October 31, 2004
Photo of the Day
Hofstra University. Spring 2004. Every year Hofstra plants hundreds of tulips in honor of the Dutch heritage of the university. So each year I take lots and lots of pictures of all the tulips. They try to plant different kinds in different places so I never know what kinds of tulips to expect. It's always fun to see what got planted when they start to bloom. After so many years of taking photos of the tulips there are definitely some colors that I'm partial to taking photos of. The oranges seem to always make for some good shots but I also like reds, pinks and multi-colored ones. The only tulips that I have trouble taking good shots of seem to be the whites.
Unfortunately this photo seems to have lost a little something after I scanned it but I like to take close-ups of the tulips. It's really cool to see the detail in the flower petals. Each tulip is totally unique and each day as the flowers open more and more they look completely different.
Overall, I just love the vivid color of tulips. They are definitely my favorite flower. I would love to go to Holland where they have huge fields of tulips and take pictures there!
Posted by silverdsl at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
Headhunter Hit in Head
So during yesterday's parade in Boston for the Red Sox someone threw a baseball at Pedro Martinez and it hit him in the head. Which is ironic considering his reputation around baseball as a headhunter, meaning he throws high and tight at opposing batters, coming too close to comfort to their heads and even occasionally hitting some guys. Maybe it was an accident throwing the ball at him but I don't know what goes through some people's heads. I have no idea what the motivation was of the person who threw the ball but if it was to hit Pedro in the head and express their displeasure with his behavior that's pretty hypocritical. If it's not ok for Pedro to throw at people's heads then it's not ok for a fan to hit him in the head. Luckily Pedro wasn't seriously injured in this incident.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:57 PM | Comments (0)
Postive Steroids Test for Giambi?
Balco VP Claims Giambi Tested Positive for Steroids
In the midst of this article about documents being released that say that a Balco VP claims that Bonds took steroids, it's also mentioned that Jason Giambi tested positive for steroids. For some odd reason Balco ran urine tests on both Jason and his brother Jeremy, and they both came back positive.
If this is true, I am not surprised in the least. It's not just that Giambi was named previously in connection with Balco and had to testify before a grand jury. It's because I wouldn't be surprised by any positive drug test for performance enhancers for any baseball player. Many seem to think that the only players who have used steroids and other performance enhancers might only be those that have been named in conjuntion with Balco. But I believe that there are countless players, including plenty of Yankees, who did or are using performance enhancers. Not just steroids but also human growth hormone, which is almost impossible to detect and also stimulants like adderall. And until MLB and the player's union come up with a policy that has teeth this will probably continue to be the case.
As for Giambi specifically he has always been one of my favorite players dating back to when he was with the A's. I am disappointed that he most likely used steroids and I don't like it at all but I'm not going to stop being a fan of his. I don't think there is a single player or driver that I like who doesn't have faults or don't do things that I sometimes disagree with. Some even have some pretty big skeletons in the closet - David Cone is a good example of someone like that.
There are some fans who put these players on such a high pedestal that they can't accept when they make mistakes or do something wrong and stop being a fan of that person. And I do understand in Giambi's case those people who can't continue to be a fan of his because steroid use is serious business. But for me while there are some things that do put me off of certain players or drivers, I am also very accepting that they are human beings and they will do things wrong from time to time. It's harder in the case of Giambi because I have more of a problem with criminal behavior than with other things but thus far I just don't feel too much of a difference in my attitude towards him. Perhaps it's because I accepted so long ago that he had mostly likely used steroids at some point. Right now I'm just hoping that he shows up to Spring Training healthy and ready to produce for the Yankees. Given that steroids can't make a lousy player into a great one, they just give them an (unfair) advantage, I think Giambi can still be of value to the Yankees.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)
Carl Edwards vs. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
This might not win me friends if there are any Junior fans reading.
Carl Edwards is getting slammed in many places because of the incident with Dale, Jr. which left Junior wrecked late in the race. From what I can tell from what I saw on TV Junior came up on Carl and probably thought he had more room than he did and the result was the spinout. I didn't see Carl doing anything wrong through some are convinced he deliberately spun Junior for an incident between the two a few weeks ago. I see how Carl would have had that much time to decide to do that since Junior moving up the track in front of him seemed to happen so fast. Junior himself said after the race that it was his fault - yet so many are still willing to blame Carl.
Even Tony Eury Senior placed the blame on Carl. He said in an interview on PRN that Carl shouldn't have been racing Junior so hard in that spot because he only had two fresh tires as opposed to Junior's four fresh tires. Well, that late in the race when they are racing for positions in the top five or even the potential of a win, no way should either driver back off in my opinion. Two tires, four tires, no fresh tires, no driver should be backing off or letting another car by. If a car is laps down or clearly inferior of course he should let guys go by but otherwise I don't think there are too many spots in which drivers should be pulling over for each other, and especially not when they are at the front with not many laps to go.
Of course this is a familar theme with the #8 team. They seem to think that everyone should pull over and let them have position. Junior and the team have been critical of Michael Waltrip for not being a good teammate for not Junior go by. That didn't sit too well with me since I'm a big fan of Michael even though I understand the teammate argument.
Every individual driver no matter what organization they work for has sponsors of their own to worry about. Every driver at this level is also extremely driven and what would it say if they were willing to pull over and let someone by when they were racing for a good finish themselves? What would it say to their team? Carl shouldn't have to race less hard to let Junior get a better finish and while Michael shouldn't do something to cost his teammate a win, he shouldn't also be expected to hurt his own chances for getting the best finish he possibly can to let Junior gain positions.
I get the feeling that sometimes the #8 team thinks that everyone on the track should move over for Junior, like it's somehow his right to take positions without working hard for it. Junior is an awesome racer and I wouldn't be suprised to see him be Champion this season but he needs to race 100% for it like every other driver out there and not have it handed to him.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
Ten Angels
Jimmie Johnson won today's race at Atlanta with ten angels sitting in the car with him. After the week that Hendrick Motorsports has had it's remarkable that they were able to go to the track the week after their tragedy and win. It's a testament to the caliber of the people in that organization and also to the talent of Jimmie Johnson that he won today. It's his third win in a row and that is also amazing.
What's incredible to me is how many people who are critical of this win. That too much was made out of the win the week after the crash. That all the Hendrick teams going to Victory Lane was inapprorpiate and staged. Some even felt they wasted their time watching this race. Well, perhaps that's just sour grapes because a certain driver in the #8 car didn't win. This win meant the world to this team and to the entire organization. Chad Knaus was crying, Jimmie Johnson was cryign and there was emotion on every person's face in Victory Lane - nothing staged or inappropriate about that!
It was celebrated when Steve Park won Darlington, when Harvick won later that season and when Junior won Daytona, all in the memory of Dale, Sr. So should it be celebrated when Jimmie won this race in memory of those who died last weekend.
Posted by silverdsl at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
Jeff Burton to the #31
From Jayski's: It's Official Burton to the #31: Jeff Burton will finish the season behind the wheel of Richard Childress Racing�s (RCR) #30 AOL Chevy and then move to its #31 Cingular Wireless team for the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season. Cingular Wireless has also extended it contract with RCR through 2007.
There was a lot of speculation that this was going to be the game plan - that Burton would move from the #30 to the #31. If Cingular was to stay in Nascar they had to re-up with RCR and Childress probably had to make it attractive for them to stay. Given Robby Gordon's recent issues they might not have been too thrilled to continue their sponsorship of him but Burton is a different story. He's a good guy who represents the sport and his sponsors well. He's well-spoken and he's a good racer on top of that. I hope that Childress plans on making some crew changes to that team as well as that crew (and when some of them were working with Steve Park on the #30) have seemed to have some problems at times. I'd like to see Burton and also Kevin Harvick do as well as possible so I hope that RCR makes as many changes as is necessary so that those two can do really well next season.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)
Hard to Believe
Yesterday was my Mother's retirement party. It's hard to believe but she retired after 35 years of teaching English, Gifted and Talented and also working as an English curriculum Administrator. During that time she implimented numerous programs to help students she worked with excel either by working directly with the students or with the teachers that would be teaching them. She also worked on programs to help gifted and talented students try and reach their full potential. More recently she worked with underpriviledged children to help them excel and also with a program to train people who decided to get into teaching as a second career.
One thing that was always important to my Mother was helping students on every end of the spectrum from high achieving to low achieving. She also acted as an advocate for her students and colleagues and she was never afraid to make her opinions known, especially if she knew she could help someone. Many of the people at her retirement party spoke of what an impact she had on the students and faculty of the two schools that she worked at during her career. I hope I can have even a fraction of the positive impact that my Mother had on the people around her because that would mean that I would have helped a few people myself.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:12 PM | Comments (2)
Samba Madness
So on Friday night we had a Samba event and some folks were less than thrilled with our system of letting people into the space where the concert was being held. Well, calling us stupid and throwing tickets at me isn't going to get me to be too sympathetic to what you're saying and it certainly isn't going to get us to let you in any sooner. It's not our fault that the artist showed up late - it's not an ideal situation for anyone but sometimes things happen. It just seems like no one has any patience or tolerance anymore.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2004
Press Conference on Hendrick Plane Crash
Transcript of Press Conference
Today all of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers and crew chiefs plus Tony Stewart assembled for a press conference from Atlanta Motorspeedway to answer reporter's questions about the plane crash last weekend. It was broadcast over the internet via Nascar.com and I attempted to watch but while the video came in clear as anything the audio was barely audible. Still, it was obvious even without being able to hear too many of their words how deeply saddened all those assembled were over the tragic events.
Brian Vickers in particular was extremely upset to the point where in his statement he said that he would not be answering any questions. He spent just about the whole press conference with his head down and it was said that at one point when the drivers were asked about memories of Ricky Hendrick Brian appeared to break down in tears. My heart just aches for him and all the rest of the people who have lost friends and loved ones. I'm glad that there are obviously so many people around Brian who will help him get through this as best as possible - he obviously needs all the support he can get.
On another note, there seem to be a lot of people who feel that it's wrong for there to be so much media coverage of this crash. The photos of the wreck or the driver's reactions should never see the light of day according to these folks. The memorial service shouldn't have been televised. And the drivers shouldn't have had to do the press conference. I don't agree. Like it or not, this is a major accident that involves people who are prominent in the Nascar community so the intensity of the coverage is justified. Not to mention I don't think that bad or upsetting news or information should be hidden away.
The photos might be disturbing in some ways but life isn't always pretty and the photos can tell the story in a way that words may not be able to. In addition, they serve as a record of what happened, can make the story hit home harder and also act as a way to remember. I think the media does it's audience a disservice when they shelter people from photos that might be upsetting. Of course they need to be sensitive to the families of the people involved. And of course there are very few instances when the most graphic shots of bodies are newsworthy enough to be used, a topic I discussed in an earlier entry. But in this instance I believe that the photos that were used in various places were important to help tell the story.
As for the memorial service if the families didn't want it televised I'm sure it wouldn't have been. I think it's a way for all the countless people who can't attend to share in the memories and the grieving process. There are so many people who are greatly saddened by the crash, many more than can ever fit in one building for a memorial service. So televising the service is a way for these people to feel like they were there.
The press conference was not easy for those who had to speak but it was probably less painful to try and answer some of those questions then than have to repeat the same answers over and over again. The reality is that they are Nascar drivers, very much in the public eye, and fans want to hear how this effects them.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)
Drownings Haunt Wisconsin Town
"Yeah, there's a serial killer out there. He goes by the name of alcohol."
Since 1997 six men between the ages of 19-24, four of whom were college students, and all of whom had a blood alcohol level at least three times the legal limit to drive have drowned in La Crosse, Wisconsin in the MIssissippi River. Despite the fact that the police have found no signs of foul play there are a lot of people who are convinced that all of the drownings are the work of a serial killer who is targeting drunk men as they leave the bars in downtown La Crosse.
The police chief Ed Kondracki has stated publically, including at a town meeting, that this is not the work of a serial killer and that most likely these men stumbled into the river as they wandered around in a drunken stupor. He said, "Yeah, there's a serial killer out there. He goes by the name of alcohol." La Crosse is home to three colleges and as such there are many bars. In fact there are 300 places where alcohol can be purchased. As the Mayor John Medinger said, "There's just a culture in La Crosse that tolerates excessive drinking." Which is something he has promised to work towards changing.
La Crosse is typical of many cities and towns where there are college campuses. College students like to drink and sadly that often gets them into trouble. The Mayor is absolutely right that sometimes exessive drinking is not only tolerated but almost encouraged.
Just about everyone likes to have a few drinks, sometimes even more than a few. Most adults, unless they have a drinking problem, can handle alcohol and drink responsibly. Unfortunately on college campuses that isn't always the case. So this story is a good reminder as to why there needs to be alcohol education on every college campus. People tend to focus on drugs but alcohol can be just as damaging to young people getting their first taste of independence at college.
Posted by silverdsl at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2004
Just in Time for Halloween...
I came across this list of supossedly haunted places in New Jersey and was amused to note how many places in Cape May were listed. I'm not one for really believing in ghosts and hauntings though I do think there are some unexplained things out there, but it's sometimes interesting to read about ghost stories because they can be very telling in terms of the history of a building or place.
Cape May is filled with lots of old Victorian houses and buildings that have seen many people come and go through their doors. So it's probably not surprising that so many ghost stories have sprung up in relation to Cape May. In fact there's a ghost tour that you can take down in Cape May which takes you on a walking tour around town to see and hear about some of the supossedly haunted places in town. Jim and I took the tour last summer and it was actually pretty interesting. Of course they only tell you about "friendly" or non-harmful ghosts because none of the places on the tour would consent to be included if that weren't the case. The woman who ran the tour not only knew a ton of information about Cape May but seemed to know everyone in town too.
This list has plenty of places listed but based on the tour and what else I've read that doesn't even scratch the surface of places in Cape May that some people claim have ghosts running around in them. Luckily as of yet the place that Jim and I are getting married at hasn't directly been listed yet (it's near the old site of the Christian Admiral Hotel) but I anticipate eventually hearing a ghost story about that place too!
There's a lot of other places in New Jersey listed too. Thanks to the magazine Weird New Jersey, another thing worthy of it's own entry in the future, it's pretty popular to look for strange and ghostly happenings thoughout the state. Sometimes I feel like every house or building in New Jersey had a nasty murder happen there or had a cult in residence at one time based on what I read in that magazine! Actually, I skip through most of that stuff to get to the cool things in that magazine - the photo spreads and stories on abandoned places and buildings in New Jersey.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:39 PM | Comments (1)
Photo of the Day
Ocean Grove, NJ. 2002. Jim and I went to Ocean Grove on the Jersey Shore with Jim's sister, her husband, Jim's Mom and his grandmother. Jim's Mom used to live in Bradley Beach a few towns over before she moved to upstate New York and has always liked Ocean Grove. OG is like a scaled down version of Cape May with some Victorian houses and bed & breakfasts. It was founded as a Methodist retreat and there is still a very heavy Methodist presence in town.
We stayed two blocks from the beach so I got up each morning at sunrise to take pictures. There was a pier nearby as well and I was fascinated by the waves crashing to shore under the pier. I could have stood there all day watching. I was also suprised by how big the waves were there, though really I shouldn't have been since there is some surfing done on the Jersey shore, particularly in South Jersey.
I would love to go back to Ocean Grove. It's a cute little town and we had a good time there. But the reason I want to go back is to take more pictures under that pier. It's amazing sometimes I just fall in love with places I've taken pictues of and I can't get them out of my head like this pier from two years ago. Or the rock on Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine which is deserving of it's own entry in the future.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
LiveJournal User Recieves Secret Service Visit Over Journal Posting
A Livejournal user posted in their journal some inflammatory remarks about President George Bush which someone else on LiveJournal reported them to the Secret Service for. The Secret Service paid this person a visit and found that they were no threat but for the rest of their life this person could have an FBI file and there's the possibility that they will be placed on the Federal no-fly list, in spite of the fact that the Secret Service cleared them completely of any wrong-doing.
On the surface this incident appears chilling. Say the wrong thing, even clearly meaning no-harm, in a personal journal and the Secret Service shows up. And what of this person's First Amendment rights to free speech? Well, the First Amendment doesn't protect speech of a threatening nature. Just like you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater to cause a panic, you also can't threaten injury or death on someone and especially not someone in government.
In addition, the Secret Service is obligated to investigate every report they receive about someone who appears to be threatening the President even if it appears that it's not serious. As unfortunate as it is that this person will have a FBI file, what if the Secret Service did nothing and it turned out that the person did have something truly malicious in mind? They have no idea what someone's true intent is based on what they "seem" like online. So they have to interview them in person to find out what that person's mindset really is.
A number of years ago I was involved with a few events that the Secret Service had to be involved with since one featured the appearance of a former President and former Vice-President and the other featured a high-ranking member of the Irish Goverment. They take what they do very seriously and investigate every angle to make sure that the people they are entrusted to protect are safe. So it doesn't suprise me to hear that they take an online journal posting seriously. I think it would bother me more if I found out that they didn't investigate everything throughly. Especially after 9/11.
This incident is also a good lesson about taking care about what gets posted online. What you say can be read by anyone at anytime and linger for months or years, even if it's deleted thanks to archives. Posting to private forums and in the case of LiveJournal and other similar services making what is posted "Friends Only" helps but I've seen examples of how even stuff posted in those kinds of places can come back to bite someone. Even Curt Schilling found that out the hard way on Sons of Sam Horn when comments he posted in a private forum were used by the media and caused problems for him.
I'm all for people speaking freely and giving their opinions openly, even on very controversial topics but you never know who might be reading and what kind of an agenda they might have. Unfortunately, in the case cited above it seems as if the person who reported her had a personal problem with her and used that post against her. Which is really sad that someone would try to get a revenge for whatever issues they have with the other person by trying to get them in such huge trouble.
When I decided to do this journal I knew that there were certain topics that I would stay away from. Politics and religion being chief among them. Those topics are just so sensitive and people feel so passionately about those topics that while I will probably comment on certain issues, particularly social issues, I don't want to set myself up for something ugly if someone decides that my beliefs are so offensive to them that they want to cause trouble for me. I will save those discussions for my friends off-line.
In addition, while I might reference some things from work, for the most part I won't be talking about too much and I certainly won't be complaining about anything publically. Too many people have lost their jobs for what they've ranted about online thinking that no one would ever see it. And lastly, I won't be talking about anything too personal or sensitive very often about myself or other people. Not only do I think most people who come across this journal wouldn't be too interested in that type of thing, again it's a matter of me not knowing who might be reading. Especially since my journal is linked to in my sig file on NYYFans, which had a pretty big audience, and elsewhere.
Not that I will be shying away from stating my opinions honestly and as I see them - it's definitely not my style to sanitize what I say too much for the sake of other people, unless I'm wary of hurting someone's feelings. I'm quite sure there are people who won't like some of the things I have to say or will think my opinions are wrong. But I do want to be careful to save myself some grief.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
Tim Fedewa to Stay in the #12
Fedawa back in the #12 in 2005: FitzBradshaw Racing co-owner Armando From Jayski's: Fitz told Sirius Speedway (MRN Radio//Sirius Satellite Radio) host Dave Moody Tuesday that Tim Fedewa will return to the team’s #12 Supercuts/Hot Tamales Dodge next season, with a new, third sponsor to be announced soon. “I’m giving you a bit of a scoop here, but Tim will definitely be back next season,” said Fitz. “Supercuts and Hot Tamales have both increased their support for 2005, and we’ll have a new sponsor to announce very soon.” Fitz also confirmed that sponsorship is in place for he and co-owner Terry Bradshaw to field a third Busch Series Dodge on a full-time basis next year, with a driver to be named later.(10-27-2004)
So Casey Atwood gets fired from Fitz-Bradshaw effective immediately when he was 13th in points but Tim Fedewa is re-signed for 2005 when he's 19th in points? Unbelievable! I never like to see drivers lose their rides but what has Fedewa done lately that's so amazing?
As for Atwood I don't get why Fitz-Bradshaw took the time to bring in Flip Flippin or whatever his name was to work with Atwood if they were going to fire him before the end of the season. That's the kind of thing to do with a driver that you want to have a long-term investment in because you believe that they have a future. Maybe that was just for the sake of the NBS 24/7 cameras. I thought Atwood was showing some improvement too. Sadly, since this isn't the first ride that hasn't worked out too well for Atwood I fear that no one else will be willing to take a chance on him which would be a shame.
Posted by silverdsl at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)
Peter Gabriel
Thanks to having XM in my office I'm listening to Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers," on XM channel 46-Top Tracks. I didn't used to like Peter Gabriel but over the past couple of years I've gained a new appreciation for him and for how good his songs really are. A few months ago I got his two-CD greatest hits and it's amazing how many of the songs I actually know and like. I've never seen him live but based on the concert special Jim and I watched on the high-definition channel he puts on a great show. He's theatrical something which has gone by the wayside for many performers these days and at least the concert we watched was performed in the round. Both of these things make for a better show for the audience. Which is on top of hearing some awesome music. Maybe someday I'll actually get to see him live in person.
Five Favorite Peter Gabriel songs:
1. Games Without Frontiers
2. No Self Control
3. Solsbury Hill
4. In Your Eyes
5. Shock the Monkey
Posted by silverdsl at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
Red Sox Sweep Cardinals!
Hard to believe but the Cardinals after being the best team in baseball during the regular season put up no fight against the Red Sox and were swept in four straight games. The Red Sox were outstanding getting both excellent pitching and timely hitting. There is no doubt that they outplayed both the Cardinals and the Yankees, at least over the final three games of the ALCS. Man-hugs for everyone!
Red Sox fans must be overwhelmed with happiness. Finally, "1918" can be retired! But seriously, they have to be feeling so good this morning. As a Yankee fan when the Yankees have won the World Series I've felt great the next day but there's a special kind of excitment for Red Sox fans today since the last World Series win was 86 years ago.
The only thing I don't get is why some "fans" felt that the first thing they should do to celebrate is to be destructive. This is true in just about every sport. Your team wins, you riot or destroy other people's property. I just don't get the appeal. There weren't any major incidents last night in Boston but the police did have to make 35 arrests and disperse crowds with tear gas. In addition there were another 25 arrests on the Amherst campus of the University of Mass. I would think it would be a lot more fun to party with friends to celebrate rather than spend the night in jail.
In a similar vein over on our Yankees site the first thing that a few "fans" did was come over and troll. I guess some people get their sense of self-worth out of doing stuff like that because they feel some sort of superiority over Yankee fans but I don't see the fun in that either. We just ban them as soon as they act out so it's not like they can cause much chaos. Since the registrations have been closed for a couple of weeks these folks had to register these user names a while back specifically planning to try and cause trouble. So they had to make an effort to try and do this. Some folks take the rivalry between the two teams way too seriously.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2004
Jimmy Spencer Released
From Jayski's: Spencer Released from #4 Ride: Morgan McClure Motorsports announced today the release of driver Jimmy Spencer, effective immediately. He began driving for the team earlier this year at the Samsung Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. "Over the past several weeks there has been a steady and gradual improvement in the Morgan McClure racecar and Spencer has been an integral part of this drive for success. While his part has been greatly appreciated by everyone here at Morgan McClure Motorsports, it has been decided, by mutual agreement, that it would be beneficial to both the team and to Jimmy Spencer to release him so that he may pursue other driving opportunities within the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series," Larry McClure, team owner, stated. An announcement for his replacement in the #4 Chevrolet will be made before the BASS PRO SHOPS MBNA 500 race in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend.(Morgan McClure Motorsports PR)(10-27-2004)
Elsewhere it's been said that there is a correlation between Spencer being arrested and his release by Morgan McClure. I know most of the driver have those morality clauses so they can get fired for anything in their personal lives that is a no-no but Scott Wimmer got arrested for DUI and he still has a ride. So I don't get why Spencer is out of a job unless there were some conflicts going on there too. Granted the #4 car isn't much to write home about but a ride is a ride. At least Spencer knows he will be running some races for Michael Waltrip in the future but still this has to hurt.
Unfortunately Spencer will probably have a hard time getting a full-time Cup ride that's any good. These days the young guys are the only ones in demand and even for them the expectations are so high for immediate results, that their jobs aren't always so secure. In addition, not every team probably wants to deal with Spencer's habit of being so out-spoken and now there's the arrest on top of all of that. In addition to running some races for Michael maybe he'll end up in a truck ride. The truck series seems like a natural for him full-time.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:15 PM | Comments (0)
I want!
XM Introduces First Portable Satellite Radio Device
XM announced today that they were coming out with the Delphi MyFi, a walkman-like device which is the first personal, portable satellite radio device. Of course you can get all 130 channels with it but also record up to five hours of music. The only thing I notice is that the battery is only good for five hours which doesn't seem like too long. The other thing I would have liked to see with it is more recording time/memory but I would guess that will come in the future. The price when it first comes out is $350 which is steep but as more models are introduced I think that price will come down.
Of course I don't have a huge use for it seeing as how I don't really use the walkman I have now. But it seems like it's really cool. Hmm, I wonder if I could use it in place of the Roady I use in the office since it will hook up to stereos and speakers just like any of the other XM devices.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)
Mount St. Helens
So it appears that Mount St. Helens is spewing steam again. It's pretty amazing just seeing it on the webcam, I can only imagine how cool it is in person! Not that you can get too close these days.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:05 PM | Comments (0)
Cool Shot!
Pedro Martinez of the Red Sox as taken by baseball photographer Al Bello. This is thinking out of the box when it comes to baseball photography! I've seen a couple of other blur shots like this over the years but this is one of the best. Usually a lot of photos of the pitchers in action tend to look the same so it's always neat to see something different. It almost looks like a painting, not a photograph.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:48 PM | Comments (1)
What did he expect in a room full of Media?
Clinton's Off-the-Record Request Ignored
Former President Bill Clinton gave a question and answer session at the Magazine Publishers of America meeting in Florida recently. Prior to the session the moderator noted that all of Clinton's comments were off-the-record, meaning that his comments should not be printed by those media outlets in attendance. Apparently a significant portion of people there completely ignored the request.
When I still worked in public relations one of the first things my boss at the time told me is that there's no such thing as off-the-record. Sure, there are some reporters who will honor an off-the-record request but unfortunately there are just as many who will use what is said without a second thought. There are even some reporters who will ask you to speak off-the-record to get you to confide in them and then also use those remarks. Some reporters care very much about journalistic ethics but for some reporters getting the story is more important. And unless you have a long-standing relationship with a reporter it can be hard to know who is trust-worthy.
Even if you have a relationship with a reporter and have spoken off-the-record with them 100 times that doesn't mean that on the 101st time they won't burn you. There are times in which a reporter learns of something or a quote is said that is so newsworthy that they feel obligated to use it. I think that is probably what happened with Gary Sheffield and Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The two have a long-standing relationship and are friendly. Nightengale wrote about incendiary comments that Sheffield supposedly made about the Red Sox questioning their committment to winning. After the quote was printed Sheffield denied saying it but I suspect that he made the comments to Nightengale thinking it was off-the-record and either Sheffield didn't specifically say not to use it or Nightengale thought the comments were so newsworthy that he had to break his promise to not use it.
Friendships between reporters and the subjects they cover are discouraged because of how sticky things can get not just in relation to on- and off- the record but also in terms of how that friendship can influence coverage. That doesn't mean that reporters can't be friendly and chat with the people they cover but a deeper friendship can be tricky.
Which brings me to Marty Smith of Nascar.com. He has admitted he is friends with some of the drivers he covers including Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson. Not just friendly in that he will chat with them when he sees them but actually hangs out with them away from the track. He has said that he doesn't let this influence the way that he covers them and he has never made them any promises about only doing positive stories about them. To his credit he has not seemed to shy away from criticizing Junior or anyone else when need be. However, I wonder how he handles on- and off-the record? What if Junior or another of the drivers he is friends with says or does something in his presence that is worthy of coverage? Does he ignore it? Would he not report on it himself but alert a fellow member of the media? I enjoy Smith's writing and my impression is that he trys not to let his friendships bias his writing but still I wonder if there are things he deliberately leaves out or writes in a certain way at times to protect his friends.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2004
Howard Stern Challenges FCC Chairman on Air
During a radio call-in show, Howard Stern got into a heated exchange with Federal Communications Comission Chairman, Michael Powell, in which he accused Powell of only getting his position because Colin Powell is his father. Stern had apparently been alerted that Powell was going to be on the show and called in because he felt that Powell had avoided answering all his questions. Besides the comment about nepotism , Stern of course made his feelings known about how ridiculous he felt the fines against his show were.
In 2006 Stern will be moving exclusively to Sirius satellite radio. I wonder what he's going to do for attention once he doesn't have the FCC to battle? There was actually an article in Newsday about this over the weekend. Some of the allure of the Stern show is that he pushes the boundaries both of good taste as well as what is allowed by the FCC on the airwaves. On satellite radio he can say anything he wants so there might be some degree of excitment that is missing once he's not subject to the rules of the FCC.
I've listened to Stern from time-to-time. Some of the celebrity interviews can be funny and interesting. Some of his material can be offensive but most of it is just juvenile. It also seems like Stern keeps on doing the same routines over and over again. I guess the only way to get some fresh material and invigorate himself is by moving to a venue where there are few rules and he can do whatever he wants. But what will he complain about?
Posted by silverdsl at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)
5Mega-Pixel Camera Phone
Wow! I knew the day would eventually come that camera phones would be capable of taking high-quality pictures but I didn't know it would come so soon. Of course high-quality is a relative term since they may be 5MP pics but given the lack of a good lens and other accessories on a camera phone the photos still won't be too great. But down the road it may be a different story.
As much as I love taking photos I've never been too interested in getting a camera phone. I see people using them all the time but having some creative control as well as taking a high-quality pic is pretty important to me. I guess it's a good thing to have on hand to take a photo when something unexpected comes up or when you want to send a quick shot to a friend but I can't see using one in place of my regular camera.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
Red Sox Grab 3-0 Lead Over Cardinals
Well, at this rate we won't be re-opening registrations on the forum until next spring.
I expected the Cardinals to put up a much bigger fight against the Red Sox than they have so far. The Cardinals were awesome pretty much all season but they seem to have lost some steam. I really like Scott Rolen and I'd like to see him get a World Series ring but it isn't looking too good right now.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day
Paul O'Neill then of the New York Yankees, now retired. Batting practice. August 6, 2001. This is one of my favorite photos that I took of one of my favorite players. O'Neill was a very intense player and he rarely smiled during games. In fact, he was more likely to be scowling, disappointed in himself for not getting a hit in every at-bat. But during batting practice he would sometimes allow himself time to smile and laugh with his friends, when he wasn't obsessively practicing his swing. I saw him interacting with someone and I trained my camera on him and I was lucky enough to get this shot.
Batting practice is always one of the best times to take pictures. Players are more relaxed during batting practice too so they will joke arond with each other which makes for some good shots. I like to take photos during the game too but I enjoy the more causual shots as well. Prior to 9/11 I used to take a monopod and a long lens with me to games which would allow me to take really close-up pictures. Once they clamped down on security I could no longer bring that set-up to the games but when I could it allowed me to take some awesome shots of the players. I love capturing shots of the players that reflect some of their personality and that is true of this shot of O'Neill.
I eventually went to an autograph signing he did and had him sign a copy of this photo.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:54 PM | Comments (0)
Jimmy Spencer Arrested
Details seem to be very sketchy but apparently Nascar driver Jimmy Spencer was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer because he interferred with officers who were trying to serve a warrant on his son. What's amazing to me is that Spencer did this when the warrant was only because his son was accused of pouring paint on some cars, not exactly a capitol offense. Though probably there is more to the story than just that he and his friend got it into their heads to go pour paint on some random cars. Spencer can be very funny and I like the way he speaks his mind, though sometimes he could better serve himself by keeping some of his most controversial comments to himself. However, he does seem to have a bit of temper problem and that may have led him into trouble here.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)
On Vampires
Just in time for Halloween I got to thinking about vampires and how they've been depicted in modern literature and film. Particularly in Hollywood, but also in books, vampires have very much been romanticized and glamourized. Vampires are depicted as being extremely attractive, intelligent, intensely sexual beings, who live forever with other vampires, having the time of their undead "lives."
However, reading through old folklore and legend about vampires one quickly notices that there are actually a lot of differences between modern vampires as they are depicted and those old-time vampires. They were once ugly, vicious, non-thinking creatures, who might return from the grave clad in the ripped clothes they were buried in to feed upon their families, frequently their very first victims. They could shape change, often into terrible creatures and had other powers they used to entice or torment their victims. When vampires fed they didn't immediately kill their victims either. They might return to feed for a long period of time until their victim wasted away.
Vampires are almost always depicted as sexually insatiable, often having sex with their victims before killing them. But in many old legends the vampire's sexuality is used as a way to torment the humans around them as they will visit their partners over and over again wearing them out until they waste away similar to how the vampire might visit a victim over and over again to feed. Nothing romantic or sensual about that.
While the act of feeding is often shown as a source of sexual pleasure for a vampire and often for their victims, that certainly romanticizes what is happening. A vampire is murdering their victims, many times violently. That is why old myths and legends almost universally show vampires as evil beings who are to be hated and feared, unlike modern vampires who seem to be depicted as being mysterious, tortured creatures to be pitied who aren't all that bad other than the pesky feeding on blood thing.
A few other vampire tidbits often not mentioned in most modern vampire mythology: Their OCD. Yes, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Apparently in the ancient legends, sprinkling seeds on a vampire's grave might prevent them from stalking their prey or at least distract them since they would be compelled to count the seeds once they saw them. Also, vampires could go out in the daytime. Sun would weaken them and they could not use the majority of their powers but they did not whither away in the sun, though most of them preferred to sleep during the day. As such some vampires were depicted as leading "normal" lives with their families who didn't notice or didn't want to acknowledge that anything was wrong. In addition, in some myths and legends it wasn't just people who could become vampires - both animals and even plants could become vampires if the conditions were right. Those conditions didn't even have to include being bitten by another vampire as certain people were thought to be doomed to rise after death to become vampires due to circumstances in their living lives.
Another interesting issue as it relates to vampires is immortality: To some immortalitly seems quite wonderful based on the way some vampires are written. Living forever they can do whatever they want whenever they want. But some vampires are shown as retaining their human souls after they've been "turned.," Doomed to live forever, their human emotions and issues might follow them into eternity. Not to mention vampires will always outlive any humans they might befriend and frequently many of the other vampires around them too. Vampires are hard to kill but it can be done and humans don't take well to finding out that there are vampires in their midst. So a vampire might spend much of their time alone and unhappy about it. They might try to rectify this problem by turning a victim into a fellow vampire that is bound to them but despite how it is often shown in books and movies there is no guarentee how the new vampire will react to their new status.
Of course this just barely scratches the surface of myth and legend as it relates to vampires. Yep, just another wacky thing I got to thinking about. Though not a new topic given that I did a research paper in high school about the sexual symbolism in Dracula and Frankenstein.
Posted by silverdsl at 07:32 PM | Comments (1)
October 25, 2004
Inside Nextel Cup
I had to work late so I missed the first ten minutes of Inside Nextel Cup where they discussed the Martinsville tragedy. So I watched the replay a little while ago and oh my, was it heart-breaking to see Ken Schrader so close to crying. He drove for Hendrick Motorsports for nine years and remained extremely close to the family. He was just a mess on tonight’s show speaking very much from the heart about how deeply he and everyone else felt this loss.
It brought to mind the day that Dale Earnhardt, Sr. died for me and for others because Kenny was the first one to reach Dale after the wreck and thus knew before a lot of others how grim the situation was that day. There were a number of things that gave me a really bad feeling after that wreck but nothing more than Kenny’s face when he was shown saw him later on.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
My, what pointy teeth you have...
I’m all for putting characters in unusual situations or alternative universes. It’s always great to read something different. But there is something so creepy about this particular one at this particular time given recent events. With that particular character. Of course while this idea may be unique to this genre, over in other genres this type of story has been done again and again and then again some more.
Heh. Considering where it’s set maybe the Thieves Guild will make an appearance. Gambit would be just perfect for this story considering where it’s surely going to go. In actuality I don’t know what universe this is actually set in but I will laugh my ass off if it’s that one. I suppose it’s too much to hope for adamandium claws and weather godesses?
Posted by silverdsl at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
Ashley Simpson and lip-synching
Simpson's Dad Blames Acid Reflux for SNL Gaffe
With all the excuses that have been offered for why it appeared that Ashley Simpson was lip-synching on Saturday Night Live, it’s hard to believe the latest one offered by her Dad. He claims that yes, there was going to be a vocal track that she was going to “sing” a long to but that was only because of how her vocal cords had been effected by Acid Reflux Disease. Ashley herself blamed her band for playing the wrong track and her record company blamed a computer mishap. Most likely they're just trying to cover up the fact that she would be lip synching regardless of errors or Acid Reflux Disease.
Regardless of how much they would like to pretend this is a rare event the fact is that many singers either lip sync completely or use vocal tracks to make their voices sound bigger and better. As much outrage as a lot of people are expressing the truth is that people want to hear these artists sound the best they can which in a lot of cases isn’t possible out of the studio. Especially when you're dealing with a pop singer like Simpson. So as much as fans say they want their favorite singers to sing live if the choice was between them singing live and sounding horrible as many of these singers would and using a vocal track and sounding great but not fully (or at all) singing live, I think many people would probably choose the fake option.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
Rusty vs. Ryan
From Jayski’s: So...some on Rusty...Ryan: #2-Rusty Wallace bumped teammate #12-Ryan Newman after the race to show his displeasure over a lap 493 incident between the two that dropped Wallace from second place to 10th while Newman took third. "I told [Newman] to stay out of my way and I could win the race, but he didn't do it," Wallace said. Newman's reply: "I don't guess Rusty and I are on speaking terms right now. I was underneath him, and I know he came down on me. I wasn't going to give him anything, so he got loose and lost a bunch of spots. Our car was faster than his at the end. I'm not sure he's aware of that, but he will be."(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(10-25-2004)
This shouldn’t be happening between teammates. If Rusty is upset with Ryan discuss it with him don’t bump him on pit road where you might damage your own car or Ryan's or put yourself in a position where Nascar may want to penalize you. Especially since if I’m not mistaken Rusty has a financial stake in Ryan’s team. I know exactly why Rusty is upset as he didn't appreciate the way Ryan moved him out of the way during the race and felt it cost him a better finish. I can understand his anger. I just hate to see one teammate go after another teammate like that.
Ryan made a comment after the race about Rusty’s “future son-in-law” also going after him post-race referring to Jamie McMurray who is possibly dating Rusty’s daughter. I’m all for people dating whoever they want – it’s really no one’s business or place to pass judgment. However, at the same time since Rusty put Jamie in his Busch car and Jamie has been mentioned as Rusty’s replacement in the #2 after he retires care needs to be taken by all parties when it comes to business matters so that no one can make any suggestions of impropriety as Ryan seems to have been insinuating.
Since I wrote this on 10/25 but I'm uploading the entry on 10/26 due to the site being down, there is an update to this: Apparently Nascar is investigating the incident on pit road and will make an assessment as to whether there should be some penalities handed down.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
Pit Bulls Done?
Another From Jayski’s: Pit Bulls to be put down? NASCAR executives love the new television package that has boosted national coverage of their sport the past three years, but it's no secret they're not fond of one of the newest pre-game shows, Saturday night's Pit Bulls [usually 6:30pm/et, also known as Pit Hogs by Jimmy Spencer], on Speed, the Fox cable subsidiary. Pit Bulls is Fox' specialized version of The Sports Reporters, and its irreverent, politically-incorrect stance on many NASCAR racing issues has drawn a surprising following among stock-car crews [I never miss it], who sometimes express amazement that NASCAR officials have allowed the show to continue. Pit Bulls follows a distinctly different line from the typical NASCAR pre-game and post-game racing shows, which are frequently little more than public-relations showcases for NASCAR-approved themes, promoted by a bevy of drivers, some of whom, like Michael Waltrip [on Inside Nextel Cup, see next blurb], have lately increased their criticism of the show. Now it appears that the Pit Bulls show may be ripe for Brian France's axe at the end of the season, according to TV sources, who say the show could be sacrificed in post-season NASCAR-TV negotiations to appease Daytona executives.(Winston Salem Journal)(10-25-2004)
I’m not a huge fan of Pit Bulls as I agree with those who think they have a tendency to be too negative. However, there have been times that I think Pit Bulls have discussed issues that are glossed over elsewhere. The idea that Nascar wants to get rid of the show because of the content is chilling. We all know that they want to shut up the people who criticize them and I guess this would be one way of doing it. But I think it's important that there are people who can voice their opinions openly in a public venue where Nascar and others might take notice. Because the drivers certainly can't make most of their honest opinions known too freely.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
Reggie Jackson and the "Core" Yankees
Reggie Jackson made some comments this weekend absolving certain “core” Yankees specifically, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams from blame in this past week’s debacle against the Red Sox. Apparently Jackson feels that it’s such a shame that these players worked so hard to try and win but will always be remembered for the failure in this series. Left unsaid were that certain newer players in Jackson’s mind who aren’t part of the “core” are really the ones who are to blame such as Alex Rodriquez and Gary Sheffield.
Well, I don’t know what games Jackson were watching but in the ALCS Jeter and Posada hit less than .250 and Rivera was responsible for a very big blown save. Meanwhile, Gary Sheffield was unquestionably the Yankees MVP during the regular season and without him the Yankees wouldn’t even be in the post-season in the first place. Alex Rodriquez was a huge force for the Yankees in the ALDS against the Twins and in the first three games against the Red Sox. Unfortunately the entire team, other than perhaps Mike Mussina and Estaban Loaiza, went into a huge slump over the last three games. So personally I can’t understand why Jackson is placing blame at a few player’s feet when just about every player failed to execute during those games.
In addition, Jackson was apparently disturbed when he walked into the clubhouse after the last game because Posada was the only one crying after the loss. Well, I highly doubt that Posada was the only player who was deeply upset over the loss. FOX showed shots of the Yankees dugout and the look on their faces as they watched the Red Sox celebrate. They were all very upset and disappointed. Given how many members of the media and others were all over the clubhouse after the loss I don't think too many of the players were going to be breaking down in tears in front of a clubhouse full of people.
Jackson insinuated that some of the Yankees aren't "real" or "true" Yankees yet, I guess because they haven't won a World Series with the team yet. Well, I think as soon as a player puts on pinstripes they are a Yankee. Sure, you want a player to always play hard, contribute and do as much as they can to help the team win but I don't think they have to earn the right to call themselves a Yankee. Unfortunately, as we've become more and more removed from the glory years of '96-'01, more and more fans seem to feel like Jackson does, that players need to earn their pinstripes and that can only be done by winning a World Series with the team. In the past some players could become fan favorites by hard play and big hits or pitching performances against tough teams in big games but even those things don't seem to make as much of an impact as they once did.
I most sincerely hope that the Yankees clubhouse is not divided into "core" Yankees who have won rings and then everyone else. If the Yankees are going to continue their winning ways they must be able to function as a team. Baseball is a team sport and it's important that every player feels comfortable and valued. Players don't have to be best friends or even like each other but they must be able to work well together without resenting each other. I hope that the Captain, Derek Jeter, will make every effort to ensure that the clubhouse is not divided, despite his status as a member of the "core" of the team with four rings.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
With a Heavy Heart
There is a sacredness in tears.
They are not the mark of weakness,
but of power.
They speak more eloquently
than 10,000 tongues.
They are the messengers
of overwhelming grief,
of deep contrition,
and of unspeakable love.
- Washington Irving
I didn’t know anyone who lost their lives in the crash of the Hendrick Motorsports plane on Sunday. But given how much a part of the Nascar community many of those people were I feel great sadness on the part of all those who did know them. Rick Hendrick lost his son, brother and two nieces as well as a good chunk of the upper management of his company, who were probably close friends of his. His loss is tremendous. But there were others on the plane including Tony Stewart’s helicopter pilot who was on his way to say some last goodbyes before leaving for Iraq, something that was supposed to happen today. Also, Dupont’s director of motorsports and the two pilots of the plane.
The complete list of those who lost their lives are: John Hendrick, Jennifer Hendrick, Kimberly Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick, Jeff Dorton, Randy Dorton, Scott Lathram, Dick Tracy, Liz Morrison and Joe Jackson. There are no words that can possibly make the friends and families of those who lost their loves ones feel any better. Everyone has said that these people were some of the finest people in the Nascar community and their loss touches so many people.
I can’t even imagine how Jimmie Johnson must have felt to go from the highest high of winning a race to the lowest low of finding out that one of his friends and others in his organization lost their lives. Brian Vickers was another close friend of Ricky Hendrick and was celebrating his 21st birthday yesterday. His birthday will never be the same again. The news must have spread very quickly after the race, especially since it must have been obvious that something was terribly wrong since Jimmie did not go to Victory Lane for the usual celebration. I can’t imagine how much pain the people who worked for Hendrick who were at the race were in not to mention those who had once been a part of the organization such as Ken Schrader who often spoke of how the Hendricks were like family to him. And then almost everyone had to get on their own planes to fly back home with this news weighing heavily on their minds.
There has been much written on this tragedy but some of the better articles can be found here:
Tragedy Turns Race Into a Footnote
Darrell Waltrip: Nascar's Heart Goes out to Hendrick Motorsports
Reaction from Around the Motorsports Industry
Posted by silverdsl at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
Back Again...
My blog was down for a while due to a DNS problem so now I have to go back and put in all the entries I have saved up... I hope it stays up for good now!
Posted by silverdsl at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2004
Horrible News
This is just terrible news that overshadows everything that happened in the race today or elsewhere. A plane with seven people from the Hendricks Motorsports Organization crashed today on it's way to the race in Martinsville. All perished. Just absolutely awful news. I feel terrible for the entire Hendricks Motorsports Organization and especially for Rick Hendrick if it's true that his brother and son were on board. You just knew it was really bad when they didn't let Jimmie Johnson, a Hendricks driver, go to Victory Lane to celebrate his win. Thoughts and prayers to all who are effected by this tragedy.
Posted by silverdsl at 05:25 PM | Comments (1)
"I want to feel like someone is listening to me"
I can't say that's word for word what he said but something like that is what Michael Waltrip said after an incident in which he felt a wrong call was made by his team in terms of staying out on the track rather than coming in for a pit stop. It's hard to know exactly what the story is given that I'm only going by snippets of conversation via the radio, some of which can be hard to understand due to static, but I felt for Michael if he truly feels that he says things about the car or what he wants and then he's ignored. It's possible he's just speaking out of frustration and doesn't really mean what he's saying but given some of what else has been going on I felt bad for him. I hope going forward they will work on their communication and that might make Michael feel like he's being listening too a little more. Then again, don't we all wish that we were listened to more carefully and more often at times?
Posted by silverdsl at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)
"Blame that one on Robby"
Just heard over Michael Waltrip's radio via trackpass and that seems to be a familar refrain these days. Apparently this time Robby was blocking "as usual" as Michael's spotter put it and if I'm interpreting what happened correctly that caused a jam-up in which Kyle Petty spun and Junior was unable to avoid him and the result is that the race is over for Junior. It was a lousy race for Junior anyway but it's always unfortunate when someone's day ends through no fault of their own.
Now Michael's spotter just said "Somebody should beat the snot out of him." I don't want to assume that he's talking about Robby but Robby has been in the mix and in the way of a lot of people today so it wouldn't suprise me. Afer this long of getting on so many of his fellow driver's nerves and losing his ride after this season you'd think that Robby would adjust his approach. It's possible to be aggressive and not be a problem all the time.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day
Bailey, Jim's adorable pug "smiling" for the camera. He's such a sweet dog and always wants to please his humans, though he can be a stubborn one sometimes too. All he wants to do is be around his humans as much as possible. Which usually means that we're around he's trying to sit on our laps or when we're in bed trying to lie on one of us. He has separation anxiety of a sort so when we leave to go out he seems to think we're never coming back and he gets very upset when I leave each Sunday evening to go back to Long Island. But he is one of the cutest and most affectionate dogs I've ever encountered. When he looks up at me with those bulgy eyes it's hard to deny him an extra cookie!
Now that I've had a pug and been around other pugs I don't think I would ever have any other dog. I love their smooshed in faces and how much personality they have. Pugs generally aren't known for being very active dogs but they do have playful natures and Bailey loves to have a lot of squeaky toys on hand that he can play with and try to de-squeak. Just absolutely wonderful and fun dogs to be around.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)
British Military Enlists First Satanist
A naval technician in the British navy went to his commanding officer and asked to be allowed to practice satanism while he was at sea. So the Royal Navy said that as an equal opportunity employer that does not descriminate against specific religious beliefs they have granted him permission. I'm definitely not down with satanistic beliefs but it certainly is a ballsy move to come out publically as a satanist and ask for permission to practice satanism. I can't imagine he's going to be well-received among his fellow members of the navy for his beliefs so it may make things pretty difficult for him. I wonder if he thought that they would deny him his request and that it would somehow lead to him being able to leave the Navy? I wouldn't be suprised if they did eventually find a way to get rid of him.
I can't imagine this happening in the U.S. military. I don't even know if they would recognize satanism as a legit religion. I really don't think the U.S. military would want to deal with the negative PR fallout from allowing someone to practice satanism in their ranks.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:56 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2004
Deborah Richardson Jewelry
Today I saw some pieces by a jewelry artist that I really like. Every time I go into the store I drool over her work. They are pretty simple pieces really made out of sterling silver, not even with any stones, but there is something about the way that she bends the silver and the designs that she makes that really attract me. It's the way they twist and curve, the lines of the pieces that are so cool looking and it's all hand-made.
The store had a necklace of the same design as the bracelet I linked to above and I absolutely loved it! I've always been attracted to jewlery that uses that circle motif. The picture doesn't really do it justice to how nice these pieces are.Unfortunately while the necklace was 50% off it was still too expensive for me to afford, especially since I was getting my Mom presents. But I was so tempted! Maybe when I have a little extra money down the road I'll look into getting a piece of her jewelry.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)
A Beautiful Fall Day
So today Jim and I headed out to the apple orchard to get some cider apple donuts and some hot apple cider. Yummy! It was such a nice day out and we really enjoyed checking out all the trees that are turning color. We also stopped off in Chester, NJ which is full of great craft stores and walked around there a bit. Then we took a nice long drive through the area which we usually do every time we go to that part of New Jersey since Jim grew up not that far away. I am so glad that we did this today instead of watching the truck race which I discussed below!
When we went to Chester we went to one of my favorite craft stores, The Quest Gallery. I absolutely love contemporary crafts - pottery, glasswork, jewelry, everything. The woman who runs this store does a great job of picking the artists whose works she is going to sell. Every time we go into that store there are all kinds of beautiful pieces. Most of them are usually too expensive for me to get but I almost always end up getting my mother a present and once or twice I've been able to get myself a little something. We're going to my Mother's retirement party on Saturday so Jim and I got her two nice presents that I think she will like.
Chester is just a gorgeous area. Beautiful, big houses with lots of property. It's a somewhat rural area with lots of woods and parks but at the same time it's close to a lot of shopping and highways. Any of the towns in that area would be a great place to live someday. I just don't know if Jim and I will be able to afford it, especially when we are first starting out after we get married. Maybe someday...
Posted by silverdsl at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)
Missed the truck race...
...and that was a good thing apparently. Based on what I've been reading Steve Park intentionally spun Jack Sprague in retaliation for Srague getting into him, damaged his truck, got black-flagged by Nascar for rough driving and was held for a lap, got pissed and lost his mind, blew a stop-sign on pit road and got further penalized. He ended up finishing the race 23rd and didn't lose any spots in the points mostly due to luck because of how many other cautions there apparently were.
I'm going to watch my tape of the race tomorrow but I wasn't too happy when I heard about what happened today so I posted something about it basically saying that I felt that Steve hurt himself and the team because he couldn't control his temper. He's done it before and it's been costly and I'm sure it will happen again. I totally understand why he did it too - he got pissed at Sprague, then frustrated and when he gets like that bad things happen. I love Steve and I think he's an awesome person and driver but that doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything he does.
Well, someone just told me that I should keep my mouth shut because I didn't see the race. Nothing makes me angrier than when someone tells me that I don't have the right to my opinion. I've read what happened in the race in a couple of different places and everyone seems to be saying the same thing - Steve was angry, went after Sprague, got in trouble, then got himself in further trouble. The issue is that what I said, though I said it in the nicest way possible, wasn't excusing Steve for his behavior.
Sorry but I'm not going to excuse my driver when he behaves badly just because he's my favorite. That's why I run into trouble on these boards. I don't see things though rose-colored glasses when it comes to my favorite drivers and players. I call things as I see them and if one of my guys makes a mistake I'm not going to ignore it. Not to rip or bash them or because I like them any less but because I can recognize when someone does something that I think was wrong or could have been handled better. These are human beings and every person has faults and makes mistakes.
Many other fans want to put their drivers and players on a pedestal and think they can do no wrong so my way of thinking gets me into trouble - especially on the racing boards. On the baseball boards I have a rep for speaking my mind and folks are more tolerant of different opinions but a lot of race fans seem to think that the only acceptable opinions are whatever the group thinks. Well, I'm not going to shut up just because some folks don't like opinions that aren't the same as their own.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
Robby Gordon gone from RCR in 2005
From Jayski's: Robby Gordon will NOT be back with RCR in 2005: #31-Robby Gordon has confirmed that he and car owner Richard Childress will split at the end of 2004. Gordon told PRN's Garagepass, "The process is we've made the determination that our Busch car runs so competitive every weekend that we're gonna go ahead and make the step and move that to a Nextel Cup car in 2005. Obviously we'll have other announcements in the near future but our plan is to take our exisiting Busch car and roll that up to a cup program." When asked...so you won't be with RCR next year? Gordon said, "that's what it sounds like right now, so that looks like our direction...looks like the direction we're trying to head."(PRN's Garagepass Radio show)(10-22-2004)
No surprise here. I think Robby really wore out his welcome at RCR. He was probably on thin ice to begin with but when he intentionally wrecked Greg Biffle which took out two Chase for the Championship contenders that really must have done him in given all the negative publicity it garnered. Which is on top of some other questionable things that he's done on the track over the course of his time at RCR.
I have mixed feelings about Robby Gordon. On one hand he really seems to do a lot of stupid things on the track. He can be way too aggressive and he is a thorn in many driver's sides. On the other hand he is a talented racer when he isn't doing something brainless. He's clearly excellent on the road courses. He's also very fan-friendly. So he's just one of those guys that sometimes I like him and sometimes I don't.
Robby will probably struggle running his own Cup team. He's done fairly well with his own Busch operation but it's even more expensive and challenging to do it in Cup. However, the #31 hasn't exactly been an amazing ride for Robby for a while now so perhaps he feels that he can't do much worse himself, especially if his options for another Cup ride didn't look too good.
I do feel sorry for Robby in one regard. At the road race in California he had a great car in practice and was considered a shoo-in for a great finish if not a win. But early in the race he lost a tire completely due to the lug nuts not being tightened prior to the race. I have no idea how that happened and there was never any follow-up to get the real story but I wonder how much his pit crew hurt him this season. Many members of that crew had worked with Steve Park when he was in the #30 and there were some things that they said and did as well as some things that others observed that made me wonder about them.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the #31. One rumor is that Jeff Burton will go to the #31 with Cingular re-signing. Since AOL is probably leaving the #30 that would make sense. However, I've also heard that RCR has another sponsor lined up to take AOL's place so that may leave an opening for another driver to take Robby's place. No idea who RCR might get though I'm sure their first choice is a "young gun" like every other team.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:10 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2004
Boston Herald Readers Outraged Over Graphic Front Page Photos of a College Student's Death
After the Red Sox won the ALCS against the Yankees drunken college students in Boston went on a mini-riot to "celebrate." As the police were trying to quell the disturbance 21-year old Emerson college student Victoria Snelgove, who was an innocent bystander, was accidentally hit in the eye by what is supposed to be a non-lethal projectile fired by a police officer. Unfortunately she died from her injuries.
So the Boston Herald, not known for their journalistic integrity, printed a full-color photo showing Ms. Snelgrove collapsed and presumably dying on the sidewalk, on the front page of today's paper, along with an additional black and white photo inside depicting a bystander checking her pulse. As one might imagine Herald readers were horrified to pick up the paper and see these images.
In the column above Dan Kennedy of the Boston Phoenix argues that the Herald hit a new low by printing these photos which add nothing to the story that couldn't be known via the accompanying article. I tend to agree that the Herald probably erred in using these photos, at least in full color on the front page. However, photojournalists do important work in that their images often capture newsworthy events. Life isn't always pretty and working photographers can't put their cameras down in spite of ugly or distrurbing events that unfold in front of them. So the question is how and when should photos like these be used?
Many readers felt that the photos are insensitive to the family. I definitely agree with that. Here is a young woman who is well-loved by her friends and family and the horrible last few minutes of her life are printed in the newspaper for all to see. I would guess that is extremely disturbing to say the least. However, from the newspaper's point of view there are probably many family members of the subjects of photos and stories that they run who are upset by what goes in the paper. So the newspaper has to weigh sensitivity to the family versus the newsworthyness and importance of the photos.
Then the newspaper has to take into account the community they serve and what the reaction to these photos would be. Small town newspapers usually shy away from graphic photos while bigger newspapers that serve a more tolerant and perhaps less sensitive readership have a tendency to run more graphic photos. We saw this in relation to prior photos that are referenced in Kennedy's column such as some recent photos of American soldiers who were killed in Iraq - some newspapers ran those photos front and center but others shied away because they knew that their readers who be extremely upset.
There is also an argument that could be made that says that a newspaper has a responsiblity to report the news and print photos regardless of how their readers react. Some stories should envoke horror, anger, disgust and sadness from readers because they are horrible stories. I don't think stories should be sugar-coated to go down easier as that tends to lead to facts being omitted. Graphic photos could also lead to a story having more of an impact and that is what some people thought was the case in relation to the photos in the Herald. But words can be just as powerful as a photo.
Graphic photos shouldn't be used specifically to sell newspapers and I suspect that is the case with the Herald. Just like when the New York Post used a graphic photo of a woman comitting suicide by jumping off a building on their front cover, I think the Herald was aware of the shock value of the photo and wanted to use it to move papers. Which is definitely the wrong reason to use the photos. In fact the Herald is probably enjoying all the attention they're getting from running these photos which is a shame because it takes away from the real story - that an innocent bystander, happy that her favorite team won, ended up dead instead of back in her dorm room at the end of the night.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2004
The Curse Heard Round the World
Rusty Wallace Says Janet's To Blame
It's been almost three weeks since Dale, Jr. said "shit" in Victory Lane during a live TV interview on NBC after winning at Talledaga. You'd think it was discovered that he has bodies buried in his backyard with the amount of attention this is still getting. Mostly that's because Nascar had no choice but to fine him $25,000 and take away 25 points after punishing other drivers in a similarly ridiculous way earlier in the year and that could potentially have an effect on his championship run. Nascar's worst nightmare is a scenario in which Jr. loses the championship by less than 25 points.
Rusty Wallace thinks this is all Janet Jackson's fault and I agree with him to a degree. Without her wardrobe malfunction on live TV the FCC wouldn't be so anxious to crack down on offenders and Nascar wouldn't be so worried about drivers who curse during interviews.
However, the "whole mess" as Rusty refers to it wasn't caused by Janet Jackson. It was caused by Dale, Jr. being unable to give an interview on national TV without cursing. Janet Jackson didn't force Jr. to curse - he's the only one responsible for what comes out of his mouth. I'm not offended by cursing and it's very true that children hear and are exposed to much worse and more damaging things every day. I also strongly feel that drivers shouldn't have points taken away for something that doesn't happen on the track but I also think that a grown man should be able to give an interview without cursing. Especially when he knows that he can be punished for it. Nascar's rule may be a stupid one but it is their rule and the drivers have to abide by it.
Rusty goes on to say that he thinks that it took the realism out of the sport and I've heard something similar from a lot of other people in that they feel that Nascar is trying to suck the personality out of the drivers. Again, I agree to an extent in that I think Nascar is way too controlling about some things such as what goes on in Victory Lane and that takes away some of the fun out of things. But I've seen plenty of people give interviews, with a full range of emotion and personality, without cursing. I don't think it's too much to think that a 30-year old can speak his opinions freely and express his emotions fully in a TV interview without having to resort to cursing to get his point across.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day
Brookdale Park, New Jersey. 2002.
I used to really love taking photos of flowers, especially roses and tulips. The colors and the patterns that could be found within the flowers always intrigued me. But in the past couple of years I don't get as much enjoyment as I once did from taking photos of flowers. I try to challenge myself to always look for photos that are somehow different than the standard flower photos and it seems harder and harder to come up with something unusual or eye-catching. So I don't think I get the same satisfaction I once did from this type of photo.
But I'm sure if I got back to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania or went to the Bronx Botanical Gardens when everything was in bloom I'd find plenty to inspire me. The one time I was at Longwood Gardens it seemed like everywhere I turned there were beautiful flowers to take pictures of. I'd also like to check out some gardens in another part of the county where there are some plantings that can't be found up here. It's too bad the day that I was visiting Melissa and Co. in Orlando the rain prevented us from going to the gardens there which I've heard are really nice.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
National Novel Writing Month
Every November it’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in which more than 25,000 online participants try to write a complete 50,000 word novel between November 1 and November 30. In order to get it done the emphasis is on quantity, not quality, so participants are discouraged from worrying about pesky little things like grammar, spelling or editing. Last year 3,500 people successfully finished novels for NaNoWriMo and I’m sure everyone who either finishes their novel or gets pretty deep into it feels a tremendous sense of accomplishment. A lot of folks get very excited about this challenge and I’m all for anything that encourages people to think creatively and write more. So it's neat that each year so many people spend so much time writing so much.
However, the lack of concern for the quality of what’s being written bothers me a little. Personally, I think proper grammar and spelling in addition to the ability to write a well-crafted work matters. When I take a look at something and it’s full of grammar and spelling errors and it’s clear that the writer never bothered to take the time to think about what they’re writing I stop reading because I don't find it enjoyable to read.
I have a learning disability which gives me problems with spelling and grammar. But it’s important to me that if I’m going to be writing something that will be seen by others that I try to make sure it’s the best that I can make it, even though it's not always easy for me. Every writer is going to have errors unless they work with a professional editor and even then things are going to slip through so it’s not that I expect perfection. And I certainly don’t expect everyone to be able to write the great American novel – my writing skills certainly don’t compare with the better writers out there. But I would think that most writers who feel a sense of pride about their writing would want to make sure what they put out there for others to read is as good as possible.
NaNoWriMo specifically tells their participants not to worry about editing and acknowledges that a lot of what people will be coming up with is going to be “crap.” Well, personally I wouldn’t feel too good about 50,000 words of “crap.” I’d rather see a writer take months to put together one really well-done chapter that captivates me rather than multiple chapters of potentially lousy writing just to meet an artificial word count and writing deadline. That's not to say there aren't some folks coming up with some good writing through this project - I just suspect their work might be even better if not for the rush to get it done and make it a certain length.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)
A Picture Worth a Thousand Words
Yeah, that's a photo that seems like it must have a story that goes along with it - and it does. After all, it's not every day that you see a driver showing off their backside. Though if there's a driver that's going to do it Michael Waltrip is probably the one! LOL!
This shot was taken at a charity event which raised money for Michael's Operation Marathon campaign. Michael is trying to raise $1 million for the Victory Junction Gang Camp and some of the drivers are helping him out with events and donations of their own. Such was the case with Jeff and Mark Green who held the "Hilarity for Charity" event at which this photo was taken. Part of the event included an auction and Michael put on a signed pair of Alan Jackson's jeans I guess to encourage bids.
A story that I heard that went along with this is that supossedly, and I have no idea if this is true or not, Michael went to change from his own pants into these jeans behind some cardboard cutouts that two women held for him. Well, as he was changing it was said that one of the women peeked to find out the answer to "boxers or briefs" only to discover that Michael, at least for that night, prefers to go commando. Which apparently gave her quite a shock.
I don't know - maybe this was part of the comedy routine and if there's a guy who has a good sense of humor about stuff like this it would be Michael but still it reminds me of what I wrote about here a few days ago. If a man had peeked at a woman changing there would be a huge outcry but when a woman does it everyone laughs. Even I found the story funny picturing it but had I been back there changing and a stranger saw me half-naked I might not feel too good about it.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)
AOL Out?
From Jayski’s: AOL OUT: hearing AOL will NOT be back with the #30 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) Chevy in 2004 and is leaving the sport, supposedly AOL does not see NASCAR as a viable tool in their marketing/business plan.(10-21-2004)
I'm not surprised that AOL probably won't renew with RCR. The team just hasn’t had the level of success I’m sure AOL hoped for when they signed on. Any number of drivers manned the #30, including one of my personal favorite drivers, Steve Park; and the current driver who I like a lot, Jeff Burton. Though there have been some good runs, especially recently with Burton in the car, no matter who’s been in it the results haven’t been that great. There was also the whole fiasco with finding a driver for 2004 in which the first of three drivers in the car was Johnny Sauter who had said just a few months previous that he wasn’t ready for Cup racing. And it showed in the short time he was in the car.
But as a company AOL hasn’t done too well the past few years either. Between losing subscribers, mergers and financial troubles I had a feeling that they weren’t going to want to continue to pour multi-millions into a car that doesn’t generate all that much attention for them. Steve Park fans are among the most loyal fans around but even when he was in the car many of his fans talked about how much they disliked AOL. So it was clear even then that the sponsorship of the #30 car and maybe even their overall sponsorship of the sports wasn’t really paying dividends for them.
The other factor is the struggles of all three RCR teams. When RCR can’t even get it’s top driver, Kevin Harvick, a competitive car on a weekly basis and Harvick publicly complains about the deficiencies of the engines that he’s been getting that doesn’t look good. So it doesn’t bode well for how great the #30 is going to be if the #29 is so bad half the time. As an organization RCR seems to have work to do and that may discourage some sponsors.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2004
Heartbreak in the Bronx
Tonight the Yankees made history and it wasn't in a good way. Before tonight no other team had blown a 3-0 lead in post-season history but through sheer ineptitude by any number of players the Yankees did it. Which is truly amazing considering the talent level of the players that the Yankees have. A barrel full of All-Stars and former MVP and MVP candidates failed miserably and all they had to do was win just one more game.
I'm sure a lot of fans are crying, throwing things and getting drunk right about now. But I expected this outcome for tonight's game so I'm not feeling devastated like many other fans. Oh sure, I'm disappointed and pissed off. But I saw the writing on the wall after last night's debacle. That had to be one of the worst played Yankees games I've ever seen and believe me I've seen some real stinkers. So once I found out that it would be Kevin Brown on the mound, bad back and all, who was horrible on Saturday, and taking into account the lack of hitting by the Yankees offense, I prepared myself for the worst. Unfortunately I was right.
But it's not just that the Yankees stunk, I have to give credit to the Red Sox too. They are a tremendously talented team and they played well, much better than the Yankees at least over the course of the last three games. They could have given up when they were down 3-0 but instead they battled and played hard to force a game 7 which they handily won. I hope the Yankees were taking notes.
Sure, there were a few players who came through for the Yankees. Mike Mussina pitched well twice in this series and particularly in the first game was truly the Yankees Ace. Jon Leiber pretty much did his job. Estaban Loazia who was dreadful during the regular season since coming over to the Yankees via a trade with the White Sox really stepped it up to pitch surprisingly well during this series. There were also a few big hits by guys like Alex Rodriguez and John Olerud that will probably go unremembered.
Otherwise, the Yankees played dreadful baseball. Horrible pitching, especially by Kevin Brown, was the biggest source of the Yankees undoing. But also the offense was ice-cold at the plate and the defense was sloppy as well. This Yankee team somehow got to the post-season and past the Twins but this is not a team that deserved to go to the World Series and rightfully so they have been eliminated. I still love the Yankees but the teams in the World Series should be the best in baseball and the Yankees are not the best team this year.
Where was the fire? Where was the emotion? We saw it in selected players from time-to-time, A-Rod comes to mind - he certainly looked upset when the Yankees lost tonight - but for the most part this team played flat. Not the Red Sox. They played with enthusiasm and determination, every play of every game.
There will be changes for sure to the Yankees next season. They desperately need starting pitching, hopefully the young and talented kind. Otherwise, there will be repeat performances like tonight. It will be an interesting off-season for sure.
Now to go deal with the chaos on the forum. Fun times.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day
Nags Head, Outer Banks, July, 2003. I love the ocean. There's something about the endless waves and their power that has always drawn me. I can spend hours watching the waves crash onto shore. But as I mentioned in another entry I also love walking the shore, picking up stones, shells and if I'm lucky some sea glass. There are some beaches where nothing much washes up but there are others that are filled with all kinds of cool stuff that's been tossed and tumbled by the waves until it finally washes up on shore.
When I was 8 or 9 I went with my parents to Nova Scotia in Canada. It wasn't one of our better vacations but one of the highlights was finding what appears to be a rock with a fossil on it while we were on a sand bar. My father went through a period in which he liked to fly kites and this particular sand bar was known as a good place to fly kites because of the winds. The only catch was that you had to be very aware of the tides otherwise you'd get stranded by the advancing water.
So my father was really into flying his kite as my Mom and I explored and suddenly we noticed that tide was coming in... super-fast. We were rushing to gather our stuff and get off the sand bar as quickly as we could when a grey flat rock caught my eye. So I grabbed it just before the advancing water could cover it and immediately noticed what looked like a fossil of some sort of shrimp-like creature tail and all. I took it home of course and eventually took it to a gem & mineral show to see if anyone knew what it was. No one could say for certain what it was but they agreed that there was a good chance it actually a fossil of something. That was just the most awesome thing to me that I found something like that!
I still have that rock. From time to time I look at it and hope that one day I will find something else as cool as that washed up on shore. Unfortunately, on my trip to the Outer Banks I didn't find anything too interesting on the beach but Jim and I had fun there.
The other highlight of the Nova Scotia trip was our visit to Oak Island where legend has it there is buried treasure. I'll have to discuss Oak Island in a future entry because that's an interesting place.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)
Dead Man Helps Schilling Pitch
It isn't every day that a dead man plays a role in the outcome of a baseball game. But that's exactly what happend yesterday. Curt Schilling has a tendon problem in his ankle which was effecting the way he was able to pitch. So after trying various other options the doctors came up with a radical treatment which would involve using stitches to sew the skin in Schilling's leg to the tissue underneath to help keep the tendon in place. So how does the dead man relate to all of this? The doctors wanted to test out the procedure first before they did it on Schilling so they used a cadaver. Ultimately the procedure was done on Schilling and he had a strong outing.
Shows how vital the Red Sox felt Schilling was to their chances for success against the Yankees if they were willing to resort to experimental treatments like this. Given some of the questions about the Red Sox medical staff that have popped up over the years I hope Schilling got a bunch of different opinions on the safety of that procedure before he agreed to it!
Posted by silverdsl at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)
Mystery Driver Revealed
Apparently the only driver in the top ten who didn't endorse George Bush was Jeff Gordon. The other nine drivers are listed in the article on the official Bush/Cheney site but Gordon isn't. I doubt we'll ever hear Jeff publically support Kerry, if he even is a Kerry supporter or a democrat, but if there's one driver other than Dale, Jr. who can get away with doing something different than the majority it's Jeff. Jeff has a huge fan base who will support him no matter what and those that hate him will just add it to the list of reasons why they don't like him.
What's most interesting to me is that Tony Stewart is on the list as endorsing Bush yet he's said that he has no plans to vote in this election and he never votes period. I don't know how accurate it is but it was said that Tony doesn't vote because he believes all politicians are liars. So someone who doesn't care for politicians and won't be voting himself could play a role in the election because he might influence some of his fans to vote for Bush. Maybe Tony does believe the same on the issues that Bush/Cheney do. However, I have to wonder if he endorsed them because that was the "right" thing to to in the eyes of the fans and many of the other people in the Nascar garage area.
Posted by silverdsl at 07:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2004
XM Gets Even Better
Huge news for baseball fans - you may soon be able to listen to broadcasts of your favorite teams no matter where you are in the country via XM satelitte radio. So perhaps this explains why XM didn't go after Howard Stern? According to this article tomorrow MLB and XM are going to announce a huge deal in which every single baseball game is broadcast on XM over the next eleven years. I don't know how this will work in terms of what channels the games will show up on. I hope they aren't going to take some of the music channels off the air evenings (or the Nascar channel) to accomidate the games. The deal is worth $470 million which is big money but probably worth it for XM.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
Mike Mussina a heavy metal fan!?
So I just found out that Mike Mussina, my favorite Yankee pitcher, is a fan of heavy metal music like Metallica, Guns -n- Roses, Van Halen and The Scorpions. That seems so unlike him! Then again I love all those bands and many other metal bands and that always seems to surprise people. The song Mussina warms up to when he starts a game is "The Zoo" by the Scorpions, a great song, but I had always thought it was a random selection. Nope, he choose the song because he likes it.
Mussina really is a fascinating person who is very multi-layered. We get to see some of his personality when we interact with him at the meet & greets and the folks at Shelley's board who are long time fans have lots of stories too. A lot of fans think he's standoffish and boring but that is very far from the case, and certainly not when he's around his fans.
It will never happen but I would love to see him rocking out to some Metallica sometime!
Posted by silverdsl at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits
Today was the day that John Mellencamp's greatest hits album, "Words & Music" was released. I've been salviating for this album ever since I heard it was coming out. Unfortunately due to how busy I was at work I couldn't get it at lunch and I couldn't get it after work due to how late I had to stay to work on the damn conference. But I did get to listen to it via Rhapsody! Those songs just get me going! Which was a good thing today when I needed an extra boost of energy.
It's as awesome as I knew it would be since it has every one of his hit songs on it, many of which are among my all-time favorite songs. There are 37 songs in total on this double-album and while he hasn't had too many huge hits lately, he sure has had a lot of big songs over the course of his career. This truly is a greatest hits as opposed to what some artists do which is throw together a bunch of songs with only one or two truly being greatest hits.
There are too many great songs to mention them all but I love "Rain on the Scarecrow," "Love & Happiness," "Human Wheels," "Small Town," "Peaceful World" and "Jack & Diane" among many others. For sure this one is going to get heavy play both via Rhapsody at work and elsewhere once I'm finally able to pick up the physical album.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day
Bronx Zoo. 2002. Taking photos of the gorillas in the gorilla exhibit at the Bronx Zoo was really neat. The gorillas are so expressive and they get up close to the glass that separates them from visitors. Just as much as people watch what the gorillas are doing, many of the gorillas watch what the people on the other side of the glass are doing. They are fascinating animals.
A lot of photographers look down on taking photos in zoos. Mostly because the animals aren't in the wild, they're in a fake and forced setting. Well, I know I'm not going to get to photograph gorillas in their natural environment so I'm more than happy to take advantage of the only way I can see gorillas or other animals up-close.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)
Bush-Cheney Launches Nascar Campaign
From Jayski's: Bush-Cheney '04 launches NASCAR campaign: Bush-Cheney '04 Tuesday launched a two-day, four-state tour of NASCAR celebrities to help pull in the "NASCAR dad" vote in two weeks, the campaign said. Seven NASCAR drivers and figures -- including Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin, Bill Elliott, Jack Roush, Benny Parsons, Jeff Hammond and Eddie Wood -- will appear in the battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania at 14 separate events, the campaign said. The campaign also announced it had received endorsements from nine of the Nextel Cup Series Top 10 drivers, as well as from NASCAR President Mike Helton and "countless NASCAR heroes."(Washington Times /UPI)(10-19-2004)
So which driver in the top ten didn't endorse Bush? And will that driver come out of the closet as a Kerry supporter? Nascar is extremely Rebublican and many, many Nascar fans are Rebublicans hence the courting of Nascar fans by the Bush camp. A driver who says they are not a Bush supporter I think could actually face some fan backlash.
When Jr. officially proclaimed himself a Bush supporter and a Rebublican a bunch of Jr. fans pretty much stated that for sure now they would vote for Bush. Kind of scary that Dale, Jr. could play a role in the election. I hope that most folks vote based on the issues that the candiates support and believe in rather than who their favorite driver is going to vote for but sometimes I wonder.
Interestingly enough Jade Gurss, Jr.'s PR guy, is pretty anti-Bush based on his blog. Jade makes a point of encouraging folks to think for themselve and investigate a lot of different viewpoints rather than just making up their minds based on what someone else spoon-feeds them or what they think is the "right" way to think. He posts links to some stuff that is somewhat anti-Bush too. I wonder if he and Jr. ever argue over politics?
Posted by silverdsl at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)
Well, well, well...
From Jayski's "Richard "Slugger" Labbe, a Daytona 500 winning crew chief, will serve as crew chief on the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops car, with Kevin "Bono" Manion, [Martin]Truex's regular crew chief on the Busch car, making calls on pit road during the race."
Now isn't this interesting - Slugger Labbe as Martin Truex's crew chief at Atlanta. Really co-crew chief with Kevin Manion. I wonder if that could potentially be Slugger's future at DEI if he doesn't take to his new management role - be Martin's crew chief when he hits Cup full-time. Martin probably has a bright future ahead of him in Cup and DEI will probably put a lot of resources behind him. The focus at DEI was definitely not on Michael and I've often wondered how much support they were giving him so I could see why working with a "young gun" driver who will guarenteed get a lot of attention might appeal to Slugger or other top crew chiefs. Though there's no telling how much success Martin will have in Cup or how he will adjust so that could bring it's own set of headaches - Brian Vickers and Brendan Gaughan being just two examples of rookies who are struggling to adjust.
Or will Slugger leave DEI all together by next season? Other than the one article Slugger denies he has much interest in leaving DEI but I would suspect a lot of that is because it might be a no-no to publically try and land a new position when he's still under contract to DEI. A couple of other teams have been mentioned as being interested in his services and I've found that while not everything ends up coming true, generally where there's smoke there's at least a little fire. I guess it depends on who makes things most attractive to Slugger - DEI or somewhere else.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)
Ortiz Again!
Another extra-inning marathon. Another huge hit for the Red Sox by David Ortiz. Another Yankees loss. Ugly.
Yet again the Yankees were ahead in this game. But Tom Gordon was pretty bad in the 8th inning and then when he left the game with men on base Mariano Rivera allowed the Red Sox to tie the game via a sac fly. The game remained tied until the 14th inning when Estaban Loaiza gave up an RBI single to Ortiz. Figures Loaiza would be the one to give up the game-winning hit to the Red Sox. He's been dreadful since he came over from the White Sox. But Torre didn't have much other choice but to use him since he had thrown every other member of the bullpen out there.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox bullpen has only allowed 1 run over their last 14 2/3 innings of work. That doesn't bode well for the Yankees whose game plan has been to try to make the Red Sox starters throw a lot of pitchers and get into the supossedly weak Red Sox bullpen early.
Tomorrow Gehrig38 himself, Curt Schilling, takes the mound for the Red Sox looking to redeem himself for his awful game 1 shelling. He may be fighting an ankle injury but he will give it his all tomorrow. I don't expect that the Yankees will have an easy time against him. The Yankees will have Jon Leiber on the mound who was very good in game 2, hopefully he has a repeat performance in him.
The Yankees are still up 3-2 in the series so if they win tomorrow it will be all over for the Red Sox. It would be cool to see them win at home and celebrate with the fans in the stadium. I just hope the momentum hasn't swung in the Red Sox favor with two exciting come-from-behind wins in a row.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2004
Photo of the Day
Sunset over the Webhannet River in Wells, Maine. July, 2004. Jim and I were driving back to Ogunquit from meeting his Mom for dinner in Cape Porpoise (she was also on vacation in Maine) and we decided to take a ride though Wells just to see what it was like. Definitely not as nice as Ogunquit but we were in the right time at the right place so I could take this sunset shot.
I have a feeling a lot of my Maine photos will be showing up here. I love Maine, particularly the Maine coast, and if I lived closer I would probably be up there every summer.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
Hurricanes Not Unwelcome for Everyone
In Florida the hurricanes did a lot of damage and disrupted a lot of people's lives but for treasure hunters the hurricanes presented an opportunity to find treasure that might have been newly washed up or uncovered by the power of the hurricane. One of these guys found 180 silver coins worth $40,000! Imagine that, hoping for the best but knowing more than likely you're going to turn up with nothing more than pocket change as usual, then suddenly finding those coins!
I love walking on the beach, looking at what the tide washes up. I get excited when I find a cool rock, especially those that have been perfectly rounded by the waves and I'm beside myself if I'm lucky enough to find sea glass. So I can't imagine how thrilling it must be so find something historical or valuable like that!
Posted by silverdsl at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)
Double-Standards
Why is it considered to be perfectly fine behavior, hysterically funny even, for a fan to do what basically amounts to sexual harassment towards a male athlete or those that work in their organization but the same behavior directed towards a woman might result in security being called and other consequences? It's especially disturbing after hearing that the person this was directed towards made their discomfort known more than once.
Maybe I'm just too uptight about these things but I don't think that just because fans see someone on TV or read about them all the time and think they're cute means that the fan "knows" them, regardless of how it feels, or that that fan has the right to act any way they want towards them. It doesn't matter how much the tickets cost, what kind of passes the fan might be wearing, who they know or who else thinks it's hysterical too. These are real human beings. Just because they are well-known (or semi-well known) doesn't mean that they don't deserve respect or that they can be treated any which way. It's like there's an elevated sense of entitlement that some fans have that they think that they can and should do whatever they want. Well, next time someone runs into this person they might not be so fan-friendly since they got burned this time. It's really a shame that some fans ruin things for other fans.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)
The Strange Case of Cecil Fielder
http://www.detnews.com/2004/tigers/0410/17/a01-306142.htm
If you were once a superstar major league baseball player (or any well-paid athlete) and you had earned more than $47 million what would you do? Well, apparently if you're Cecil Fielder you gamble it all away leaving yourself and your family broke and then you go on the run, hiding out from bill-collectors and process servers.
Obviously Fielder had a major gambling problem but $47 million is a lot of money. What do you spend $47 million on? There's the gambling of course. The houses and the redecorating of those houses but where else could that money have possibly gone? I imagine there might be a few failed business deals in there too. Not to mention his soon to be ex-wife sounds like she wasn't too careful (or caring) either. If there's a lesson to be learned for other athletes it's that aside from avoiding gambling, they better have an understanding of how to manage their finances. Especially since there seems to be no amount of money that can't be spent.
I imagine it's actually fairly easy for athletes to get into trouble. Most of them probably have business managers who take care of getting the bills paid and working contracts so the athlete themselves may never know specifically how much money they and their families are spending as compared to how much money they actually have. With that much money it's probably easy to assume it will never run out too. Then there's the additional problem that some athletes get taken advantage of by unscrupulous people who will manage their money or represent them in business deals and steal some of it for themselves. So it pays for athletes to be very careful about who they trust and also have at least a basic understanding of financial matters so they can keep on top of what's going on with their money to some degree.
A lot of these players come into money at a very early age, sometimes when they have a limited education. In the NBA at least I think one of the classes they give to rookies during pre-season training is a class warning about the perils of money and how not to become broke. But this should be standard in all the sports. That might not have helped Cecil Fielder any since gambling is a whole separate problem that needs to be addressed but maybe some athletes could benefit from some guidance when they first start out. Because once they have all that money there are lots of people who will want to help them spend it but not a lot of people who will be willing to tell them "no."
Posted by silverdsl at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
No Sweep.
The Yankees ended up losing the game in the 12th on a two-run homerun by the dangerous David Ortiz off Paul Quantrill. You don't want to see Quantrill giving up homeruns but he should never have been put in a position to be pitching in extra innings with the game on the line to two of the Red Sox best hitters in Manny Ramirez and Ortiz. The Yankees had their chances to win this game for sure at various times, including when they loaded the bases an inning before. But there were no big hits with men on base and Bernie Williams flied out to center to end the inning. So the Red Sox have new life and remain a team for the Yankees to be careful of in spite of their 3-1 lead in the series.
Mike Mussina takes the mound this evening against Pedro Martinez. The two have faced each other more than a few times and Moose always seems to rise to the occassion and pitch exceptionally well. I expect tonight will be no different. However, the Yankees offense will have to also be on the top of their game tonight. Pedro will probably also be tough even if he's not quite as dominant as he once was. So the hitters will have to be patient at the plate and try to work the count so that Pedro throws a lot of pitches. That's been the key to beating him before - getting him tired or knocking him out of the game and beating up on the Red Sox bullpen.
In any event, I just hope tonight's game regardless of the outcome finishes before 1:30 a.m. It's really hard to make arrangements for conferences when I'm this tired!
Posted by silverdsl at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
What a surprise... not!
Mariano Rivera has just blown yet another save against the Red Sox. The Yankees were leading 4-3 on their way to sweeping the Red Sox in the ALCS when Rivera entered the game. Instead of the game being over it's a tie game! Amazing! I'd say unbelievable but I'm not actually that surprised. Mariano is without question one of the most dominant closers ever, and perhaps the best post-season closer ever, but he has struggled against the Red Sox. So instead of the Yankees celebrating in Fenway, having swept the Red Sox which would be a very sweet sight, the game is still going on.
The question of Mariano facing the Red Sox came up on nyyfans last month when someone wondered if Torre would have any doubts about bringing him in during a tight game against the Sox. Most folks thought that was a ridiculous thing to even bring up given how awesome Mariano is. However, someone pointed out that up to that point out of 22 chances over his career Mariano had blown 8 saves against the Red Sox, which is a pretty high number against one team. So 36% of the time or 1 out of every 3 chances he was failing. Every reliever is going to have some bad outings no matter how good they are but that seems like a high percentage against one team. And tonight that stat is very relevant as this was his third appearance against the Red Sox this series and his first failure.
So perhaps it was to be expected that Mariano might blow this save. It's not all Mariano of course as the Red Sox are a strong team who I expected would battle so that they wouldn't get swept. But there does seem to be something to the theory that Mariano has trouble with the Red Sox more than against other teams.
So what is Joe Torre to do? Torre is fiercely loyal to his players and once he trusts a guy he will continue to use that player in that role even when it becomes obvious that they can no longer get the job done. Not using Mariano would send a message that he doesn't believe that Mariano can shut down the Red Sox and I don't see that as a message Torre would want to send to Mariano, to the rest of his team or to opposing teams. So I don't see any way that he goes with another pitcher to close it out against the Red Sox. Other managers might consider other game plans for using a different pitcher to we are talking about one of the best relievers ever so most of the time he will close it out with no problems but especially now that he's getting older, I think at the very least Torre should monitor Mariano carefully and when he starts to struggle against the Red Sox give some thought to bringing someone else in. Especially in the post-season when these games are so important.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:22 AM | Comments (1)
October 17, 2004
Photo of the Day
This is an infrared photo I took at Old Westbury Gardens here on Long Island two years ago. I love the effect of the infrared photos. In some ways it's similar to black and white photography but there's that glow in the photos too. There's something so different about the way it makes everything look. A little creepy, a little magical in some shots. This one reminds me of a painting, not a photograph. The best infrared shots are when you've got some cool clouds in the sky because they come out really neat in infrared.
Infrared photography is done with a special filter and in the case of a film camera, special film. It can be tricky with a film camera because the filter is so dark that you have to pre-set everything without the filter, then put the filter on and shoot blindly. However, with some digital cameras, you can just throw the filter on and take pictures just like putting any other filter on because of the kind of sensor they have. My old Olympus digital camera is one of those that makes it very easy to do infrared photograpy. The photos come out of the camera with a reddish cast to them and I adjust them in Photoshop to take that out and make a few other adustments.
I was just thinking that it's been so long since I've really done much infrared photography. I took a few shots while I was in Maine over the summer but nothing too great. I almost always use my Canon Digital Rebel these days so to take the infrared photos with the Olympus camera I would have to have two cameras with me and that's pesty a lot of times since they're both so big. I'm going to have to make an effort to make a point of taking the old camera with me somewhere to take some infrared shots. Though I may have to wait until the spring when the trees and all the vegetation is back in full bloom because that will make for much better shots.
I've seen some really neat infrared shots taken in cemetaries so a really old cemetary might be a good place for me to go. There's a very old cemetary down the road from the house where I grew up in Connecticut that might be good. I think it dates back to the Revolutionary War if I remember correctly. It's small and somewhat overgrown but from what I remember it has a lot of character. A friend of mine as a child used to live next door and we would go there and play sometimes until one day someone passing by saw us and complained to her mother because she thought we might be up to mischief there. If only she knew that we were actually quite respectful and interested in all the old graves and the lives of the people who were buried there.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)
Yankees Crush the Red Sox!
Yay! The Yankees absolutely crushed the Red Sox 19-8! Wow! Certainly not a pitcher's duel that's for sure. In fact both starting pitchers were forced out early. Kevin Brown, he of the self-induced broken hand, spit the bit after giving up four runs in only two innings and I was worried at that point that it might not be a good night for the Yankees. But Branson Arroyo was even worse giving up six runs in just two innings! The Yankees just kept piling on the runs no matter which reliever the Red Sox threw out there.
It's definitely a good thing that the Yankees offense was on fire tonight because Joe Torre sent Javy Vazquez out to relieve Brown and Vaz wasn't too great himself. Javy should be a lot better than four runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings but he ends up with the win so no one will probably notice that he was kind of shaky himself. Javy was so good in the first half of the season but lost it after the All-Star break which is why he's pitching out of the bullpen now. He's got to be pitching with an injury because given how much talent he has and how young he is I can't imagine any other reason for him just losing it like this the past few months.
Alex Rodriquez, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui were the offensive heroes for the Yankee tonight for sure! Matsui, who has always done well at Fenway, was amazing going 5-6 with 5 RBI. Matsui has had a great post-season and that follows a very good regular season. He's a very low-key player so a lot of times what he does goes unnoticed but he's played an important role in the Yankees sucess this season. Of course Gary Sheffield was the Yankees MVP this season and tonight he was awesome as well. He was 4-5 with 4 RBI and a walk.
A-Rod has been coming up big for the Yankees all post-season. He got a lot of flack from Yankee fans during the regular season because in spite of having a good season it wasn't an MVP season and that was what was expected considering his ridiculously high salary. But A-Rod has been doing his job big time so far this post-season. A lot of folks doubted his ability to handle the pressure of playing for the Yankees in the post-season but there is no doubt he can handle that pressure! A-Rod is one of the best players in baseball and I have no doubt that there will be many more big hits and awesome post-season performances from him in the future.
Hard to believe but the Yankees have won the first three games of this series to put the Red Sox on the brink of elimination. The Red Sox are really a much better team than the way they've been playing but I'm definitely happy that they haven't been playing up to their talent. When the Yankees beat their two best pitchers in Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez earlier in the season that really put the Sox in the hole and I figured they'd really rally for a big game tonight. But now they face the prospect of being swept if they lose tomorrow's game. It sure would be sweet if the Yankees celebrating going back to the World Series in Fenway! But hopefully the Yankees won't get too over-confident because the Red Sox still remain a dangerous team and they won't want to be embarassed by getting swept.
This is definitely a great way to ensure that there are no Red Sox trolls on the forum!
Posted by silverdsl at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2004
@*#*@($#^$#&$#(*(@*$ Part II
I'm sitting here watching both the Yankees/Red Sox game and the Cup race in Charlotte. So I look up and see Michael Waltrip who had been running very nicely in the top ten has just wrecked! What the fuck does this man have to do for a little luck? Yet again another great run goes to waste. He was really battling in this race too - some problems caused him to drop back once or twice but he was on his way to a good finish for sure then the wreck. Poor Michael!
I have no idea what actually happened as the race was on mute and Trackpass was on super-low but this really, really sucks! He finished second in Charlotte earlier in the season and I expected a great finish tonight to give Michael and the team a boost of confidence. That would especially have been good with the new crew chief and all. Instead disaster and Michael's out of the race. So he would most likely have had a top ten finish and now he ends up 28th, 14 laps down. How depressing especially after the blown tire last night to ruin the Busch race for him.
The race didn't totally suck though. Jimmie Johnson won and even better Jeff Gordon rallied to finish 2nd. That's pretty impressive for Jeff since he had qualified badly, then wrecked, then he was involved in another incident. I thought he was just going to be riding around for the rest of the race but it turned out that the damage wasn't too bad and he made it all the way up to second. Which is really good for him in terms of the Chase for the Championship. He's still behind Kurt Busch and Jr. but at least he still has a chance. Somehow when you count Jeff out he always has a way of getting back in the hunt - if only some of his luck would rub off on Michael.
Ok, someone has mentioned elsewhere that Matt Kenseth apologized over his radio for Michael getting into the wall so I guess he had something to do with Michael's wreck. Yet another time that Michael is minding his own business and something out of his control ruins everything. I'd love to see Michael back in Victory Lane this season but if that's too much to ask can he at least get a couple of top tens and top fives? Just so he can end the season on a positive note and both he and the team can feel good about themselves.
At least the Yankees are still rocking the Red Sox.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
Texas Truck Race
I got to watch the last part of the truck race in Texas today after Jim and I got back from the Digital Life Expo. Unfortunately I tuned in right after a nasty, nasty wreck between Bill Lester, David Reutimann and Robert Huffman. Lester and Reutimann got into each other and then into the wall super-hard. Lester was able to walk away but Reutimann had to be removed and MRN was reporting that he had been knocked out. Luckily, later reports are that he's going to be ok. Thank god for all the soft-walls and head-and-neck restraints that have become mandatory over the past few years otherwise those two drivers might not have been so lucky today. I think a lot of serious injuries and maybe even a few deaths have been prevented. Just an awful and scary sight to see the race red-flagged and trucks smooshed and not know at first what the status of the drivers are. I can't imagine how horrible it is for the significant others, friends and families of drivers in wrecks to see their loved ones wreck and then not know immediately if they're ok or not.
Steve Park ended up finishing 12th in this race which is awesome considering how far back in the field he started. Something like 34th I think. So that was very good because it allowed him to remain 9th in points. However, given how much success Orleans Racing has had at this track I'm a little disappointed that the truck wasn't better this weekend. Brendan won quite a few times in Texas so I was expecting that Steve would be in a position to compete for the lead. I had high hopes for Steve this season and while he's had some awesome runs, he has no wins and that's pretty disappointing to me - I'm sure it must be for him too. It seems like every time the team gets on a good string of races where it seems like they have everything together and I think Steve is in the cusp of winning a race things fall apart. No team can be perfect every week but I really thought he'd have a win by now and there isn't many races left this season. I guess it's silly to be disappointed when he's 9th in the points considering how horribly he struggled in Cup the past two years - I had just thought he'd be in the championship hunt but I guess I shouldn't have expected so much his first year in the trucks.
Todd Bodine ended up winning the race for his second truck win in a row. That team has totally dominated in their short time in this series! Not too many people think much of Bodine and he's definitely run into a lot of trouble on the track in other series. But winning two races in a row shows me that he is capable of getting the job doen with the right equipment. It has to feel great for him. So many people think of him as nothing but someone to make jokes about, but at least in the trucks he's apparently going to be a threat to win at any time. I'm really not a fan of his but I always like to see the underdogs have sucess and in his case he's such an underdog I don't think he was on anyone's radar to do much winning before now.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:57 PM | Comments (1)
Digital Life
Today Jim and I went to the Digital Life Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City because we got two free tickets via Jim’s Best Buy rewards card. If there’s something other than baseball that we both really like it’s gadgets! I sure saw a lot of stuff I’d love to get! Granted a lot of it is stuff I wouldn’t use all that often but it would just be neat-o to have all these cool gadgets to play with. Blackberry devices, mobile media devices and loads of MP3 devices are just a few of the things I’d love to get if I had a lot of spare cash hanging around.
The mobile media players aren’t all that much different from the Flashtrax that I already use to store my digital photos when I’m not near my computer but the difference is that it can be used to store and play videos as well. The MP3 players keep getting smaller and smaller and capable of doing more and more including recording off FM radio. As much as I love music unless I want to use an MP3 player on the train to Jim’s, which I don’t want to do because I wouldn’t be aware of what’s going on around me, I wouldn’t really use it that much since I’m always listening to music via my computer or XM. Now a portable XM walkman-type device on the other hand – that I would get a huge amount of use out of I think!
The one really great thing I saw there was the Photoworks.com booth. Photos can be uploaded to the site and turned into really high-quality cards, books and other items. The prices are really reasonable and the stuff looks so awesome! I think I will definitely make use of that site for some holiday gifts and cards. My parents would certainly love a book of my photos! We talked to the CFO who was of course very friendly as he was trying to push his product but he did a good job of showing off all the great things that can be ordered off the site.
There was an XM booth and it was neat to check out some of the new generation Roadys and home devices they’ve come out with. Shock jocks Opie and Anthony recently signed with XM and they had a bunch of signed photos of them for folks to take. Now, I’m not a fan of Opie and Anthony but I took one anyway just because. It’s very bizarre that Anthony Cumia has become such a big name. I remember him from back in the day on Long Island when I was still a student at Hofstra working at Hofstra’s radio station WRHU. My boyfriend at the time had a local band show on Friday nights on WRHU and back then Anthony was playing in a band called Rotgut, which was a metal band that did parodies and lots of silly stuff. The gang at ‘RHU used to go see them and Erik had Rotgut on his show a time or two. I also remember meeting Anthony out at other local band shows on Long Island that we would go to. Fast forward ten years and he’s a pretty big star.
We had fun but I think Jim and I would both have liked to have had more cutting-edge new technology at the show though. It was very consumer oriented and geared towards selling what's in stores now rather than introducing new products which is what I think Jim and I expected the show to be. To get to a show like that we’d probably have to be in the business of selling electronics though.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2004
@#$$#%#@!#@$%^$$&$
I can’t believe it happened again! Michael Waltrip was running 4th in the Busch race and bad luck bites him again. Another flat tire! Just like at Talledega where he got two flat tires at the end of the race costing him a good finish. Another great run – going from 34th to 4th – and it goes down the drain with so few laps to go. I can’t imagine how pissed off he has to be. Hell, I’m pissed off and I was just sitting here in Jim’s living room watching on TV!
Michael’s Busch team ran so well to begin the season and even won a race but the second half has been more of a struggle. This would have been a much needed great finish - not that he's running for the championship or anything but I'm sure the sponsors would be happy. I don’t know what more this man can do this season. Every time he runs well something happens. I don’t know how he can keep from getting discouraged and down when this pattern is repeated over and over again. It’s completely out of his control too - that has to make it more frustrating.
Then there’s the Crew Chief change on the Cup side. Slugger Labbe has been promoted to a management position at DEI. I don’t really know what to make of it. To hear Slugger and to some extent Michael talk things between them had started to sour the past few weeks and since this change was already in the works they decided to do it now. Well, actually Slugger quit on Michael earlier in the week. What happened to make things go so bad when for the past few years they had worked so well together? I wonder how much this has to do with the rumors of Slugger being courted by other teams. He had denied them at the time when they first came up but if he was thinking about leaving and Michael knew about it perhaps there was some hurt feelings there. On top of that Slugger was working with Truex to some degree so that had to take away from what he was doing with Michael. Michael should be ok with his new crew chief, they’re well acquainted with each other but I just feel unsettled about what this all means for him. I wish I felt better about Michael’s chances for getting the support that he needs from DEI. If only he didn’t have so much bad luck this season Michael might be in the C4C and some of this might have been avoided. If only.
Otherwise, we watched Third Watch tonight. Finally a good episode. Still the problems with some of the plot holes but the Faith/Jelly partnership looks like it’s going to be a good one. Faith may actually make a good detective. What was good about this one was that the IAB/corruption storyline, ripped off from Homicide: Life on the Street, was a minimal part of the story. I really should watch some of the old re-runs of TW from when it was really good when they still had firefighters and paramedics as part of the show on a regular basis. I’d love to see the 9/11 show as I heard that was an excellent episode but I don’t know if they ever replay that one. Perhaps if they ever get those TW DVDs out that will eventually be on one.
Best Friday night show ever was H:LOTS though. How I miss that show. I should revisit some FF in that genre. Definitely once were some good writers writing in that fandom. I think a few of the archives are still up and running though I don’t know how actively anyone is writing about that show anymore.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2004
Who? What? Why?
So why have a weblog/journal? Everyone else seems to have a place for their thoughts, opinions and rants so why not me too? Sure, I can call someone on the phone or visit one of the baseball or racing forums that I frequent but this seems like it would be a more appropriate venue when I have something lengthy to say. Which is often. Not to mention when I have something sport-related to talk about given my habit of stating my opinions honestly and as I see them rather than what the majority thinks doesn’t always go over well on some of the fan forums where a lot of people would prefer to see things with fan-colored glasses.
Besides all of that I was suddenly bit by the writing bug after a long time of not writing much of anything other than a couple of things for Jim's site and some stuff for work. Jim has encouraged me for a long time to have a blog of my own and even set me up with something on his site at the start of the baseball season, but given that I was going to be just limited to Yankee related stuff that didn't go too far. So once I became inspired I re-visited the idea of having my own blog and Jim set this up for me.
A lot of people have weblogs that are specifically geared towards one particular subject or a journal just for their thoughts on what is happening in their life. I think my journal is going to cover quite a few topics considering how many interests I have. Though given my love of baseball and racing I’m guessing a lot of what I write about will have something to do with those two sports. And write I will as I tend to be wordy as anyone who has ever emailed with me knows!
I have no idea how I became interested in so many different things. A lot of which I think some people would think are kind of unusual. Even my passion for baseball and racing some people think is strange since I’m a woman. It just seems like every so often something catches my interest and I become compelled to read as much about that subject as I can possibly find. Some of these interests are fleeting but some have stuck with me.
So what do I like? Well, as already mentioned two of my biggest interests are baseball and racing. I’m a huge New York Yankees fan and my favorite current players are Mike Mussina, John Olerud, Jason Giambi, Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez and former Yankee Tino Martinez. Former Yankees now retired among my favorites are David Cone, Paul O’Neill, Joe Girardi and Robin Ventura. I became a fan of the Yankees because I turned on a game one day and just became fascinated by the game. As for racing, I’ve loved watching races of all sorts since I was a little girl. There was always something about the cars going fast and the drivers racing hard against each other that drew me. Mostly I watch Nascar now and my favorite drivers are Steve Park, Michael Waltrip, Kevin Harvick, Ken Schrader, Martin Truex, Jr. and Jeff Gordon. I also like watching football especially the New York Jets who practice at Hofstra and hockey.
I’ve loved photography since I was in high school. My father bought me a camera so I could take a photography class and it took off from there. Since then I can’t remember I time when I haven’t had a camera (usually more than one!). I love going places and taking photos and wish I got to spend more time exploring what’s around me for cool places to take pictures. I'm thinking some of my photos will be showing up here on a fairly regular basis.
I also love music. Any of my attempts to learn how to play an instrument or read music have been extremely unsuccessful but I love to listen to music. All kinds of music but especially rock. Classic rock, metal, glam metal, alternative, you name it. I also like some pop and dance music too. So I’ve got quite a varied CD collection. I listen to music all day every day as I’m lucky enough to be able to listen to music in my office at work. I have XM both in the car and in my office and I also listen to music though Realnetwork’s Rhapsody service. Some of my current favorites are Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, 3 Doors Down, Bon Jovi, Poison, Peter Gabriel, Howie Day, Sting and Santana among many others.
So far nothing too unusual right? Well, there’s my life-long love of rocks and minerals. I have a big collection of rocks and minerals that I’ve bought or found over the years. It all started when my mother took me to a rock and mineral show as a little girl and I couldn’t take my eyes off all the pretty, shiny rocks. Ever since then I’ve been picking up rocks that catch my eye and going to gem and mineral shows. Mostly what I collect now is quartz with inclusions, especially rutilated quartz.
Which brings me to some of the more unusual things I’m interested in. Abandoned places intrigue me. Most people probably don’t give an abandoned building a second look but I always wonder how the building came to be abandoned and what the history is behind it. Abandoned buildings are also great places to take photographs though I haven’t gotten to do as much of that as I would like. There are some great websites out there dedicated to the exploration of abandoned places so I visit a lot of those. The magazine Weird New Jersey is another great resource for abandoned places too.
Then there’s my interest in National Parks. I’ve only actually been to one National Park – Acadia National Park in Maine. But I love reading about National Parks and their history. Yellowstone National Park and it’s geysers are a particular favorite of mine and the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Arches, Acadia and Death Valley are others that I like to read about. I pretty much love reading and looking at photos of any natural wonder – canyons, mountains, waterfalls, the ocean – especially big waves. For a while I was fascinated with Mt. Everest in Nepal and read quite a few books about the history of the exploration of Mt. Everest.
An overall theme is the history of places – I like knowing what happened in different places and how those places have changed over time. When I go somewhere on vacation often I pick up a book afterwards that has something to do with the history of that place. That is certainly true of Cape May, New Jersey, one of my favorite places and I have become very familiar with the history of that shore town where Jim and I are going to get married next year.
Related to places is my love of maps. Topography maps, street maps, state maps, county maps, detailed maps of individual towns – you name it I love checking them out. I have a whole bunch of detailed topography maps of a lot of the states and sometimes I’ll look through and see if I can find some place that looks interesting. Then I’ll look up that place on the internet. I’ve found out some real interesting stuff that way. Jim also likes maps and sometimes when we feel like exploring, especially when we’re on vacation we’ll pull our a map and just pick out a road that looks interesting and take a drive. We’ve found some cool places that way.
As an administrator/moderator on the forum on Jim’s site NYYFans.com, and a frequent visitor to many other forums/message boards I’ve developed an interest in online communities and people’s behavior on fan forums as well as the psychology of group behavior. Internet culture and the effect of the internet on society is also something that I find intriguing.
What else? I’ve always been intrigued by fandom, the culture of celebrity and what makes people fans and how they behave. It has always puzzled me why some people act the way that they do in the name of fandom. I also enjoy reading about the business and legal side of sports and music. Really anything to do with popular culture interests me.
Hopefully I'll be able to write something in my journal just about every day, especially since Jim took the time to set this up for me. Based on all of my interests there will be quite a lot of different subjects that I will cover here!
Posted by silverdsl at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)