Time Machine

The days keep going by, I kept playing golf, yet thankfully my scoring stays consistently at it's high altitude.

Membership has it's priveleges....

2008 Buick

It's Friday night, so they're half way through another 72 hole tournament. Kelly Tilghman is back on air, the Rev. Al Sharpton is still not as cool as the Reverend Horton Heat, and Tiger is once again in the lead.

It's not that he has a 4 shot lead at 12 under. It's that every tournament he's up there at the top. Every tournament. No other athlete has ever been this dominant.

Sabbatiny is t28 at -2.

Padre Fever......catch it?

The NL West used to be a joke, and maybe it still is. But in terms of being an internally-competitive league, it's the one to watch.

CS prediction: Pads in 5 (World Series, 2007)

Newton's 4th Law of Thermodynamics

"Whoever smelt it, dealt it."

El Tigre

Recently heard....

In 2005, Tiger Woods had 485 putts under 5" in length on the PGA Tour. He missed....0.

And this next number doesn't even matter if it's close or not b/c his earnings can always be statistically valid at +/- tens of millions of dollars, but I think I read that he was the highest paid athlete in 2005. Total earning: $85 million. Not a bad year.

Same Bat Channel, Same Bat Time

Lately the U.S. stock market has been......well, up and down. Or maybe we'll call it emotional. I see the headlines everyday, and they're really starting to lean towards a sentiment that is not new. They say things like:

• The Housing market has not hit bottom.
• Corporate earnings will most likely decline.
• Clipstone Street is way ahead of the curve.
• Consumer spending is important to the health of the US economy.
• The US spends too much, both on a national and a personal level.

But people have been saying this for a while now. And I'm not referring to the usual Bear suspects. This is just common sense, no?

Yo Quiero Taco Bell

My local Taco Bell always has a resident pan-handler. More consistent than the Rex-All security guard, and more often than not sitting on the curb by the front door with a good buddy, the local TB PH'ers always seem to be somewhere between the opening kick-off and the two minute warning of their buzz: ridin' high and lovin' life. Oh, and always a freshly lit cigarette in hand.

PH'er: spare some change?
Me: for what?
PH'er: {usually confused by my question} I need some change?

Then depending on the vibe I get from the PH'er, I drop one of two lines:

a.) No thanks, I'm good.
b.) Now what in the world do you need money for?

Either response seems to throw them all off. Mind you, I'm not kidding around as much as it may seem with these answers.

a.) means that I've decided they don't actually need the money, so, "no, my conscience can handle not giving you any money."
b.) is just straight up obvious, but they're playing the odds, so honesty doesn't really pay in that game.

Today though, the curb was occupied by a just past slightly dirty looking woman in her early 40's. And she didn't look like she was in any of the fun cars on the party train. On the other hand, she didn't look like she was doing too bad (v. skid row, where actually no one really seems to realize how bad they're doing), probably just strung out and in need of some good care, but she didn't have a buddy, or any cigarettes, or any hint of smile on her face.

Her: Got any change?
Me: Sorry, I don't have any change.
Her: {without even missing a beat} Buy me something?

As she said this I was sticking my hands into my pockets and realized I had two quarters in there. So now I'm a liar. Real cool.

So I turned back and said: "What do you want?"
To which she replied even faster than last time, "Steak burrito. No sour cream."

Next I'm in line thinking, "Steak burrito??" I'm not even eating steak! But I got it for her anyway, and like I do regardless of gender, social status, race, creed, and all that other crap I forgot to order it without sour cream. And in this small miscalculation I found some demented form of relief.........you'll get your Steak burrito, but you're gonna get it with sour cream, lady.

Of course I drove off feeling like a real a'hole, thinking that maybe she was lactose intolerant or something, that it wasn't just merely her preference.

Seriously?

This is the urinal at Taco Hut (combo Taco Bell/Pizza Hut) in Kettleman City. Is it a mistake or do shorter folks rule the roost?

Is the bar too high?

I love the marketing, and the push to try new things, and do things better, but does this sort of idea create in our minds an ideal that leads to trouble?

Not For Profit

My Alma Mater called me tonight. Just checking in to see how I'm doing, what I've been up to, and to see if I might want to donate to their fund. The psychological methodology of the call was very interesting. Young, chatty girl talks it up with me about my experiences in school and what she's doing for a good 10 minutes before moving on to the meat of the conversation.

I think her first offer was looking for a minimum donation of $350. Apparently her foundation had mistaken me for one of their many A-list graduates. I politely declined.

Interestingly enough, she now was able to come below the previous minimum. "Would you be able to do at least $250," she innocently queried?

"Nope."

Somehow we got to $50. Lucky for me I had the same answer.

"Sorry."

When she asked about $25 I felt low and inhumane. How could I not possibly afford $25? Outrageous, preposterous even. I've either got to be lying, or worse, just a total complete loser. I graduated from their prestigious University with 2 bachelor degrees 14 years ago and still can't even cough up the equivalent of a bottle of Gin. Way to shoot for the stars, boyeee!!

So I did what any man would do, I caved. And the beauty of it all? She told me they were a non-profit. But my question is this:

Who is the bigger non-profit: The University of California or me?

Chavez at the Helm

Per the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times, Venezuela's yearly inflation rate is 25%, and that figure is twice that government's goal. Copernicus I am not, but that seems to indicate a target rate of inflation of 12.5%. (Of course, Zimbabwe's has passed the 1000% mark and it's looking completely uncontrollable.)

And so Chavez has instituted price controls. This is not going to go well for Venezuela.

God Help Us...please

I was never a fan of going into Iraq. But I also just couldn't figure out Saddam's fearless defiance....they strung him up, right? Why'd he have to pull a 'Thelma and Louise' on his country?

And, why can't humans just get along. Is it really that hard? It doesn't need to be nice and rosy, but what's with all the 'I'll bet my life on it' playground showmanship?

Iran has got to be kidding me.

Better?

I found this while perusing The Big Picture today. Verdict: wow, awesome! I suggest downloading this free app and checking it out soon....

Computer Wars

So I've been looking at Macs lately, and I must say, I'm tempted. The 20" iMac looks really, really cool. Of course the MacBook Pros look just as good, but damn! they're expensive.

And so here's the thing that I know is happening: it's glistens so I want it. Do I need it? No. Would it make anything I want to do easier? Maybe, but this maybe is a very complimentary maybe, and I think it's actually negligible.

My PC doesn't really give me any problems. And I've got 2.5 megs of ram, so it runs pretty quick. But I will say that it does have it quirks, like the CD burner that is never recognized by the machine anytime I need to burn something. And I was watching an episode of The Office, downloaded from iTunes, that would freeze anytime I adjusted the volume. Weird, huh?

Anyone actually ever read this blog? Any thoughts?

I will say it's pretty fun to go into an Apple store and have all these Apple freaks act like the difference is night and day. Like one is a cheese sandwich (American slices) on white bread with no condiments and the other is a plate of bluefin ahi seared to perfection with all the Tsingtao's you can drink.