Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Frank Melech One of my major fears has been realized.
I've gotten a cold . . .
I'm never sure if its the chemo or the leukemia that thrashed my immune system but colds hit me pretty hard.
I'm only running a 101 temperature. In the past its gotten as high as 104.5. My normal temp, post chemo, is about 97.5. I think I'm keeping it low now thanks to my vitamin C voodoo.
I forced myself to do a lot of hard physical work yesterday. Almost finished answering kids emails. I feel worse today, more likely due to only a few hours of sleep than due to a failure of massive dosages of vitamin C or to trying to do too much.
Working gives me a sense of security, that I'm not letting these diseases take over my life. Its stupid but its important to me. I actually pay more attention to details. If I relax a bit the work becomes trash but . . . In the past I was told that doing physical labour wasn't dangerous. I'm going to hold the doc's to that.
I'm going to shower. I'm pretty disgusting. I'm hoping that the steam and getting the layer of vile off of me will give me the boost to commit to my work today.
Yesterday I couldn't even watch any movies! Couldn't concentrate on stupid gory zombie flics.
How sick is that?
Its been confirmed that drinking coffee raises the blood sugars . . . how cruel is nature?

Posted by David at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Rust & Dirt" I walked myself to the hospital yesterday. Emergency room.
About a 3.5 mile walk. Funny thing, I felt better the more I was moving. Would have been great if I'd had a dog with me.
I was bleeding and it was embarrassing bleeding. Not blood gushing stuff.
It was from eating a jalapeno pepper for dinner the night before. I remember thinking how odd that I hadn't eaten a pepper in such a long time . . . It wasn't until I was sitting in emergency that I remembered.
I got scoped out. I re-opened my ulcer, which was caused by too many pills that I have to take to stay alive.
Sometimes this life is tedious.
They looked at other stuff. I strained my shoulder. It still hurts. Seems it was a mild separation. I can accept that. I remember having to pop it back into place but I'm surprised that it still causes me pain. I used to heal so well.
And I strained my right hip flexor. That was from shoveling snow and slipping on ice.
I am working on Zen Master status on snow shoveling. I need to hurry that up. Its snowing now.
That was a joke . . . hurrying up Zen . . . they're seldom as funny when you have to explain them . . . especially when they're not that funny to start with.

I've gotten a couple of emails chastising me for my opinions about Tobe Hooper. No one defending him but trying to convince me that Wes Craven was then the new Romero.
Well, I thought "Last House On The Left" had a great ad campaign, "Keep repeating to yourself its only a movie! Its only a movie!" but I thought it was only mildly interesting. Better was the speculation about all the different versions in there that had even better gore and splatter.

Click images for desktop size: "Anime Wallpaper" by Mota I saw it first in downtown LA. One of the other films on the triple bill was, "They Call Her One Eye" (originally "Thriller-A Grim Film"). "One Eye" was definitely more disturbing.
It wasn't until Craven did "The Hills Have Eyes" that I thought he might be a serious talent. But he sold out to Hollywood too quickly for me.
"The Hills Have Eyes" was staggering. While "Last House" was just a more explicit retelling of Bergman's "The Virgin Spring" "Hills" was an Adlerian exploration of a Freudian psychic nightmare. And it had dogs!
But then came the dreck. The Freddie Krueger movies and that almost entertaining piece of B tripe, "Swamp Thing". Craven was never a prophet. He worked for the money until he became bankrupt. (as in bereft of talent and ideas, not short of cash.)
When you start making art for the money instead of wanting to tell a story you become something that I can respect but I can never love.
George Romero has been quirky but he never sold out. He went to Dario Argento for financing and turned his back on Hollywood cash and what he perceived as the compromises he'd be unwilling to make.
Its sad that even Jim Jarmusch finally gave in to Hollywood bucks, so only George, standing out there in Pennsylvania, all alone is the only guy with nothing to be ashamed of in his career. He always stayed true to his vision, even when we didn't know what the heck he was talking about.

My friend sent me a link showing that this web site is slanted towards males . . . I can't figure out what that means.
This site also points out that I have no advertisement. I appreciate that. Further my domain name is worth between 800 and 1200 bucks!
The basis for this seems sketchy to me. I figure the domain name is worth the 10 bucks a year it costs to keep it.
But I have been toying with the idea of trying to do some web site design, maybe to earn a few bucks.
I don't know if that infringes on my no-ad policy. I have to think about that.
Its just that through stubbornness and without any desire to learn anything I've gotten pretty good with media and the basics of web design. I don't know. It sounds desperate to me but maybe I am desperate.
You might not know about this, unless you have kids or work for an uptight company, but there is an entire industry built around filtering the internet. For schools I think this is a decent idea.
I remember when you could do a search for lemon pie and get 2 recipes and 45 porn sites.
My puppies site still gets heavy spam for bestiality sites.
But the nice thing is that more and school systems are opening up their filters so that the kids can see her page and photos and little movies. Becasue her site is powered by Movable Type it is automatically blacklisted as a "BLOG". I wonder why they restrict blogs out of hand. Laziness? Or do they all have "ADULT CONTENT" like this one?

Click images for desktop size: "Rhino Bliss" by Lawn Elf That pleases me. I always like it when a hospital or school lets the kids see my puppy. Its pretty humbling and scary.
A ten year old girl wrote me a while ago and explained to me how she had found a way to circumvent her schools filters! It was very detailed and made a great tutorial. Even I could follow it!
Ten years old! That's why I don't worry too much about the future. Although I did vaguely worry about what other sites she was checking out. I liked that she didn't write to me but that she wrote to my puppy.
Although I still have not changed my policy of ever eating an unwrapped, unsealed food given to me by a child, no matter how much love is in their heart.

Posted by David at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Santa's Workshop - Christmas Card 2005" And suddenly everything is beginning to look alright.
Its not quite "Twas The Night Before Christmas" but its getting there and it feels enough like it to not matter.
And isn't that a part, a small part, of Christmas? That the grief and hatred and rage of the world can be overwhelmed?
My friend got her dream job.
Her pay cut will be more than I grossed last year . . . but its still her dream job. Doing something you believe in, using your skills to achieve a dream you've had, a dream that's just not in her world but in all of ours.
Its the sort of dream that I wanted my kids to strive for. And she got it.
Rah.

The new host is turning out to be pretty impressive. I'm not sure if that's because the old host was disintegrating so badly that I've lost perspective or if Blue Host is really that good.
At dot5 the mysql server was dying so every time you did something that touched it the database would just corrupt all the more. Trust me; a busted database is something you just do not want.
They helped me fix it. I never expected that.
I still can't run Movable Type 4.1 beta. And you know how it gnaws at me to not be running all the alpha and beta software that I can . . .
It will get fixed and I'll have it sorted out soon enough. Yup.
Its that kind of day.
Everything seems possible.
Its coming up Christmas.

Click images for desktop size: "Napping By The Fire - Christmas Card 2004" There are parts of myself I don't like.
I am conceited so that might surprise you.
Parts of me I don't like!
But its so.
During this mini-crisis I was afraid of it.
I'd figure some of you have seen it.
I'm not every in touch with my human side (lets not even waster time talking about feminine side!).
It manifests itself when things get bad. I start to lock down and prepare to do nothing else except endure.
I disconnect from physical and emotional sensations. I go off of pure intellect and rage.
Its my survival mode.
It doesn't make it pleasant to be around me.
I'm into the mode so it doesn't impact me much at all except for hating the lack of feelings, while thinking this is the only way to make it through.
Through all of this recent spate I've noticed that I didn't fall into that mode automatically. For me that's a big step; not just waking up and being in that monstrous mode.
And then I never really fell into it. Yeah, I had to fight it some, but not enough to want a cashiers check for.
I think its my puppy. She has demands and some needs. She keeps me sane.
I think its my friends. They need caring for to struggle on too.
Its probably a combination of all of these things and a lot of things I don't even know exist.

The Pittsburgh - St Louis game is on TV. I picked the Steelers although I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rams beat them.

Posted by David at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Weir Vaudeville Theater, Aberdeen Washington-1920" by Unknown When I said Alkaline Trio are my favorite group I created some confusion. They are not my all time fave group. They are my faves of the moment.
I've never really given much thought to an all time fave band. I guess it would have to include Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps. Johnny Burnette's Rock & Roll Trio, The Everly Brothers, Jan & Dean (hey, there's more than one of them, so that makes them a band, doesn't it? I mean the inverse way that Dick Dale and The Del-Tones don't count, I mean, other than family does anyone know who the Del-Tones were?) The Ramones, The Small Faces.
These guys shouldn't need any explanation. I mean if you don't understand the beauty and poetry of lines like "I was cruising in my Stingray late one night when an XKE pulled up on my right" or, "I smell the flowers growing through the concrete," and "There's a little juke joint just outside of town where the cats pick 'em and then lay 'em down. You get your gal and I'll get mine. We'll get together and we'll have a good time," then there's little hope for the world, little hope at all.
I'd also give consideration to The Kinks. No one has ever written a line like, "While the rich get their kicks with their affluent antics," and actually made it work. That they also made it rock is more than laudable. It's miraculous. The only problem with the Kinks is that their best songs are so incredibly personal, they wheedle into your soul so deeply they become private little treasures. It is almost sinful and cruel that they are also world wide mega hits. Nothing makes something impersonal like universal fame.
And of course Love looms large. You had to mega talents in Arthur Lee and Bryan McLean plus about 5 other musicians who ended up robbing liquor stores or od'ing on drugs. No wonder they could produce a handful of totally classic punk/garage singles including the seminal unforgettable "7 & 7 Is", while also spinning out the unforgettable enduring and endearing album "Forever Changes". That they hated leaving LA, that Jimi Hendrix was considering joining the band, all add up to one powerful force in music.
And any band I spent more than 15 minutes being a member of has to rank pretty high as well.
But the band that I would have to pick as my personal fave would be, The Sonics. I don't know much about them except their music. I've kept it that way.
I know they were from Seattle, wore colorful alpaca sweaters and made a sound that would later be called grunge.
The sound of their records is monstrous. They were a standard combo, guitar, bass, organ and drums but their records were just a pure Phil Spector wet dream wall of sound. Occasionally someone would step forward and solo but like an orchestra there really wasn't a single instrument, the band was the instrument. It was a thick seditious sound that you could excavate and and hold in your hands, a rich throbbing dripping thing. You could slice it with a switchblade knife and watch it pulsate in your hand until, like the Blob, it engulfed you and made your body jerk to its own incestuous beat.
They had hits. The unbelievable "Psycho" that thundered like a mythic dinosaur with Rosalie's leather lunged vocals asking not for pity or understanding. It was rage. (I used to do a great cover of "Psycho" except that after singing it I couldn't talk, let alone sing, for at least an hour and sometimes the rest of the night)

Click images for desktop size: "29 Palms Drive In" by Tim Melidio In "She's A Witch" and "Strychnine" this rage propelled the dancing rhythm into another ionosphere where all your life's experiences were sucked out of you, reshuffled and re-prioritized. In the mega cool "Hustler" and "Boss Hoss" the voice bragged in pride and dared you to cross the line and question him.
In the awesome cover of the Contours hit, "Do You Love Me" the voice became a defiant dare and the bands sound chased along at a fearsome clip.
The final notable cut was "Night Time Is The Right Time" an old R&B standard that most Gen Xer's know from that horrible episode of the Cosby Show when the family lip synced to a creepy version of it.
For the Sonics the standard was anything but cutsey or ready for prime time.
It was a gut bucket howl wearing a Michael Meyer's boiler suit making it demands known and daring them to not be met.
Yeah. The Sonics. Alpaca sweaters.

I'm doing fine. My puppy loves me and my foster dog loves me.
The doctors said that my White Blood Cell count has stabilized.
That's good. Now the biggest thing is to stop the irreversible damage done getting things this way.
I hurt my ankle this morning dodging some idiot in a car who went off the shoulder of the road. They didn't stop.
At first I thought I ruptured the achilles tendon. Its got an interesting knot and still burns fiercely.
I put it off to Friday the 13th. What you going to do?
Me? I worked.
They're refinancing the entire company, which seems odd because it is damn peculiar. They're refinancing through a company that made its biggest mark in the world in Boston during the building bust there, picking up multi-million dollar properties for a dime on the dollar and then just waiting out the bust for the boom. They did it with refinancing . . . Just like Lionel Barrymore in "Its A Wonderful Life". I guess my employers figure they're just smarter than these guys.
The guy who "owned" Freckles took off in the middle of his night, apparently running for his life. Had to be drugs, bad drugs.
I made sure he took the dog with him, or at least didn't abandon the dog someplace where I could fetch her.
That's pretty much it. Work, packing, loving. Sunday another adoption event to try and give away my foster puppy, but only to people who will love her.

Posted by David at 2:56 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "The Orphans" by The Fozz For no real reason I've decided that Alkaline Trio is my favorite group.
Probably because I've listened so much to "Remains", and likely because Tesla's new one "Real To Reel" is covers, they even sink to covering their own stuff - and its faithful covers, not new just the old songs done reverentially.
And The White Stripes have gotten too big. I enjoy Jack White but the passion and expectations of deliverance are gone, replaced with boring confidence and amazing skill.
There's just nothing new out there that socks and amazes me anymore, except Matt Skiba and Alkaline Trio.

My friend said something I was stunned by. She thinks that all surf music sounds the same!
As a guy who has 16 versions of "Pipeline" and can identify the guitarist and the group from the attack on the first note of the opening glissando I am, needlessly and obviously, shocked!
She claims that because she likes the Duo Tones acoustic surf album that exonerates her from this onerous claim. The Duo Tones don't really count. Back in the day you always could identify a Dick Dale tune by his speed, Link Wray by his hysterical attack, Paul Johnson by his his exuberant precision and Gil Orr by his technical proficiency.
Since Duo Tones are Paul Johnson and Gil Orr and since both of them learned classical guitar first (hey, the lead guitarist in Anthrax studied jazz guitar before he discovered thrash) I contend that, while the Duo Tones are definitely surf liking them doesn't count as appreciating surf music.
I've always figured that all instruments are just a way to approximate the human voice while trying to isolate and purify the tone. (Except percussion which is just approximating the pounding of bones on rocks, which is why I studied drums first).
In surf music the guitar replaced the lead vocalist. The guitarist was the front man of the combo. Surf music was too cool for words. When Dick Dale invented it by using the Fender Reverb unit to make his blazing fast riffs sound like a vaseline machine gun every kid in the South Bay discovered a calling.
Now one thing modern surf bands, like the Aqua Velvets et al forgot was that surf music isn't tiki rooms and ultra lounge,its hard scuff up the floor boards dancing music.

Click images for desktop size: "Zebra" by Unknown The kids who played it had to be better musicians than most garage band types. Almost all of them had actually had lessons!
This was a rock and roll where they could get all the chicks and get to show off.
Very few of the guys in surf bands could surf. Which was cool. When we parked our vans at a break and turned the tape decks up loud it was more likely the Ramones or reggae we surfed to. Surf music was for the drive along PCH, scoping the waves and starting to feel the pump.
I like surf music. It will never fade away.

The All Star game is tomorrow.
I'm stoked. Baseball is the only sport where an All Star game really works. It reminds me of the pick up games in the park. No pressure, just the fun of the game and a casual interest in victory.
Few things are as beautiful as that.

I've bought boxes home to start packing.

I might be leaving my cruddy job right on time. Today I've had to deal with appraisers and Structural engineers. Why the hell an hourly employee is left to their own devices in handling the brass tacks of a multi-million dollar transaction is totally beyond me.
One thing I'm certain of is that something isn't right. We've been told, and I know they lie to us at will, is that this is for the new investors. . . An environmental report for investors?
This smells of a major refi or, most probably, a sale.
I might be mistaken but I've been here before, although not in the lowly capacity I now have.
This is the oddest place I've ever worked. The fellow who I threatened about dumping his dog has quit, called from 4 states away to say he quit without notice.
What a jerk.
At least he didn't leave the dog tied up to a fence post . . .

Posted by David at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: Flowing Rock" by Apple I think most books about dogs are like porn. No matter how badly they're written, sans drama and effect, sans character and denouement, still read them and still get some hidden thrill from them.
At least I do.
I hate myself for it but I still keep reading. I enjoy pointless stories about dogs. I enjoy the characters that even bad writers convey.
Other people must as well as these terrible books keep hitting the best seller charts, keep making high rated TV shows.
Yet with all this product being sold about and some for dogs how can so many people be so blind to the cruelty inflicted upon them.
They are like pop stars you can throw broken glass at and still feel nothing but love in your heart.

I've been remonstrated for not posting more.
Hear it once I don't think about it. A half dozen times and I guess I have to accept the fault.
I've not been feeling too well, a lot of fatigue. I keep going into work but at the end of the day my legs feeling like burning cores of lead.
Tonight I congratulated myself for resisting taking pain pills for 4 solid days. Pain just tells you you're still alive. I gave in tonight. Its okay. I don't have to be superman.
No work and no doctors tomorrow.
I don't get paid, which is a rip but I haven't had a day sprung on me where I had no responsibilities for too long. With a national holiday I am exonerated. There is nothing I can do.
I need that.
Just a day with my dog who loves me.
While I wish America hadn't become a country that would tolerate a President who tells us he is better than us, that he is above the law and his zealousness is our protection (similar to Stalin rhetoric in a scary way) it won't be my problem soon.

There is good news.
For some reason I seem to always be blessed with good news. I don't know why. Same way I don't know why there are so many people worth loving in my life. Why I met them and why they care about me. I'm a pretty crabby guy.
One of my old friends had another son on Sunday. In his words, he ran out of good names so he had to give him mine for a middle name.
I can't say how touched and pleased I am.
He's a man who I've always known would be a good father.
His call on Sunday washed all pain out of me. I saw a future.

There was also a reminder of the past.
I got the copy of the "posthumous" bootleg CD.
For the most part the music is confident. The two songs I remember still astonish me. I don't know why they weren't hits. They're good and I can't do any better.
I think most of the problem is that I'm not a front man. My voice is great singing back up but not distinctive or quirky enough for lead.
I'm a born rhythm guitarist. I fill in the holes in the sound and keep the danceability in.
I was still confused as to why anyone could call this punk. I write pop tunes. I like pop tunes. I like pop art. Art that's not intended to last forever, just to make you feel good for a while.

Click images for desktop size: "Silence" by Shifted Reality I was glad to hear it. It reminded me of those times. Building the tape decks and rewiring the mikes. Playing with friends and crazy crowds. The laughing, the jokes, the heat and the sweat.
My wild man act is just gentle nostalgia now.
I saw "American Hardcore", the documentary about the hardcore punk movement. (There should have been more music and less talking - is there anything more boring than old musicians talking about the way it used to be?)
It was the same sort of nostalgia only this one was a touch more personal.
I have to go now. The early fireworks have terrified my foster dog.
My puppy isn't bothered by them at all but the foster dog deserves calmness and reassurance. Right now she's torn between believing I'm either the bravest thing in the world or the stupidest. Stupid because I don't know how dangerous those fireworks are and I should be trying to escape!
I'll try and post more often again.
There's never any need to worry about me. Ever.
Its not my desire to worry anyone.
The words are really just to make pretty frames for the pictures.
I am overwhelmed with fatigue sometimes. Nothing wrong with that.
I have a lot to do to get ready for the relocation in about 2 months.
Its a big move but it should make me and my puppy as happy as we can be.
I hope everyone goes to the beach. That you remember your sun block and have as many reasons as I do to smile.

Technorati Tags: dogs, music

Posted by David at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Baltimore Turtle" by Lou Hamilton I woke up Monday morning and couldn't see. My right eye looked like it was gazing through a crinkly panel of frosted glass.
Its gotten better. It got worse, then got some more drugs and it got better.
My mood was lifted when I got email from two of my kids (former players).
One of them, my Right Tackle, was nearly thrown out of school when he was 15 for being "uneducable". They wrote him off as an idiot. I knew he wasn't. He handled my insane blocking schemes with ease. I had a coach who was dyslexic. I went to the RT's school and argued. They tested him and the RT wasn't an idiot, he was dyslexic. He wrote that he, today, is starting his new job teaching computer science at a university level.
I also heard from my CB. He made himself a great player. Went to America and played Football and Baseball (which he likes more than cricket) while getting a degree in Poli-sci. He was raised in a North London Housing Estate. In the US we call them the projects. Its not a great place to start off from in life.
When he returned home he started work for the government in army recruiting! And now he's on the Town Council. (UK politics are strange to outsiders, really odd - if you don't get it that's cool and so is the job.)
And another of my kids continues in his quest to make it to the NFL. He's signed on the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills. That's cool.
I'm arrogant enough to want credit for the good things I might have done. There is nothing I did that contributed to these kids' success. They did the work, they always did. Straight-line - anyone succeeds you can always say they did the work.
All I did was to teach them how to play a game. I believe the game taught them most of what they try and give me the credit for.
The kids have their opinions and they are entitled to them. I take some pride in that they both mention a couple of cardinal points in my philosophy. First that every kid has a right to either succeed or fail. And that we each responsible for our own actions and for the actions of our teammates.
It means a lot to me to see people I know accomplish things that they once thought were impossible. When anyone is strong enough and cares enough to take a chance on a dream, on themselves it makes me happy.
I talk a lot of platitudes and they both quote some of them. I just found it interesting that these were the two they had in common.
Now I've had an exhausting weekend. My puppy played therapy dog at a new hospital. This was a lot different then our usual rip and run sessions, replete with tea parties and plays. This was a straight hospital situation.
She was wonderful, waiting for a signal from the patient before approaching, not shying from wheel chairs and keeping her head at a level for easy petting. She talked to them all too.
Saturday was my last pee wee football practice. Their season starts soon and the deal was that I wouldn't be a coach. It was good. The best part being that they're too small, or I'm too large, for them to carry me around the field on their shoulders. (Something every football player with dreams of doing: toting their coach around the field.)
Then there was volleyball practice. I seem to have given an odd picture as to what this is about. The guy running the program is the HC at the 1A school here. The kids aren't college students. He set up the clinic in "economically challenged" areas. The kids are 7 to 14. The plan is to get them involved with sports and pass on some fundamentals in the hope that they will pursue athletics in school.

Click images for desktop size: "Cosmic Petals" by Benuk The old "social inclusion via sports" gambit.
I believe in it.
It works.

Last Sunday I felt like giving up, but had to give my foster puppy a bath in order to take her to an "Adoptithon" . . . not my phrase for sure.
Wednesday more doc's and therapy dog playing with my puppy. A woman came over to meet my foster dog. The little foster dog was great but we haven't heard back so this Sunday the drag starts all over again as we go to another "adoptithon." The little girl needs a home.

Technorati Tags: dogs, football

Posted by David at 4:34 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Coochy Cooty" by Robert Williams Tests.
Poking and prodding.
They tell me I should be in pain. I tell them I am. Then they stare at me blink and say, "A lot of pain."
I say, "Yeah, a lot of pain."
"You seem to be functioning alright."
I say, "yeah."
And they give me a new pain pill. I wouldn't take the other one. It made me too dopey.
I refuse to feel dopey.
They're not dead certain why I feel this much pain. Its the kind of pain that's all over. Even all my teeth are noticeably looser. Bad pain like only a few other times. They've decided its a combination of circulatory stuff and neuropathic junk.
Stuff and junk, got that?
It was frustrating and painful for me. The tests, I mean.
One thing though. Yesterday a nurse was lying in wait for me. She'd heard that I was the guy who owns the therapy dog with the web site. She asked me if I was, really really was.
I said, "Yeah."
During a break in my tests she took me to meet the kids in her ward. These kids were different than the kids we normally see,more refined, better mannered maybe. More used to getting things they wanted maybe. Still they're just kids.
They asked me all kinds of questions about my puppy. Mainly they couldn't believe that she lives in their town.
I got summoned abruptly. They needed to make more blood flow out of me.
The nurse wanted me to bring my puppy to meet the kids.
I told her I can't drive. She didn't ask me if my license was suspended for DWI, which is he usual question/assumption around here. She offered to pick my puppy and I up and to bring us home. I'm tough and when I feel bad I get too tough. I'll never be tough enough to turn my back on kids. Its my stupidity and I live with it.
Besides, I figure if I keep busy it won't hurt so bad.
And, its true, I'll do anything for a lift.
And while they were showing me the computer they used one of the kids asked me if I really owned my puppy. A little girl answered, "Nobody owns her!"
Smart kid.

The only real difficulty is that they charged me a lot more than I was prepared for. Not a whole lot but enough to bankrupt me. But its paid for - in full. Put that way - in full - it seems an obscenely small amount of money. More than I've got though. I've got plenty of dog food, but not many treats left. Both the foster nor my puppy are going to like that.
I've got 6 meals left. I'll get by somehow.

My co-worker, the one who had the dog that I took care of Memorial Day weekend, is trying to dump the dog. I'm pretty furious about it. He seemed to me like the worse person in the world to care for a dog. He found it in a box by the side of the road. The box had a sign on it that said, "Free Puppies".
She's a good dog but his lack of training and his unwillingness to teach the dog, play with the dog have resulted in a large 6 month old 55 pound hyper ball of energy. She's scared. He's just trying to evade the responsibility he took on.

Click images for desktop size: "Vampi" by Frank Frazetta He tried to dump the dog off on another co-worker. He told her if she didn't take the dog he was just going to dump it at the pound.
I told him that if he did that I would be very disappointed in him.
I've done a lot of thinking and there's no way I can take the dog in - time, money, space. I'm trying to find a suitable home but that's too rare for a problem animal.
I'll keep thinking.

Technorati Tags: dogs

Posted by David at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click images for desktop size: "Announcing" by Unknown It is exactly one point four miles from my front door to the bus stop. When I was feeling my worst it took me 20 minutes or 8 tunes on the iPod to walk there.
Normally it takes me 15 minutes or 6 tunes.
Today it took me 12 minutes or only 4 songs! They were good songs so maybe that helped.
One of them was an Everly Brother's track from their 1983 Reunion concert at Albert Hall. I like the Everly's. Like them plenty.
Until the 80's they were the largest selling duo ever. (Hall and Oates beat them out for first, I'm not quite sure what that means. My friend Billy took it personally and said it only proved that more idiots than ever were buying records.)
Lots of people tried to imitate them, cash in. Normal part of business. No one could ever come close to those weird and exciting harmonies. They were part gospel, part blue grass and made whatever they sang, not just interesting but beautiful..
I also loved the sound of their J200 Gibson guitars. It was also an inimitable sound. Somehow they made it sound like a bursting twelve string with none of the jangle.
I met Phil Everly. My friend Richard got called in to consult about a dog problem he had. He invited me along without mentioning it was Phil Everly. He thought I'd want to come because Phil had Belgians! The breed I owe more to than I can ever repay.
Richard may or may not have even known who The Everly Brothers are. But he knows dogs.
Phil had a big mansion out Zuma way and his pair of Belgians had destroyed the place. Belgians are like that. They worked without malice but thy had transformed a mansion by the sea into a perfect home for two dogs, so long as no people wanted to live there. People were welcome but the dogs didn't understand why everyone was aghast at the state of the house. The dogs thought it was the highest in chic and the ultimate in spacious living.
Now Phil was generally portrayed as the "jerk" in the Everly's and the impetus for their famed fist fights on stage and the constant break ups. I was startled when he came in.
He was a nice guy and most telling was he was not overly concerned about the shape of the house but very concerned that the dogs destruction was a sign that they were unhappy.
Me. I got to love a guy like that.
Richard worked with Phil and the dogs for a couple of hours. I got to be the assistant and had a wonderful time with the two dogs who were full of jokes and loved playing dumb.
Went out a month later to follow up and saw the house being restored and Phil and the dogs rough house playing. The dogs were even happier and greeted us warmly. So did Phil.
And that's what I thought about as I walked and set a record for walking to the bus stop.

Click images for desktop size: "Wile E Coyote" by Chuck Jones Work is still terrible. Still looking for an escape. Money is still a worrisome burden but I'm not lacking (mainly thanks to my friend.)
I'm going to start the Football Clinic this Saturday afternoon, and the Volleyball Classes next Weds afternoon - after the doctor and before my puppy has to go doctor her patients.
Last Sunday my foster puppy and I went to her first adoption event. It was National Shelter week in the US so I was disappointed in the turn out. I took a lot of pictures, which may have been a mistake. The adoption group heads are driving me mildly crazy with demands for this picture and that.
I try and explain that I'm not very good at this and all I was doing was grabbing snap shots for my puppy's website. I get ignored.
Next Saturday I have to do a 5K walk with my puppy and my foster dog, raising money to rescue pets. I'll enjoy seeing all the dogs but and chilled thinking about walking these two in a crowd.
All in all things are peaceful. I feel better when I'm moving in a direction.

Technorati Tags: dogs, everlybrothers, rockandroll

Posted by David at 8:19 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Scarey Nightmare" by Donna Lorelei I felt pretty good yesterday.
It was my day off. Hence no work and none of that insipid drama.
At the doctor's I realized that the pain had abated.
Not gone but just calmed down to the point where I hadn't even thought of taking pain killers for the past 3 days!
It's still there, like a sprained ankle that you can walk on but you're always aware of. That's okay, even if i does flow through my whole body.
That thought buoyed me through the rest of the exam. Everything is holding steady. And that's good.
I took the rest of the news in better cheer. They want me to stop working - which is great except they don't offer to pay my bills or feed the puppies.
Its not so much that they object to me working, they don't want me to have contact with people. People are germy things, I guess. Maybe that's why I find them so attractive. They want me to go into a plastic bubble sort of environment..
That's not worth considering. Its not so much that people will kill me. Not mere contact anyway, so much as people will always make me sick like this. I can't fight off infection, its not like HIV, its that all infections will step up my white cell count and decrease the red cell count, which means pain, fatigue and general creepy feelingness.
That's not so bad. People are worth that . . . most people anyway.
I just have to tell those guys who like to come around me and spit constantly to knock it off. I find it disgusting anyway. Not so much the spitting but it seems there are some guys, usually the ones who like to tell me jokes from the "Blue Collar Show" who think that clearing their throats and spitting every 90 seconds (yeah, I've timed it) is cool.
If you have the flu or a cold I get to bop you one!
It can be dealt with.
Then my puppy has started to feel better. She apparently had an irritated colon. They're not sure what caused it but the speculation is that she was stressing because I've been so unwell. Who built empathy into the canine mind?!?
Our vet gave me FREE advice. I was thinking we'd done something to offend her and she didn't want us to come into the office . . . yeah, I've been sick . . . she was just saving us money.
Her free cure is working!
the dumb puppy never acted sick, she was always happy and telling me jokes but she was panting heavily, drooling and had diarrhea for 6 days. Poor thing, and she still kept telling me jokes and bringing me coffee . . . she does tell me jokes anyway . . . dog jokes . . . they are not very subtle . . .
Finally I got to go to the Animal Shelter and visit the puppy we "rescued".
It angers me that her life before was so bad that this is the first time I have seen her unafraid and very happy. She was so much better I couldn't hold on to any anger on her behalf.

I was feeling so good I agreed to be a special consulting coach for the pee-wee football team.
I think that means I get all of the fun and none of the stress. One thing about pee-wee football is that too many parents and adults don't understand that I've got nil interest in winning those games. I'm more thrilled having the kids tell me how a play worked. I seldom can understand exactly what they're saying - usually they forget to take out their mouth pieces when they're talking to me. But I certainly understand the joy in their faces and the thrill of succeeding.
That's the biggest victory you can have.

Works getting worse. I don't even like thinking about it. Too much nonsense. For an unsupervised job where I get paid by the hour they demand too much, they take too much and they give too little.

Posted by David at 8:00 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Woman In Red" by Mando Gomez At least this Super Bowl wasn't as cruddy as last years . . . at least the 1st qtr wasn't . . . Rex Grossman played with Bambi Eyes. Last year the guy went into the playoffs and was chucking the ball all over the place, yesterday he looked determined not to be responsible for losing. That's the best formula for defeat; playing not to lose and forgetting the object is to win.
Brian Urlacher played scared too. It becomes endemic.
The most interesting thing was how the Colts kept the ball for 22 minutes of the first half. If the Bears' O could have gotten just a few first downs the game would have been different. Instead fatigue and battery were all the defenders could whip up on Manning. He got the MVP but did not look marvelous.
In fact parity is a vile thing. Neither of these teams looked good, nor have they for most of the season. This is arguably the worst Colts team this last 5 years. Before they couldn't get through Belichik's New England. Brady nearly whomped them this year and he had no world class receivers and a very ordinary defense.
This may be the new thing in the NFL. Parity. Victory through attrition.
Makes me glad I'm a college football and baseball fanatic.
And I still think the NFL Channel violates a lot of free enterprise and monopoly laws. Its unfair too.
Funny, this is a weird thing to miss but I used to like it when they'd rush up to the SuperBowl MVP and in a deep stentorian voice say something like; "He's just lead the Colts to their first Championship in 30 years.
So Peyton was is there left? Where do you go from here?"
And Manning would whip off his helmet and say, "I'm going to Disneyland!"
Odd tradition. They payed an insane amount of money for the MVP to "spontaneously" say that at the end of a game.
I do miss it.

I'm feeling better but not 100% yet. Still freaking out about money, still not so freaked out that I can avoid "outright prolonged laughter" when my puppy tells me her puppy jokes.

Just tired and feeling vague.

I saw "The Last King Of Scotland". It was appallingly bad. Forest Whitaker was good, he almost always is. His Oscar worthy performance was, for me, in the excruciating "Bird".
But Whitaker's Idi Amin Dada isn't even the star! That falls to a totally obnoxious British WHITE wanker. The coolest thing being that you really wanted to see him get tortured to death, but the filmmakers, while going out of there way to show what a worthless piece of drek this fellow is still expect us to feel sympathy and root for him when he falls into the clutches of the black goon squad.
It a bad British movie is all.
If you are interested in Idi Amin Barbet Schroeder did an incredible documentary of Amin, had full access to him. Stunning interviews, remarkably candid. Its revelatory. Amin was some sort of monster, granted but the film can't deny him his base, if ignored, humanity. It also explains something that "Last King" doesn't even attempt: As disgusting as Amin was the people of Uganda still feel in awe of him as a man.

Technorati Tags: football, nfl, oscars, superbowl

Posted by David at 7:45 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Black Lab" by Jack P About 80% recovered from the cold.
Odd to think of it that way. Measuring recovery from something as commonplace as a head cold . . . I can still feel some congestion in my lungs, but lighter each day.
I was perplexed because it appears I've given contradictory information about where I was born. This bothers me some.
Like when they are checking you for being concussed or stark raving mad don't they ask you things like, "What year is this? What day is this? Where were you born?"
The info isn't on my drivers license.
Part of the problem is that I spent a long time having to answer the question with a quick, "USA".
Back in the US, that answer doesn't cut it.
I'm looking for my passport for a definitive answer. I don't care, really, just concerned that the mind is going. Mind follows body. Doesn't it?
Pretty soon I'll only remember the distant past, but I still won't remember where I was born.
Like Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) I have to believe that they eradicated my memory from the age of 2 backwards, probably because I knew too much . . . or not enough.
My puppy is exploiting my memory by constantly insisting that I haven't fed her or given her the treats she's earned.

I can finally say I've seen all the best pictures nominated for the Oscars this year.
Sadly I was stunningly unimpressed.
Its much different not being in LA now. Then the Oscar season is totally fun - billboards, massive ads, DVD's floating around. Anyone old enough to remember the Z Channel will also remember all the films being blasted over the cable for Nominations and all the Best Picture nominees being played in time for the voters. And then on the times when a friend got nominated it was excitement of the highest order.
It was better than a game of football.
Still this is a paltry group of films. They seem remarkable unambitious. Remarkable short of the mark.
The way I watch movies is confusing in terms of being eligible for Oscar voting. But I have a neat passion for lists. So the five best films I've seen in 2006 are:

The King And The Clowns - A Korean film that is highly astonishing, funny, brutal and ribaldry real. Its also a movie dealing with gay themes that shows "Brokeback Mountain" up as the pretentious sham it was. In fact it makes "Brokeback Mountain" look like a movie made by the guy who made "The Incredible Hulk".
The film opens with the staid pronouncement that Korea has had a King for over 500 years, the longest run in world history, and then goes on to explain how records of the kings were kept.
This was in the first 90 seconds and had me prepared to squirm and run out, but then the next shot is of a man in costume telling a ribald joke while balancing and bouncing on a tightrope. And then the magic starts. The acting is superb throughout. The ancient characters seem real, concise and cogent. It becomes a great story that anyone can identify with.
The clowns, the traveling troubadours end up deciding they can make money by parodying the king. They do. They also get arrested and face execution. They dare the Cabinet Minister to let the king see their skit. They wager, he will laugh or they will die. And it rolls on gathering constant momentum until it explodes in beauty and catharsis.
I think its the best film of the year and at least one the top 25 films ever made. It is art and it is entertaining. We forget that they are supposed to be the same thing.


Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Yoshitaka Amano The Gridiron Gang - Yeah. A movie starring the Rock. I think he's cool but I've seen enough of him to realize he's learned how to act. This is a movie based on a brilliant little documentary. One of the oddest things about it is when they duplicate a shot and dialogue from the original film.
Both films are about one man's determination and the reality that one man cannot change the world alone, but sometimes he has help when he doesn't expect it. Its a movie about the community and young people's and our place in it. It has football, good acting and a premise that uplifts, excites and instructs.
Thats good enough for me.

Sympathy For Lady Vengeance Not as straight ahead and exciting as "Old Boy" the third part of the Vengeance Trilogy focuses on beauty and meditation as well as the cruelty we inflict on each other and the cruelty society inflicts in its quest for revenge.
The heroine confesses to the brutal abduction of murder of a child. She is sent to prison where she is considered a buddha, a person so good and beautiful she glides through prison. Soon its discovered that she is not a buddha, merely patient and cunning. She is also innocent of the crime she confessed to. She is released from prison and begins an existential quest to regain the life she sacrificed and to get revenge against the person who cost her that life.
In seeking that revenge she learns about community, and the cycle and the unrequited lust for vengeance that resides in too many people. Butterflies in the snow.

V for Vendetta - Yeah, its based on a comic book. It has glitzy special effects, a macguffin of a plot and the most potent political statement made in an American film since King Vidor's "Our Daily Bread". And oh yeah, ITS FUN!

The Guy Was Cool A light little love story about the toughest guy in town accidentally kissing a girl he was planning to beat up. She's not very cute but he is. Being so tough he is also popular with the right and the wrong people. They don't pursue each other but somehow they fall in love, a real love that sees their difference as complimenting each others strengths and weaknesses. This is a movie that proves being true to yourself is the way to be true to others and that love is an inevitability, not a biological recourse.
I've also been reminded that along with all the insightful melodrama this is also one of the sweetest and funniest films ever. Its easy to forget that. There's no real jokes. Just people learning about each other and themselves.

Technorati Tags: movies, oscars

Posted by David at 6:04 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Whatever Makes You Happy" by Scot Chitwood Got new drugs yesterday. That use to mean something different. These drugs only have something to do with fun in the most indirect way. They keep me alive to enjoy people; to enjoy my puppy. They're really wearing me out today.
On one of them, I made a mistake and read the information pamphlet. Putting off starting that one until Saturday. They gave me a 30 minute lecture about the drugs. As usual I only half listened - too depressing, reading all the side effects meant, to me, that these pills may not be worth it.
What's the point extending life a few months if the extension is going to be filled with misery.
I don't think that my attitude is suicidal. I think my attitude is common sense.

It's a couple days later. At work I was cutting down tress 8 or 9 of them, misjudged one and it bit me.
That was distracting.
Yesterday was the first round of the State Playoffs. All three teams that legitimately beat on us the field won their first round games pretty easily, all by at least 2 touch downs.
One of them invited me to their game, clearly as a recruiting thing. I was flattered when I told them I couldn't come without my puppy that they hastily arranged things.
Because its the Championships there was a bit of scrutiny making sure I wasn't helping . . . I'm not too sure what sort of illicit advice I could give. My puppy would probably tell them to score more touch downs . . . . It was different being just a spectator. I was saddened by the low turnout especially on what was a beautiful evening. This is the other “poor” school in town. It is making me consider things a bit more seriously than I other wise would.

For some reason I've been wrapped up in thought thinking about an old Chinese song . . . yeah. Its a song thats ancient, from the time in the bronze age where iron swords were making an appearance and myths about an indestructible metal called steel were floating in the ionosphere.
I guess the closest thing we have to this sort of song would be “Yankee Doodle” or something like that, and that is not really ancient at all.
It seems there was this bad king. I note that there are seldom any good kings mentioned except in fairy tales, must be something about the job, or something about dispatching all your enemies doesn't really prepare you for a life of public service.
Anyway, there's this bad king. He's very well protected, lives in an impenetrable Chinese castle and is always surrounded by a phalanx of 100 guards, even when he sleeps. All of the guards' families are kept in prison to be executed if one of the guards screws up! Which may have added to his rep of being a bad king. There's a nameless assassin who is given the job of killing this king, a job considered to be impossible. To the outside world it appears that the assassin has lost his nerve. He puts aside his sword and begins to play the qin. The qin is that sort of lute shaped metal instrument played like a lap steel guitar, the strings plucked with a feather.
For 10 years the assassin practices the qin until he is soon recognized as the most virtuoso player in all of China.

Click images for desktop size: "Wolf Soul" by Wolf Wind He is invited to play at the palace.
When he plays for the king, the king is astonished at the beauty of his playing. He descends his throne, walks past his guards and takes a seat on a stool near the qin to better hear and to see the amazing dexterity of the player.
The song ends and as the last note begins to fade the assassin breaks the neck of his qin to expose the steel blade he has cunningly concealed within.
He stabs the bad, but cultured, king in the throat, killing him on the spot. The he impales himself on the blade while plunging his face into a burning brazier.
He burns his face so that he cannot be recognized so that the kings supporters cannot take revenge on him by killing his family.
What a crazy cool Chinese cat.

I also figure that if USC can beat, Oregon today, Cal next week, then Notre Dame and UCLA they should get to play for the National Championship.

I found one of my narcotic pin pills. I've taken it. It makes me groggy and even dopier than usual. I think about a friend today telling me I'm the least relaxed person she ever met. That's funny. I feel relaxed. I don't panic about things. Maybe feeling relaxed is all the difference.

Oh, and I love my puppy.

Technorati Tags: coaching, football, pets, puppy

Posted by David at 7:54 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "The Needles Of Joy" by Luis Royo Its been a chaotic week. On Sunday I avoided getting hit by a car while on my bike and I really torqued my back.
Its been giving me a lot of pain ever since. As in 5 minutes putting on my socks bad.
The good part about that was that it made clear to me that the antibiotics I've been eating have knocked out most of the major pain I was feeling before.
I don't know if that is a fair trade off. I also never imagined how many times I bend down.
I haven't missed any work. I have been glad things have been slow.

High school football season is over. We won on Monday (the postponed game from the Friday) 52-0. It was the final home game. No band. Poor turnout but the kids learned to play for the joy of the game all over again. It was an admirable performance. All the seniors got on the field.
It was also where some more damage was done to my back. I don't blame anyone. For a football player, after the personal fantasies, a couple of their big dreams are to win a game where the fans storm the field and tear down the goal posts. ANother is to carry their coach off the field. Except usually coaches don't have bad lumbars that make it hard to keep themselves erect, nor do they have a puppy who is not so keen on seeing the coach raised out of their reach.
What's a little more damage when it helps some one make a small dream come true.
On Friday we played the team that won the conference. They whalloped us 31-7.
The score was secondary. They were a much better team. What was important was that the kids kept playing. They never just gave up.
That was more important to me than a story book ending. Story book endings are pleasant dreams that play through your head and bring smiles on cold nights. Playing through at maximum speed when it looks hopeless is something that sticks with you through out life.

My near legendary search for a housemate rolls on.
And on.
Oh, and on.
One looks promising. 3 have been jerks. 2 have left me numb. 1 would have been pleasant but her father had problems with me being male and not Chinese.
And on.

Last week was my worst week ever in picking NFL games!! I was 5-8. This knocked me all the way down to 147th!
With that in mind my picks this week are in bold.

Atlanta at Detroit - I like the Lions. I really do. Michael Vick has been too hot. I don't think it will last all season, but who knows. The Falcons' strengths hit right at the Lions' weaknesses.

Cincinnati at Baltimore - GAME OF THE WEEK! This one has me excited. The Ravens front 7 against the patchwork Bengals' O-Line will be something to witness. And the ball hawking Bengals secondary and punishing D-Line will make some head cracking plays. I hope it all comes down to McNair and Carson Palmer. That would make this a symphony. Chad Johnson makes me laugh and is good for the game. The NFL should be rewarding and not fining him. No Fun League.

Click images for desktop size: "Melons" by Pixelhust Dallas at Washington - Okay. I was wrong about Tony Romo. I'm not wrong about Parcells and Gibbs being vastly over rated. I still see this as a who cares game with the Cowboys being slightly less awful.

Green Bay at Buffalo - Brett Favre has never been away. I think this will be a close game. The Bills still have not learned how to win, but they are a talented team.

Houston at New York Giants - Last week the Texans proved they have no business in the NFL. They sat David Carr down. No one has even bothered to report whether he will still be a back up this week, so little is the interest. The Giants have to view this as a chance to tune up and work out the kinks before the monster game next week against the Bears.

Kansas City at St Louis - There are a lot of factors in this game, both talent wise, emotionally and in coaching. Its going to be fun seeing what the two first year coaches bring today. I'm taking the Chiefs because Larry Johnson is still one of the finest young men I've ever met and Herm Edwards is a superior coach.
Miami at Chicago - Just like the Giants get a tune up before next weeks “Clash”, so do the Bears. Miami is a better team that Houston but not by much. Nick Saban is not much of a coach and Lovee Smith is getting more and more impressive. Blow Out of the week.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay - Last week the Saints, my team of destiny, got stuffed. I still liked the way they played when it looked hopeless. They played like a college team running on emotion. The Buc's have looked better, hard to look worse, but the Saints will need to win to continue to believe in themselves. That makes them the pick. I still think they are a team of destiny.

Tennessee at Jacksonville - What has happened to the Jaguars? Inconsistent is one thing but erratic is quite another! I never figured that Jack del Rio would come up with a one man team, but with Byron Leftwich as that man it is what he has. Talent-wise the Titans can't stay on the field with the Jags. But . . .

Minnesota at San Francisco - This should be an utter blow out. If it isn't then the Vikings need to rethink their play off aspirations.
Click images for desktop size: "Goodbye Sky" by Adrianna Cleveland at San Diego - Even with the Shawn Merriman fiasco the Chargers are still looking too strong and playing well. The Browns aren't ready to take it to the West Coast yet. WIthout Merriman I'd still look for Winslow to have a big day for the Browns.

Denver at Pittsburgh - Both teams got beaten last weekend, both in different but bad ways. Cowher is looking like an idiot by insisting a dinged up Rothlisberger is the man when Charlie Batch has played better and WON! The Bronco's will recover and score enough.

Indianapolis at New England - Runner up game of the week. Manning and Brady are two of the best to ever play this game. Both are on teams where the talent around them is dwindling. The game is on prime time network when both these guys have shined. I'm taking the Pats over the undefeated Colts just for that reason. The Colts keep withering when under the big spotlight.

Oakland at Seattle - The cruddy game of the week is on Monday night . . . Someone already told me that this gave him an excuse to see what has going on in “Rasslin'”.

Technorati Tags: football, nfl, sports

Posted by David at 9:41 AM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Colorful Variants" Yesterday was not a very good day.
Aside from the above score my high school game was canceled Friday night because of the storms.

I told the fellow who was really annoying, rude and bullying me that he was doing this and, because of fear of poverty, I left it open as to being my housemate. It was really dead in the water then. I wanted it to be. He called me and said, “You scared me! I don't want to live with you!” I said, “Good idea. Don't change your mind and don't come around me.”
I hope I don't end up regretting my small pride and protection of my puppy and my sanity too much.
A couple of people have come over and a couple more may. We'll see what happens.
A job I was really keen on, that would have obliterated the need for a house mate emailed me to say that I didn't need to come in for the interview. They'd gone with someone they'd met earlier . . .
And . . . I guess that's it . . . Its not that bad when you line it up like that. Except for USC losing of course and the kids having to play on Monday and then finish the season on Friday.

Before I get my picks up, you know I won an iRobot Roomba: a robot vacuum cleaner. I was just pleased to win something with all my thought about football, made it seem productive instead of mere time filling. I was just going to give it to my friend but things happen. ANyway, the Roomba is no indispensable! It cleans wonderfully, doesn't annoy the pup very much and is fascinating to the geek in me. I want the Pet one now! Since I won this one I've seen them advertised all over the place. It is a very cool practical thing.

Last week I repeated my mediocre 8-5 in guessing. I fell to 47th in the country (Big Screen TV prize). So I'm rushing to get this posted before kick off. My picks are in bold.
Arizona at Green Bay - If not for Matt Linehart and Brett Favre this would be the runaway cruddy game of the week. Denny Green remains the leaden weight on the Cardinals. I'm choosing them over the Packers more on whim. The Packers are playing better, but are banged up.

Atlanta at Cincinnati - With John Abrams out the very good Falcons' D takes a big hit. They'll run more because they really don't have the tools to attack the ball hawking Bengals' secondary. Carson Palmer is still looking derailed since the Steelers game but should be able to handle a softer pass rush and get the needed points.

Baltimore at New Orleans - The Saints remain an team of inspiration and destiny. They are playing more as a team than anyone else in the NFL. I like the Ravens with McNair back and Fassel out but nobody messes with destiny, at least not yet in the new SuperDome.

Click images for desktop size: "Shiver" by Ed Allen
Houston at Tennessee - Cruddy game of the week and contender for cruddy game of the season. Taking the Titans nee' Houston Oilers because well . . .

Jacksonville at Philadelphia - What happened to the Jaguars? This is the time in the season where everyone is beaten up. The Eagles are healthier and desperate for a win. The Jaguars just look desperate.

Seattle at Kansas City - Last week The Chiefs played inspired football while the Seahawks got gutted. Worse, after the game they LOOKED gutted.

San Francisco at Chicago - The Bears will be at their most dangerous. After the bizarre debacle in Arizona they have a lot to prove to themselves. San Francisco isn't as cruddy as last year . . . about all you can say about them.

Tampa Bay at New York Giants - The Bucs get a record field goal and win. Miracles aren't destiny. They are still a cruddy team. The Giants are erratic but settling down and winning.
St Louis at San Diego - A more interesting game than it seems at first. Both teams have identical records. Taking the Chargers at home. this is my runner up game of the week!

Indianapolis at Denver - My game at the week. When Vegas odds makers figure the point spread on games one of the formulas is that home field is worth 3 points. A team that is dominant at home gets 3 1/2 points. The Broncos routinely get 6 points . . . Mile High is a rough place to play. Many of the Elway's brilliant 4th qtr comebacks happened because defenses were gasping for air and nauseous from the altitude. I expect the first half of this game to be the best then it will disintegrate in the 2nd.

New York Jets at Cleveland - Jets win against an improving Browns team.

Click images for desktop size: "Orchid" by He Fengi Yi Pittsburgh at Oakland - Cowher will probably go with Rothlisberger but Batch has been the superior QB this season. Oakland has, well they. they may . . . they will wear their black shirts and silver helmets. That is a very cool uniform . . .

Dallas at Carolina - This is my “Who Cares” game of the week. Is anyone else willing to admit that Parcells is not a genius? Tony Romo?

New England at Minnesota - I'm picking the Patriots despite how well the Vikings are playing and improving. I like the Patriots for one reason, Tom Brady is the QB. On the Vikings side Brad Johnson is not Tom Brady.

Technorati Tags: football, nfl

Posted by David at 12:57 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Explosion" by Timelikeit My puppy has a new game. She thinks its funny. When I go to bed she stands at the foot of the bed and presses her head down very hard on my toes. When I look at her she smiles and jumps up next to me, looking down, staring and grinning. Then she lies down next to me and looks adorable and loving. If not for the fact that she thinks it hysterical to spend the next ten minutes trying to push me out of my single bed it would be a sweet daily moment.
It is anyway.
Sometimes she sleeps with her head under my arm and it feels like the world is far away.
It isn't.
I live now in a small town. They don't like to think this is a small town but it is. With cable and satellite TV everybody in the world is hip to the latest trends and fads. Everybody thinks they're cool, with it and small town rich. With the internet they can order anything. I figure that's why baggy clothes have become popular . . .
This makes them smug and all knowing. They misuse slang, deny others rights they demand for themselves and generally behave like people everywhere always have. I think the difference is that they don't have a diverse population to expose the fallacies they concoct. they don't have confrontation, and when they do have it they behave like Catholic Priests knowing their Bishop will protect them.
About a mile and a half from my puppy's and my house is a ratty looking bar. They call it a night club.
Maybe to them it is. Any other corner of the world its a grotty neighborhood tavern.
I've noticed that in small towns like this there is always a tiny barrio. In this town it means a restaurant with a salsa bar and good burritos and ceveche.
This club is in the barrio and even has an hispanic sounding name: “La Zona”.
What makes La Zona interesting is that it is owned by a deputy sheriff. Most of the employees are also deputy sheriffs.
Its not a cop bar. Maybe it was opened with that intent but economics take things where they want you to go, not always where you dream.
What makes La Zona with all these Sheriffs working there interesting is that they sold crack . . . out of the bar/club. It also appears they fenced stolen goods and most interesting is that they operated a murder for hire business. At least thats what they were arraigned for.
Cops have to make a living too. Cops also have yuppie dreams of American wealth.
At first I was surprised by the murder for hire business. Then I figured that people in small towns must hate too, maybe even more than their big city counterparts. I wonder if life in this town is cheap or expensive and how much hate you have to have to put a dollar amount to it.
Would you kill some one for five bucks or ten thousand? If it were five hundred would you set up a biannual hit list, work your way up the corporate ladder or expunge the world of those ex-significant others?

Click images for desktop size: "Flames" by J Bensch Is their a premium attached when you have a professional killer, a cop, doing it for you?
They never put the interesting stuff in the newspaper.
What I find odd though is that this wasn't a big front page story. In LA and London and Chicago it would have been all over the papers, TV, radio for weeks. In a small town it was just a blip. Maybe it goes on all the time and doesn't perk anyones interest.
“Did you hear the cops are running crack, stealing and killing people for money?”
“Again? Oh well, but did you hear that the high school team had to forfeit some games?”
“What! We ought to string him up!”
Not making a point here but you can't help but notice that TV and the papers have mentioned the team every day and no mention of all about cops selling their guns to anyone who walked through the door.
All I'm sure of is that my puppy and I take good care of each other, even if there's times when it seems funny to try and push me out of bed.

Technorati Tags: football, magick

Posted by David at 5:11 PM | Permalink

Click images for desktop size: "Stone Soldier" by Dakann There's a bit of a scandal at the high school where I volunteer. One of the players had conflicting birth dates - one set showed 1988 and another showed 1987.
Its important because if he turned 19 before October he's an ineligible player.
He did and he was.
The HC is the one who caught it. He reaffirmed why I like him. He didn't wait and see if it would be caught. He didn't sit the player out and pretend nothing happened.
He called the league and forfeited all the games. He called the players and coaches together and let us know what had been done. He sent a letter to each of the varsity players explaining the facts.
He took full responsibility. He didn't blame a clerk for making the mistake. He didn't blame the kid. He never let anyone have a clue as to whom the kid might be.
The HC has a family and a teenaged daughter in there too.He has put them at risk. He needs the job, wants a better one. He knows he has a good chance of being fired for this because the local papers who carried the story have all pointed out that this would be the first losing season in 47 years . . . A few parents have already expressed outrage.
We were going to go to the state playoffs, now we would have to win out and hope for a few miracles to make it but we still might play for the championship. The players opportunities for the future haven't been impacted - a college recruiter isn't going to scratch their names off the books over this. Sure, there's some disappointment but I would rather that a kid see a man stand up in the path of fire because it was the right thing to do instead of just winning a championship.
Its what I mean about the game teaching the athlete about life.
I think the HC did something heroic and courageous. I have seen him do nothing but the right thing. He could have kept his mouth shut. He could have slunk around worried that one of the other coaches might catch the technical error. It wasn't that the kid has his grades fixed to be eligible. It wasn't that they were trying to sneak in a bigger kid for a fifth year of eligibility. It just happened and it was wrong. The HC stood up to it in a way I understand and relate to.
He's a fine man who just set a sterling example to the players on his team, and a good example to other coaches and their players. I note that none of our opponents, especially our less economically disadvantaged opponents, have refused to accept the forfeit, claiming they did not deserve the win. (I've done that in the past and believe it is the proper response here. I don't blame them for taking advantage of the technicality, nor do I judge them. They understand the needs of their own teams, I can't claim to know that.)
My feeling is that the HC is a good man who has done the best thing. If he is going to be attacked for it I will support him.

Click images for desktop size: "Streetfighter" by Sega I'm sick and I'm tired but there are some fights that get thrust in your way and you know that to avoid them would be to your detriment and to the detriment of the community and to society. I am old battered warrior which means I want to win with the least effort possible. That makes me dangerous because I've fought people like this far too many times.
Maybe I'll be wrong and people might actually understand that teaching a few noble sentiments and learning to be proud of the right things is more important than a game. Its a big lesson that the game teaches these young people.
Now, tomorrow, we have to play the highest ranked team we've yet to face. I figured us to win. It will come down to the team and what they want.
I think that's how it should be.

I'm doing okay. I wonder if people realize that I'm pretty happy. The things that bother me don't stop me from being happy.
My puppy is happy. She bugs me all the time and insists I be happy.
Things bother me. Nothing mush is like I want it to be. So what.

I may have found a housemate. My puppy's and my house is cute and with just us here it feels like a home - maybe a bit slap dash but still a ho