Disgus-Tech

I'm totally disgusted at my team's performance in the San Francisco Emerald Bowl

My Yellow Jackets, possessing the 1st or 2nd hardest schedule in all of college football, with away game wins over national contenders Auburn and Miami, played as if they could care less about going to a bowl or even trying to win.

Granted, the field was a swamp and looked like the Kentucky Derby after the horeses and rain had their way with the race course. But both teams had to play on it and Utah adapted. Tech didn't. Tech quickly fell behind.

Ga Tech has a program built around speed. A wet field negates your speed rush and hampers your ability to cover an opponent's receivers. Utah torched GT for a mile in offensive yardage while our secondary couldn't cover or tackle. The defense is usually able to keep us in games, but not this time. They fell horribly flat.

Utah's Travis LaTendresse only scored 4 touchdowns all season. In the Emerald Bowl against Tech, he scored 4 touchdowns and a 2pt conversion. In this game, he caught 16 of his 55 receptions this season.

Our QB, Reggie Ball, only ranks ahead of Wake Forest's QB (wishbone option offense) and Duke's QB in the ACC. He's not great but he can be great - not in the Emerald Bowl however. He too was slipping in the muck. Boy needs to get some real cleats on a field like that. Granted, he didn't play well but the offense didn't give up all thos first quarter points. But the offense seemed basically inept in trying to mount a comeback.

Some of the problem is coaching. I like Coach Gailey, but sometimes our Offensive Coordinator (Chan Gailey) can be quite the enigma. Coach Gailey can call an awesome game - see Auburn - and Reggie can play a great game - see Auburn again - but not in the bowl game this year. For instance: Did you know that the only time Ga. Tech passes over the middle of the field is an occasional middle screen? We have nice tight ends who can block, but God forbid we should dump the ball off to one over the middle. We run few, if any, crossing routes and once in a blue moon hit the deep post over the middle. All our passing game is to the outsides.

NOT the way we are supposed to finish the season. True, we felt we deserved to be in a better bowl, but you dance with the one that brung ya. Instead, we played like wall flowers.

Hopefully the other in-state program will take care of business and show my Yellow Jackets how to play against a lesser team (aka the W.V. Mountaineers).

Go DAWGS!

Once a King of Narnia...

Always a King of Narnia.

Took the Mongrel clan to the movies today. Saw C.S. Lewis' story, the Chronicles of Narnia, on the silver screen.

Was rather impressed with the movie and enjoyed the story. Kids got a little gun shy during the scary moments. Mainly due to good movie making letting your imagination to run amok with the unknown.

It's not a blockbuster I guess. Aimed more at kids. Think of it as Lord of the Rings 'Lite'.

Make up and costumes were absolutely wonderful but a few of the greenscreen shots done by Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic came up short of what was expected in my opinion.

I never finished the books. Think I barely started them. For whatever reason, that was one of those things that almost every other kid grew up reading that I missed out on or ignored. Guess I've got some catching up to do. I bet I'll have to fight the Mongrel daughter for the copy of the book. Maybe not if I can find our 2nd copy...

Emerald Bowl Has a Crappy Field

Sitting here on my couch watching the Georgia Tech v. Utah game at the Emerald Bowl and the field is a complete piece of feces.

They're playing the game at SBC Field in SanFransisco.

The field is soaked and the grass is long and the turf is soft. The long grass is holding the moisture on the field and not letting it dry out at all. Players are dropping left and right like the plague.

I bet the bowl committee didn't let the players warm up on the field. Looks like neither team is comfortable playing out there. Course I'm upset because the hometown team is losing.

Would love to see them change shoes. The 'turf shoes' these gridiron gladiators are wearing just won't cut it. They need some real cleats. Put on some soccer shoes and leave the other guys in your wake....

Just saw a safety slip a disc trying to cover a post route.

Also, since this game is played on a baseball field, drainage is poorer than your stereotypical crowned football fields.

At least the baseball infield is nowhere to be seen during this game. Other than that, this bowl location stinks to high heaven. Being in SF I think they'd have the playing surface prepped for wet weather. I'd rather see the ACC dump this fledgeling bowl once contracts are up.

But then again maybe I'd feel different if my boys were playing/faring better.

Shocking a Bionic Wife

It's that time of year. Yes, the season of static electricity. I sit here, my thumb numbed from hopping out of the cosmic van and touching the metal door. OUCH.

I'm reminded of the fact that my beloved wife is bionic. She's part cyborg. Got a machine integrated into an important system to keep her alive. She's got to be careful and ground herself prior to getting out of the van, lest she zap her cyborg implant.

Alas, that all that's bionic. She lacks a kung-fu grip and all that. :P

Marines in Need of Soccer Gear

Found this 'letter' on BigSoccer.com from a Marine:

hello,

My name is Corporal Gonzalez with the United States Marine Corps. Currently I am stationed in Ramadi, Iraq. The reason I am writing is because we are in dire need of donations. What happened is that insurgents totalled the truck that had all of our supplies in it with a roadside bomb recently. This happened last week and with the elections in Iraq coming up in about a month the Public Affairs deparment here is in serious need of some help. What we ask for is soccer balls but anything else that can be associated to the sport is more then welcomed. The children here love the sport and nothing more then to play it when time allows. We hand out the soccer balls on welfare missions to see how the people of the country are doing and to help them understand that we are here to help. The best thing to see here are the smiles on the children and parents when they receive a present from us. Even though it might not be obvious, this country revolves around soccer.
I truly appreciate the time it took you to read this and any help that comes along is more then honored.

You can reach me by email or by mail which is

CPL Gonzalez MC
3/7 H&S s3
UIC 41575
FPO AP 96426-1575

once again
thank you

Instant Replay

I'm sitting here watching the KC / NY Giants matchup and once again I'm reminded of my frustrations with NFL officiating as of late.

NFL officials now act as if they are afraid to make a call.

Instead of making a ruling on the field, they wait and let the TV review booth to save their bacon. Or they make the coach burn a timeout to get a call reviewed.

I like instant reply.

But I also like my officials to officiate.

Evolution of a Sticker...

It appears that Cobb Co. (NW of Atlanta, Georgia) will win it's appeal to the 11th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals on a lower court's decision to remove the stickers from the county science text books.

Yay! Sort of..

What'd they say? The stickers stated that Evolution was a theory and as such students should keep an open mind and think about the issue critically.

What's wrong with that. If more homosapiens would adhere to that standard in life, we'd be way better off.

Personally, I think the stickers were unnecessary. They were pushed by citizens with a religious background who don't like Evolution being taught in schools. But, the stickers they got placed on the textbooks were basically unchallengable. They were true. True in that evolution IS a theory.

We shouldn't have had this fight in the first place.

Then, citizens against any form of religiosity decided this was a travesty. They had to fight back. 'Wasting' more of our taxpayer money.

A member of the group was quoted as saying, "There is a different use of the word 'theory' in the scientific world." Really?

A Theory is more like a scientific law than a hypothesis. A theory is an explanation of a set of related observations or events based upon proven hypotheses and verified multiple times by detached groups of researchers. One scientist cannot create a theory; he can only create a hypothesis.

# A scientific theory must be testable. It must be possible in principle to prove it wrong.
# Experiments are the sole judge of scientific truth.
# Scientific method: observations, hypothesis/theory, experiment (test), revision of theory

No one has observed 'Evolution' in it's full scale that I'm aware of. We've definitely witness that organisms will change over time, but those changes and the timeframe we are talking about are minor compared to the scope of evolution.

What's so wrong about the fact that Evolution is a theory?

For one, I believe in Evolution. I am also a religious man.

Hopefully this discussion will evolve into something more than whether or not Evolution is taught in our schools (see Kansas). Somebody has to teach Evolution. Would you trust the schools to teach one of the many forms of Creation? Maybe we have changed this debate over time. We're arguing about a sticker after all.

I'm dissappointed with both parties in this debate.

5 Weird Habits Meme

Got double teamed this past week for my first ever meme. Thanks Sticks and Quality Weenie Machelle.

With a lil help from the Mrs. my five deadly, er.. weird habits are as follows:

1) Cracking the joint on my big toe(s) repeatedly by oscillating the digit.

2) Putting the toilet lid down after my pre-slumber bladder evacuation. Apparently the Mrs. can't look before she plops at 0'dark thirty. Not to mention she ain't got her eyeballs on at that time of night.

3) Playing "lose the tail" spy games in the morning by rarely duplicating my path to work on Atlanta's roads. My wife claims I never take the same route to work twice. She apparently subscribes to the lull your tail to sleep and then suprise him when the situation demands it. (My son asks me if I'm taking a long-cut.)

4) Watching any soccer game on TV, regardless of time of day, sex of players involved, age of players on the field, or the broadcast language.

5) Close my locked car door while holding my keys visibly in my free hand just so that I don't lock myself out of the car.

and bonus round:
6) Fighting the urge to reach out and touch the female bosoms of total strangers as I walk down the street.

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Who to tag...

Partamian Report, Banter In Atlanter, Smiling Dynamite, Bobo Blogger, ArmyWifeToddlerMom

Ahhh.. carpool

Our kids get dropped off at school via the car. The unfortunate byproduct of a policy that does not allow pre-K students to ride the bus. Since my son can not ride the bus, we take both kids to school and kick them out without slowing down.

Under orders from yours truly, the kids unbuckle as we round the driveway toward the designated (un)loading area in anticipation of my giving the greenlight to parachute... er, hop out. I try to drill into my daughter the efficiency of opening the door, then hopping out, then dragging her backpack with her.

All this is done with the purpose of speeding up our transition from family transport to mommy & daddy time. Well that and not holding up anyone behind us in the carpool line.

Why then do I see other parents have to stop, get out of their car and help lil Johnny get out of the backseat from the passenger side? And why is it that no other family pulls far enough ahead at the front of the line to allow TWO cars to unload beyond the crosswalk?

I've been spoiled the last 8 years I know. My children's preschool had the most efficiently run carpool I've ever been party too. They've got teachers scouting about 30 cars down the roughly 200 vehicles who radio in to the 'board' the carpool number next in line. There, the number is put on a dry-erase board and a runner sent to retrieve the kids for that carpool, indicated by a card in a file that lists the children associated with that number, their room number, etc... Kids are held in a staging area where the loaders then whisk them to their car, now in front of the building. Once loaded the card goes back into the 'picked-up basket' and the number on the dry-erase board is wiped off.

Think of it as preschool-fighter command, much like the WWII RAF command and control set up directing resources to meet the arriving Luftwaffe. A very well run endeavor.

Granted, this is our elementary school's first year utilizing a similar system, but boy can they do it better. Not to mention that the kids are older and ought to make it easier. They can get into the car by themselves and you can forget about the child car seats too. In fact, that may be part of the problem. Maybe the school staff sparsely man the carpool line because the kids can do it (mostly) themselves.

But, for safety's sake, and because my drive time alone with the Mrs. is precious, I wish we could speed it up a little.

Do you carpool? Next year, we'll kick both kids out at the bus stop and be on our merry way. I guess it won't matter. Guess it's kind of like my pet peeve about people hesitating at green lights. How much time could I save (only to waste it later volutarily) if people would accelerate together through a green light?

I mean, there are blogs for me to read people! And I haven't got all day! :P

Auto Ice-capades

Rain and freezing temperatures wreaked havoc on Atlanta the past couple of days. Saw numerous fender benders and a car fender down in a ravine. NE Georgia was hardest hit and many folks are still out of power.

In many places the ice wasn't obvious. In others, where subdivisions had left their sprinkler systems on, caused problems. My mother-in-law witnessed an accident where a man came around the corner in front of one such subdivision. Wonder if their home-owner's association has it's insurance up to date?

Tar - a new perfume brought to you by GDOT

A couple of years ago, the Georgia Dept. of Transportation had an ad campaign blitz to warn the public of city wide repaving of the area interstates. They had a riot of a radio spot that touted 'Tar' as the next hot personal aroma. It was fantastically done. Wish they'd bring it back as some sort of PSA telling motorists where major construction was to occur.

I'm bored...

Was sitting on the couch, programming while the hockey princess was upstairs working on her homework. The Mrs. was trying to give my bored man-child stuff to do to keep him occupied. Why? He said, "Can I watch her do her homework?"

My PC had a hardware failure. Finally got everything squared away. Back to surfing in my pajamas from the couch.

Back-to-back winning seasons?

Not for my Falcons. Well, never before anyway. With the defeat of the N.O. Saints, Atlanta now stands at 8 wins.

Following the game, a protest was planned. Katrina refugees want Mardi Gras and the current planning to be stopped and instead, "Prioritize the people."

Instead of spending resources on a bitchin party, they should be focused on getting the infrastructure squared away.

But... apparently city leaders want to help get the lifeblood of New Orleans, tourism, flowing again. With businesses up and running, they can begin hiring (and buying services/products). Not to mention condos and apartments need to be rebuilt for people in need of 'affordable' housing. This stuff doesn't just crop up overnight.

According to the Atlanta paper, critic and protest organizer ChiQuita Simms said, "We're tired of the gap between the haves and the have-nots." And government is supposed to 'fix it'.

Not all is bad news, I heard over the radio of one family's initiative in finding shelter instead of, well, the stereotypical refugee hissyfit. They bought a tent and set it up inside their house while awaiting their FEMA trailer. Very industrious I thought, and it's a shame we haven't seen more of this sort of action on the part of the victims.

Landmark Nicknames

What nicknames have your city's citizens bestowed upon their favorite auto-arteries, buildings, natural landmarks, etc.?

In Atlanta we have:
Spaghetti Junction - the intersection of I-85 & I-285 in NE Atlanta.


The Perimeter - the I-285 loop around Atlanta

The Connector - inside 'the Perimeter', I-75 and I-85 connect and travel North/South through Atlanta

Little Five Points - the intersection of McClendon, Euclid & Moreland Avenues.

MARTA - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, our city rail and bus system

The Hooch - The Chattahoochee River, translated from Cherokee means "river of painted rock"

The Tit - Alexander Memorial Colliseum at Georgia Tech


The Big Chicken - a Kentucky Fried Chicken location used by airline pilots as a navigational aid.

Holiday Hectic

Holidays.

Especially Christmas.

Are supposed to be family - centric.

Yet, with all the social gatherings, the multiple youth choir practices (mandatory), children performing in multiple xmas eve services, traveling to visit family, etc... it's hard to find time for just family.

Funny. Our church is sending us mixed signals this holiday season. We had a family bible class last month that was only held late in the evening. Not very family-centric. On top of that, I don't live near my church and face a 30+ minute commute home.

No wonder my emotions revolving around Christmas are mixed.

Catch up...

Been busy.

Painting, entertaining, being entertained, cooking, eating, traveling.

Princess had a 'solo' at church last night. Did very well. Didn't act silly or embarassed which has become her M.O. as of late. She could be very good if she wanted to be. We'll see.

My boy is becoming quite the artist. Did a wonderful crayon on paper piece titled, "Jesus in a manger at night".

Local news -
PETA sent a topless mermaid to the opening of the Georgia Acquairium. Something about how wrong it was to imprison the animals after taking them from their natural habitat. We could eat them I guess. I>hear there's even a top notch restaurant inside. Filet of beluga anyone?

Ford AND GM appear willing to close their Atlanta plants.

There's been some coverage of the Katrina refugees in Atlanta (not stereotypical - I hope & expect) showing their ungratefulness for what people have been giving them. One lady gave a house to a family and it was trashed.

New Orleans Mayor Nagin had a conference with his citizens this past week about them returning to their 'homes'. He's not keen on losing his voters - as I'd expect any politician would. Needs and wants the 'refugees' back home before they start putting down roots in places like Atlanta. But like many of them argued, where do they go once they get back in New Orleans? They have no water/electricity at their old locations and if you're not a home owner, you have nowhere to put your FEMA trailer. (I think FEMA is creating trailer cities as temporary residences for non-property owners. Seen this elsewhere.)

Bought my first artificial Christmas tree. We were planning to go out of town for the holidays and didn't want to leave a dead one in the house alone. Plans have changed since then. Oh well!

Saw my first anti-war rally-protest on the street corner of Lenox and Peachtree. "End the War Now" "God Forgive Us" and the usual slogans of the leftists. They were seen but basically ignored. In their favor, they seemed to be well behaved, just standing on the corner holding a large, 40 yard long x 4 ft high banner around one corner and waving signs. Gonna have to get me a digicam.

My shopping is basically done. Need to mail those christmas cards. Decorated the holiday, er... Christmas tree. Local celebrity (not so local anymore) had a rant on the radio about Lowe's selling Holiday Trees. Enough people complained that Lowe's altered it's signage, even in England according to the interview I heard on the radio.

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And finally, the last remaining American on dial-up converted to a high-speed internet connection. That's right, my shanty now has 'round the clock, frog-chokin', technicolor internet.

Strange experience getting it though. Tried to apply for it via my age old Earthlink account but the web interface was busted. Called up a homo-sapien and got it all set up only to find out after the fact that the conversion was cancelled due to our phone company not working with Earthlink DSL. No where in the conversion process was I asked about or provided a list of suitable land-line providers. Bad Earthlink. Bye-bye Earthlink. So...

Went to a Circuit City to buy a magic box that'd make me a world-wide traveller via cable internet, only to be told that I couldn't buy the merchandise. I wasn't good enough apparently and had to sign up to become a cable customer or some such nonsense. The good cashier tried her best to help me out while I laughed at the whole situation. Explained that I'm already a cable TV watcher and I just wanted this doo-hickey to help me use it for accessing the internet. "I've got the cable already. Now I want to upgrade the 'account' to use the internet. I don't need a second cable account." No sale...

Got what I needed via RadioShack/Home Depot. Called the cable company up and voila! Kewl! I can now crash my computer in a tenth of the time I used to do it!

Slow internet users, keep to the right.

:P