Friday, October 31, 2008

Legend of the Seeker

Wow, just 1 more day until Terry Goodkind goes mainstream with the Legend of the Seeker! Check it out:

http://www.legendoftheseeker.com/

With a little bit of luck, they'll do a decent job with this one. Check back in a couple of days for the review!!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

CP, you da man!

How can you argue with the success that Portis is having this season? As the league's leading rusher, he's having one hell of a season. He's now won the FedEx Ground Player of the Week twice, and is up for it again. Go ahead, vote for him again! You know you want to!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Big Bang Theory

Busy day for posting today...

I got a group of co-workers together a couple days ago and we all went out to see a taping of The Big Bang Theory. It was a pretty enjoyable 3.5 hours. For starters, the show is awesome, and you can tell how talented the actors are by watching them during the taping. There were quite a few scenes that were nailed on the first take, which was pretty impressive. In fact, the whole process had the feel of watching a play, minus the fact that they had to reset the pretty elaborate stage a few times, move the cameras, etc. Between takes, they had a host who kept us all entertained - he was quite good.

A couple points of note:
  • I have seen a couple forums asking about whether the laughter is canned - I can tell you that it is not. In fact, when someone said their name during the laughter, they had to redo a take to get the laugh track right.
  • Kaley Cuoco is even hotter in person than she looks on TV. Wow.
  • The cast was all very gracious and stuck around to sign autographs and answer questions after the show. I wish I had brought something with me for them to sign!

There were a few negatives about the experience, too. First of all, the chairs for the audience are extremely uncomfortable. And, sitting there for nearly 4 hours got a little tedious. Also, make sure you eat before you go. Taping starts at 7 PM, and, while they do provide pizza, it's 1 slice per person, so you're not exactly going to make a meal out of it.

Blackberry Bold | Coming Soon!

Hey All,

My new phone is getting closer to store fronts! The Bold (Blackberry 9000) is scheduled to be released on November 4. Since I'm doing absentee voting this year, the release of the Bold has just made the top of my list of reasons to be excited about election day! Here is some confirmation:

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/10/22/blackberry-bold-receives-technical-acceptance-at-att/

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26072

AT&T still has not updated their site, so I can't pre-order one just yet, but that's coming soon (I have to imagine)!

Vote the Redskins Ticket

Just thought I'd get my voice out there to remind everyone that Pro Bowl voting has started, so get out, vote early, vote often, and vote the Redskins ticket!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

What an UGLY loss!

Wow, the Donkeys just plain stunk last night! That was one of the ugliest losses I've seen since I moved to Denver. The entire team played poorly, so you can't attribute this to O or D. Hopefully Shanahan gets the Broncos back in gear over the next two weeks so that they come back strong from the bye week!

Monday, October 20, 2008

What an UGLY win!

Don't get me wrong, I'll happily take the W, but come on! That was about as ugly as a victory can get.

A couple of notes:
* I would have liked to see Captain Chaos play a little better. Cooley seemed a little timid with the ball after his fumble last week. Chris, if you're out there, you know you're a great player, so take back that confidence! Cooley did lay down some big blocks and opened up some big holes, so please bear in mind that I am ONLY talking about when he had his hands on the ball. It kind of went unnoticed, but he did have another fumble - fortunately, the ball went out of bounds, so that was a nice break.

* Portis' fumble sucked, but what an impressive showing from our Defense! 7 straight goal line stands? Unbelievable! It was hard to see them sneak around our D on the 8th play, but somewhat inevitable. Great job Defense - especially London Fletcher who made 3 of those goal line stops himself!

* Plackemeier definitely helped the punt unit - too bad we had to lean on him so much!

* Campbell getting hurt in the first quarter definitely seemed to slow down our offense. Fortunately, Portis stepped up (175 yards!), which opened up the passing game a little bit.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Shaun Alexander et al

The 'Skins added a couple new faces to the roster this week just before the deadline. Shaun Alexander should bolster an already solid Redskins Running Back group, especially while Ladell Betts recovers. This should help ease the pressure on him to return too soon from his injury. I'm also glad to see that the Redskins picked up a new punter, but I have to wonder if Plackemeier is the right guy for the job. And we'll see if Reed Doughty's replacement can help take some of the work, especially on Special Teams. At least Chris Horton has proved to be a valuable addition to a very strong secondary, already having taken Doughty's starting job, but still hard to see a great player like Doughty out on IR. Best wishes to a speedy recovery and seeing him back in Burgundy and Gold next season!

The Price is WRONG

Just kidding!

I did go to a taping of the Price is Right yesterday. It was pretty cool, but definitely a long afternoon...

They recommend arriving at least 3 hours early. We got there 2.5 hours early and were numbers 304, 305 and 306. They only allow 325 into the theater, so we kind of lucked out! Once you get your number, they line you up and check your ID a couple times and take your picture for identification purposes. Then they move the line to the side of the building where you sit for another good period of time while they do the opening spiel and determine who the contestants will be. If you go, make sure you are loud and energetic during the "interview" process - it's about 6 seconds of time for you to make your impression on the guy who determines who goes on stage. Then you go stand in line for the metal detector. They tell you no cell phones, cameras, etc. But, if you bring one, they'll just tag it at "security" and let you pick it up later, so don't leave yours in the car - you'll need something to do! Then, you go stand in ANOTHER line to get into the theater. Once they let you in, you wait in line to get seated - the earlier you arrive, the closer to contestants row you will be. The taping itself takes about 2 hours - there's a lot of down time between takes where Drew talks to the crowd.

All in all, it was a pretty good time, but definitely something that you have to be pretty pumped up (drunk?) for!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Blackberry Bold

I have been desparate for a new phone for a long time. Now that I am being forced to switch over to AT&T (thanks work), I figured I should get the latest and greatest from them. Since I can't type on an iPhone (thank you fat fingers), I've decided to wait for the much delayed Blackberry Bold. This is the first Blackberry with 3G, but AT&T can't seem to bring it to market. Sigh. Hopefully it will come soon. Especially since Verizon will be launching the Blackberry Storm this fall - that's the first touch screen Blackberry to hit the market, and it will also have 3G. AT&T is looking to have another botched release... With the iPhone, they rushed it out before it had been fully tested. Now, they're waiting so long that people are losing interest.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Economy

Who knows what the future will bring? A year ago, I was sharply critical about the government's actions and the media's response to the financial crisis that was just starting to hit. My feeling was that the government should do things to inspire consumer and investor confidence and that the media should be wary of portraying a slightly down economy as the next coming of the great depression. Look where we are today. Consumer confidence has steadily declined over the last 18 months, investors have fled from the market, and the media is still talking about how this is the next Great Depression.

No, the economic layout is definitely not rosy. No, we have not yet hit rock bottom. Yet, we need to take action to move things in a positive direction. Shore up our ailing banks to ensure that no more go the way of WaMu and Wachovia. As much as I dislike Bush and the way that he has led our country for the past 8 years, there is one quote of his that I feel is appropriate for times like this. "We must take swift and decisive action". With those words we have made more blunders with the international community than probably any other 7 words in the English language. Yet, in these circumstances, particularly at this time of year, we must act swiftly and decisively to restore confidence in the system. Now, in the 4th quarter, retail outlets nationwide are expecting lower than usual spending for the holiday season. Some companies use phrases like "1 day in December equals the month of May" to describe the importance of holiday shopping. If the American public continues on in fear, this holiday season could be disastrous for business. And what's bad for business, in this case, is bad for everyone.