Barry Signs with the Giants

Not that Barry, but Barry Zito. It cost them a bundle, but now the Giants have an ace that can pitch the way the Jason Schmidt did not, in his last two disappointing seasons.

Driving on Christmas Day

We drove 180 miles to Newman, California and back on Christmas day. Our drive was relatively uneventful, but one thing we found is that bad drivers don't take the holidays off. We witnessed a broad range of bad drivers including NASCAR wannabes zip-zagging from one lane to the next, to slow-driving ass-holes who don't understand the concept of moving to the right lane on a two-lane highway.

The NASCAR wannabes are easy enough to deal with. Just get out of their way and hope that they don't cause an accident right in front of you. There's no need to place yourself in jeopardy by trying to keep them from cutting you off.

The slow-driving ass-hole is another thing altogether. Highway 5 is a two-lane highway with a speed limit of 70 miles per hour. The proper driving etiquette for two-lane highways requires drivers that drive below the speed limit to move to the right lane. If you are in the left lane and someone comes up behind you and flashes their headlights, the polite thing to do is to either speed up, or move over and let them past. But this one ass-hole we encountered lacked any notion of proper driving etiquette.

He chose to poke along in the left lane and forced several vehicles to pass him on the right. Not an easy thing to do when there is traffic. So when we came up on him, there were too many cars on the right to allow us to pass him on the right. We flashed our headlights and instead of speeding up or moving to the right, he chose to spray us with windshield fluid. When we sounded our horn, he hit his breaks. Now keep in mind that this was on Christmas day AND he had his family in his car. But being an ass-hole was more important than the safety of his family.

Traffic did clear up enough for us to finally get past him on, on the right of course, but not before he tried to cut us off by straddling the line and drifting into our lane. Fortunately, our car was more powerful than the piece-of-shit Kia he was driving, and we left him behind with no further incidents.

As his car receded in the rear-view mirror, my silent farewell to him was "Merry Christmas motherfucker. You keep driving like that, and you and your family won't even make it to the New Year."

Nuggets, Knicks Brawl

It's not right that Isiah gets off scot-free while the Nuggets lose their top-scorer for 15 games. Isiah is a punk. He's always been a punk from his earliest days as one of the "Bad Boys" in Detroit. The thing that always aggravated me the most about him was how many cheap shots he got away with because he was always perceived as a nice guy with a friendly smile. Now he's teaching his players the same thing; if you can't beat your opponent with skill, you bully them with cheap shots and dirty fouls.

I have no respect for Isiah Thomas as a player, coach or human being. The sooner he's out of a job and out of the NBA, the better.

Acting in Love

Would someone please tell me why this is a news story on the AP? You'd think that on-screen kisses meant anything. It's not as though Jolie is going to fall in love with her co-star and break up his relationship and, .... uh, ... never mind.

Model Minority = Easy Target

I've never liked the term "model minority", and I share that sentiment with most Asian-Americans. The main reason most Asian-Americans don't like the term is because it marginalizes the real struggles against racism that we face nearly every day. Because we're considered the "model minority" people tend to think that it's alright to make racially denigrating remarks, or poke fun at our ethnicity.

That's why Rosie O'Donnell can't understand why making fun of the Chinese language is such a big deal. It's not as though she used racial epithets. She was just saying "ching chong". On her blog, she makes references to how people make fun or her Irish heritage as though that excuses her "joke" about how Chinese sounds. Sorry, Rosie. That's no excuse. You still pass as white. We can't.

If you really think that what you did was no big deal, why don't you try to speak a little Ebonics when you talk about an African-American who makes the headlines sometime? After all, it's just a joke right?

Reality Hits Hard

The Niners playoff hopes were severely dashed this past week when the sub-par defense allowed Brett Favre to look like Brett Favre once again. That's what happens when you can't pressure a quarterback. If you give any QB in the league enough time, they'll find an open receiver and make good throws.

So the rest of the season will be an effort to regain respectability, and maybe win eight games for only the third time this century.

Another Year of Bonds

Unbelievable!!! The Giants proved once again how uncommitted to winning they really are. Giving Bonds $16 million for one year in case he breaks the record? Ridiculous. Bonds averaged 293 at bats the last four seasons. At $16 million next year, that's $54607.51 per at bat. I don't care if he hits a hundred home runs, he's not worth $16 million for one year. I doubt that any player in baseball is.

The Bonds Market is Still Up?

It sounds like Barry's agent is a little juiced as well. If what he said was true, then why haven't they signed with another team? Surely there are teams willing to give a soon to be 43-year-old man $18 million to play for them. After all, Texas once gave a player a quarter billion dollars to play for them. Maybe Barry should snap his fingers already and get back to the gym and juice thing.

The Fall of Customer Service

I saw yet another example of poor customer service last night on "60 Minutes". The founder and CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings was being interviewed. During one segment he was asked about the lack of a toll-free number for customers to call for help. Hastings spent several minutes searching his own site for a number without success. Appearantly, Netflix prefers to communicate with customers via email only.

After such an embarrassing moment, you would think that Netflix would remedy the situation and display a toll-free number prominently on their site, but they haven't. The only number I could find was to the corporate headquarters. It's a shame because everything else that they do is really great.

The convenience of the site is the reason we signed up for the service in the first place. We got frustrated with our local video store because we often found that the latest movies we wanted to see were available as two-day rentals that had to be returned the next day to avoid a late charge. Not the the kind of experience you want after having packed the baby into the car to get to the store in the first place. It's far better to get the movies you want without restrictions.

But what about Blockbuster, you might ask. They eliminated late fees altogether. That's true now, but a few years back I was a Blockbuster customer, and I was charged several bogus late fees for videos that I returned to the drop box. In one case, Blockbuster even referred me to a collection agency based on a video that I "hadn't returned". I resolved this issue by going to the store personally and finding the so-called unreturned video on their own shelves. Even after that, I had to threaten litigation in order to get their collection agency off my back and clear my name.

You would think after that experience, I would never go to Blockbuster again. But I did. I had moved and wouldn't you know it, right across the street was a Blockbuster store. I convinced myself that my experience was an anomaly particular to the one store I used to frequent. So I went in and rented a couple of videos. I returned them on time in the drop box before the store opened on the day they were due. But they somehow neglected to record the return on time and charged me a fee. I demanded to see the manager, and she refused to waive the bogus fee. I was furious and I walked out there declaring "never again".

So using Blockbuster.com was never an option. I don't care if they're cheaper or have a bigger selection. I refuse to use them ever again. That's what poor customer service can do a for a company. So Netflix better get its act in gear and get that call center up and running. You can bet their competition saw the show last night and are working on their own call centers.

House Calls

We enjoy watching the show "House". Its cantankerous title character goes to extraordinary lengths to insult and alienate everyone he encounters. The current story line has him running afoul of a police officer who is set on making House as miserable as possible. His abuse of power has even extended to freezing the accounts of House's colleagues and subordinates. This is where the show has gone too far.

These are doctors. They're well-educated and presumably well-paid. There's no way they would allow a rogue cop to treat them this way. Their lawyers would be all over the cop, the police department, and even the city if their clients were being abused this way.

My tip to the writers, resolve this line as soon as possible. My suspension of belief can only go so far.

It's a Cat Fight!!!

This is too funny. One irritant irritating another irritant. Too bad they didn't get into a slap fight.

Niner Troubles Abound

Just when it looks like things might be turning around for the Niners, the fit hits the shan. First the stadium boondoggle. Now their hothead receiver has gotten himself arrested for DUI, speeding and resisting arrest.

The York family was soundly booed during th halftime ceremony honoring Jerry Rice. Their son took exception and tried to explain their side of things. Sorry not buying it. You guys dragged your feet after the bond measure was passed, and now it's too late to use that money for your new stadium. SF voters won't OK another bond for a stadium now that you've thrown you lot toward Santa Clara.

Speaking of Santa Clara, did I mention that they've already voted down a number of stadium deals? (Yes, I did.) Good luck with that. You're going to need it.

As for Bryant. It looks like he's just another egotistical, moron wide-receiver. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Happy Birthday WWW

The web turned 16 today. So that means that when I first started looking for web work back in 1997, the web was ONLY 7 years old, and the first graphical browser that led to web design as a profession was only 4 years old. So the morons who put up web design job postings that required 8+ years of experience didn't know what the hell they were talking about. How can you have 4 years of web design experience when the profession didn't even exist 4 years ago?

A Burrito is Not a Sandwich. Well, Duh!

Business must be really bad if you have to quash competition by trying to re-classify a burrito as being a sandwich. I might be more sympathetic if the plaintiff were some small operation, but they have 900 stores around the country. Surely their food is good enough to go up against a company owned by Jack In The Box!

Niners Leaving, Or Not

First it was a done deal. Now the team may not be leaving SF after all. Talks are still underway in SF for a new stadium. I've been skeptical of the whole Santa Clara thing from the start. When the Giants were looking to move there (the same plot of land I think), they needed public funding to build a new stadium. The SC voters said no. Now the Niners are going to build a stadium there without public assistance? How can that be when SF voters approved a $100 million bond measure for a stadium at Candlestick point?

If the Niners need public funds from SC, they'll probably get the same answer the Giants did, a big "No". Which will leave the team with a choice of dealing with SF or moving out of the area entirely. Would anyone root for the Los Angeles 49ers?

Will 007 be Ill-Equipped As Well?

This is most distressing for gadget freaks. What's a guy to do? Salivate over pictures? Oh the humanity!!!

Bonds Market, Up or Down?

There's no way Bonds is going to get more than $10 million a year from the Giants. I seriously doubt he would get more than that from any other team either. Only the Yankess would pay a designated hitter that much money, and they haven't exactly come knocking on Borris' door.

As I stated earlier, it's unlikely that Bonds will be playing for the Giants next year. He's too expensive.

Football Hell

You'd think the defending champs could muster enough pride to beat one of the worst teams in the NFL. Especially after coming off a humiliating loss the previous week. But nooooooo! They get their asses handed to them instead. That's what you get for going with a brain-damaged quarterback.

Meanwhile, the Niner's got bitch-slapped by the Bears. There's no light at the end of this tunnel. The defense sucks, the offense is improved but still bad. Even the special teams has been ordinary this season. I guess the only thing to is shout "Go (Cal) Bears!!!"

It's the (Fuel) Economy, Stupid!

Looks like Ford is finally getting it. When you're paying nearly three bucks a gallon, you don't want a vehicle that gets three miles to the gallon (I know I'm exaggerating, but not by much). But why did they wait until they had the worst quarter in 14 years to change gears? How hard was it to see the writing on the wall? And why are the top executives still employed after such a dismal performance?

I'm sure that's what a lot of soon to be former Ford employees are asking as they receive lay-off notices and buyout options. Ford suffers from the same short-sightedness that all the U.S. automakers suffer from. Toyota and Honda didn't just come up with Hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles, they set out to capture the market well in advance of the latest spike in gas prices. Now they dominate that market, and the big three are trying to play catch-up. It's like the 70's all over again.

As the saying goes, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Has Tony Lost His Edge?

Under any other circumstance, Tony La Russa would not hesitate to have a suspected pitcher searched for illegal paraphernalia on the mound. But for some reason, La Russa didn't resort to his usual gamesmanship. Instead he had a "chat" with the home plate umpire, who had a "chat" with the suspect pitcher, who may or may not have had some foreign substance on his hand that he used to doctor the ball and make it break in an unusual manner. Kenny Rogers went on to pitch seven more scoreless innings after he "washed" his hands, so you might think that the point is moot. Not so fast.

La Russa is a close friend of Detroit manager Jim Leyland. The article suggests that La Russa chose the "chat" route over inspection, to preserve that friendship. If that's the case, and the Cardinals end up losing to Rogers again in a possible deciding game six, La Russa should lose his job. Friendship is nice, but when it comes to breaking the rules or staying friends, the rules should win out every time.

If Rogers did have a foreign substance that he used to doctor the ball, he would have been ejected from the game immediately and faced suspension for the rest of the series. Instead he got to wash his hands and stay in the game and the series. I can't wait to see game six.

Microsoft: New Vista, Same Old Tactics

Some Microsoft partners are not happy about MS' new OS and security package. Apparently, MS has built in a block to the kernel on the high-end version of Vista that the security software vendors can't get through and thus handicaps their product. MS says their own security product will not have access either and therefore not have an advantage.

Right! That sounds a lot like the song and dance that MS gave when they made Internet Explorer an integral part of Windows that just coincidentally made IE the default browser, and made using Netscape harder for the novice user.

Let's not forget all the widgets that point to the MS product to "secure your computer". Sure they promise to provide links to the other security products, but since OneCare is a part of Vista at no additional cost, how many users do you think will pay for extra protection?

So what it comes down to is whether you trust MS security or not. Considering that IE7 already has a vulnerability publicized one day after release, I think the answer is not.

The Next Killer Animal Flick

First Steve Irwin buys it, now another man has been attacked by a stingray. Can we expect a movie about killer stingrays in the near future? If so you saw it here first. Imagine the voice of the movie trailer announcer:

"'Jaws' chased you out of the water. Now 'Barbs' will keep you out! The sharks' gentle cousins are benign no more! Now they're out for blood."

"Coming soon to a theater near you: 'Barbs'. Rated R. Not recommended for children under 17 years of age."

Or maybe it'll be a cheesy made-for-TV flick airing constantly on TNT:

"See 'Barbs' over and over this Sunday, only on TNT. We know drama."

Who should play the adventurous animal show host that becomes the first victim? Any suggestions?

Niners Down Again

The defense just sucks. You can't stop an offense when you give the quarterback so much time to throw. Even the worst NFL quarterback will find an open receiver if you give him enough time. It also would be helpful if they could stop the run too.

Will Moneyball be Swept Away?

The Oakland A's have looked terrible in the first two games of the ALCS. They may be going into Detroit upbeat, but if they lose today, it's over. What Boston did two years ago was nothing short of a miracle. The A's aren't going to repeat that feat against Detroit.

Niners Top The Raiders

I know this post is a little late, but work takes precedence. Anyway, it was the best of both worlds. The Niners won, and the Raiders lost. Al Davis must be grinding his teeth to nubs over that one.

Bye, Bye, Barry

I looks like Barry Bonds did indeed play his last game as a Giant. Bonds isn't interested in a pay cut and states that he doesn't have to play baseball anymore. If he's serious, then the Giants don't have any choice but to let him go his merry way.

Bonds didn't really earn the millions the Giants paid him the last two years. His injuries combined with the steroid scandal offset his accomplishments on the field. He's going to be 43 next year, and if the past two seasons are any indication, his body will continue to betray him and reduce his playing time. The Giants can't afford to pay that kind of money for so little return.

I've been supportive of Bonds throughout his tenure as a Giant. I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt when it comes to the steroid issue. He's never tested positive, and until he does, it's his word against some less-than-credible individuals. But the Giants need more than a part-time player for the kind of money Bonds wants. Barry can't guarantee that he'll be able to play more than 60% of the games next year. Why should the Giants pay him that kind of salary?

It's doubtful that Bonds has played his last game, especially considering that he needs only 22 more home runs to break Hank Aaron's record (Bonds hit 26 this past season). Some team (probably the Yankees) will pay him enough money to keep him playing until he hits number 756. I wish him good luck and I hope the Giants don't have to face him next year.

Big House Justice

The details are still coming out, but it looks like this is a case of inmate justice. That's probably not the worst that can and perhaps will happen to this guy in prison. Welcome to Oz asshole.

Car Buying Tips

These are some good tips for buying a new car. But they left out a couple of things.

1. Always be prepared to walk out if you're not getting the deal you want.
   
   The last thing a dealer wants to do is spend time negotiating with a buyer and then have that buyer walk out without closing the deal. Time is money for them and if they see that you're ready to walk away, they suddenly remember a "special" discount that allows them to meet your price after all.
   
   


2. Get the best financing available
   
   High interest rates increase the costs of a car. If you have excellent credit, hold out for the lowest interest rate you can get. If they won't budge on interest, see number one above.
   
   


3. Insist on the best price on your trade-in
   
   If you're trading in your old vehicle, insist on the best price for your car. Dealers make a good profit off of trade-ins and they will generally try to give you the least amount they can. Look up your car in the Blue Book and don't let them tell you that the Blue Book is meaningless. If the Blue Book was meaningless, BMW wouldn't cite it in their ads. Trade-in value doesn't have to kill a deal, you can always sell your old car yourself, but it does make it easier if you can get good value for you car from the dealer.
   

The Edmunds site has some great resources including an article called "Confessions of a Car Salesman" that provides some incite into how car salesmen get customers to pay more for a car than they should. It's a must read if you're going car buying in the near future.

What?! No Personal Jet Packs?!

I'm not going to be any robot's pet. I noticed no one mentioned the development and advancement of nano-technology. They also left out flying cars, homes on the moon and clones. What kind of future doesn't include these things. Come on you guys, haven't you read andy good SciFi recently?

Stealing Signs

What makes these guys think that their opponents wouldn't figure out what the QB's signal to receivers meant? Musberger's "revelation" is not that earth-shattering, and it doesn't give opposing teams any more information than they already had. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the quarterback throws to the man-to-man side after he makes his little gesture. If a pitcher is tipping his pitches, he either has to figure it out and change his behavior, or just live with the fact that batters know what's coming. This is no different. If anything Musburger did him a favor by forcing him to be more clever and come up with a better system for signalling his receivers.

Feasting on Lamb Chops

It's too bad the Niners can't play the Rams every week. Smith threw for a touchdown. Gore ran for a touchdown. The defense got six sacks. The Niners defense haven't had more than six sacks in a game since they played the Rams last year. They looked a lot better yesterday, but they're still along way from beign a contender. Baby steps I guess.

Another Darwin Award Nominee

Here's a dad who won't be awarded any parenting prizes. I guess it's already too late to save the gene pool. Hopefully his daughter takes after her mother.

Survivor Race Relations

Say what you will about the latest twist in Survivor, they're getting a lot of press for separating the contestants into race-based "tribes". There's already been controversy thanks to Rush Lumphead's lame-brained diatribe about the strengths and limitations of the various ethnic groups. Much of the criticism touches on the stereotyping that Lumphead has already espoused in his ignorance.

My only thought is that the presence of asians in primetime just quadrupled. Other than that, I don't give a damn, and I won't be watching.

Brand Monopolies

They're introducing a new version of the game with tokens from the likes of Toyota and Starbucks. I don't buy the statement about not branding every new token. I think it's more likely that they couldn't get any airlines or computer makers to buy in. I'll stick with the classic game. Afterall, if you get $2 million for passing go, just how are Mediteranean and Baltic avenue going to cost you?

It's a Boy!

The one benefit about Britney Spears having another kid is that it keeps her out of the studio and off the stage. The potential consequence is that she'll raise her kids to be tiny pop stars that perform songs with vacuous lyrics and infectious beats.

The Raiders Suck More than the Niners

At least the Niners looked competitive. The Raiders simply sucked. Home shutout!!! Nine sacks!!! Home crowd boos in the first quarter!!!

That's some really bad football.

Niners in Last Place Already

So much for the new beginning. The 49ers lost to the Cardinals and because the Rams and Seahawks also won, the Niners are alone in last place. I don't buy all the talk about the good effort and positive performances. When push came to shove, the Niners didn't deliver.

They couldn't stop Arizona on third downs. They had two key turnovers that led to points for Arizona. They couldn't generate a decent pass rush. They even failed at the end on a catchable last-gasp pass. The only difference between this year and last is the close score and the fact that Smith wasn't responsible for the turnovers. If they're satisfied with such meager progress, then it's going to be a long season.

Another Bad Break for the Warriors

The Warriors number one draft pick broke his foot and will be out 4-6 weeks. Even worst is that fact that centers typically have foot problems later in their careers, so this may not bode well for O'Bryant. How typical for the team with the worst luck when it comes to healthy centers.

It's uncanny how much center trouble Golden State has had. They're center woes began when they traded Robert Parrish and the third pick in the draft(which the Celtics used to pickKevin McHale) for the rights to draft J.B. Carroll at number one. The Celtics went on to win three championships and the Warrriors began a run of mediocrity that continues to this day.

Sure they made the playoffs a couple of times since then, but only the Clippers have been worst than the Warriors and they've finally gotten things turned around. Meanwhile, GS is going backwards with the return of Don Nelson and another sore-footed center. Unbelievable.

I Hate IE

It never ceases to amaze me at how much IE sucks. As a web designer I often find that I have to fix CSS bugs in IE so that my designs work in that browser. It's usually stupid things like having to assign a height to a table cell so that a child element can have a height relative to the parent cell. Why isn't the cell height inherently 100% unless the height is specified? Why make me clutter my code with unnecessary declarations?

I've heard that IE 7 is supposed to be so much better. Too bad I can't test with it since, true to MS form, installing 7 means you can't run 6. So I either have to have a separate test machine (not in my budget) or continuously install and uninstall 7. I'll stick with 6 and keep pulling my hair out trying to make this stupid piece of shite work.

Jones is Clean After All

Big news for track and field star, Marion Jones. She tested positive for a banned substance earlier this summer. Now a "B" sample has come up negative for the same substance, which means that the initial test is nullified. So she's clean this time.

Giants Win, and Barry's Back

The Giants are fighting their way back into the playoff race. Barry's return to form has helped. The elephant in the room of course is whether Barry is finally healthy again that he can hit for power, or is he on a new kind of juice. It's a shame that he'll always face that kind of question.

Football is Here

Go Niners!! Maybe they'll actually reach .500 for a change.