soapbox

… for failing a drug test (twice?), although he says that it’s due to a sexual performance drug that was okayed and prescribed by a non-team-sanctioned doctor.

You can read a lot about this all over the place, and Bill Simmons’ take is worth a read, but I wanted to share K’s reaction to the news, for which I am rather proud.

Me: So, the big news of today is that Manny got suspended 50 games …
K: For having horrible hair?

She calls them “poop-dreads” and she’s not wrong.

I feel like I lost an uncle today, or maybe a good friend. Harry Kalas, voice of the Phillies and NFL films, passed away today, and it’s just not fair.

It’s almost impossible to think of Harry without also thinking of his long-time friend and broadcast partner, Richie Ashburn. The two of them worked together for 27 years (Ashburn passed in 1997), and were a pair unlike any other – they were close friends and were able to play off each other perfectly, knowing what the other was thinking and either filling in perfectly or getting out of the way as needed. Listening to Harry and Whitey broadcast a game was like being invited over to their house, as a couple of buddies described the game and did it well… each summer night weaving the story of the game with intelligence, humor, and a clear passion for the sport.

Not sure what to say on this one, other than I’m pretty sure it’s for real?

Say I ain’t so, Alex!

I’ve generally been supportive of Alex Rodriguez, or at least up until his dalliance with Madonna, so I confess I am rather surprised and disappointed by the leaking of A-Rod’s name as one of those who tested positive for steroids in 2003.

On one hand, I shouldn’t be surprised, since it was estimated by players and the media that at least a large minority if not a majority of players were on the juice, but I guess I didn’t expect any confirmation.

It’s not fair to Rodriguez that he gets nailed while so many others who were/are just as guilty get away un-named, but in the end it’s also unfair to baseball fans in general as the an iconic figure of today’s sport gets knocked from his place on Mt Rushmore.

Obviously, there’s no way I’m second-guessing my vote for Obama, but a couple of recent appointments are a little concerning. First, naming former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary is alarming because, put bluntly, ethanol is stupid! Using high-quality farmland to grow corn for fuel is both ethically dubious and essentially carbon neutral. Maybe it helps replace a little bit of Middle-Eastern oil, but for the amount of money it will involve, we could do a lot more.

Secondly, appointing the RIAA’s attack dog as the #3 man at the Justice Department? worrisome: he went out of his way to recruit the RIAA as a very lucrative client: his law firm bills some partners’ time at a princely $1,000 an hour.

(i also like this and http://drnealwinslow.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/riaa.gif)

At the risk of sleeping on the couch for eternity, I feel it is my sober duty to inform the rest of blogland of this fact… something that many guys have known for years and years: romantic comedies cause nothing but strife and unhappiness. Sure they have helped millions of guys have successful movie-dates and thereby get laid, and sure they have helped millions of women overcome bad breakups while bonding with their girlfriends, but those clever Brits don’t mince words.

</perhaps unfunny gender stereotypes>

Actually, the study is kinda interesting:

Rom-coms have been blamed by relationship experts at Heriot Watt University for promoting unrealistic expectations when it comes to love….They found fans of films such as Runaway Bride and Notting Hill often fail to communicate with their partner. Many held the view if someone is meant to be with you, then they should know what you want without you telling them.

Somehow, it has been over two months since my last post (appropriately enough, this is starting off sounding like a confession, sans pedophile) and for that I apologize.

I think most of the blame is due to the fact that I can’t/don’t dare post or even look at the blog while I’m at work, and since historically my posts occurred during breaks at work, that’s naturally going to kill my posting rate.  I guess this isn’t unreasonable, but it’s another reminder of how nice the academia-bubble can be.

The other cause of my lack of posting has been the occurrence of power-system problems with my powerbook.  A little while ago (I guess two months ago) I unplugged my powerbook one day to move into the livingroom and it died.  I hadn’t noticed any problems with the battery,  but when I replugged the power cord and booted it back up, I noticed that the battery was at “29%, charged”.  Following the instructions for recalibrating the battery, I unplugged the powercord and let it run down until it went to sleep, then took out the battery, poked the PRAM, plugged it back in, and… nothing.  It now says “0 %, fully charged”.

Has anybody else encountered problems like this?  Poking around the interwebs it looks as though this is not a terribly uncommon problem, but a clear solution does not exist.  I have considered taking it down to the Apple Store downtown, but so far that’s been too much bother.  I hope that the solution is as easy as spending my hard-earned cash on a new battery, but I’m leery of doing that only to discover that my new battery won’t charge either.

I think that’s enough complaining for now.  More posts to come – I’ve actually got a whole folder of post-items in my gmail just waiting to be used, although many are now out of date.  Anyway, howdy everybody and it’s good to be back.

-m