I knew it put it somewhere!

And here it is.

I had meant to put an Anno-versary post on In The Now but it knew better and snuck onto my technical blog.

Stupid performancing, mucking with my posts. Thinking (or knowing) it knows better than I do.

And quit mucking with my formatting. YOU MAKE NO SENSE!

Dragon Story Submitted

I have finally submitted the dragon story for consideration.



The turnaround time is supposed to be really quick with these people so I will keep you all posted. As soon as I hear anything, I'll post it here.



Wish me luck, if it is in you to do so.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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