Carr out Schaub in

When David Carr was selected Number One overall, my first thought was 'Who?'. My second was of immediate disappointment because I had either wanted Julius Peppers or (to my shame) Joey Harrington. In my defense, the only college game that I watched the year previous had been a game where Harrington took the Ducks on a last-minute drive to beat the opposition. I'm sure Dylan, being a Lions fan (Harrington's eventual destination), could tell you who he beat. We watched the game together, enrapt by Harrington's control over the offense, hitting receivers short and intermediate. There were no desperation throws. There was no hurry. Just a man who knew the business of moving the ball down the field. Well, most of us know how that one turned out. Harrington was moved out Detroit last year for a paltry 5th or 6th round pick. He played reasonably uncrappily for the Dolphins but they decided that they would take their chances with Daunte Culpepper's ailing knee and the stellar force known as Cleo Lemon. (More on the Dolphins further down).

Regardless, Carr was the horse they put their money on, so it was Carr for whom I would cheer when the regular season came around. I would have no choice, since they put him in as the starter immediately. Oh, the amazing power of hind-sight. (More on hind-sight, later)

Carr's first game in the regular season as a Texan was an amazing victory over the cross-state rival Cowboys. Two touchdowns (one to Cory C.S. Bradford and the other to Billy Miller) and the team was undefeated in its history (in the regular season).

The next week, the Texans came back down to Earth as San Diego pummeled them, registering, I believe, eight sacks. My question at this point was, what in the hell was Carr doing in the game after the FOURTH sack? But that question will forever remain unanswered.

Throughout the years, sacks would be something to which Carr would be no stranger. In fact, over his five years in Houston, Carr was sacked 249 times. I believe (and I don't think it's a stretch to believe) that this is a record over five years. Houston broke the record for sacks allowed in their inaugural season and then would have tied or broken it again in 2005 if 2002's sacks allowed hadn't been so prolific.

Last week, David Carr was released from the Houston Texans after they spent a second round pick this year, a second round pick next year and swapped first round picks with the Atlanta Falcons for quarterback Matt Schaub.

The price for Schaub, at first glance, seems pretty steep. It is my contention, however, that the trade is not as baffling as I had originally thought. Here's why:

According to the Jimmy Johnson Trade-Value Chart, the second this year, the second next year and the move from 8 to 10 is worth the equivalent of a first-round pick in the neighbourhood of 15-20. It is my contention that the Texans had planned on using their first-round pick on Brady Quinn, he of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They may have gotten some indication that Quinn would be picked by someone ahead of them and so decided that they needed to go in another direction. They brought in Patrick Ramsey and Jeff Garcia and Jake Plummer has never been far from the minds of those who know that Kubiak reformed Jake Plummer and that Plummer struggled (sucked) without his O.C. last year in Denver. None of these people became Texans, so the thought was that if they didn't draft a quarterback, David Carr would be the starter next year. So, they didn't use the #8 overall to pick a quarterback, they used the equivalent of the #15-20 overall and they still have a top-ten pick in this year's draft.

“But Liam,” you say, “2 second rounders for a quarterback that isn't proven is a little steep.” I'll agree with that, keeping in mind that the Raiders spent a 2nd on Marques Tuiasosopo and then another on Andrew Walter. The San Diego Chargers spent a second rounder on Drew Brees only to pick up Philip Rivers with the #5 overall (kind of... they had #1 and traded Manning away for Rivers and a boat-load of picks) a couple of years later. And Washington who spent a #1 on Patrick Ramsey and then another #1 on Jason Campbell.

Sure, quarterbacks fall out of trees for some teams (Green Bay, San Francisco, New England...) but the search for a Franchise Quarterback is one that has lost many coaches and personnel men their jobs.

Another point is this: You can think of this trade as trading up to #15 overall and picking Schaub in the draft. Except that he doesn't have to sit down at all. Like Kellen Clemens last year, Schaub, in his last year in college was injured, which dropped his stock to the third round. Granted, Clemens only fell to the second but the point is the same.

“What about all the picks?” Well, if we traded up to pick Schaub, who's to say we can't trade down from #10 to, say, 20-25, pick up an extra second and use our first-rounder to get Ryan Kalil, the best centre prospect in the draft? And then use the second in the same general way we would have used our original #2? Sure, the #2 next year chafes, and the draft is going to be boring between 1(10) and 3(9) but the excitement that this has generated over the past week is just astounding.

In the end, a member of the Houston Texans message board said it in a way that made the most sense to me. “Gary Kubiak should get to coach his guy. He pretty much got stuck with Carr last year and now that they're admitting that mistake (which Bob McNair, owner of the Houston Texans did at the Schaub press-conference), Kubiak should be allowed to choose the guy rather than picking cast-offs up from the scrap-heap.” I don't remember exactly how he said it but it was along those lines.

“But Liam,” you say, “The Texans should have traded Carr last year and used the #1 overall on Vince Young, the hometown boy!” The Texans could not have traded Carr without first extending his contract the way they did. This is the same contract that made the returns for him minimal, at best. Kubiak, in his job interview, told Bob McNair, owner of the Houston Texans, that he believed Carr could get a team to the Superbowl. Not a bold statement, since the not-so-dynamic duo of Tony Banks and Trent Dilfer managed to do the same thing for Baltimore. (I'm not comparing the Texans to the Ravens. Just that Carr could probably have gotten THAT team to the Superbowl.) Kubiak probably wouldn't have gotten the job without answering that question that way so I can understand why he would have held on to Carr.

So, David Carr was released outright. That doesn't necessarily mean that there were no trade offers. What it does mean is one of three things, in my mind: 1) The return for Carr wasn't enough to justify pushing all of his pro-rated bonus into this year, 2) Carr wouldn't restructure his contract to go to any of the teams the Texans were interested in trading with or 3) McNair decided that Carr should be released so that he could pick his own team, as a way of saying “I'm sorry we didn't protect you”, “I'm sorry the team sucked” or “I'm sorry for the offensive coordinators you had in your first four years.”

I'm inclined to believe the third point. It was stated that Carr asked to be released and that wish was granted.

Where will Carr go? I'm not really sure. The Dolphins could be a possible landing-spot, with their concerns over Culpepper's knee (and his general ineffectiveness), the departure of Joey Harrington and the fact that Cleo Lemon is the guy waiting in the wings. Oakland has been a hot possibility as well, since signing Carr could potentially free them up to draft WR Calvin Johnson who is widely-regarded as the best prospect in this draft (and narrowly-regarded as the best WR prospect ever out of college). If Kansas City trades (or releases) Trent Green, Carr might be welcome there to hold the spot for awhile. I'd be interested to see what he could do with Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez and company, especially with that massive offensive line in front of him. (It's sad to think that they have Willie Roaf – a guy who was removed from the expansion draft list while Tony Boselli was allowed on there and never played a single down for the Texans.)

I'll watch Carr's career with special interest. He was with the Texans before they turned the corner, he took a severe beating at the hands of opposing defenses and the only time he ever missed was three or four games in 2003 (I think) when he hurt his ankle. He kept bouncing back up after sacks, never threw any teammates under the bus (that I can think of) and he maintained his class even through the days where it was apparent he was no longer in the Texans' plans. I would ask how you could cheer against a guy like that but there are far too many people on the Texans Message Board who have shown me exactly how.

I'm okay with the release of Carr because of two very telling things.

1) Over the last 10 games of the season (that's TEN), Carr threw as many illegal forward passes (2) as touchdowns (2).

2) Carr's release shows that poor performance will lead to replacement. I didn't see this kind of culpability the entire time that Dom Capers was the coach of the Texans and I sure didn't see it during this past season. This shows me that the franchise no longer views itself as an expansion franchise. It's easy to say “Well, just let Carr play and see how he develops” until the fans are sick of the team and stop showing up to games (this hasn't happened yet) but to say, “David, you just didn't play well enough last year. We need to replace you.” That's telling about how I expect this team to be run from now on. No more baby-steps. Get an NFL-ready quarterback, start him from day-one and take this 6-10 team and keep making strides. No more negative-passing-yard days, no more “Well, if Boselli had actually played” and certainly no more “this team doesn't have enough weapons.”

That last one is going to be a hard one for me to get past. I have to realize that the Texans signed Ahman Green, re-signed Ron Dayne and Andre Johnson and have a fantastic young tight end in Owen Daniels, all of whom are ready to break out. Daniels had an incredible opening to last season. I don't know if he got hurt last year but when I looked last, he was ahead of Vernon Davis and all the other tight ends who were taken ahead of him. Another offensive play-maker I want to keep an eye on is Chris Taylor. All I heard coming into the season last year was how well he'd played in training camp and pre-season and that all they needed to do was to give him a chance. Well, he got that chance against Cleveland and he made the most of it, going over one-hundred yards. I can't wait to see how well he does with increased touches. (If he gets them)

I would love for the Texans to trade back in the draft, pick up Ryan Kalil and a second-rounder which they would then use on either a wide receiver to complement Andre Johnson or a free safety to render C. C. Brown redundant. Then they could address the other one with the third round pick they still have. All the other positions will do okay, I think. Defensive tackle is a little thin and I wouldn't mind a pass-rusher to take some of the heat away from Williams. But that's all want. We need a centre (Flanagan was NOT the answer), a WR and a free safety.

So, this Carr is Gone post has turned into a State of the Texans Address, apparently. I can live with that.

Mouse Trap

I have killed my third mouse since starting

at Intuit.

I am a bad person.

powered by performancing firefox

Daily Meditations Friday through Tuesday

I missed out on the daily meditations Friday through Tuesday but I have an excuse. I was sick. Here are some of my thoughts while I was laid-up.



Everything seems to slow down when you're sick. Every moment is stretched out. Not like in Star Trek: Insurrection, where the beating of a hummingbird's wings takes a couple of minutes, but where you can't believe it's only been X minutes since the last time you looked at the clock. Take, for instance, Friday. Friday lasted two-and-a-half weeks. Strange, I know, but being sick made it so. Sleeping takes on a whole new dimension. You close your eyes, exhausted, and then open them at least an hour later to find out only five minutes has passed. Repeat this a couple more times, get sick of it, lift your head to get up, the dizziness hits you, so you hit the pillow again. Five minutes, five minutes, five minutes. Until you're so sick of it, you exclaim to the cold-gods: Next time I wake up, I'm getting up, spins, chills, I don't care!

Except the next time you get up it's seven hours later. Your mouth is dry, your bladder's full. A plaintive thought: Why, if my body is this full of fluids, can't it spare some for my mouth?

You'd call for a glass of water, but your mouth is full of clay. You'd go to the bathroom to empty your bladder (and maybe get a drink) but you're under the blanket - THE ONLY WARM PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. So you sit there until your bladder is ready to burst and your throat is rejecting your pathetic attempts at swallowing and the two send you flying from the bed to the bathroom where relief of two types waits. Finally. Taking a deep - no, deep is too deep. Taking as unshallow a breath as you can, you realize the folly of this, collapse in a fit of coughing and decide to go back to bed. A couple of rounds of five-minutesy drive you from the bed to conquer the day, watching Flash Gordon, Dune and Big Trouble in Little China.

Oh, except that instead of you, that's all me.



I'm extremely grateful to my wife who was willing to let me get better while she took care of the kids. She's definitely the stronger parent.

powered by performancing firefox

Daily Meditation 3/7/2007

Be Quiet

Have you ever wondered why libraries have special atmospheres? They are places where many congregate but where silence is the code. Quietness in an atmosphere means there is the presence of quiet minds, and quiet minds are not only relaxed, they can concentrate easily and create more freely. Imagine you are in the library of your mind, browsing the accumulated wisdom on the shelves of your life - listen to the silence, be aware of the stillness. Now you can really listen. Now you can really hear. Now you can really think. Now you can create. And behold, you are an artist. Did you not know that silence and creativity are lovers?



Silence and creativity are lovers:

At work, there are a bunch of signs that warn you to be quiet when you're entering work zones, not just for the call-centre, but for engineering as well. They also give out noise-canceling headphones so that the engineers can work in silence. Apparently they agree with this idea. I don't know how much *I* agree with it. More often than not, I would rather work with some quiet music in the background than complete silence.

Browse the accumulated wisdom:

That's a pretty neat idea. Like everything we learn is sitting on some dusty bookshelf, waiting for us to pick it up and check it out. I wonder what my inner librarian is like. Probably some old british lady, patting her hand with a yardstick, ready to dish out retribution to anyone caught talking.

Personally, I always thought libraries had special atmospheres because of the mountains and mountains of books. More than the silence, that much knowledge is awe-inspiring.

powered by performancing firefox

Daily Meditation 3/1/2007

Choose Feelings

If your days seem filled with unwanted negative feelings, there is only one cure. When they come, choose them. Don't ask why, don't wonder how, don't fight them and never put yourself down for having them. But most of all never blame someone else for how you feel. If you do, it means you are still fast asleep and your choice is to be a victim. When the feelings come, even big disturbing emotional feelings say, "I choose this feeling" and know it comes because of something you have thought or done in the past, perhaps a certain belief that you have learned or an attachment that is threatened. Choice does not mean you want the feelings, but it does mean you are taking responsibility for them. And that is the beginning of self mastery. It is the first step to the healing and resolving of your emotions. But only the first step. Try this today and then ask yourself what the next step might be. If you are really interested to know, you will come to know!



Taken from another website.



THOUGHTS:



I like this way of looking at the world. It's an acknowledgment that what comes, comes. I'm not a big fan of beating myself up over what I can't change, despite the fact that I seem pretty good at it. I am in favour of taking responsibility for the way you feel, as opposed to blaming someone else. This reminds me of the phrase, "Accept it, then own it." If you take something that you're feeling and accept it as a genuine feeling, it's a heck of a lot easier to get to the root of what the problem is and work toward a resolution there.

This is a hard path, though. It's hard for me to accept my negativity and not blame myself for it. I spend a lot of time trying to please people and when I'm not in the mood for that, whether because I'm down or angry or whatever, I tend to blame myself and it ends up spiraling out of control. Generally, I'm pretty good at cutting the head off of this train of thought but it is a slippery slope.

I guess what I can take away from today's meditation is this: I will be mindful of how I act when I feel badly, both toward others and toward myself.



There are no questions to ponder on this site, which might be a good thing, I'm not sure.



I'll give this site another try tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe I'll just be a daily-meditation wanderer, scouring bits of wisdom off the web.



Kinda like Kung-fu, without the flipping, kicking and punching.

powered by performancing firefox

24: Season One (Day One? Monday?)

One of my 101 goals was to watch the first season of 24. It is now complete. So, I have some thoughts on it. I’m sure I’ll have spoilers in here, so if you haven’t seen the season and want to retain that purity of thought, probably don’t read this.

Plot:

Good:

• Very intricate. I like how they were able to weave so many story-arcs together. It was almost like reading a book.
• Fast-paced. There don’t seem to be any breaks.

Bad:

• How many times can they keep capturing people, letting them escape, capturing them, letting them escape, capturing… it goes on.
• Honestly, you’re ex-military and you’re going to let a 17-year-old girl give you the slip? “I’m just going to … um… stand over here and get some coffee… FOR YOUR FACE!” Ugh.

Characters:

Jack: Jack is one bad dude. I wouldn’t mess with him. From what I hear, he gets more badass as the series goes on.

Mr. President: Mr. President is one GOOD dude. Honest, pure, willing to sacrifice everything for his character. A little too much so. And he “just knew” a couple too many things. Still, I like the actor from the old “Major League” days.

Mrs. Jack: Good, complex character. I had a little trouble buying the amnesia story-line, but that’s more plot than character, I guess.

Little Jacklet: I’m not a big fan of Elisha Cuthbert and some of the stupid decisions she made were a little far-gone, even for a teenager. “Yeah, we’re in a war-zone and my combat-trained dad said to stay down, so I’m just going to go for a little str… OOH, he was right! I’m just about shot!”

Nina: Good character. I knew how the season ended before I started it, so maybe that ruined it a little. Either way, she did a good job. I didn’t know that she killed Mrs. Jack, so that was a bit of a shock.

Tony: Maybe the most consistent character on the show. I thought he was pretty cool.

Big bad guy: What a shock! Dennis Hopper plays the big bad guy.

Lou Diamond Philips: I remember when I heard Kiefer Sutherland was getting his own show, I thought, ‘But what role will LDP have in it?’ Apparently a guy who dies right away.

Overall:

I liked it well enough. I don’t know that it was the dramatic evolution of television that some people thought it was. It was entertaining, but I don’t feel the need to go out and buy up all the seasons. Or even watch them. There were too many fake-o moments, to me. And a little too much Americana. “If you do right, things will go right, in AMERICA!” At least it didn't have Christopher Walken, looking at Jack Bauer, tapping his wristwatch with a moronic look on his face, just to remind us that it's R E A L T I M E. Ugh. Back to the point. Nick of Time sucked. Oh, and 24 didn't.

Living Life Fully daily meditation

So maybe the Living Life Fully daily meditation wasn't right for me. It was actually pretty flaky. So I guess I'll have to get my topics somewhere else.



I'll keep you posted.

powered by performancing firefox

Daily meditations

Today's Meditation

Thoughts:

Serious: This is a very good outlook to have. It would be very nice to be able to look at every experience and see the beauty, elegance and things that could be learned from it. It is not always possible, however, to step away from the immediate and not-so-immediate negative impact of these events to see the positive. "We'll look back on this and laugh" is a truism for just that reason. Once a person has the opportunity, the clarity and the distance to examine a situation more objectively, it becomes possible to look for the silver among the clouds. In the immediate, though, it is not realistic to expect someone to lose their job and look at it as a learning experience if they have something invested in the job.

Knee-jerk: This was way too long. Bobby McPherin said it with much more brevity: "Don't worry, be happy."

Fly-off-the-handle: Yeah right! "I'm sorry, Mr. Smith. Your mom just died." "AWESOME! Let's go find some positives!"

Questions to ponder:

1. Can you think of something that happened to you that was "just awful," but that turned out to be a positive experience?

Any experience where I had to slog through the discomfort of alienating people because I like knowing the truth rather than being spoon-fed what people think I want to hear. Yeah, it sucks to have people resent me, but if I know it, it's better.

2. What sort of things build most character in us: the positive and easy, or the difficult and sometimes negative?

This is a question that has no value to me. It's not even a question. It's a statement with the comparator removed and a question-mark at the end in place of a period. You know the answer, and I know the answer. Which is better: a kick in the balls, or twenty-five dollars?

3. How would you advise a friend to look at his or her problems?
Do you look at yours in the way that you would advise others to?

In general, I try to stay out of people's problems. They are for them to deal with unless I'm specifically asked for advice. In that case, I suggest they tackle their problems head-on with no compromise. Absolutely, I do.

powered by performancing firefox

On the Horizon

I've decided that I'm going to try doing a daily meditation on here. Just a little space to think about something, write about something and hopefully clear my head.

We'll see how it goes.

I found a daily meditations site: here

They might be cheesy, they might be insightful. They might be real frickin' obvious. But it's something that I have wanted to try for awhile, so I figure I'll give it a shot.

Lemme know what you think.

Until more later on

powered by performancing firefox

This is another test.

This is a list of Firefox's performancing extension.

powered by performancing firefox

edit:I really meant test, not list.

Blooger? Bloogle? Boogle? Booger? Goggle? Gogger? Bolglobber?

I've been forced FORCED, mind you, to join the rest of the world on Google's new Blogger thingie. Fortunately, Cliff invited me into Gmail's exclusive (or not so exclusive, from what I hear now) membership.

Now I see that there's an error on the page and MSIE graciously tells me that RIGHT_KEYCODE is undefined. Fantastic work, Goobler. Make me switch to something that's broken. Thanks.

I just want my old Blogger back.

Just wait til Feb - no, March... um.. maybe May?

So, there hasn't been a whole lot of spare time running through the offices at Intuit.

Aw, poor baby. Has to work at work.

Yeah, whatever. Shut up. The crunch is on and has been since, basically, September. Sprints come and go, and we work overtime, knowing we have to squeeze this release out so that we can actually point to something, look upper management in the face and say, "See? We weren't just surfing the web!"

The problem (or the stress) comes from this: Upper management got very, very interested in the project, decided that it was going to solve a huge hole in the online banking market and decided to invest in this solution - to the tune of 1.53 billion dollars. No pressure. Just get the project out. Early, if possible.

It's fun, running around like this, for a bit. We've been told that March 15 is the pressure-off date. I wish I could believe it. I was also told that post 1.0 (november) would be a chance to regroup (which it wasn't) and that after Jan 31, there would be some time. (Also, no) So we have to have 1.5 released right away (mar 15) and 2.0 comes out in May so that our partners can integrate.

Will May be the time when things slow down to a normal pace? One can hope but there isn't a lot of precedence backing that hope.

First thing I'm going to do when I have some free time:

Clean up my inbox. There are currently 1932 messages floating around in there. I don't know what's pertinent, I don't know what's not. I read them and move on. I'm not mindful enough to store them in their proper places when they come in.

News:

Beaver camp was great. Tobogganing, candle-making, Kub/Beaver Kars, campfire and a whole slew of other things.

I finished the Dragon story, tentatively titled 'Resurrection'. I've written my three critiques and posted them as well.

I have three or four more goals to wipe off my 101 in 1001, despite the fact I've done pretty much nothing intentionally.

Kim started taking care of Hailey (Brad and Jil's daughter) and it seems that's going pretty well.

My book-reading is not on pace for 50 books this year. It's more like on pace for maybe 12. I'm going to stop making that a goal and just enjoy reading. I'm currently reading Black Sun Rising by CS Friedman. It's part 1 of a trilogy. It doesn't seem to be anything special just yet, but I'm barely into it at all. I also bought the next installment of Steven Erikson's Malazan series, Midnight Tides. I'll probably read that when I'm done with Black Sun Rising.

Last week at soccer, I twisted my ankle, so I've been avoiding sports and doing cross-stitch at lunch instead of soccer. Good progress has been made. I'm just about done the first batch of leaves on the Samurai cross-stitch. Someday, I'll post a picture of my progress and you can "ooh" and "ahh" all you want.

Kim's brother, sister-in-law and niece are here for the week.

That is all. You are now caught up. If not, too bad.

More on Sandy Foster

Okay, so I cut my first post short. And after the clamouring of my fans, I’ll post a little bit more. (it’s easier here than in a comment anyway)

Sandy Foster sings jazz. Her music varies from slower and softer jazz to latin-flavoured up-tempo stuff. Her range is quite high and she sings quite a bit of her music with a breathless quality which I suppose some people could consider off-putting, and which I probably would if she used it for everything instead of using it as a tool like she does with the rest of her stuff. She has a very powerful voice which she uncorks at the right times. She doesn’t wail like Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. I’m sure she could knock the crap out of either one of them doing their songs, if they weren’t so inane. She does all of this effortlessly and it’s very easy to tell that she loves what she does.

She’s a bit older, she’s a wife and mother and she uses her life experiences in the songs she writes. As I said before, she doesn’t experiment with wild new music but her band is tight and they do their jobs very well. Her lyrics speak of a whole bunch of different things. She can slip into silliness a little, like with Cranberry Jazz, where she explores the fun of her relationship with her husband, she can sing a song where it sounds like she’s mourning a decaying relationship in Meet Me Here, and Marooned I can identify with because it explores themes of isolation and not entirely as a negative.

As I’ve said before, there isn’t a bad song on the CD and the more I listen to it, the more I agree with myself.

Damn I’m smart.

Sandy Foster

Click on image to enlarge ( I think)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

This book opens with one of the great lines. "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

It’s also based on a ship, unsurprisingly called The Dawn Treader. I’ve always liked sea-faring books and I think this book has something to do with that. Just like I think The Silver Chair has something to do with my claustrophobia.

At any rate, this is a very good entry in the Narnia Chronicles. Eustace is a complete moron until he learns his lesson. Aslan doesn’t take it easy on Scrubb, just like he doesn’t take it easy on anyone, and in the end, Scrubb is a good character, falling in line the same as Edmund did in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

It’s pretty easy to see the values that Lewis sneaks into his writing. He doesn’t beat you over the head with it, but it’s pretty easy to see he’s a Christian and wants you to act like one too. And that’s fine. If everyone acted the way Christians were supposed to, the world would be a nicer, more patient place. As it is, most Christians I know don’t act like Christians. But that’s a rant for a different time.

Nicholas enjoyed this book, especially the chapters with the Monopods/Dufflepuds/invisible people. I’ve always been a big fan of Reepicheep, so it was kind of sad to see him go, but he’s always there when I read the series over, so it’s not too sad.

We’re onto The Silver Chair now, and it won’t be long until we’re done the entire series. It’s kind of sad, but there’s always Prydain and Taran’s adventures to look forward to.

I’m just over half-finished the fourth book of the year, The Prince of Dreams by Curt Benjamin. I’m also part of the way through Exile’s Return but that’s coming very slowly. I’ll have write-ups on those when I’m finished. Also, I’m going to insert Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman because it’s on a reading list for a forum I’m on.

Finally, on another note, I was accepted late for a short-story workshop in a fantasy forum. I figure that one of my 101/1001 goals is to finish the dragon story, and the theme for the workshop is dragons, so it’s a marriage I can’t skip out on. As of right now, I’m two-thirds of the way finished, with the plot complete and just the writing to finish by Wednesday. That means 2000 words over three days (two-and-a-half, I suppose). Wish me luck and I’ll let you know how it goes. The goal is to get this story published in a magazine, so I won’t post the story here – at least not unless/until I get a rejection letter. If it’s accepted, I’ll also fill you in then.

Until more later on…

Date Night: Wee Book Inn

The potential for a date night with my wife does not come along very often. When it does, we like to live it up to the fullest.

Take this past Friday, for an example. We found ourselves temporarily childless and with the world as our oyster. The itinerary:

-Get Liam fed
-Get Kim cheese
-Go to Wee Book

As you might expect, there was a little more to the 3+ hours we spent on the date than the three lines above. I got a new ring. It spins. (Don't ask – better yet, ask, and I'll show you!) Kim also got a ring. (Does that make up for Christmas?)

Yes, we are truly a live-life-on-the-edge-of-our-seats couple.

Okay, in all seriousness, it was a fairly tame date-night but it was a welcome change to have Kim to myself for a couple of hours. Kim's really like a rock star within the context of our family. If anyone has something to say, something to show, or something to fix, Kim's the first person they go to. I guess it's not too romantic to call her “Lynchpin” but it doesn't mean it isn't true. I'm actually pretty lucky, though, because I'm the only person in the family that she actually CHOSE to be with. Yeah, yeah, she chose to have kids, but who they were going to come out as was out of her control. I was fully formed (okay, mostly) and she decided to marry me. And now she has the adulation of at least three people, and a dog. Don't forget the dog.

Anyway, back on topic: Here's to date-night!

Oh, and I still owe a writeup on Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'll do that a little later.

Ran-tastic

A rant.

Not entirely language or age appropriate.

Enjoy.

House of Chains

Whenever I read a book by Steven Erickson, I do so with the awareness that he is an anthropologist by training and I always worry that his books are going to contain extremely rich but extremely dry history that I'll have to fight through. I'm always happy to find his world's history and the depth of the cultures to be very full, with mysteries unexplained and a seemingly-never-ending parade of peoples as diverse (and more) as the cultures of our own world. It comes, however, without the history lesson. It comes, in fact, without any lesson whatsoever.

What I perceived as a weakness in Erikson's writing has come to be a bonus, now that I'm not faced with the headlong plunge into confusion that came with the first 150, no 200 pages - well, actually, all of the first book. Like my old Computer Science professor, Stephen Wismath, used to say, "Let's just assume it all works by magic and move on." Not a very satisfying answer for a reader used to having explanations spoon-fed to him, any more than it is to a bright-eyed university student. However, I persevered, and now, I get impatient wading through redundant explanations that are offered in all but a very few fantasy series. Some authors, it seems, use this method to get their word-count to an acceptable level.

Not so with Erikson, whose pages are filled, each and every one of them, with tensions, battles, senseless gore, realistic horror as a reaction to that senseless gore and characters which feel like they not only could fit on the page, but also feel like they could fit in our world. Book 4 deals with the aftermath of book 2, both the Chain of Dogs and Felisin storylines. The pacing is slow, at first, dealing with a new character, but as usual, that character draws you in and soon, you realize you you're 200 pages in and the main story isn't even started. There aren't a lot of surprises in this volume, nothing that will make you gasp and worry that nothing will ever be right again, but things continue to resolve themselves and you begin to understand a little more about the Malazan Empire. I'm looking forward to Midnight Tides but I need a bit of a break from Erikson's epic-ness.

Next up, Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

King of Foxes by Raymond E. Feist

One of my favourite series in Fantasy is the Serpentwar saga by Raymond E. Feist. It is set on Midkemia, just like all the other Feist books in this very long line of stories. King of Foxes mentioned some characters from the Serpentwar saga and that may have been its best moment.

I like Feist as an author, and I hope that he continues to write good stories, but if the stuff that he’s going to write is like King of Foxes, I’m tempted to say he should just turn in and call it a career.

Feist’s main character in King of Foxes is Talon of the Silver Hawk (which was the name of the first book in this trilogy). Through some amazing circumstances, he becomes the best swordsman on the planet, a culinary master, a musician, the world’s best hunter, lover, man’s man and all around good guy as he disguises himself as Talwin Hawkins, a squire, so that he can take his revenge on the person responsible for the destruction of his people.

I get annoyed by super-characters who never need to do any growing, outside of the “training” section of the novel. Everything goes right for Talon, all the way through the novel, and the only hardships he ends up having are fixed by magic. I had hoped that the story would go another way, but it didn’t, and while I’m not sorry I read the book, and I’m currently reading the one after it, I’m reading them to get to the next story, which, to hear tell, is built up fairly significantly by this trilogy.

One book on the books, 49 to go!

Next up: House of Chains by Steven Erikson

The 2007 50-book goal

So, I was unsuccessful in completing my goal of 50 books last year.

Big deal, you say. Well, I don’t like failing at things I genuinely try at. Last year’s 50-book goal was something I took very seriously for the first four months. Granted, it became obvious very soon that I would not be able to do it, because of a change in jobs, but it honked me off, even in November, as I still kept track of the books that I read, that I had fallen so short.

With that said, and hopefully soon forgotten, this year is another year where I will attempt the reading of 50 books. Fortunately, I have already finished one.

Without further ado (that’s right, ado, not adieu, not Cadieux, not adios, but ado) I present the candidates for the 2007 “50 books to be read”. Please note that his list is subject to wild fluctuations, depending on the availability of better books, or just books that I get more excited about.

The books:
King of Foxes - Raymond E. Feist
The Grand Design - John Marco
House of Chains - Steven Erickson
Child of the Grove - Tanya Huff
The Last Wizard - Tanya Huff
Exile's Return - Raymond E. Feist
Lord Valentine's Castle - Robert Silverberg
Prince of Shadow - Curt Benjamin
The Darkness that Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker
Ship of Magic - Robin Hobb
Mad Ship - Robin Hobb
Prentice Alvin - Orson Scott Card
Alvin Journeyman - Orson Scott Card
Prince of Dreams - Curt Benjamin
Gates of Heaven - Curt Benjamin
Farewell My Lovely - Raymond Chandler
Newton's Cannon - J. Gregory Keyes
Uther - Jack Whyte
The Darkness and The Dawn - Thomas B. Costain
GeoMancer - Ian Irvine
The Face of Apollo - Fred Saberhagen
A Canticle for liebowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien
Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
Runelords - David Farland
Brotherhood of the Wolf - David Farland
Wizardborn - David Farland
The Wounded Land - Stephen R. Donaldson
The One Tree - Stephen R. Donaldson
White Gold Wielder - Stephen R. Donaldson
Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Wandering Fire - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Darkest Road - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Magi'I of Cyador - L. E. Modesitt Jr.
The White Order - L. E. Modesitt Jr.
Wellspring of Chaos - L. E. Modesitt jr.
The Demon Awakens - R. A. Salvatore
The Demon Spirit - R. A. Salvatore
The Thief Taker - T. F. Banks
The Emperor’s Assassin - T. F. Banks
Eye of the Labyrinth - Jennifer Fallon
Lion of Senet - Jennifer Fallon
The Long Orbit - Mick Farren
Battlefield Earth - L. Ron. Hubbard
The Waterborn - J. Gregory Keyes
BlackGod - J. Gregory Keyes
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Heroics for Beginners - John Moore
A Song for Arbonne - Guy Gavriel Kay
Protect and Defend - Richard North Patterson

51, you say? Oh, frickin’ well. It’s my goal, and I’ll do my OWN math, thank you very much.

Later: King of Foxes by Raymond E. Feist

More than halfway

Despite giving up on my books for the year, I made it more than halfway. 26, to be exact, with jPod finishing up 2006's reading.

This year, I plan on doing it again. Stay tuned for a more in-depth post about this very thing.

HEY MORON, SLOW DOWN!

Days like yesterday make me truly question just how much reasoning end decision-making it takes lo survive long enough to get a driver's license.

It's not often that I'll go off on an insanely-angry rant. Granted, there have been some, end from time to time, they've been real doozies. Still, it's far from the norm.

However, the mess that I saw on the roads yesterday needs to be addressed. I mean, honestly, how have they made it this far into winter?

For those uneducated in the ways of writer, it goes like this - it snows, it warms up, melting the snow, then it cools down, freezing the water into ice. Then, snow falls, coating the ice with a skiff of snow. Further driving polishes the ice, making traction
a precious commodity, at best.

You might think that I wouldn't have to explain this but it is the internet and there are people who haven't experienced snowfall before. Also, I feel that I need to be extra-explicit for those drivers who have spent countless winters in Edmonton end JUST DON'T GET IT!
Days like yesterday, where the roads are treacherous and visibility is poor are not the right times to try that cool driving stunt you just saw on Youtube. Conditions like last night are not the right place for impatience, reckless hurrying or
this inane sense of entitlement you get from driving your brand-new Lexus, Just because your car is nicer doesn't mean that your desire for expediency supersedes my right-of-way. Back of the bus, Gus. And SUV-boy, this is reality, not Pole Position. Swervy-swervy doesn't go over so well with those of us whose vehicles weren't designed by the military. Pick the lane you need and stay there. Please.

See? I can be polite.

Monday morning musings

Thank God the Oakland Raiders are a worse team (by several orders) than the Houston Texans No matter what Houston did to try and hand the game to the Raiders, Oakland played the perfect gentleman, handing it right back.

Fumbles on three consecutive offensive snaps tells me one thing about David Carr. He's afraid. At no other point in Texans history have I actually wanted to see Carr replaced but there's a first time for everything. Hearing mention that Carr was not getting the job done in crunch-time, I made a point of paying attention at the times I thought were crucial. He did not complete a single pass when it was important. Van Pelt isn't the answer any more than the Sarge, so I don't see Carr losing his job this year, and I hope he gives me some cause for hope down the stretch because this game just made me sad.

The defense was made of stone today, though, and that was the difference. My boy, Glenn Earl looked good, and this looks like the unit that the Texans will come to rely on in this latest rebuilding stint. DeMeco Ryans won the DROY this week, in my opinion. He's everywhere, he's everything and the defense would be worse than
ordinary without him.

Welcome back, Jerome Mathis. Take away his one average return and he starts us off on our own 4, then the Raiders 3. Can't say he isn't exciting. Wynn was good, too, with the fake trick play. Brown sounded good, except the one miss, but Stanley needs
to be replaced.

It was nice to hear about Ron Dayne doing more than hurting O-Linemen. If I had a game ball for offense, he would definitely get it.

In the end, it was nice to see a win, but this game left me with more questions than answers.

-Who are the Houston Texans? Are they tying the record for consecutive completions, or are they struggling to break zero passing yards on the day?

-Are they giving up a record 22 straight completions or are they forcing 5 turnovers?

-Who is David Carr? Is he the Texans' future or is be the embarrassing past?

-Is the offensive-line improving Or are they still taking baby steps? Or are they backpedaling as quickly as they can?

At this point, your guess is probably as good as Gary Kubiak's.

I'll get you AXLEERRRRRRR!

Thanks a lot, Axler.

Blog my tablet - or - Friday Night Tablet Bloggin'

So.. it's Friday night and I'm writing yet another blog entry. This one, though, is in my handwriting.

That's right, I've got my Tablet back.

So, before you know it, the rest of my software will be installed and I'll be a tabletizing demon.

NOTE: This blog was posted Monday morning because of a delay in setting up my wireless router. It was still written Friday night.

100th Post Spectacular

As I said before, this is likely way too self-centred, but I don't care. It's my blog, my post and your right not to read it.


Blog! The Blogging Blogger's Blogged!
This was my second attempt at a web-presence (therevolution.net/liam) and, in hindsight, this is a much easier one to maintain. In general, I just spout off about the internet.
Three teeth, one low, low price
I do my fair share of post-extraction whining
Milk in the tooth-hole and other horror stories
More whining, but it sure did hurt.
Into the bowels of the bowels of the library
Ah, the library book sale. I'd been to one in Lethbridge before, but it wasn't on the same level. Not even close.
Sean broke his alarm clock
Sean told me how and why he'd broken his alarm clock and I fictionalized it, although, according to the comments I received, it wasn't too far from the truth.
THE EVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
My rant against the proliferation of gratuitous sexuality in the media. Probably nothing original or different from what's been written thousands of times before, but it was genuinely felt.
Father's Day
Is there any holiday (other than Mother's Day) that is as richly-deserved as Father's Day?
Wake-up Call
A pre-natal scare taught me that nothing is as scary as the unknown.
Old Neighbour, New Neighbour
Since we moved in the middle of August, I haven't been Rob's neighbour physically, but we're still Beaver leaders together and he'll always be my neighbour, at heart.
Baptism by... um... God?!
I saw Father Roger this weekend, after a summer where he was in Ontario, doing some scholarly stuff. It was nice to see him again.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I- umm...
I was sick of not having anything new to report on the lack of promotion, so I posted this to get it out. It still didn't make the waiting any better or easier.
Something Else
I like this story. It made me happy to write about pining without actually pining.
100 things? Really? Wow.
This post was a marathon. I now know how hard it is to come up with 100 things about myself. At some point I should review these and find out how many are still true.
My Books
What else? They're my books, although this list is disgustingly out-of-date.
Slowps from the slopes
An updatey-type post. "35 Squat-thrust" penance. Ah, I'm such a card.
The Annual Great Halliburton Summer Picnic
More than just about anything, I miss the Picnic from Halliburton.
The Family Dog
Arr, Jack, you're a rogue and you'll never change. Thank God.
Damn Rights, You're Sorry!
Wow, so much rage. I'm so glad I like my job, now.
Hockey Cancelled Due To Pansy Participants. Next Week Cancelled Due To Pedicure
I never did go back and play with those guys.
How did I get so behind - or Schrodinger's catsup
A long updatey-type post.
Software Development
I could have made that program so much simpler if I'd known what I know now. Still, it works… or did, anyway.
The Johnstone House/A fairly innocuous laundry room, unt…/And this is the tree that we see whe…
Three posts dedicated to a photo-tour of the condo.
Lillian
Good ol' Lillian. A constant joy.
I'm just about even with those bastards
I still haven't replaced the sweats, but I got a backpack (BACKPACK!) for Father's day.
A study in contrast
Now Preston and Lillian look identical when they grin.
Seizure
Just going over this post, I cringe. Thank goodness that part is over.
Back at work
Wow. After all the stewing over whether or not I would get the promotion, my reaction to the positive news was surprisingly underwhelming.
BisonWeb
And Team BisonWeb continues to spread its influence to all the dustiest corners of the World Wide Web.
42-10
This game is easier to read about when I consider it was against the eventual Super Bowl runners-up, but then I remember that it was Loserville and I just feel worse.
Battle of Alberta
I am an MS Paint Wizard.
Phenobaby no more!
Lillian came through that one like a champion.
Super Mario Bros: The End
A time-waster, but I enjoyed writing it.
Nicholas Johnstone: Game Designer
This one still makes me chuckle from time to time.
Required Cognates
Preparation for the next post.
Hank Ilesic
"This is the stupidest f#cking post ever!"‹punt› -Hank Ilesic
Lest We Forget
Remembrance Day is coming up right away, again. This time, I at least have my uniform.
If God were a typist
Few things are nicer than new electronics. I still love my keyboard.
Well, it's official
Last season was, to quote Gregg Easterbrook, "Cover-your-eyes awful." This season is better so far, even if I can't see much better than 6-10 or 7-9.
Boys, We’ve Hit the Jackpot
I wonder how that cream would taste right now…
Blast from the Past
A semi-fictional story about a turning-point in my life.
Another oldie
a.k.a. Liam tries his hand at ensemble-cast mystery/detective story.
Lillian's Baptism
So much to look forward to.
Not exactly on the Christmas list, but...
Ahh, Fingers… I miss your personality, but not your late-night hijinx.
Annual Goal
a.k.a. "Down in Flames, the Liam Johnstone story"
Song of Susannah
A book report.
Yesterday, I learned that one of my co-workers was...
It's still true. I wonder if that guy ever got a clue.
The Magician's Nephew
Another book report.
A Feast for Crows
Another book report.
Minigoal #2
If I'd had time to keep this up, minigoals would have been the way to go. Ah well… maybe next time.
Stupid Sprite!
At least I've replaced the Prydain Chronicles.
The Dark Tower
Another book report.
So, yeah, the car
Mom gave us her car and I blogged about it.
Welcome to "The Fold"
More reading goal postings
Memories of Ice
Another book report.
Three years?!
Sentimental reminiscence of meeting my wife.
Three New Books as Stories Unfold
I didn't want to read sado-pseudo-porn, so I gave up on Kushiel and crew.
Anansi Boys
Another book report.
Shaman's Crossing
Another book report.
Winter Camp as seen by a Leader of Beavers
My synopsis of 2006 Winter Camp.
Valentine's Day
I defend the "Romantic Holiday".
Minigoal update or: As the Slacker Turns
More goal-speak.
Queen of Demons
Another book report.
A New Job: I'll really be "Intuit"
Turning a corner. A big one.
Resigned To It
Quitting sucks.
"I quit." "You're fired."
Firing people is worse.
At Least the Milkshake was Tasty
A car crash outside my home interrupted some sweet frozen treat.
This Time Next Week
The final farewell to Halliburton.
A little family history for you
Auntie Anne and Cousin Mike let me know about some family history.
See? Sharp.
A fairly standard updatey-post with some funny hand-stabbing comments.
WHAT?!
Haiku error messages.
California Dreamin'
Pre-California jitters.
Once more, into the books
Another library book sale, this time with synopses/justification for each book.
Now, was that so hard?
A review of turning 30.
The 2006 Texans Draft
A review of the Texans' draft.
Milestone Number One Reached, Four Days Late
Goal stuff.
With the first pick of the franchise's first draft, the Texans pick...
Review of the Texans' first draft.
But That Was Long Ago
Reminiscences of my University time.
Canceled
50 books was too much for this year.
My Pod, i-Poddius
Gushing over new technology. [since broken]
Innovation meets technology
Gushing over new technology. [since broken]
Distraction by Bat and Jeff
One of the many stories I've concocted to mould my son.
The Eye of the World
Another book report.
Intuit Spotlight Award
Yay me!
Updates, updates, updates
Updatey-type post
Wizard of Earthsea
Another book report.
Keyless entry? Sure..
What happens when brute force wins out over stupidity.
How Can it Only Have Been a Week?
An unpublished post chronicling the shift in perspective over a week of house-hunting.
Weekend Updates -- WITHOUT Dennis Miller
Updates on buying a house.
A Change in the Wind
Philosophical murmurings
Mr. Darwin's Shooter
Another book report.
101 in 1001 -- in the spirit of ripping my wife off
101 goals in 1001 days
The Wizard of Oz
Movie review
Backseat Quarterback
Another book report.
Week 1 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Lamentable loss.
Week 2 vs. the Colts (or – This Sh!t’s Getting Old, Fast)
Disastrous outing.
Week 3 With no Rose-Coloured Glasses
Record-settingly bad.
Broken tablet, broken heart
Alas, my tablet is broken and on its way to repair.

Broken tablet, broken heart

The very day that I started looking into some of the things that people are doing with Tablet PCs (some of the more interesting are meeting note-taking, signing faxes, various art projects and photo-manipulation), I got a horrible phone call from my wife, telling me that the computer would not start up.

I got home that night and discovered, to my horror, that the tablet would not load a sys file. Not too worrisome. I have tech support, I have several avenues for system restore, and I have a wealth of knowledge, both on the internet and in my head for file-recovery.

I called tech support and after trying some things, we discovered that the only possibility was a destructive restore. I mentally shrugged, being a veteran of computer holocausts* and just wanting the computer to work so I could start getting into some of the things I'd researched.

*holocaust - a sacrifice completely consumed by fire; burnt offering.

The next day, compiling- and deploying-time (really quite a bit of my time is spent waiting for the changes that I've made to compile and deploy on a web server -- take, for instance, this blog-entry -- it was made during various compile-and-deploy sessions) was spent pulling files off of the tablet with the use of a knoppix live-Linux CD, onto my USB Flash Drive and onto the work computer. These are burned onto a CD. I managed to recover about 85% of my wanted files, pretty good for a kaputz hard drive.

Then came the challenge of restoring the computer. I started off with the restore CDs that shipped with the computer, but they failed. They could not see the hard drive. Then I tried with an MSDN copy of Windows XP Tablet edition. That didn't work either, for the same reason. Then I tried a Win 98 startup CD. I used this, and created an appropriate partition on the hard drive. Then I went to format the drive. 28 hours later, the computer was still trying to recover lost allocation units, leading me to the conclusion that the hard drive is irretrievably broken.

Fortunately, I have warranty, and Gateway is sending a coffin with which I may ship the carcass of my dead computer back to them. They will revive it with Frankensteinian precision, and ship it back to me, similarly free-of-charge and I will once again have a computer that accepts penly input.

God, I miss that machine. (Cinderella's You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone plays in the background)

Next up: the 100th post spectacular in which I revisit my posts. A self-serving, narcissistic look at the past year and a half.

Week 3 With no Rose-Coloured Glasses

Optimism was high as David Carr drove the team down to an early score. However, Washington drove right back and tied it up. I wondered how the team would respond.

Now I know.

I’ve put off writing this until Thursday, because I honestly didn’t know what to write. Who is responsible for the attrocious defensive play that resulted in yet another heart-breaking loss, this time at the hands of the Washington Redskins?

Generally, I would put that decision in the hands of management. I’m not the guy who determines who plays and who doesn’t play, I’m not paying anyone’s paycheque, my annual fieldpass subscription aside. I have my opinions as to who has played well and who has not played well, but as I said, I will defer to the experts who hold the clipboards, parse videotape, know what people are supposed to be doing, and get to make these decisions.

That said, those people have said that they accept the blame for this debacle. I refuse to follow my initial instinct and see it as the coaches throwing themselves on the grenade of scrutiny. If Gary Kubiak accepts the blame for the urine-poor play of the team, then he’s to blame. I’m still going to think that Ceandris Brown, Thomas “Big Yards” Johnson, Mario Williams, Morlon Greenwood and various others on the defense need to step it up big-time, but I don’t blame them for the loss.

That falls squarely on the coaches. If they are not properly preparing the players to play, which is basically what they’ve been saying, then they need to change their approach. If they can’t get the team ready to play, then they should be replaced.

I realize that replacing the coaching staff mid-season in their first year is not realistic, it’s harsh and it’s unfair. And I’m not going to carve Kubiak’s name into a piece of pink soap, but Kubiak himself has said that he’s failing. I’m not going to blame the players that this coaching staff thought were good enough to play. If they’re not good enough, they shouldn’t have made the team. And I refuse to believe that this team is so across-the-board bad that setting bad yardage records is, not only in reach, but seeming like an inevitability.

If the players are not good enough to play, Kubiak should not be taking the blame for preparedness, and I don’t think he would. In my opinion, it looks bad on him (not that anything in an 0-3 start with 450+ yards against/game would look good) but it’s not classy, it’s arrogant, to think that he’s bulletproof enough to be able to take the blame and keep going.

Enough with the negativity.

THE GOOD
David Carr continued to improve, in my opinion. Despite what sounded like heavy pressure, he was sacked only once, and threw what sounded like a pressure interception. (Andre Ware said, anyway, that he didn’t have room to step up)
Shantee Orr could have had a defensive score.
Glenn Earl continued his goal-line stalking ways. He was an overturned call away from another turnover in the red-zone. (That puts him at 1 with 2 taken away) He’s starting to emerge as more than a solid starter, I think. People who have seen the games can feel free to disagree, of course.
Andre Johnson had a MONSTER game. It’s nice to see him doing what he’s supposed to be doing. He sounds like a man among boys, as it should be.
Mark Bruener got ANOTHER touchdown catch. I like that. Not quite as much as I would like to see Joppru in there, but it’s not like Jop would have gotten more points for the touchdowns.
Did anyone other than Dunta Robinson make a tackle in the second half? I swear, that guy was all over the field. Looks like he was embarrassed by his effort in the week before.

THE BAD
Thomas Johnson. Did this guy get cut? I don’t like him. I hear he has good work-ethic but COME ON! We lost six points and probably gave up a scoring drive on two of his antics. I’m tired of him.
22/22 – Can’t we get an incompletion? Can’t we hit him as he’s throwing to knock it off-line? GOOD GOD, DEFENSE, yell while he’s throwing, at least!
30-yard draw-play. I have no way of telling whose fault this was by the play-by-play on the radio, so I choose to blame EVERYONE.
91,74,82,70 – these were the drives that resulted in touchdowns. Make a freaking stop. We don’t need 3-and-out every time, but what about 5-and-out, 8-and-out, something?!

I think Houston can beat Miami on Sunday. Whether they will or not, I’m not sure. I’ll be there, though, listening, loving it, and hoping for Houston.

GO TEXANS!

Week 2 vs. the Colts (or – This Sh!t’s Getting Old, Fast)

What can I say about week 2 of the NFL season? Well, I missed the start of the game. I was outside with my son, kicking a soccer ball.

When I got inside I kinda wished I hadn’t. It was 14-0 before I sat down and as I started the NFL Fieldpass radio, I heard Wali Lundy fumble the ball. Would we see the same uninspired football we’ve come to know and expect when the Texans were down big against a powerhouse?

Kinda.

It was nice to see the offense keep on trying. I understand that the majority of the offense came against a prevent defense, and that the team had basically no chance, coming back against the Colts after basically handing them a bunch of points, but I was encouraged that Johnson, Moulds, Daniels, Bruener and especially Carr went out there in the fourth quarter, down by a bunch, and didn’t hang their heads. The defense, however, should be ashamed of what happened to them.

With that in mind (and keeping in mind that I know only what I heard on the radio):

Positives:
Pressure on the quarterback. It sounded like there was a lot more activity in the backfield.
Weaver against the run. I heard a couple of times when he had the runner for a loss.
Travis Johnson. All I heard from the radio guys was positive about him. Maybe it wasn’t a blown pick after all. (Time will tell)
Glen Earl. Two drive-killing plays in one drive. He can’t help that there was a penalty on his INT.
Samkon Gado. I know, this is a reach, but it sounded like he was comfortable back there and he knew where to be. Pretty good for a first game.
David Carr. (just wait… just wait) Four incompletions in a game, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Sure, it was in garbage time, but it happened. That cannot be denied. It sounded like he was making some throws down the field (the touchdown to Daniels sticks out) and when he didn’t have time, he was making the right decisions.
Playcalling in the 4th quarter. Again, it was against a defense trying not to lose, but the playcalling was aggressive, it got the team down the field and put points on the board.

Negatives:
Defensive coverage. I know, nobody can cover Peyton Manning teams. That’s not an excuse. 400 yards, 43 points. That’s just disgusting. These guys should hang their heads in shame (after the game, of course).
CC Brown. What the hell, buddy? Where’s the ball going? Where are you going? How the heck can you defend the pass when you’re five yards off the line of scrimmage? It just seemed like he had his head turned the wrong way all game.
Dunta Robinson. I don’t like to think that he would give up on a play, but it sounds like he did. Grow up, Dunta. Sure, you have to trust your teammates, but that’s no reason to give up when things don’t go right.
Charles Spencer. I’m not saying he didn’t play well. We lost him for the season. We have the worst offensive line in the league and we just lost the most important part of our line. I don’t know what else to say about that.
Ron Dayne. Nice job, sh!thead. I’m just kidding. He apparently ran pretty hard. He just ran at the wrong guy. (For those who don’t know, he put Spencer out for the year by breaking his leg)
Wali Lundy. I guess my expectations were just way too high for this guy. He was a sixth round pick. What was I expecting? Mike Anderson? And that fumble was just a killer.
David Carr. (That’s right) 3 fumbles in a game is unacceptable. I don’t care how they came, I don’t care what the situation is. You can’t spot a team like that Colts any points.
Playcalling through the rest of the game. 14 pass attempts through three quarters, when you're down by 14 before you can blink is just unacceptable. Granted, I understand the need to keep Peyton Manning off the field, but you have to do something to keep up with them, especially when you're down. If you can't run the ball (and all accounts I've looked at show me they couldn't), air it out, and let some things happen.

I guess what’s next is the Washington Redskins, but it seems like the Texans are their own worst enemy right now. I know it’s a cliché, but they have to stop fighting the ball. I would like to see them calm down and actually play the game.

If what has happened continues, Santana Moss is going to have a field day against the Texans. I can only hope they come out and play well, win or lose, for the whole game.

GO TEXANS.

Week 1 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

My thoughts from listening to the game on FieldPass:

1. The Zone Blocking system is designed to open up cutback lanes and give the RB some room to make a play or two. I didn’t hear a single time where that was open. One of the backs found some room with a toss, but that was about it. Obviously, Philadelphia knew what to expect and J. Johnson found a way to counter it with defensive-line gap-discipline. His line also sounded like it was a lot better than Sherman’s.
2. It sounded like Carr had a good grasp of the offense and what Kubiak wanted him to do. There were some cases where he was waiting and waiting, but they were less than I would have thought. This gives me some cause for optimism. He had some brain farts around the goal-line and the results were very last-year-esque (tackle for loss, sack, sack). So that’s something to work on.
3. Eric Moulds and Andre Johnson are awesome! What a combination. And as the running game gets it together, these two are going to bust out huge.
4. I didn’t hear Joppru’s name at all. (Looking at NFL.com’s gamecenter confirms it). I’m sure he played special teams, but it would have been nice to see him get a few reps.
5. Why in the world was Lewis Sanders on the one Philadelphia Eagles receiver that did anything long? Granted, one of those long completions was said to be over Dunta, but McNabb and Reid saw something, obviously, and exploited it all day, with Sanders bringing up the rear constantly.
6. In the first half, Houston’s radio sideline reporter said that Mario wasn’t getting pressure by himself, but that there was a lot more activity than before. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds impressive, I guess. I heard a play where Babin and Peek met McNabb in the backfield and McNabb had to throw an incomplete pass. It’s nice to hear, but whenever they used the playaction (who the heck should Philadelphia’s play-action fool?) McNabb had all day to throw. That sounds like a case of too much thinking and not enough single-minded devotion to the elimination of an opposing quarterback.
7. Five sacks. That’s way too much for this offense to be giving up. I refuse to accept that protection continues to be this big a problem. However, as long as it does, and Carr doesn’t respond to blitzing with long completions and scores, opposing teams will continue to blitz and get gaudy sack numbers.
8. I was excited about how our team played early on and I look forward to more play like that.
9. GO TEXANS!

Backseat Quarterback

Once in awhile, I'll read a book, and it will seem utterly absurd. The premise doesn't work, the writing is bad, the characters are fake, or the frame of reference is just off.

Backseat Quarterback, at first look, seemed to be an absurd book. The archaic language, the outdated name-dropping, and most specifically, the reference to the lifestyle of a professional football player. All these things seemed to me to be completely out of place. This was even knowing that the book was written in the 1960s. Granted, the NFL, pre-merger, did not have the high salaries that are commanded by today's players, but it was hard for me to believe in professional football players, living in the same hotel during the season, playing bridge together. I'm not saying that Perian Conerly is a liar. I truly believe that the events she wrote of in her book took place. It's just hard to see. I couldn't see, for instance, Drew Bledsoe getting together with Jason Witten on Monday nights to play bridge. It just doesn't work for me.

Another thing that struck me was the fact that professional football players, in those days, did not make enough money to retire on. Some of them didn't make enough money to keep from working another job in the offseason. One of the things that has always mystified me about the NFL is how commentators would say, “It's becoming a year-round job for these guys.” All I can think is, 'What else are they going to do? It's not like they have to sell TVs or anything.' When I think of the way the players have it now, compared to the way they're outlined in Backseat Quarterback, it makes me wonder what kind of perspective Bryant Gumbel, Warren Sapp and other mouthpieces have on the history of the league when they spew their venom, Gumbel characterizing Gene Upshaw as a lapdog and Sapp likening the lot of NFL players to slaves. I'm not saying they don't deserve the money they make. Football draws a lot of revenue and the people who generate the revenue should share in it. I'm just saying that because the NFL got a favourable collective bargaining, and because these people have to work for their money, people feel the need to spout off.

This book alludes to some players who ended up sticking around the game after they retired from playing, as broadcasters – Pat Summerall and Frank Gifford to name a notable few. It is my belief now that they didn't step into the broadcast booth because they wanted to stay connected to the game. Or not only that. They did so because they couldn't afford to retire. How crazy is it that former players are having to fight for their pensions when the dollars floating around professional football nowadays are bordering on obscene?

Perian Conerly does an excellent job of chronicling the life of a football player, organizing it into meaningful and digestible chunks and, in the end, she has told a story that culminates with Charlie Conerly's decision to retire. I have read a fair number of books about football players (usually by football players) and this is easily the best one. It makes me sad, a little bit, to realize that those days are gone and the innocence and purity of the game is now so polluted and diluted with the “me me me” attitude and the crime and chemical dependency that any wrongdoings in those days seem almost comedic.

Charlie Conerly died about ten years ago, but given what he went through, his tacit exterior and the ass-kissiness of some of his contemporaries, I would be very interested in hearing what he would have to say about the state of the game nowadays.

The Wizard of Oz

The first thing that I remember when I think about The Wizard of Oz is the yellow-brick road. It begins at a point and spirals out until it's pointed in the direction of the wizard. I'm not sure what this signifies or what it means that they just HAPPENED to have a road begin right where Dorothy just HAPPENED to drop a house on a witch. Maybe it was prophecy. Maybe the munchkins are actually religiously devoted to Dorothy. Anyway...

Whoever played the witch did an amazing job of sounding like someone who would come from a small farming community and still be a really scary witch. The way she talked was not in evil overtones, but the way you would expect to hear a farmwife talk to her neighbour over the fence. This last viewing, I noticed that and was unconvinced of her evil until I remembered how scary the witch was when I was a kid, and I placed it in the concept of being a girl's dream. I guess everyone would talk like they were from a farm if you'd only ever been around farm folk. That said, the witch was brilliant.

How can this movie ever have been intended for children? A house falls on a witch and then her legs shrivel up and disappear. Then, the other witch dies when Dorothy foils a murder attempt on the scarecrow. She shrieks her death cries and what are the children left thinking? Probably something along the lines of, 'I hope daddy has psychiatry covered on his benefits.'

I never got the theme of The Wizard of Oz before this latest viewing. I like to hope that it says something about the time that it was written, rather than seeing it as a truism. A young farmgirl, pining for adventure and a change of scenery, is ripped from her comfortable surroundings, hailed as a hero and hand-delivered an adventure. Along the way, she completes her quest but is left abandoned by the so-called saviour. In the end, she is not permitted to leave until she realizes that everything she’s wanted was in the drab, black-and-white world of Kansas. So, the goal of her quest, rather than the search for some wizard, is a coming-of-age in which she ceases her childish dreaming and learns to appreciate what she has. It’s a charming little twist that comes full-circle to her “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” dreams. The technicolor lure of Oz teaches her that she doesn’t need it.

When I think of movies that are influenced by The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz immediately comes to mind. The only thing I remember about The Wiz is that Michael Jackson played the Scarecrow and was accompanied by “Bacon”, a little puppet sidekick. I’m pretty sure that The Wiz missed the mark but it must have made some money, anyway.

Another medium affected by The Wizard of Oz is books. The Dark Tower, by Stephen King, is the most obvious example of a story touched by Oz. There is the immediate comparison – They go to Kansas and confront the wizard there. I believe one or more characters remark on the similarity. However, the overall story seems to hold the same type of quest that Dorothy undertook. Roland is looking for the tower and collects three friends. They follow a path, the beam, to a confrontation with a menacing villain, the Crimson King, who turns out to have no teeth. The wizard of Oz ends as a dream and, while I wont give you the end of The Dark Tower, many people view it as similarly unsatisfying.

All kinds of Modern Fantasy contains elements that were seen in The Wizard of Oz. The displaced hero, who just wants to go home, the magic item that allows the hero to contend with a foreign world and an enemy which destiny deems he will face. There’s even the idea of an obvious goal which turns out to be a red herring. Fear not, however, because the true meaning of the quest is just around the corner.

When I put all of this together, thinking of how The Wizard of Oz has affected modern fiction, movie-making and children’s nightmares, I couldn’t help but think, ‘Pretty good for a kid’s movie with a singing lion.’

101 in 1001 -- in the spirit of ripping my wife off

Because I like to take things that other people have done, change them and then pawn them off as my own, here is my list of 101 goals over the next 1001 days. That will put me squarely on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. I'll be 33, and well-ready to be done with this list.

Let me know what you think:

Creative
1. Finish “writing software”
2. Finish my book
3. Finish the dragon story
4. Finish the wedding story
5. Finish the samurai cross-stitch
6. Write one hundred non-updatish blog posts
7. Finish my football stat program
8. Start and finish another cross-stitch project
9. Outline part two of my book
10. Write part two of my book
11. Finish the installer section of my technical blog
12. Finish the Simpsons puzzle
13. Write a mystery story
14. Write a “101 things I’m grateful for” list
15. Write a letter to the editor
16. Get back into journaling
17. Complete all of the writing exercises I promised I’d do (scribe’s, and the two writing books)
18. Develop and deploy an application for PalmOS
19. Write a “101 things that piss me off” list
20. Finish the work on my walking stick
21. Make use of my coffee stir-sticks
22. Actually discuss things in discussion groups
23. Start a “favourite recipes” database – maybe with a simple front end – and keep it up
24. Write five short stories
25. Write five non-fantasy stories (of any length)
26. Write a “Wizard of Oz” writeup
27. Create, launch and maintain a family website
28. Create, launch and maintain a writing website
29. Submit a short story to an online magazine
30. Join an online debate and contribute regularly

Family
31. Take my family on a vacation away from home
32. Finish Narnia with Nick
33. Start and finish Prydain with Nick
34. Adopt the boy
35. Start reading to Lillian
36. Get the oil changed in the car before or on the suggested date/mileage consistently
37. Move into my new house
38. Take my wife out dancing
39. Join the Ridgewood community league
40. Go on at least 1 field trip with Nicholas in grade 1.
41. Daddy-daughter day (once it’s feasible)
42. Dad-Nick day
43. Clean out the car once a month
44. Develop wedding pictures and pick some good ones to hang
45. Walks with lilly and the dog twice a week at least

House
46. Build a dog house
47. Build a shed
48. Turn the storage room into the workshop of my dreams
49. Transform the flex room into a downstairs bathroom with jacuzzi tub
50. Mow the lawn once per week in-season
51. Make sure that everything has a place in the new house
52. Tear down at least one wall in the basement
53. Fix the ceiling fan in the kitchen
54. Install and use Quicken Home Inventory for my home inventory
55. Wire network cables in the new house
56. Hang a clothes line in the back yard

Me
57. Cut my to-read list in half
58. Catch up on all of the book series I am behind on
59. Get down to 220 lbs and stay there
60. Watch the first season of 24
61. Figure out calculus
62. Bake a cake
63. Barbecue some t-bone steaks
64. Write a letter to my former landlady and send it
65. Bring lunches to work daily.
66. Get up with the alarm for a month straight
67. Dedicate at least one day per month to the completion of these 101 in 1001 goals (daily routine aside)
68. Return to playing chess, taking it seriously enough to actually win now and again.
69. Stretch before and after each time I play a sport (pool excluded)
70. Focusing exercises once a week for two months
71. Apply at tigerfish for some freelance transcription work
72. Go canoeing (lake, river – something)
73. Join a committee or some volunteer thing like that at work and follow through
74. Finish either Metroid Prime or Zelda. Windwaker
75. Read the rest of “Lord of the Rings”
76. Buy two new pairs of work pants
77. Buy a pair of jeans that fits
78. Go a week without coffee
79. Go a month without eating out (work cafeteria included)
80. Play tennis
81. Drink water every meal for a month
82. Do engaged encounter weekend help at least twice a year
83. Donate blood

Bike
84. Ride the bike to work every day, weather permitting
85. Get rid of the “grinding” sound my bike makes
86. Tune up my bike (brakes, gears, chain, etc)
87. Long bike trip (details to come)

Organization
88. Completely organize my music
89. Completely organize our movies
90. Scan all of my drawings into the computer
91. Finish cataloging my book collection
92. Do a “Do I really need this?” on my book collection
93. Do a “Do I really need this?” on my CD collection
94. Do a “Do I really need this?” on my movie collection
95. Do a “Do I really need this?” on my clothes

Computer
96. Back up everything that’s necessary on the desktop computer
97. Reformat and reinstall on the desktop
98. Finish entering all the stuff I have on paper into the computer
99. Load all of my cds onto the computer (as MP3s)
100. Organize and store (or discard) every single email (work and home)
101. Finish learning web programming and Jakarta Struts

Mr. Darwin's Shooter

Take a God-fearing Christian, stick him in a boat with Charles Darwin, make them near-constant companions on a wildlife-collecting study and see what it does to the Christian.

Mr. Darwin’s Shooter is a fictionalized account of the life of Syms Covington, Darwin’s servant during his days aboard the Beagle, collecting specimens that laid the foundation for The Origin of Species. It involves Covington’s struggle to reconcile his beliefs with what Darwin is showing him about evolution.

The story bounces back and forth between Covington’s time with Darwin and some time in the future when Covington lives in Australia, his odd relationship with Dr. MacCracken, a man who appears to hold the key to Covington’s salvation.

Throughout the story, we learn more and more about Covington, where Darwin remains a distant, somewhat cold member of the gentry. An effort at characterization is made, showing how Darwin moves farther away from his belief in God as he goes deeper in his study of Evolutionary Theory and Natural Selection, but for the most part, he remains the same.

Covington comes of age in the backward-looking chapters. He loses friends, loses himself and falls in love. His charm is in his irrepressible spirit and his willingness to tackle anything that’s asked of him.

The older Covington is stodgy, set in his ways, and inflexible. However, he has an agenda of his own, and when, inevitably, he dies at the end of the story, it is in peace with his creator, and it is seen through his eyes as a reunion with all those he lost at sea.

Mr. Darwin’s Shooter was a pretty large step outside of the kind of books that I normally read – Fantasy, Mystery, Cop-Drama – and I was very pleasantly surprised by both the quality of writing and how moved I was by Covington’s desperate search for salvation and his need for the recognition of his master.

A Change in the Wind

A couple of questions: How much do the events of our youth affect us? I’m not talking about the day it was cold and someone made you walk to school. I’m talking about the jarring, I’ve-been-kicked-in-the-stomach-type things that change your perception of life and family.
How much should we let these things continue to affect us, half a lifetime removed from when they actually happened?
Is it reasonable to hope that things will get better by themselves, or is it best to poke at a problem to let some air out?
What happens when the cover falls off? Generally all hell breaks loose.

To make a long story short, I had a fight picked with me, then I was baited into a second fight. I fought back and knocked the cover off a fifteen-year-old secret that’s helped to shape the second half of my life. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Angry Liam? There is no Angry Liam.

Weekend Updates -- WITHOUT Dennis Miller

Below, you will find a hastily-sketched recap of our ho-hum weekend. It starts approximately 3:15 pm Friday afternoon.

I left early to go get condo docs. Drove home to change out of shorts that got ripped during lunch-time soccer. Drove downtown (eventually) to get to Kingsway Asset Management Ltd. Parked stupidly, thinking 102 was 104. Walked 20 min, went up 27 floors on the elevator, was told that the cost was more than I had on me (apparently this is my fault too) and that they don't have spare change, so the ATM in the lobby is not entirely sufficient. I took more money out there, and went hunting for convenience stores. Two (2) packs of sesame snacks later, I walked back to CN building and up 27 floors on the elevator, paid and left. Walked 20 min back to the car, drove to Milennium Place in Sherwood Park to deliver the condo documents to my realtor who was playing hockey with the realtor who needed the documents. That realtor had already left, but mine was still there. Gave him the docs, and left. Drove home. Got stuff ready, and drove back to Sherwood Park to get the Circlewood property inspected by "Handy" Howard MacPherson (my father in law). Then we drove around Sherwood Park, trying to find a property that "Mad" Mary Jane ( my mother in law) had been to, that was for sale. Our mindset was that we were still going to get the circlewood place at this point. I was so sick (I guess with lack of food, lack of sleep, too much sun, not enough water and the high level of stress, it was inevitable) that I was pretty much useless for the rest of the night. This was pretty much the low point for both Kim and I, of the weekend. We stewed the rest of the night, and part of Saturday. Then I got sick of stewing. The laundry-list of shortcomings that Howard sent us, along with the misgivings that Kim and I had about the place (not enough bedrooms, really, only one bathroom, no garage, stuff like that) were staring me in the face. I dragged Kim into a mad scheme to look for more houses in Millwoods, so that we would know how the CIrclewood house compared with the same price point in Millwoods. She agreed, and both our spirits rose immediately. We looked at houses for a couple of hours (mostly driving - I think we saw three houses) and we fell in love with a gorgeous house in Minchau. (if the link doesn't work, let me know and I'll send you some pictures) The owners seemed like great people and they even consented to a "Handy" Howard walkthrough later that night, despite the fact they were having people over for a dinner party.

Howard liked it, despite three major things: The hot water tank and the furnace need to be replaced and the driveway needs to be re-graded or jacked up. (did you know you could jack a driveway up? You can! With MUD!) So, we decided we would offer 3000 below their asking price, fairly confident that they would accept. However, we decided to sleep on it.

The next day, (sunday, for those of you keeping score) I called my realtor and told him we were not getting the Sherwood Park property and told him about this place. Before I finished, he interrupted: "That size, in Millwoods? You're paying 20000 too much." He then proceeded to send me a list of houses that had sold since January that had 18 houses on it. How such a limited sample of house-sales would sway me, I'm not sure. I called the people selling the Minchau house and told them of the realtor's concerns, told them that I needed to do some research and that I would get back to them. I did my research, found nothing on the market that touched this place (rose-coloured glasses aside) for a price less than 5000 dollars less than what we would offer. That 5000 dollars, in my opinion, is what gets us the gorgeous kitchen with the sun-facing windows, the ceramic tile flooring and the peace of mind that Kim is happy with a house, even if it's not in Sherwood Park. Cheap, if you ask me.

After a game of phone tag with Rudy and Laura, we agreed to meet them at 7:30. By the time we left at 9:00, contracts were signed, hope was generated, and I had the best house-shopping experience of my life.

Keyless entry? Sure..

Running behind for our appointment, I called to Kim, "Got the keys?" like I always do.

"Yup," came the reply from the sidewalk.

I locked up, and we went for the appointment.

Close to an hour later, we return, to the shocking realization that the house key was not on the ring.

We decided to try a set of keys that the MacPhersons were holding in trust for us. A short car-ride saw us in Sherwood Park's illustrious outskirts. The keys were transfered, and visiting took place. Thinking ahead, I grabbed a hammer and a slotted screwdriver.

Good thinking, Johnstone. Turns out, they were the old keys from before we changed the knob.

So, twenty minutes with the hammer and screwdriver (and enough noise to outdo the one roofer that actually showed up) and the bits and pieces of what used to be our doorknob filled a Safeway bag.

So now, on my list of accomplishments, which include smashing a leaf-blower to bits, building stairs with a sledge hammer and chainsaw (sounds like you'd undo the stairs with that) and (unintentionally) setting a computer on fire, I can add breaking and entering. Not the crime, but I broke and I entered.

Later.

Wizard of Earthsea

According to Amazon.ca, Wizard of Earthsea was published in 1968. The fact that it's still on the table in fantasy discussion, I think, is pretty impressive.

The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker actually kind of reminds me of this book. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was playing Zelda while I read it. Or maybe the similarities caused me to pick up the game again while I was reading. I don't know the chronology so I'll just shut up about that.

Sparrowhawk, or Ged, or THE "Wizard of Earthsea" (y'know, the one the whole story's about) learns a little magic from his aunt, saves his village with tricks, becomes a master's disciple and leaves him to go to the Magic Academy on Roke. (This whole story centres around a group of islands Ged refers to as the Archipelago -- I love that word) While in school, he calls up a dark spell he discovered earlier and unleashes his evil shadow. This destroys his confidence in his gift and himself, and he becomes a timid practitioner of the arts.

Unfortunately, the story takes forward-jumps through time that, when I realized they had happened, put me off a little. After one such jump, he has finished school and goes off to meet his destiny.

Along the way, he learns a little something about his powers, his enemy and himself. He meets people who work very well to set up a sequel, and all ends in goodness and happy thoughts.

I'm glad I read this book - as I've said before, I like books on boats, and this one also had a dragon or nine. I don't have any of the other Earthsea books but if they cross my path, I'll definitely pick them up and flip through their pages.

Updates, updates, updates

At the risk of offending Dylan with a mundane writing style reminiscent of Schrodinger's Catsup, this is what's up with me---

Life has finally settled down with the marketing release of Quicken Home Inventory [premiermanagerwhatever]. The name they finally settled on was Quicken Home Inventory Manager but it was kicked around and around for a couple of months.

Regardless, the installer was released with a couple of hitches and a lot of late, late nights drinking pop, coffee, watermelon juice, whatever it took to keep my synapses firing.

At the end of last week, Kim took Lillian and Nicholas on a camping trip with her parents to give me room to finish what needed to be finished.

As it turned out, that was documentation which was typed out laboriously in the living room of my townhouse, with TRON, The Hulk, and I-Poddius blaring in the background. (Not all at once, for sure.)

So, QHIM went away (sort of) with a whimper, rather than a mad rush of activity. Unfortunately, the installer shipped with a known issue that will have to be fixed in a future release, despite the fact that I discovered and repaired the bug before the product shipped. Fortunately, I will be staying with QHIM (probably) for the 1.1 release that will likely take place in November.

With that bitter taste in my mouth, I received a little bit of a spanking by way of “areas for growth” where I was told that I needed to be aware how important it was, on code-freeze day, to be available, and also how important it was for me to have been available on the weekend of that code-freeze, to fix the bug (that shipped with the release). I stood my ground, contending that I was available by phone all weekend and that I had slated 6 hours on Saturday for work, which I spent on some externalization design, rather than the bug. If they’d called me Saturday, or even Friday, when they discovered that the bug hadn’t gone away with my most recent attempt at a fix, it would have been dealt with in time, and the installer would have been more acceptable.

I’m not trying to deflect blame – I accept my failure to properly fix the bug and my lack of follow-up when dealing with QA but I am not wholly to blame. My bosses understood my point of view and accepted that and even rewarded me with a Spotlight Award (see previous post) and a comp day off, which I will use on Friday, to do taxes, change the oil in the car and renew my driver’s license.

In non-work news, Lillian is a crawling monster. Rather than rocking back and forth on her hands and knees, and crying out of frustration, she’s actually motoring around the floor, crying when whatever she’s found to get into is taken from her.

Nick has finished another season of soccer, and I completed my first year as an assistant coach. The year was wrapped up at Chuck E. Cheese, where the Skeeballs rolled and I was presented with a Coach shirt and gift certificates for Tim Horton’s and Red Lobster. It was a good season but there was something missing that made last season great. Kim and I used the Red Lobster card for supper when she got back from camping.

Biking to work continues and I’ve even managed to shed some weight. I played soccer, helped cubicle-mate-Dave move and threw the ball around with Sean “King Kong Awesome” Woods, and by Saturday, everything was back to normal. A faster-than-usual recovery for my creaky body.

As a final note, Serenity, the movie based off the series Firefly, was amazing. I’ve never watched Firefly, but I didn’t feel the lack. I just enjoyed the amazing characters and the fun storyline. “You’ve spent your entire life taking care of me. My turn.” - that’s the best line I’ve heard in a very long time.

---End of update… until next time

Intuit Spotlight Award

I found out, on Friday, that I am the recipient of Intuit's prestigious (although not that prestigious, since the person I talked to about it this morning had never heard of it) Spotlight Award. It's nice to know that I've chosen the right field and that they think so too.

Another blog post will be up sometime soon with updates beyond this, but I thought I'd let you all know.

Later.