As I wrote to a fellow Chiefs fan on The Facebooks earlier today, KC is making the plays they have to make on both sides of the ball, but especially on defense. The offense is anemic and lacks star power outside of Charles, Bowe, and Smith and they won't win a shootout. I don't think they're better than Denver or Seattle and I'd love to see head-to-head matchups against San Fran and New Orleans. I'll settle for finishing the season 3-5, stealing one from Denver in Arrowhead, and capturing a Wildcard spot for the playoffs.
I picked up a Nexus 10 used from a local electronics reseller. The 7 is beautiful (and cheaper), but I wanted the bigger screen. My buddy has one of the Acer tablets, and frankly I don't like their hardware as compared to a Google or Apple product. The Acer tabs feel a bit flimsy when compard to the other two. Google'se-reader is an app called "Google Play Books" and it's ok, I guess. I don'treally have any experience with other e-readers. My wife has one ofthe newer iPads with the Retina display and it's pretty nice (like almost everything Apple makes), but you'll pay extra for it (again, like almosteverything Apple makes).
There are competing philosophies on this. One philosophy is to draft the best available players with bye weeks in mind. The other is to just draft the best available players and take the hit when that fatal bye week hits. However, there are some leagues which require owners to fielda complete roster every week, which forces you to pay attention to byes at the draft. Those leagues suck.
Concerning the disease, I happened to catch the first few minutes of The Talking Dead after this ep and Chris Hardwick had a writer/producer/some-guy-connected-to-the-show on and he explained that they modeled this new disease after the 1918 flu pandemic (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic). This particular strain struck mostly healthy 20-30 year olds and could kill within 24 hours. One can easily see how problematic such an outbreak could be for the group.
It's bad enough to lose by one. It's even worse to lose by one to a team that didn't even field a full complement of players. Thanks Obama! (no politics)
As mentioned above, KC is playing with, for the most part, the same personnel as the 2-14 team last season. Sean McGrath at tight end has been a pleasant surprise (fear the beard!) and the play of the defense makes us all misty-eyed with comparisons to the dominant units of the 90's. Tamba Hali has finally found his footing as a dominating defensive end and the play of Eric Berry and Brandon Flowers has put the swagger back in the secondary (have to wonder if Cruz would have gone 69 yards had Flowers been healthy...). I'm beginning to believe that they're good enough to claim a wild card, but they're not better than Peyton's Broncos.
Put a healthy Terrelle Pryor under center against Washington and Oakland wins. Matt Flynn was a fencepost behind a porous offensive line. Pryor's speed and agility turns many of the sacks Flynn took into positive gains.
I'm about 20 pages into the first Sanderson-written Wheel of Time book. I'm excited to finally be getting into a part of the story that I haven't read 2-3 times. Sanderson's first 20-ish pages seem to have a darker tone than Jordan established in the previous novels.
As I get older I've found that I prefer reading about the political and social machinations going on behind the battles rather than the battles themselves.
Seattle's D is better than NO's D. That's a point in Seattle's favor right there. Where are the Hawks/Niners playing? If they're in Seattle, I' d start Seattle and never look back. But (there's always a but)...Bucs QB Josh Freeman will give the Saints lots of opportunity for turnovers. Both defenses are playing at home...I say go with Seattle.
Brandon Carr's late-game interception return against the Manning brother with the better post-season record is the play that put Team Sandcastle over the top against Reba. It was clearly Carr's personal apology to me for leaving Kansas City for Dallas. Apology accepted, Brandon.
You know what I miss? Theme Hospital. I think I've still got my original install disk...I wonder how many backflips I'd have to do to get it to run on 7? Or GoG has it for six bucks.
I'm currently fumbling my way through XCOM on Classic difficulty. I suck hard at Classic, but I discovered today that extreme patience, heavy use of cover and hunker down, and taking that 25% shot when it's all you got will make the AI do silly things, too.
I was thinking about that movie as I wrote my comment. As seniors in high school, we watched it in English class. We managed to make it through her very brief nude scene with just a few titters (pun) and some embarrassed shifting in our seats.
Reading all of your recommendations made me smile, because I've already got a nice Roland TD-4 kit down in the basement connected to a PC running Ubuntu which I built out of spare parts. This allows me to play along with mp3's. No studio-quality headset, though. I've been a dabbler for a few years but now I'm hoping to learn how to actually _play_ the darn things! Good tip on the practice schedule, zic. I'm hoping to get at least 3-4 practice sessions in a week in the sliver of time between dinner and the kid's bedtime.
Yesterday I finally decided to quit soccer and find a drum instructor. My youngest son's guitar instructor recommended the drum instructor down the hall who just so happened to have a slot open right before my son's guitar lesson. Tonight after work, I'll head to the local music school/store to purchase a set of 2B sticks and a pad of manuscript paper. Excited! (Also hoping that I'll prove to be a better drummer than I ever was a soccer player (that's a very low bar)).
0800 soccer game for the aforementioned boy on Saturday, followed by hanging out with friends that afternoon. Sunday might be football...but that depends on how much care I can muster. My interest has seriously waned over the past few years, but it's an excuse to go sit in a sports bar with friends and have a few beers while eating bad food, so...
Just a quick addendum on Slingshot: Be wary of choosing the Slingshot council mission the first time you foray into Classic difficulty. I've tried it a couple of times and have met with complete failure each time. But of course, you're better at this game than I am, so perhaps you won't struggle as I have...
If you haven't already seen it, I'd recommend the documentary "Restrepo," following a platoon of soldiers in the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan.
"My grandfather fought in the Second World War and he would never let down his fear of vulnerability enough to talk to his own grandson..."
About a decade ago I attended a training class near Denver with a co-worker and we stayed with his grandparents. He told me in advance that his grandfather had been a bomber pilot in Europe during WWII and had taken wounds which limited the use of his left arm. Over the course of the week, his grandfather told us all sorts of stories about his experiences and I learned that he had been a B-24 Liberator pilot, had been stationed in England near where I had been when I was active duty many decades later, and had earned either a Silver Star or a Distinguished Flying Cross (I forget which) for getting his plane and his crew safely home after getting shot up and wounded over France.
My friend was amazed because it had been his first time hearing all those stories, too. I guess sometimes it's just easier to open up to a stranger.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Halfway Highlights”
As I wrote to a fellow Chiefs fan on The Facebooks earlier today, KC is making the plays they have to make on both sides of the ball, but especially on defense. The offense is anemic and lacks star power outside of Charles, Bowe, and Smith and they won't win a shootout. I don't think they're better than Denver or Seattle and I'd love to see head-to-head matchups against San Fran and New Orleans. I'll settle for finishing the season 3-5, stealing one from Denver in Arrowhead, and capturing a Wildcard spot for the playoffs.
On “Weekend!”
I picked up a Nexus 10 used from a local electronics reseller. The 7 is beautiful (and cheaper), but I wanted the bigger screen. My buddy has one of the Acer tablets, and frankly I don't like their hardware as compared to a Google or Apple product. The Acer tabs feel a bit flimsy when compard to the other two. Google'se-reader is an app called "Google Play Books" and it's ok, I guess. I don'treally have any experience with other e-readers. My wife has one ofthe newer iPads with the Retina display and it's pretty nice (like almost everything Apple makes), but you'll pay extra for it (again, like almosteverything Apple makes).
On “Fantasy Football Week In Review: Week 7”
There are competing philosophies on this. One philosophy is to draft the best available players with bye weeks in mind. The other is to just draft the best available players and take the hit when that fatal bye week hits. However, there are some leagues which require owners to fielda complete roster every week, which forces you to pay attention to byes at the draft. Those leagues suck.
On “Walking Dead Recap: Infected”
Concerning the disease, I happened to catch the first few minutes of The Talking Dead after this ep and Chris Hardwick had a writer/producer/some-guy-connected-to-the-show on and he explained that they modeled this new disease after the 1918 flu pandemic (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic). This particular strain struck mostly healthy 20-30 year olds and could kill within 24 hours. One can easily see how problematic such an outbreak could be for the group.
On “Fantasy Football Week In Review: Week 5”
It's bad enough to lose by one. It's even worse to lose by one to a team that didn't even field a full complement of players. Thanks Obama! (no politics)
On “Quarter Pole Power Poll”
As mentioned above, KC is playing with, for the most part, the same personnel as the 2-14 team last season. Sean McGrath at tight end has been a pleasant surprise (fear the beard!) and the play of the defense makes us all misty-eyed with comparisons to the dominant units of the 90's. Tamba Hali has finally found his footing as a dominating defensive end and the play of Eric Berry and Brandon Flowers has put the swagger back in the secondary (have to wonder if Cruz would have gone 69 yards had Flowers been healthy...). I'm beginning to believe that they're good enough to claim a wild card, but they're not better than Peyton's Broncos.
"
Put a healthy Terrelle Pryor under center against Washington and Oakland wins. Matt Flynn was a fencepost behind a porous offensive line. Pryor's speed and agility turns many of the sacks Flynn took into positive gains.
On “Sunday!”
I'm about 20 pages into the first Sanderson-written Wheel of Time book. I'm excited to finally be getting into a part of the story that I haven't read 2-3 times. Sanderson's first 20-ish pages seem to have a darker tone than Jordan established in the previous novels.
On “Thursday Night Bar Fight #15: It’s a trap!”
I'm sold. In addition to casting Sackoff as Han Solo, we could make "Luke" the sister and "Leia" the brother, preserving the romance.
On “Weekend!”
This is my first weekend on call. I am slightly terrified.
"
As I get older I've found that I prefer reading about the political and social machinations going on behind the battles rather than the battles themselves.
On “Weekend!”
"Mariflou"
On “Fantasy Football Week In Review: Week 1”
Seattle's D is better than NO's D. That's a point in Seattle's favor right there. Where are the Hawks/Niners playing? If they're in Seattle, I' d start Seattle and never look back. But (there's always a but)...Bucs QB Josh Freeman will give the Saints lots of opportunity for turnovers. Both defenses are playing at home...I say go with Seattle.
"
I am Team Sandcastle.
"
Brandon Carr's late-game interception return against the Manning brother with the better post-season record is the play that put Team Sandcastle over the top against Reba. It was clearly Carr's personal apology to me for leaving Kansas City for Dallas. Apology accepted, Brandon.
On “I Voted!”
Wait...they let you people vote now?!
On “Saturday!”
You know what I miss? Theme Hospital. I think I've still got my original install disk...I wonder how many backflips I'd have to do to get it to run on 7? Or GoG has it for six bucks.
I'm currently fumbling my way through XCOM on Classic difficulty. I suck hard at Classic, but I discovered today that extreme patience, heavy use of cover and hunker down, and taking that 25% shot when it's all you got will make the AI do silly things, too.
On “Thursday Night Bar Fight #13: Even In A Perfect World, Where Everyone Was Equal…”
I was thinking about that movie as I wrote my comment. As seniors in high school, we watched it in English class. We managed to make it through her very brief nude scene with just a few titters (pun) and some embarrassed shifting in our seats.
"
Romeo and Juliet. Love, hope, youthful indiscretion, complications, misunderstandings, jealousies, anger, despair, death.
Or heck, just send it for Mercutio's bad jokes.
On “Weekend!”
Thanks, guys.
Reading all of your recommendations made me smile, because I've already got a nice Roland TD-4 kit down in the basement connected to a PC running Ubuntu which I built out of spare parts. This allows me to play along with mp3's. No studio-quality headset, though. I've been a dabbler for a few years but now I'm hoping to learn how to actually _play_ the darn things! Good tip on the practice schedule, zic. I'm hoping to get at least 3-4 practice sessions in a week in the sliver of time between dinner and the kid's bedtime.
"
Yesterday I finally decided to quit soccer and find a drum instructor. My youngest son's guitar instructor recommended the drum instructor down the hall who just so happened to have a slot open right before my son's guitar lesson. Tonight after work, I'll head to the local music school/store to purchase a set of 2B sticks and a pad of manuscript paper. Excited! (Also hoping that I'll prove to be a better drummer than I ever was a soccer player (that's a very low bar)).
0800 soccer game for the aforementioned boy on Saturday, followed by hanging out with friends that afternoon. Sunday might be football...but that depends on how much care I can muster. My interest has seriously waned over the past few years, but it's an excuse to go sit in a sports bar with friends and have a few beers while eating bad food, so...
On “Saturday!”
Just a quick addendum on Slingshot: Be wary of choosing the Slingshot council mission the first time you foray into Classic difficulty. I've tried it a couple of times and have met with complete failure each time. But of course, you're better at this game than I am, so perhaps you won't struggle as I have...
On “What will Jaybird post about now?”
I am completely stunned by this news. Oh wait, no I'm not.
On “Weekend!”
Cymbeline at Rock Ledge Ranch tomorrow night!
On “And Then They Came Home”
If you haven't already seen it, I'd recommend the documentary "Restrepo," following a platoon of soldiers in the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan.
"My grandfather fought in the Second World War and he would never let down his fear of vulnerability enough to talk to his own grandson..."
About a decade ago I attended a training class near Denver with a co-worker and we stayed with his grandparents. He told me in advance that his grandfather had been a bomber pilot in Europe during WWII and had taken wounds which limited the use of his left arm. Over the course of the week, his grandfather told us all sorts of stories about his experiences and I learned that he had been a B-24 Liberator pilot, had been stationed in England near where I had been when I was active duty many decades later, and had earned either a Silver Star or a Distinguished Flying Cross (I forget which) for getting his plane and his crew safely home after getting shot up and wounded over France.
My friend was amazed because it had been his first time hearing all those stories, too. I guess sometimes it's just easier to open up to a stranger.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.