College Football

Early season wins showed a new AF but the last two losses shows that Calhoun hasn't improved AF like I thought. A disappointing 31-20 loss to Navy (5th in a row!) shows that once again we aren't winning the battle for the academy athletes. I really thought an Academy Grad Coach would empower AF to go out and win his first service academy game. Alas not much to show for it (AF was a 2.5 point underdog). Now we have UNLV. We first played UNLV why back in 1981. We hold a 8-4 record against them over the years. AF is actually favored by 5.5 (6 mid-week). I see a comeback 24 - 10 win.

2000 13 - 34 L
2001 10 - 34 L
2002 49 - 32 W
2003 24 - 7 W
2004 27 - 10 W
2005 42 - 7 W
2006 39 - 42 L
2007 ???

California at Oregon (Oregon should have won), Alabama at Florida St (FSU won a squaker), and TCU at Wyoming.

Games of interest this weekend..Ohio St at Purdue, Notre Dame at UCLA (can you say blow out), div>

Transformers

Well the movie had wonderful special effects but I think Megan Fox stole the show (see left). Overall I impressed with the movie. Total Michael Bay and a total summer movie. It is good to see worthwhile movie once in a while. I wasn't all that impressed with Shia, but there was Fox. Anyway a plotless silly set up but for what is was worth it was better than Spider-Man's twisted silly plot. Overall 5 cykes! Also highly looking forward to a sequel.

Haiku Wednesday

Purple Craze

Stomach churns, palms sweat
The crowd simmers, last at bat
Head first slide, Roxs win!

Douglas Coupland - JPod

Trying to catch up on my Coupland...almost there. Anyway this was an obvious ploy to re-connect to some of his old readers who liked Microserfs. But it for those of us who have kept up with him you'll see that this is really just a response to the ever changing computer landscape. Where 10 years ago it was Microsoft today it is Google, tomorrow...someone else. A crafty little story about a design team with Coupland hilarious dry humor and far fetched plot devices (I mean wouldn't we all like to send our bosses to China to become addicted to heroin while they make imitation tennis shoes?). Anyway a great read and some choice quotes below:

"You feel chilled because you have no character. You're a depressing assemblage of pop culture influences and cancelled emotions, driven by the sputtering engine of only the most banal form of capitalism. You spend your life feeling as if you're perpetually on the brink of being obsolete - whether it's labour market obsolescence or cultural unhipness. And it's all catching up with you. You live and die by the development cycle. You're glamorized drosophilia flies, with the company regulating your life cycles at whim. If it isn't a budget-driven eighteen-month game production schedule, it's a five-year hardware obsolescence schedule. Every five years you have to throw away everything you know and learn a whole new set of hardware and software specs, relegating what was once critical to our lives to the cosmic slag heap.

"Don't talk to me about IKEA furniture. Your fater tried assembling an IKEA shelf last year, and it nearly nearly ended our marriage..."

"...I hoped that God would shake my Etch-a-Sketch clean overnight..."

"Comics day came and went. And another comics day followed that - the typical production and consumption cycles that help us survive our dismal, meaningless little lives."

"I was wondering what electrons are actually doing when they sit in your hand drive in an old laptop at the back of your closet. I mean, how does an electron sit still - is it like a cartoon M&M leaning back in a folding beach chair? Is it like an angry little steel ball bearing hovering there, just waiting to go nuts on protons? What's the mechanism that starts and stops the electron? Who's dungeon master? And if an electron has only a negative electrical charge, how can it possibly even exist?"

Colorado Rockies - Game 163!

Wow playoff baseball two days earlier (okay so it was actually a regular season game) but come on a one game winner take all game. Just look below:

A nailbiter till the bitter end. A perfect Game 163 for your inner baseball fan...for a Roxs fan well let's just say it was nerve racking. It is funny the sporting events I remember most. Most of them are baseball. The first world series I remember is the 1978 when the Yankees beat the Dodgers, then in 1982 during school our teachers let us watch the Braves and Cardinals NL playoff game, then a big break and the 1991 Braves/Twins series (greatest world series ever!), and then the 2004 Red Sox world championship. Of course the Roxs first and only playoff visit in 1995 against the Braves. New memories for 2007!

Odds for this year's world series winner for the Roxs is 8:1 along with the Angels with the D-backs at 10:1! Not much love for the Roxs. Even the baseball "experts" seem to say the Roxs had no chance at the start of the season (10%!). Basically winning the last 13 of 14 games (see above, yikes 12 more wins then expected). Of course we live in the no man land that is the Mountain Time Zone...but no national ESPN games and basically a no name line up. Hopefully that will end with this little playoff appearance.

Colorado Rockies - Week 26

A 6-1 (OMG! Part 2) week against the Dodgers and D-backs. A 13-1 final 14 games to tie for the wild card spot with the Padres (lots of thanks to the Brewers!). And after 162 games we still have one more to play today to decide the wild card winner. By virtue of season wins against the Padres the Roxs finish in 2nd place (1.0 behind the D-backs). The Roxs currently stand at 89- 73 (!, wow Vegas had them pegged at 74.5, I had them at 83). Currently 50-31 at home and 39-42 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 851-750 (expected wins is 90 versus historical wins at 77). Hell of a finish. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).

WPA leaders for the week...

This Week in Comics

Captain America #30
Great series,, about the only comic that I can't wait for it to come out. I mean for a title that has lost its main character it still is a fantastic read. Each issue gives a little but then tacks on more unanswered questions and the underlying plot continues to build to some unknown peak. Wow especially the Red Skull comment about Winter Soldier and whether he will be of any use to him....hmmmmm






New X-men #42
Kind of a filler issue and the next issue. Did have the astounding team hanging around...gee I wonder if they are back from space or whether they were the clones? Just throw Wolverine into the mix (instant sales...ha)









Ultimate Spider-Man #114
Wow what a new artist does for a series. Certainly nothing wrong with the former artist but I think the book was getting stale and Stuart's art is just what the book needed. Some excitement and good writing don't hurt either. Anyway love reading the book again. Great art great story. Interesting to see what happens to Peter this time.

College Football

Well I didn't expect them to go undefeated but I thought we'd play BYU a bit tougher. A 31-6 blowout (AF was a 11.5 point underdog) and now our first test against our service academy breathren. We first played Navy why back in 1960, them played them off and on until the commander's and chief trophy came into being in 1972. We hold a 25-14 record against them over the years. We did have a 11 year winning streak from '82 - '92. Currently the goats have a four game win streak. They are favored by 2.5 (3 mid-week). The Denver Post has them losing 31 - 24. I say with an academy grad has a head coach there will be no losing to Navy...extra incentive! I see a 27 - 14 win.

2000 27 - 13 W
2001 24 - 18 W
2002 48 - 7 W
2003 25 - 28 L
2004 21 - 24 L
2005 24 - 27 L
2006 17 - 24 L
2007 ??? (gee wonder why Vegas went with 3 points?)

Interesting games last weekend included...Carolina at LSU (can Spurrier steal one?...A big NO) and Michigan State at Notre Dame (12 1/2 favorites going into South Bend...Yikes! and they won 31 - 14).

Games of interest this weekend...California at Oregon (give some PAC10 some love), Alabama at Florida St (good match up in the old days but surprise this one isn't getting more play).div>

David Lipsky - Absolutely American

Fantastic book, absolutely. Now granted it probably isn't for everyone. West Point and its history has always been of interest to me...throw in that I went to a sister academy and well it is always interesting to see how the other guy compares. The honesty and forthrightness of this book is impressive. There was no sugar coating and the writer held to it by really letting people know the inside scoop. Having taken place from 1998 to 2002, it really encompasses an important time for our military. Vast changes really filtered down and the incidences in it really give a microcosm view of what it means to be in the military. The interesting part to me is that officer's who ran the academy basically saw real combat and that filtered into the academy. Up until 1991 - 1992 it had been 20 years since any real combat occurred and I believe the academies changed in regard to this. With new combat hardened officers things begin to change again. I was amazed by some of the vendettas these officers had about letting certain cadets slip through the cracks. Additional things that I took from the book was the following quote:

"Army's downsizing before Desert Storm I, 1 million personnel then a drawdown the service contracted down to a lean 490,000. The result worked like a science experiment: halve the space and you double the competition.. It was like opening the door to admit one of the worst elements form the civilian world: there was no time to watch each other's back when you are busy watching your own"

This quote is so incredibly true. There aren't many officers today really willing to stand for anything. They are by the book, boring, just trying to maintain status quo. Desire to get through 3 years at one post without screwing up and ruining a career. A real shame and the business about the Lt Col standing up for one of his troops and having his career ruin even though he was the essence of West Point for a few years...devastating. One of the many frustrations I saw on a day to day basis while in the military. A real shame that "professionalism" has turned the military into corporate USA.

Haiku Wednesday

Tailgating

Kids throwing footballs
Bands play, colors fly, drinks flow
Win would be nice too