What a Week

Here's hoping tomorrow will be better than last week. What started off as a wonderful week turned into the most surreal event in my life.
Spending 3 days in Dosa with Kingfish was awesome. Nothing like Migas, mountains and 36 hours of gambling to start a week.
Monday was a student holiday. I had a meeting to attend early that morning which finished early. Needing to purchase some adapters for my China trip, I popped into a Radio shack to check out the goods. It was a blustery day in the Hub, so much so, I had to open the door the the store for this little elderly lady. After asking the hired help where the adapters were located, I proceeded to look over my choices. I hadn't noticed that someone else had entered the store.
Getting back into town late the night before, I had a chance to catch the late local news around 11:30. I had seen a story about a Radio shack in town that had been robbed on Saturday while I was out of town. Being in the situation I was now in, that had entered my mind but it just didn't seem to click. My attention was raised when I heard a voice at the counter say, "GIVE ME THE MONEY!". I looked up, noticed that there was someone at the counter with something in his hand...what I thought was maybe a cordless screwdriver. Since I was close to the door and had not noticed anyone else enter, my first thoughts were that this was an employee from the back playing around, joking about the other store being robbed over the weekend.
This all changed. I had actually looked away from the situation when all of a sudden I hear a loud "POP"! I immediately turned back to see the person with his hand raised in the air, gun pointing upwards. I dropped to the ground behind the self where I was looking for the adapters. I was actually behind the robber so I could not get a look at him. But a million things began racing through my head. Could I make it to the door? Do I need to let him know that I am there? I don't want to startle him. Would anything I do make it go from bad to worse? Could I get to him to stop what was happening? Would he kill us all?
It seemed by the time that I tried to process all of those things, he was out of the store. As I rose up, I noticed that the elderly lady that I had helped in the store had been no more that 3-4 feet away from where the guy had shot the pistol. She was not looking so good. As I approached her, she said that she couldn't hear anything. The police and EMS arrived quickly as did the wife, who had been just across the street at the meeting I had just left.
It appeared that the same guy robbed a cleaners on Wednesday and was apprehended that afternoon.
I leave for China on Thursday. It's weird, but I somehow feel as though I will be safer there than here.

36 Days

In 36 days I will be in Beijing. While I was there 4 years ago, I was amazed by the gymnastic like flexibility of the natve population. It seemed as though the west was never blessed with such abilities.
Now it's official.



A nod for this gem of a clip to a former student Charlie who is knocking 'em dead at Yale!

FIFA

The boy has basketball practice going right now, but due to Al Gore's Internet and someones wireless cable, I am able to blog. After the hoops workout, the purchase will be made. See everyone around Valentines Day.



The game is EASports FIFA '07
Digital cable has birthed a fan.
Now I'm putting my $ where my remote control clicker is.

So Long Molly

You will be missed.


Rest in Peace

Changing the World

I stumbled across this tonight while watching Frontline.
When a simple idea meets opportunity.

This guy was in advertising and then decided to give something back to the world. His idea? He decided to create a water pump that operated by the use of a kids merry-go-round and then put these in villages in Africa. The total cost of one play pump...$7,000. With that investment, the pump produced enough water for 2,500 people per day!
While trying to expand his goal of putting in 1,000 pumps in the next year, the Clinton Foundation along with the backing of First Lady Laura Bush donated $15 Million to the project!!!

One of those...God...how simple...and amazing!

Link

What I Jam To

While pushing my muscles to exhaustion to pounding out miles on the treadmill...
here is what is getting me by:

Bring the Noise by Anthrax& Public Enemy
Rebel Yell by Billy Idol
Sabotage by Beastie Boys
Welcome to the Jungle by Guns & Roses
Lose Yourself by Eminem
Mosh by Eminem
You've Got Another Thing Comin' by Judas Priest
Voodee Chilie (Slight Return) Stevie Ray Vaughn Version
Looks That Kill by Motley Crue
Head Like a Hole (Live) by Nine Inch Nails
Crazy Train by Ozzy Osboure
Evenflow by Pearl Jam
We Will Rock You by Queen
Fight the Power by Public Enemy
B.Y.O.B. by System of a Down
Bullet With Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins
Vertigo by U2
Man in the Box by Alice In Chains
Song 2 by Blur
(Rock) Superstar by Cypress Hill
Burning Beard by Clutch
I'll Stick Around by Foo Fighters
Down With the Sickness by Disturbed
Jump Around by House of Pain
Freak on a Leash by Korn
My Generation by Limp Bizkit
Rusty Cage by Soundgarden
Thunder Kiss '65 by White Zombie
Cochise by Audioslave
Cowboys From Hell by Pantera
Boom by P.O.D.
I'm Broken (Live) by Pantera
Dragula by Rob Zombie
Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots

1977

When flutes kicked ass...even in a country song.
Thanks for bending barriers Marshall Tucker Band

Kingfish was Beaten to the Punch

This sounds like something the Kingfish would have come up with.
Bested by an Aussie....

Life 4 Sale

Nod to McKay for uncovering this nugget

The New Face of Terrorism?

Steve Earl has been around for a long time now. Generating some great country/rock tunes...even for me (Copperhead Road). Known as a "rebel" in the country music industry, this maverick always shoots straight from the lips.
This tune is no different. Looking at the modern world from a perspective that gets some an all expense paid vacation to Gitmo, Johnny Walker's Blues takes us to a different place.




Peace Be Upon You

The Storm of '07

From the sound of the talking dopplerheads, it looks like a disaster of Lightfoot proportions

Pride

Happy birthday Martin

The Game I Dream About!

It's in my dreams.
I can't make it stop!
String out some wire and get those AT guns in place!

Victory

I can't get enough of this!

Much Luck...Happy New Years!!!

I Have Come Undone

Possibly the best music video ever.
When you can combine neck quivering guitar licks along with robots and some super sweet fantasy poetry...it has to be.



Be sure to check back later for my 2007 predictions

Back, Jack...Do It Again

The news from tonight for some reason reminded me of the Dan

The Pirate Who Cried

Trailing Minnesota by four touchdowns at halftime, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach told his team it had a chance to make history. The pep talk turned out to be a prediction. The Red Raiders spotted Minnesota a 31-point, third-quarter lead, then rallied for a stunning 44-41 overtime victory in the Insight Bowl Friday night, the largest comeback in Division I-A bowl history.

The previous record for a bowl comeback was 30 points, set by Marshall against East Carolina in the 2001 GMAC Bowl.

"We talked at halftime that we had a great opportunity to make history, and the reason people come to Texas Tech is to play all 60 minutes," said Leach, who fought back tears during a postgame interview.

It took Tech more than 60 minutes to earn one of the more improbable victories in its history.

Tech (8-6) appeared finished after Minnesota (6-7) took a 38-7 lead with 7:47 to go in the third quarter. But the Red Raiders mounted a furious comeback, scoring 31 unanswered points in less than 20 minutes.

Alex Trlica's 52-yard field goal as regulation expired sent the game into overtime.

Joel Monroe kicked a 32-yard field goal to put Minnesota up 41-38 in overtime, but Shannon Woods scored on a 3-yard run to win it for the Red Raiders.

That sparked a wild celebration for the Red Raiders, who mobbed each other while the shocked Gophers trudged to the locker room.

"Everyone felt like, 'Hey, we're going to win,' " said Tech quarterback Graham Harrell, who was selected bowl MVP after throwing for 445 yards and two touchdowns. "If you believe, good things can happen."

Tech's comeback began with 4:58 to go in the third quarter, when Harrell hit Phoenix native Joel Filani for a 43-yard score to cut the lead to 38-14. That started an avalanche that buried Minnesota in the first meeting of the schools.

"We're an offense that can score in a hurry, and everyone knows that," Harrell said.

Trailing 38-35 with no timeouts, the Red Raiders took over at their own 11 with 1:06 remaining. Eight plays later, Trlica tied it.

Woods rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns and Filani caught nine passes for 144 yards.

For Minnesota, Amir Pinnix ran for 179 yards, Bryan Cupito threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns and tight end Jack Simmons caught seven passes for 134 yards.

Minnesota set a school bowl scoring record, and Cupito, a senior, tied Asad Abdul-Khaliq's career record of 55 touchdown passes. The records were little consolation in the end.

"We just broke down," Minnesota linebacker Mike Sherels said. "You just kind of got the feeling that we were back on our heels and playing not to lose instead of playing to win."

That's not how the Gophers opened the game. They jumped ahead 7-0 after Leach went for it on fourth-and-1 at his own 45 on the opening series. Harrell was stopped on a sneak, and six plays later Cupito found Simmons for a 2-yard touchdown with 9:27 to go in the first quarter.

Four minutes later, Minnesota made it 14-0 after Sherels intercepted Harrell at Tech's 37. Pinnix capped a six-play drive with a 2-yard run.

Another Harrell turnover killed a Tech scoring drive. He fumbled on a sack by Willie VanDeSteeg, and Steve Davis recovered at the Golden Gophers' 13. Minnesota marched 87 yards _ its longest scoring drive of the year _ to take a 21-0 lead on Justin Valentine's 1-yard plunge on the first play of the second quarter.

Tech had a chance to slice the deficit when cornerback Antonio Huffman picked off Cupito's pass at the Minnesota 20. But Pinnix jarred the ball loose, and it bounded into the end zone, where the Gophers recovered for a touchback.

After Tech's Shannon Woods scored from 1 yard out to make it 28-7, the Gophers answered with an 81-yard drive that ended in a 3-yard touchdown pass from Cupito to Logan Payne in the final minute of the first half.

Minnesota looked as if it ended any Tech hopes for a comeback by opening the third quarter with a 16-play, 78-yard drive that consumed 7:13. Monroe's 20-yard field goal gave the Gophers a 38-7 lead.

"Everything was going our way," Minnesota coach Glen Mason said.

But it turned out to be a mirage.

Afterward, interviewers told Leach that his team had indeed made history. His locker room rhetoric had turned into a record.

"Didn't realize it until the end, but I knew it was kind of a big one," Leach said. "Quite honestly, despite that, I would have liked to have spotted them less points in order to come back from behind to win this thing."

And the # of the Counting Shall Be Three

Although I've been pondering this all day...Kingfish beat me to it.
We may agree with the three but still we disagree....
Okay, that was sorta spooky.

USC, faced with a 28 point 4th quarter deficit comes back to win...and claims the 3rd victim.
Whooooooa nelly

Feel Good Brother

4 Days and Counting....

Monday is the start of something good....