Dante's Inferno, and Which Hell I'm Going To August 8, 2004 12:00 am

Personal Note August 13, 2004 12:00 am

12:33am
 

A Topsy-Turvy World August 21, 2004 12:00 am

 
Again, apologies for not coming back as often now that I'm working again. It's to the point that as soon as I get home I get online just long enough to do my daily web surfing, then plop down on the sofa in front of the tube for the rest of the night. After all the typing I do at work I sure as hell don't want to keep doing it at home.

Yesterday was particularly bad. Fridays are usually pretty light, everyone preparing for the weekend instead of calling about programming & their bill. Those things they reserve till Monday when the weekend is over.

Normally every day at work I have what I refer to as my Weird Call Of The Day: something unusual enough to tell the other co-workers about. Yesterday was just the opposite, and not just for me: I had probably just one Sane Call Of The Day, every other call was unusual in some way. At the time we were under the assumption there was a full moon, but when I left I noticed that the moon was not only not full, it was just a few days past new. And Friday the 13th was the week before, so none of us can explain it.

Yesterday wasn't a total loss, however. Nextel Cup qualifying was rained out yesterday, thereby denying a possible slot in Sunday's Michigan race to wreckmaker Kerry Earnhardt at the track that has produced some of the more horrific-looking crashes in history. 9:29am
 

Words of Wisdom August 25, 2004 12:00 am

 

When I was a kid, I thought grown-ups never worried about anything. I trusted my parents to take care of everything, and it never occured to me that they might not know how. I figured that once you grew up, you automatically knew what to do in any given scenario.

I don't think I'd have been in such a hurry to reach adulthood if I'd known the whole thing was going to be ad-libbed.

--Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

9:14pm
 

The Creation of Oklahoma August 26, 2004 12:00 am

 
This one was e-mailed to me & I couldn't resist sharing it... 9:53pm

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the Archangel found Him, resting on the seventh day.He inquired of God, "Where have You been?" God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look Michael, look what I've made!" Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it Earth, and it's going to be a great place of balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth, "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor; the Middle East over there will be a hot spot. And over there I've placed a continent of white people, while over here is a continent of black people."

God continued, pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot and arid while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a large land mass and said, "What's that one?" "Ah," said God. "That's Oklahoma, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful lakes, rivers, sunsets and rolling hills. The people from Oklahoma are going to be modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hard working and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance!"

God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the idiots I'm putting by them in Arkansas and Texas."
 

Survivor: Daytona August 29, 2004 12:00 am

 
Only two races to go before the end of the NASCAR Nextel Cup regular season and the start of the "Chase for the Championship." For the final ten races, only the top ten cars in points plus any others within 400 points of the leader will be eligible for the Championship.

I believe I've mentioned this one before, but one rule that I feel needs to be in place for the final ten races involves cars way behind on the track, a rule that would make things a lot safer for the so- called "Chasers": If you are not one of the Chasers, and you have to take your car behind the wall for any reason, it stays there! This would keep cars many laps down from accidentally knocking one of the Chasers out of the race, possibly costing him the whole shbang. (An addendum I would make, though: If you're a non-chaser and you stay on the track but go more than ten laps behind the leader, you're out. Since you obviously won't be able to get back in contention there's no reason for you to stay out there.)

The whole reason I'm bringing the topic back up is that a mention by Kyle Petty on a rule change for the Chasers reminded me of another change I already had in mind. Petty feels a driver should be eliminated from contention each week. I've gone one better with a way on how to do it:

After Race One, if more than 10 cars qualified for the Chase, eliminate however many would be needed to leave ten in the field. From Race Two on, each week one car would further be eliminated, with the result that the final race would leave only two cars in contention for the championship. In most cases, after each race the car in last place is eliminated.

However, if one of the Chasers or his teammate, by NASCAR officials determination, deliberately knocks a fellow Chaser out of the race, with the effect that the knocked-out car is placed lowest in points, the driver who caused the accident, or Chasing teammate thereof, is eliminated instead!

Example: if Kevin Harvick deliberately wrecks Matt Kenseth (with what's happened between them this season, not an unreasonable possibility), and it puts Kenseth last in points among the Chasers, Kenseth would stay in and Harvick would be eliminated from Chase contention, regardless of his points position.

But here's the fun scenario: if, say, it was Brian Vickers who knocked out Kenseth on purpose, since Vickers is not one of the Chasers, one of his teammates, Jeff Gordon or Jimmy Johnson, would be eliminated instead (my choice as to which would be NASCAR's determination as to which of the two benifitted the most from the wreck). These rule changes would make the Chase for the Championship a whole lot more interesting than they're already gonna be.

Oh, one, other rule suggestion: if you didn't qualify for one of the first 26 races of the year, or your name is Kerry Earnhardt, you can't even attempt to qualify for the last ten. Don't need green rookies out there messing things up. 9:10pm