Mar25th2008

March Insaneness

Published
by
geoff
5 months ago
in Infinite Wisdom and Sports
. 0 Comments

How much do you love this time of year? Everyone gets into it. Even the people who try to be over-cool and act like they don’t care. We just passed the two most un-productive days in the working calendar - and I’m including the day before Xmas and any Friday before a long weekend. I think the number this year is $1.7B. Who’s job is it to figure out that number? Seriously? Lets just accept it and move on. Forget “justifying it”.

Yes, I am talking about the first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tourney. Everyone is glued to their computer screen and has an internet window with ESPN or CBS open, maybe watching on Joost, constantly checking on scores. Long lunches with a “few beers” or a strategically scheduled off-site with some of your team members. Then when you have an upset brewing, whispers creep through the office and the “resident bracketologist” start their Nostradamus-like gloating - “I had that one”. Yuh-huh. You had the foresight to choose Sienna over Vandy (the same Vandy that beat Tennessee), San Diego over UConn or even Davidson defeating Georgetown. Excuse me, what do I bill my time too?

The pool I’m in has about 300 entries. Yes, odds of winning are tougher, but the payout is better. You need to balance it out with a small pool, 10-20 people, so you at least feel like you have a chance. Anyway, I went with a new selection strategy this year and submitted 3 brackets to the big one. Some people do the mascot, some are homers, and other pick with their hearts. Now, this pool has a couple twists (including bonus pts for upsets). Bracket 1 is the dream bracket. UNC & Pitt playing in the final. Duke losing in the first round. That one is not doing so well. #295 of 319. Ouch. Bracket 2 is strictly by the book. Seeds win. No upsets. Kind of boring, but you could call it the “control group” in my March Madness experiment. #156 of 319. Good news is with all but 2 of the #1’s & #2’s alive, I still have plenty of points available. We’ll see. Bracket 3 is the “thinking man’s” bracket. I didn’t go too crazy with the upsets, but also didn’t believe that teams like Drake and Gonzaga were worth their seeds. I managed to get a couple upsets, but getting hammered in later rounds with UConn & Georgetown getting shown the door. Thanks Big East. Currently #25 of 319. I think at this moment my “entry fee” can now be classified as a donation. Next year, I might break out the D&D 16-sided dice and roll for each game. And you will never get back the 1 minute of your life it took to read this. Sorry.

Not totally off topic, but my big question to the NC-2-A, I’m confused by this years geographical regions. You call a portion of the bracket “East”, yet games are played in Denver? Or how about the “West” bracket, and the first two rounds are played in Tampa and DC. Did Magellan put together the regions? Or maybe it was Miss Teen South Carolina, Caitlin Upton. I know geography isn’t really a college course anymore, but come on. How hard is it to put Denver in the West bracket and DC in the East? I think it would have been great for her to blame the brackets.

The Madness continues.

Mar22nd2008

Comcast… comcast… YOU SUCK!

Published
by
geoff
5 months, 1 week ago
in Infinite Wisdom and punks
. 0 Comments

comcastisthedevil.gifYou have to “sing” that headline. Commmm-cast…Commmm-cast…

Honestly, I’m not really surprised. Its all about making money, right? Forget corporate responsibility or community awareness. That would be too much to ask. So, as you may know, my girlfriend and I were evacuated out of our loft in Cabbagetown because of the lovely tornado that swept through. I was over at our place on monday, checking out the aftermath. FEMA is there. Construction crews. Massive cleanup is going on. We have to sign in/sign out just to get into my building, and what do we see - Comcast vans. Good thing, it reminds me I have bills that aren’t going to stop. My bill through comcast is about $170/month for all the bells, whistles, phone, internet, HD, DVR, etc… Not to mention I had to sign over my first born and agree to call he/she Comcast. Anyway, as you can imagine, chunking out that kind of change for something you can’t use is a swift kick in the pills.

So, on Tuesday, I called Comcast to see what my options were. The call starts off on a cheery note - “Thank you for calling comcast, I’m having a wonderful day. I hope you are too.” Gee, thanks ******. Call me skeptical, but I’m this call is not going to go the way I hope. Lucky me. Yeah, I live in that building that got humped by the tornado the other night. I’m slightly displaced (staying at my girlfriend’s brother’s place in Candler Park) and not sure when I’m getting back in. At this point, I’m anticipating at least another couple weeks (the place above mine had its roof ripped off). After explaining that yes, my loft complex was the one on CNN, he finally starts to get the gist that I’m not trying to finagle Comcast out their hard earned money. Option 1 - disconnect and when I move back in and pay the reconnection fee. Really? So I just got evacuated, and then I’ll have to pay you to come back in. And I have to drop off the “equipment” or schedule a pickup. That’s convenient. I’m sure it will be one of those “between 12 and 6″ appointments. Option 2 - don’t disconnect but downgrade my service to the basic package and then “upgrade” when I’m back in. Geee, thanks. Excuse me while I knock out a cartwheel. That’s still going to cost me $110/month. I’m still paying for something I’m not ABLE to use due to an OFFICIAL EVACUATION! Option 3 - A weeks credit and do nothing. This is about as close as we got to anything of value, but it still means they are charging me.

At the end of the day, what does it really cost Comcast. We’ve got 100 or so units that are currently uninhabitable. Not to mention a building across the parking lot that is in ruins. What’s important here… couple bucks or maybe making stressful times for a handful of people a shade easier? Think how much good PR you (comcast) could get out of this - probably worth more in free press and customer loyalty than what you would make during these couple weeks of hardship. But I guess you have stock holders and bonuses tied to financial goals. But I guess you missed the newscast about the tornado.

Thanks. You just tipped the scale in DirectTV’s favor. Sayonara Comcast..

Mar16th2008

Holy Tornado Batman

Published
by
geoff
5 months, 2 weeks ago
in Atlanta
. 1 Comment

buildinge.jpgSo, the “Tornado of 2008″ has come and gone. It definitely left its mark on Atlanta. I live (I say that loosely because my place might be unlivable upon further review) in a loft in downtown Atlanta - Cabbagetown, for those of you outside Atlanta (and some of you inside who don’t venture outside of Buckhead).

Around 9:00, I got a tornado warning. That led me to our favorite source of information, Al Gore’s Interweb to see what the hell was going on. We had a slight chance of severe weather, no sign of tornadoes. No sooner than I saw that, wind kicked up and the rain & lightning started (looking west). The light show started becoming more and more spectacular with the passing minutes. I started shutting windows to keep my place from turning into a into swimming pool. We might be in for a wild one this evening.

At the moment (about 9:30) when I moved back into my bedroom to close those windows, the power dropped (you know that moment - BAMM! What the Fu…!), I looked out my bedroom window (looking south) and I see the transformer box explode on the telephone pole. Hmmm… should I revert to my “stop, drop, and roll” training (or duck & cover) from elementary school? What happened over the next 5 minutes was strange and unlike anything else I’ve been though (couple hurricanes, blizzard, 9-11, NYC blackout, earthquake). Some people say it sounds like a freight train, I would say it sounds more like a 767 engine right at my window. This massive pitching engine - KCHHHHHHHH!!!! Getting louder and higher pitched as it gets closer - to YOU! I’m feeling the sound right against the window. Praying that a stray 2×4 didn’t take permanent residence in my loft. It looked like someone was stirring a giant mojito with too much mint in it or in an observation room in a swamp. There was so much debris, leaves, branches and trash flying around, and it all was on horizontal paths. I swear I saw a cat, or maybe a small cow. The color was this murky green and mixed with amazing white flashes of light. The building was shaking like a paint mixer at Home Depot.

Then silence. Its gone. Over. With an slight overtone of car alarms. Symphony of Destruction (sorry, couldn’t resist).upstairs1.jpg

The aftermath was madness - just really not sure what to do. I checked on my other 4th floor neighbors, making sure everyone was ok. The biggest surprise was that none of my windows blew out. I did have a couple of them cracked. Looking out into the parking lot was completely covered in debris - wood beams, bricks, trash, and tons of miscellaneous forestry elements. We (my neighbors and I) ventured down to the parking lot, and the first shock was the amount of car windows blown out. Cars were just cracked and shattered. Some of them had bricks in their front seats or on their rear window shelves. The next shock was seeing the top floor of my building, precisely the unit RIGHT above mine. It was now missing its roof. It resembled something out of Ghostbusters - you could see the clear sky through the big windows. I can’t imagine what that must have been like - having your roof ripped off in a brief moment in time. upstairs2.jpgThe next big shock came from looking across the parking lot at building E. There was a HUGE pile of debris where the courtyard used to be and an even larger section of a missing roof. Absolutely shocking. There’s no electricity. All you see are flashlights and all you hear are voices echoing off the walls. Tomorrow morning is going to be weird. All this will be extremely visible. My night continues…

After milling about for 30 minutes, answer mobile calls from local friends, the authorities arrive (police, EMT, AFD) and warn us that another is on the way. Seriously? I head back up to my place and start to take stock in what just happened. Madness. As soon as the short rain subsides (thankfully, no second tornado), I thought my night might be over. Wrong. Heavier rain starts and I start to hear drips. Not just one, “where the hell is that” drip, but multiple drips. Basically, the unit above mine (now sans roof) was now collecting water and funneling it down into my place - it was starting to resemble something like a factory with a faulty sprinkler system. More drips than buckets. I tried moving furniture around - a new form of Feng Sui. We are now trying to save the ship from going down. Its not looking good. I’ve now hit capacity. No more buckets. Rain is coming down harder. The “faucet” is wide open.

pile.jpgI start to play that game - “If your place was on fire, what would you grab?”. When I say play, I mean live. This is now real. The place above me is “gone”. I’m not sure what is next. Is my roof going to cave in? What is the water saturation capacity of the ceiling above. I see the wood start to change color from the drenching water. All I have is a small flashlight and it’s pitch black out. The Chinese water torture sounds are echoing off the walls. People swinging by knocked and stuck their head in - only to hear the new found “cabbagetown reservoir” establishing residence in my place. So, what do you grab? I break it down to the simplest thing - what do you need the most right now, and what is irreplaceable? The winners - computer, camera, insurance info and cell phone charger. Oh, and an umbrella. I think that will work.

So, unharmed, running on adrenaline, and having about a 5% idea of what just happened, I look back and consider myself very lucky. The only injury that I have heard of is Jim, my upstair’s neighbor. His roof decided to fly off. I think he got knocked by a couple bricks. Last I heard, he was on his way to the hospital.

All I need to do is do a bit of clean up to do and organize with the insurance co’s, and we’ll be fine. Its just stuff.

Here’s some pictures

edit: Good news! Jim, who lives above me, is good. His roof is the one that is missing. He took a nasty shot to the head (staples and stitches required) but was all smiles when I saw him on today (Sunday). His place is destroyed and he’ll be out for some time. My story pales in comparison to him. I haven’t heard of any fatalities or major injuries from the other buildings. But again, its just stuff.

Feb26th2008

NHL Trading Deadline

Published
by
geoff
6 months ago
in Sports
. 0 Comments

Now, if you can’t tell, I’m a little bit of a hockey nut. Yes, I know its hard to figure out, but sometimes the subtleties slip through the cracks of obviousness. When the trading deadline gets about a week away, you start to scan the teams’ news sites, curious as to who is going to move, and where. It basically can take a challenger and make them a favorite. The problem always occurs though, at what price. Do you leverage the future for a chance to win today? Today is Tuesday, and the deadline is at 3 pm ET. My buddy Darrell (equally insane hockey fan) and I will be burning up the instant messaging pipeline today as trades are pulled off.

It’s the usual course of business – teams that can’t or might not make the playoffs have superstars for sale. This is the one part I don’t like about free agency. Take a team like Atlanta. They have a player – Marian Hossa. He’s good. He’s making a nice pile of change ($7 mil) and is a free agent at the end of the year. Wells, rather than play out the rest of the year with him and try to win the sucky Southeast division, they realize that he won’t re-sign with them and thus begins the process of trading him away. GM’s logic, rather get something for him in return. Understandable, but couldn’t you take whatever money you were going to give him and spend that on some other quality free-agents when the season is over? Every GM is looking for the magic bullet to propel them into serious cup contention. I also don’t like the whole “rent-a-player” aspect that comes with someone like Hossa. You essentially have him on your team for a couple months and he could bolt to the highest bidder come summertime. You end up trading away players and picks for maybe nothing more than a Stanley Cup run. Atlanta traded for Tkachuk last year and got swept in the first round. Big payoff (sarcasm alert).

So, back to it – there’s some serious rumors that he’s going to Ottawa or Montreal. I’m not a big fan of that because that will catapult those guys to the top of the heap in the eastern conference (same place my Pens reside). The other big player in the trade winds is Brad Richards. He’s a big player from Tampa and will fit in nicely on someone’s roster. Tampa Bay is probably going to have a yard sale today.

Now, I believe my Pens are going to either stay put with their team or make a minor splash with a defensemen. They need someone who can knock the shit out of someone and not play the puck like Helen Keller. Rob Blake comes to mind. I also like this kid in Colorado, John-Michael Liles. We’ll see. The Pens GM, Shero, is preaching this whole leverage the future; we got a strong nucleus mantra, which I like. But maybe the time is now to make a bold move. Who knows. I don’t get paid to do this (shocker, I know) and probably never will.

Updates:
11 AM. Very Slow. Glacial almost. New Jersey and St Louis swap bouncers.
12 PM. Finally. Campbell (D, Buffalo) heads off to San Jose. I would have like to see the Pens pick him up, but that’s over now. Richards (C, Tampa) is going to Dallas to play with Mike Madano. Dallas is looking a lot better all of a sudden. And Montreal traded Cristobal Huet (G) to DC? WTF? This bewilders me. Montreal has a super young goalie in Carey Price, who is good, but unless he channels the spirit of Ken Dryden, this squad might be one and done.
1:30 PM. We’re getting the band back together! Seriously, what’s going on in Colorado? First, they sign Peter Forsberg, who’s been in Sweden making Volvos or whatever Swedish people do, and now they trade for Adam Foote (D, Columbus). These guys were part of the glory years in Avalanche-land winning the Cup like 10 years ago. All they need now is to talk Ray Borque and Patrick Roy out of retirement. Maybe they can get a group AARP discount. Speaking of geriatrics, the Capitals traded for Sergei Federov (C, Columbus). He’s like 90, and probably still trying to sleep with 15 year old Russian girls – he was like 30 and dating a teen-aged Anna Kournakova. Pens still haven’t done anything. Might be a silent day.
2:30 PM. Pretty silent out there. A couple calzones got traded for some turkey legs, but nothing crazy. Maybe Shero is going to pull a kamikaze attack.
3 PM. What do you know. Pens picked up Hal Gill at the deadline. This guy was playing in Boston when I lived there. He’s a big dude. He also used to do these commercials for some sports bar and was shoving buffalo wings in his mouth. Maybe they’ll get him to do a spot for Primanti Bros sandwiches – YUMMY! I’m sure a bunch of other trades that happened at the dealine will trickle in, but doesn’t look like that heavy of an action day.
3:15 PM. HMFS! (fill in your own expletives) Pens just traded for Hossa! Instant reaction says I like. Two breathes and a class of water later, wonders if we gave away too much future if we can’t sign him to an extension. Yikes – Armstong, Christensen, Espisito and a #1 pick in 2008. That is a lot. Part of me says I like those guys, hate to see them go, but in essence, we traded for an all-star and a 3rd line winger and gave 2 grinders, a potentially never-gonna-make it prospect and a draft pick. You know what, I like it.

Time to push for the cup. I guess I won’t be buying playoff tickets this year in Atlanta.

Feb13th2008

God Bless TiVO!

Published
by
geoff
6 months, 2 weeks ago
in Infinite Wisdom and Technology
. 0 Comments

ihearttivo.jpgToys and technology. Its amazing how some things, when you finally break down and get them, how much easier stupid things can get, and it leaves you wondering “how did I get along without it?”. As you roll back in time in your head, think about mobile phones – you used to have to be somewhere when you said you were going to be there. Directions or “I’m lost” used to mean you were calling from the gas station around the corner (or driving in circles). Mobile phones have progressed to the PDA and iPhone. No longer are you out of touch – people live with these things on their hip and feel disconnected without them. GPS, wireless, the internet, digital cameras…I could go on.

But oh man… the writer’s strike continues. I’ve got the weapon to combat that – TiVO or DVR. How simple does this make your television viewing life? I mean seriously…and you can get it with an upgraded box from your cable company for a couple bucks a month. Simple. Set up that season pass to record “Two and a Half Men” and wallah!, you won’t miss an episode. You don’t need to make sure you are in front of the tube on Monday’s at 9 pm or else you missed out. Especially with all the season long dramas – 24, Lost, Life, Heroes…you miss one, and you are out of the loop. This way, you can jump on some marathon session if you want. I especially like it for the obscure shows, like Three Sheets (a show about a globetrotting booze-a-rama comedian – its on Mojo). I literally can knock out a couple episodes on a crappy Saturday afternoon or a dull Wednesday night.

Also, miss something? Janet’s boob flash on Super Bowl? Funny Commercial? Mumbling actor? Gotta run to the bathroom? Burning dinner? Amazing play? Pause, rewind, or flashback. If you could only do this with real life. PS, the movie “Click” sucked. It was based on this premise but I would officially state that this is 90 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

It does have some kinks that need to be worked out. I’m waiting for the removable hard drive so you can take your collection over to your friend’s house. Your DVD library on a flash drive (patented by Geoff). My buddy Brad was telling me about his TiVO this one night while out for drinks, looking a little glum. “My TiVO thinks I’m gay”. He proceeds to tell us how it has a brain of its own (note to TiVO users, turn off the “suggestions”). He watched or recorded some travel show or American Idol for his wife (so he says) and it ended up recording “Queer Eye”, “Oprah” “The View” and Mens Figure Skating. Nice.

Think about all the goodness you can have. Your life shouldn’t revolve around TV, and now it really, really doesn’t have too.  I’ll hear people around the office - “hey, we’re going out for drinks, wanna come”, and someone will say - “Nah, Grey’s Anatomy is on”.  WHAT?!!  Think about all those shows you ‘might” want to check out but not sure you want to invest? Not to mention all the bonus points you can rack up with the significant other – “Sex in the City” or “Penguins vs. Rangers”. Well, that’s a no-brainer, but lets say the Pens were playing the Panthers or the Islanders. “Baby, by all means, watch your show”. At the end of it all, she’s happy; I’ll catch the game without commercials and skip all the crappy parts. Win-win if you ask me.

My vote for useful product in the new milenium - TiVO!

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