster was arrested that season at one time or another.

Maybe it's the rate at which information is disseminated today or that reporters are digging through players garbage but I tend to think that players these days are equally bad off the court as they are on. These days, our heroes are glorified rap stars who used to be crack dealers and b-ballers that want to be rap stars. These people need to learn about core competencies and stick with what they do best. And that's my opinion!

Suspensions Get Super Sized...

Read the article here.

David Stern has dropped the hammer in terms of NBA suspensions with regards to the Detroit Indiana fight on Friday night. The NBA commissioner suspended Artest for the remainder of this season Sunday and disciplined eight other players. Jackson drew a 30-game suspension and his Indiana teammate O'Neal was banned for 25 games. Ben Wallace of Detroit was hit with a six-game ban, and Indiana's Anthony Johnson got a five-game suspension. Four others drew single game suspensions for leaving the bench during the fracas.

Well, currently the Pacer's are 7 - 3 and probably are as high over 500 as they will be all season. I think we can pretty much write them off until next year as they will loose a better portion of the games over the next 25, with 3 key players out. I predict (lets see if this actually happens) that the Pacers at at 35 games will be 14 and 26. That's not totally out of playoff position but pretty far back to make a run.

More to come later on this and other fun weekend topics.

B-ball Fighting Aftermath...

Here is the link to the article.

There could be arrests for some players involved in the Detroit vs Pacers vs Fans fight. I spoke about the fight in a previous post.

David Stern is set to announce the suspensions tonight, Sunday night. It's expected that Ron Artest of the Pacers will be suspended for 30 games and teammates Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson will be suspended 20 games apiece for their roles in Friday's ugly brawl. Ben Wallace will most likely receive a 5 game suspension.

When I first read about the suspensions, it seemed excessive. But after reading the entire article, I can see where Stern is coming from. They really can't have players fight with fans, not that some don't deserve to be knocked out, but it can lead to some nasty court cases.

It's really to bad that the suspensions are so long for the Pacers as a team. It pretty much blows any chance they had of making the playoffs. To boot, the Pacer's seems as if they might have the Piston's number this year and they were looking to be probably the best team in the Eastern Conference. Now they will be lucky to even make the playoffs. To bad, so sad.

Happy day!

Feed me! Life around the Australian oceans isn't safe, even for birds.

Friday Night Fights, NBA Style!

If you didn't actually see it on TV, I'd be shocked as it's probably the biggest news story of the day. If you haven't seen it here is the link as well as a link to the picture slide show at Yahoo. As you may know, there was a fight between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons as well as fighting between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit fans. The fight between the two teams was fairly tame as they know when they fight suspensions and fines will ensue. But the fight between the Pacers and the fans was where the action was. Of course, at the center of it all was Ron Artest, a great basketball player and all around nut case. Ron really never instigates fights but does just enough on the court to get under peoples skins where as causing them to want to fight him. Anyway, if you watch the linked video, you will notice that Ron got under the skin of Ben Wallace (as well as fouled the living daylights outta him). Ben then took action, shoving Ron in the face. Ron, being the nice guy he is takes the shove and steps backward with Ben in pursuit. As in any fight, the bench clears and there is a little pushing and shoving. This lasted about 2 to 3 minutes but all the while you can see Ron in the background laying on his back on the scorers table with his hand behind his head. So, the on court fight is beginning to die down but the fans are starting to get worked up and they are throwing everything from beer and beer cups to chairs at the Pacer players. Ron, who is still laying on his back on the table all of a sudden decides he isn't going to take it anymore and jumps into the stands to go after fans along with Stephen Jackson. This is when it begins to get ugly, with fans ganging up on Pacer players up in the stands. The game was called with 45.9 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter. I read that 3 hours after the game the police left the arena with many statements from players and fans accompanied with much video tape from any TV footage they could find. They said it would be turned into the Oakland County Prosecutors. So, my take on all that occurred is:

Everything that happened on the court wasn't too unusual
The fans were way outta hand
Ron and Stephen should have kept their cool and stayed on the court
Fans will go to jail
Players will be fined and suspended


Other less exciting news...

Yesterday, Karin and I celebrated the 5th anniversary of us moving into our house by going out to dinner at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. We started out by ordering a sampler and some calamari. The sampler is 16 little glasses of beer, one each for each of the beers they brew. As we sipped and ate the calamari we each gave the other our review for each beer. Karin, doesn't like the dark stuff so she stuck mainly to the Pilsners, Wheats, and light Ales. I believe her favorite was the Blonde Ale. I enjoyed each with the Blonde being one of my favorites, but the Green Hops Ale trumped it. In terms of dinner, Karin ordered the Filet with spinach and mashed potatoes. I had the Chicken rotisserie with mashed potatoes and stuffing. I can say mine was excellent as I'm sure Karin's was as well. We finished off the dinner with Karin having a cup of coffee and me a cappuccino.

Happy day everyone and try not to fight!

I just couldn't resist...

'Cross-Dressing' Out, Camouflage In... only in Jesusland

Read the article here!

Delana Davies believes a school tradition where the rolls of boys and girls are reversed for a day is dangerous...

Delana Davies, who has two children in the Spurger school, complained this year that the tradition could promote homosexuality.

"It might be fun today to dress up like a little girl -- kids think it's cute and things like that. And you start playing around with it and, like drugs, you do a little here and there (and) eventually it gets you," Davies told reporters.

That's it, tonight I'm going home and throwing out all my wife's clothes, I don't wanna be tempted, good god what if I find out I'm gay?!

You've got to be high to think that looks like the Virgin Mary, but I suppose if the person who discovered this tasty morsel wasn't, as then she wouldn't have been able to resist eating the entire sandwich. It looks more like Elizabeth Taylor to me.

Ebay, not only good for selling, but also good for entertainment. This photo is in regards to the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese sandy, also posted on Ebay.

The captions says about all that needs to be said about this drawing.

I'm outraged! This picture is racially insensitve, says Tony Dungy, the coach of the Indy Colts. I say to Tony, you are a little too racially sensitive!

This picture made me roll on the floor. It seems to depict the political division of our wonderful USA after the 2004 Presidential Election by those who are not happy about the results. I'm just glad I don't live in Jesusland.

Well, it's something to talk about...

Monday Night Football intro controversy

Well, ABC has found itself in a little hot water over the intro to Monday Night Football. It seems that some people are unhappy with the promotion of "Desperate Housewives" during the intro. The ad included Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan, one of the series' co-stars in a skit located in a locker room. Owens was wearing his uniform. Sheridan, it appeared, was wearing only a towel. At one point, Sheridan dropped the towel and jumped in Owens' arms. Owen's goes on to say, "I guess they'll just have to win without me!"

Personally, I didn't find it offensive, there was no frontal nudity and really all you could see was the bare upper back of Nicollette Sheridan. But others were not of the same opinion.

Tony Dungy, the Indy coach, was offended on many levels. As an African-American, he considered the promo racially insensitive. As an NFL coach, he considered it totally inappropriate for ABC to use the league's popularity to hype "trashy shows."

Tony's first issue with the promo seems like a non-issue. Why is/was it racially insensitive? I guess it's still not ok in America for blacks and whites to co-mingle in a sexual manor, including innuendo. His second issue, I better understand but the league allows for ABC to do what they will in terms of said intros and promos. If you don't want similar incidents, than you'd think ABC might contractually take more control of those producing the promos. ABC gave the producers the leeway and now they are mad at them for taking the ball and running with it, pun intended! Anyway, my feelings are who cares, there was no nudity just a hint at sexual innuendo, freakin' get on with life.

Terrell Owens apologized Thursday to anyone offended by his role in the skit, thinking that skit was generating controversy because of his participation, not because of simulated nudity. T.O., it's always about you, isn't it?

When asked if he was shocked the story was making the front page of newspapers around the country, Owens quipped, "I always make the front page."


Lot's of Lance on OLN over the Thanksgiving Holiday

The Outdoor Life Network will show a marathon recap of the 2004 Tour over the Thanksgiving holiday, hosted by our friend "Bobke" Bob Roll. Episodes 1-5 air on Wed, Nov 24 from 9pm - 2am (ET) then 4-10 airs the following Thu, Nov 25 from 4pm - 3am (ET). Tune in when you can, but be sure to spend some time on the bike and with family and friends, too!

The Polar Express episode...

Karin wanted to take our friend because daughter to a movie and I agreed to go along. The movie Jaycee (I'm not sure if this is the correct spelling of her name, but it will suffice) wanted to see was The Polar Express. Little caveat here... I just love how you can purchase your movie tickets online, it's pretty handy. So anyway, we get there, grab out tickets and head for cola and popcorn. We have to get the ultra-large popcorn as there are three of us and need sufficient nourishment as we are planning on a long movie. 30 minutes into the film, the popcorn is beginning to run low but the movie is really starting to get good. We are to the part where all the kids have been picked up by the train and are headed to the North Pole and whammo movie shuts off and emergency lights come on. The entire theater is sitting in the dim lighting wondering what the hell just happened when 4 or 5 theater employees rush in and inform us that we must evacuate. Understand that we are there with a friends daughter and faced with the uncertainty of why we were being evacuated. They might as well just yelled "FIRE" and ran out because we weren't the only one's who were concerned over what might be happening; everyone looked worried. In the end, only the power had gone off. The theater gave everyone free movie passes as I polished off the remains of the ultra-large popcorn out in the lobby area.

Ah well, it wouldn't be the first time I've been disappointed at the movies. If you are interested you can check out the trailers posted below, this is about the same amount of the movie I saw. There were supposed to be three trailers available at the Apple Trailer website but the only two I could find were the following:

The Polar Express

The Polar Express

Traffic School...

Well, much to my dismay, there was no traffic code lectures or even a test. This is not the same type of traffic school that I remember 15 years ago, the first time I had to attend. The class was taught by a former Sheriff who had also worked as a police officer for the city of Chico. The two lessons he told us to remember, if we remembered anything at all from sitting around for 8 hours, were alway wear your seat belt and don't ever drink and drive. From the stories he told us about crash scenes he had been to and his experiences from those scenes I believe the man to be very sincere. You could tell that he had seen alot of bad stuff and that he truely felt that by following those two rules you could really protect yourself from injury while driving.

Do you know that the average driver breaks a law of the vehicle code every 5 minutes they drive? It's true, so if you think about it, the cops can pull you over just about when ever they want or just follow you for about 5 minutes and then pull you over.

Another tid bit I took from class is that if you drive somewhere that takes an hour to get to you have a 93% chance of getting there without incident, but if you have 1 drink it goes down to 55% and if you have 2 it goes down to 35%.

I went to the class for a speeding ticket and I know I was driving fast, but I wouldn't say that it was too fast for the conditions. Though I can't say that I will slow down much in the area I received the ticket, I will say that I will be slowing down when around other vehicles on congested roads. Not that I'm a recless speeder, but based on what I learn in class, it is quite amazing we make it from place to place without incedent.

I also learned that when pulled over for speed, you need to ask the officer to see the radar. You must also realize that what the radar says might not be the speed you are written up, most times it's higher. The reason is because it takes time to push the button to lock the radar and usually in that time the guilty party has let off the gas and their speed has dropped by 5 to 10 miles an hour. Usually in that case, a cool officer will only write you up for what the radar says, but don't always expect that. So, if you plan to contest the ticket, the instructor suggests that in court you ask the officer the last time the radar was calibrated and if he has proof. If not, the case will be thrown out.

Oh, another bit of info that could help you, but didn't do me any good is to be nice to the officer. If he pulled you over he obviously felt he had a good reason so don't jump on his case, he's just doing his job. If you are nice and call him by his name you might get out of a ticket. The instructor, having written 10000 tickets during his career, says 9/10 times the officer hasn't decided whether to give you a citation or not.

Oh oh, another one is those questions the officer asks when they first walk up to your car like, "so, where you headed today?" or "do you know how fast you were going back there?" aren't meant to gather info but rather to iniciate dialog. The instructor says officers could give less of a crap where you're going, where you came from, and whether you know what you did wrong.

So, I have some new respect for officers. To hear this man tell some of the stories he told and to see the pain he felt in just recounting the incidents was enough to make me feel bad for officers in general. I guess I never took the time to think about the things they experienced on the job and how it might effect them personally. The instructor mentioned he had been to 120 some odd fatalities and that he could remember each one which might have to with him being a recovering alcoholic. I'm glad I'm not in that line of work.

In closing, be nice to police officers they are people too and would like to be treated as such.

Once again Lance keeps us guessing...

In an article in L'equipe, a French sports newspaper, Lance again says he is not sure about riding the 2005 TdF. I can't tell if he is using this statements to confuse the competition or it in fact he real isn't sure whether he will ride or not. I would love to see him ride the Spring Classics and maybe the Giro (most likely not with a pending investigation going on in Italy) but would certainly miss see him in the tour. As fans, it might be good to not see him at the tour just so that we might understand what the future will be like without our champion in the race.

Also in the news today...

I have lovely traffic school from 9 to 5 to re-up my driving karma. It seems that for years now I've been speeding around the country side obliviously of the speed limits and now must pay homage to the traffic gods. But on a bright note, it was my first ticket in 13 years and after this class shouldn't affect my stellar driving record.

Well, happy day as I go to learn the finer points of the driving code! PS spell checker isn't working so don't hold me to the spelling...

It's Monday...

And I'm feeling a little like I might be getting a cold. I woke up this morning with a sore throat. Probably from a long weekend of getting ready for a party, having a party, and then handing out all that candy last night.

The party we had on Saturday went off well. I had a great time catching up with some friends I hadn't seen in a little while and checking out the costumes. We had a costume contest which was won by Sigfried and Roy. They had great costumes adorned with tigers. Roy had his trusty Monticore affixed to his neck in a bloody mess. When I first saw them, I was almost on the ground. I'm hoping to get some pictures together to post, but as anyone who has read my previous posts knows, we misplaced our camera on a roller coaster at Disneyland last weekend.

After the party, we moved the accessories toward the front door to use when the kiddies came Trick or Treating. We had a smoke machine, a 12 foot blowup arch, 8 carved pumpkins, ballons, pretty much the works. Walking up the driveway, you couldn't even see the front door through the smoke. The kids that came by were so excited about our get up and even more excited about the over-abundance of candy we had. We wouldn't let them leave until they took two full hands worth of goodies. I was glad to see the stuff go! So, I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or Karin and I trying to scare the kids!

In cycling news...

Phonak, a Swiss cycling team, for which the American, Tyler Hamiliton rides has had another rider test positive for transfusion. The rider in question is Santiago Perez, a Spanish rider, who recently placed 2nd at the Vuelta a Espana. If this is true for either or both riders, Phonak could be in some serious trouble as these are their top riders for next season. That would mean Floyd Landis would be team leader, WOW. About the test... It's brand spankin new and with anything new, there are alway problems. So, even though a couple of riders have been found in violation of this new test, they are contesting results due to the interpretative gray area involved. So currently, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I hope those in question are cleared because, firstly, Tyler is not the type to cheat and is a stalwart of American cycling, and secondly for the sake of cycling so that it is not deemed as a sport for the dopers. If the tests are found to be valid, it means a two year suspension for both riders and puts Phonak's team doctors and staff in question as well.

In other sports news...

The Raider continued their dominance of the cellar this week by getting as blown out as you can in a 42 to 14 loss to the San Diego SuperChargers (they have a catchy little tune). It probably should have been worse but I'd say it was sufficient to prove the Raiders do suck this year.

Happy day, I'll probably post a pic or two later!