During the FSU-UF game, one of the morons in the booth came up with this bit of stupidity:
If Florida State can't slow down these Florida athletes, then who can?
This football season, I've noticed several announcers, particularly at CBS, harping on the direct snap, whenever anyone other than the quarterback takes the snap. This would be fine, except they do it even when the player actually lines up at quarterback. With McFadden lining up at QB so much today against LSU, they used it so much that they kept saying it even when the normal QB was in there. And while any snap is technically a direct snap, when it's to the QB, even when the QB is someone who normally plays somewhere else, it's redundant and annoying, and takes away from the term when it's used properly to describe a snap that goes directly to another player, like a running back or wide receiver. Also, earlier this season, one of these morons was going on and on about how someone on the field in that particular game popularized the direct snap, despite the fact that FSU (and probably many others) have been using the play for years.
I figured I should put up some pictures of our Christmas decorations. The link shows pictures of all the rooms we decorated. I'll put up the outside decorations tomorrow. One thing you can't see is that we replaced all of our normal dishes with Christmas dishes.
It's funny, the house is much more decorated for Christmas than it is the other times of the year.
You can also see our honey wheat color on the walls in the kitchen.
Another story about someone dying after being tasered, on the heels of that Polish guy who died in Canada.
I think the problem is that a lot of these officers aren't really trained correctly. Tasers should be thought of as an alternative to deadly force. If you can use a taser, where you would have used a gun, that's good. To me, these stories generally seem to be about officers who used the taser in place of physically subduing an unarmed person. I know that it can be dangerous, but that's the job. If you've got one unarmed Polish guy and several RCMPs, your training really ought to be enough to take him down safely.
In these two cases, what would the officers have done before tasers were available? Would they have pulled their guns? If the answer is no, they should leave the tasers in the holster.
Toast put this little meme together.
At what age did you start shaving? I can't remember. I'll guess 14.
How ofen do you shave? Maybe twice a week. My facial hair grows fast, but I only shave around the beard when it gets really shaggy or I'm meeting people.
Last time you shaved? Friday.
What's the longest you can go without shaving? Probably about 2 weeks on the face before it started bothering me. About 1 week in other places.
What kind of razor do you use? Gillette Mach 3.
How often do you change blades? I don't know. To paraphrase Chemist, when the blade no longer cuts, but pulls.
Ever use an electric razor? I used one for quite a while back in my Senior year of high school, but you really have to grind the hell out of your face to get it close. Maybe they've gotten better.
Ever use a straight razor? No, but I have had a barber use one on my neck. Feels pretty good.
Do you own/use a facial hair trimmer? Yes. I use a trimmer to trim my beard and head hair once a week. While I can go without shaving for weeks, I can't go without trimming for longer than a week. Long, shaggy beard hair drives me insane.
Do you own/use a nose hair trimmer? Yes, and it's good for those pesky ear hairs too.
What shaving substance do you apply? None.
And what balm, if any, do you use afterwards? None.
What do you shave? Cheeks and neck around the beard, top of the head and back of my neck.
With the grain or against? With first, then against. Also sideways op top of the head.
Ever shave your genital hair? Yes.
Place you hate shaving the most? Back of my neck.
Ever use chemical hair removal treatments? No. Never seemed any easier than shaving.
Best part of shaving? The clean, neat feeling.
Worst part of shaving? Razor burn. I don't really get that anymore with the beard.
Worst shave you've ever had? I don't recall exactly, but some cheap disposable thing. Unlike Toast, though, the disposables I buy now to use at the gym on occasion do a fine job.
I just heard this story on the radio this morning. Here's the gist -
The Minnesota Vikings have docked wide receiver Troy Williamson one game check for missing last Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers to attend the Monday funeral of his maternal grandmother.My feelings on bereavement time in any organization are that when and whether to attend the funeral of family members should be left entirely up to the employee. I also dislike bereavement policies that differentiate between family members. So I don't think that Williamson's relationship with his grandmother is any of the Vikings' business, but let's pretend that it was.
Williamson's maternal grandmother, who helped to raise him and with whom he was very close, died last week and he returned to South Carolina, where he played a large role in arranging her funeral. He also had to make travel arrangements for several of his siblings, some of whom are in the armed services.The coach had this to say -
Coach Brad Childress told Twin Cities-area media following Thursday's practice that the decision was on a "business principle" of the Vikings organizationI'm nearly speechless. So because Reggie Wayne played shortly after a death in his family, Williamson should too? Screwing over your employees who have their priorities straight is a "business principle" of the Vikings organization? WTF?
....
Childress cited the cases of two players, Minnesota defensive tackle Pat Williams and Indianapolis wide receiver Reggie Wayne, who appeared in games shortly after the deaths of family members.
I just realized that as of October 20th, this blog has been limping along for three years. That's kind of hard to believe. Oh well, I just thought it shouldn't pass without any comment.
* This is a made up word that I can't stand, but it does fit well, so I'm forced to use it.
I was in my first auto accident of any significance this week. We were stopped at a light, far back, and I heard the car behind us stop a bit suddenly. I looked up and behind that car, I saw the car behind them flying(actually doing between 20 and 30) just a few feet away. Then, the crunch. Michelline says I said "Oh Sh..". Oddly enough, I was very calm, even just after it happened. Michelline, unfortunately, was carrying a glass punch bowl on her lap full of glass punch cups. So we ended up with broken punch glasses all over. The bowl did survive.
In all, there were four cars involved, the car in front of us, ours, and two behind us. The car directly behind us was the worst by far, and the only one not drivable. Everyone was uninjured. I tried to get a camera to get a picture of us all locked together, but we didn't have one in the car.
Now we have to go through all the red tape. We're still waiting to find out of the guy who hit us all had insurance. We have a rental car and still don't know if we're totaled or not. Even if the guy does have insurance, he may be fucked if his policy limits are too low. With the four cars, it's probably over $25k in damage.
It does make you realize how precarious things can be on the road even when you do everything right. This accident made me think back to the one other time I was nearly in a serious accident. I was driving a Toyota Sequoia on a windy, hilly two-lane road in Southern Missouri. I had my family, my parents and my niece in the car with me. We were just cresting a small hill and there was a car passing us in the other lane, going the other way. And suddenly, there was a red sports car coming directly at us, trying to pass the guy on our left. I don't remember exactly what went through my mind, but I jerked hard to the right onto a wide, grassy shoulder. We bounced to a stop and checked everything out. We were all fine. The asshole in the red car didn't even come back to check on us, although the guy he was passing did.
I often wonder what would have happened if he had swerved also, or if there hadn't been a shoulder at all. As we left the scene, there were a lot of stretches with no shoulder at all, or what there was had light poles or other obstructions. A Sequoia and a car hitting head on at about 50 mph. I imagine it would have been very bad, possibly fatal. I hope that idiot stopped trying to pass people on hills.
