Ace Ventura

There are times when I keep the TV on while I WORK. Ace Ventura is on now, haven't seen the movie in a while, but I just realized a problem with the whole movie. As a refresher to those who have seen t
eh movie in a while, Ray Finkel is ex Dolphin Kicker who missed a 26 yard FG as time expired that would have won the Super Bowl for the Dolphins. Finkel blamed Dan Marino claiming that the he held the ball laces instead of laces out, thus making the kick go wide left.

Why would Dan Marino be the holder? a job usually saved for a punter or backup QB, not your Hall of fame superstar starting QB?

Goodbye Mooch, not Millen

After a week of the papers announcing it, and fans grumbling all season, Lions coach Steve Mariucci has finally been fired.

Maybe it's something in the water but seemingly good coaches come to Detroit, Phil Garner, and Bobby Ross and now Mooch to name some in recent years, and leave as total flops.

There are those who belive that Millen should have bee the one to get fired, since he put this team together. I guess time will tell on this one. Either Millen is a bad judge of talent and wasted draft picks on Joey, Rogers and the Williams, or Mooch was too stubborn to utilize their talents because it didn't fit the system he wanted.

I don't know why, but I think it's the latter. Maybe because all the experts were very high on the Lions offensive potential, or I just can't believe that someone could blow 4 years of top draft picks.

It makes sense to blame Millen, He hasn't improved this team they sucked before he came, and now 4 years later they are just as bad. Sure they improved one game per year over a 3 year span, but that was from 2 wins to 3,4 and 5. He doesn't coach however, he assembled what shoud have been a good team, and thats why he still has a job and Mooch doesn't.

I hate to say it, but it would seem to me that Millen gets one more year, once again a new head coach, a new system, one who will hopefully utilize the takent around him. That means that Joey Harrington should get another year, and hopefully Kevin Jones will once again be a productive back.

If the same garbage contuinues they should gut this entire pathetic franchise and start from scratch.

When is it OK

When is it OK to root against your favorite team, for their own benefit?

It's obvious that the Lions aren't going to make the playoffs this season, and unless a miracle occurs they will lose their head coach (finally). So what benefit is it for the tema to win another a game?

The first time I felt compelled to hope the home team would lose was when the Tigers staged their assault on the all-time loss record. I was rooting for the Tigers to set the record. 119 losses is emberessing and pathtic, but it doesn't get you in teh record books. 121 would have. A friend of mine, a huge Tihger fan, was agahst that I would root for the Tigers to set the record.

The Lions are a differet story all toigether. They have been teh worst team since 2001. They seem to waste top picks every season, Joey, the Williams and the weed man himself Chuck Rogers. It's safe to assume that should they get a top pick, they would waste it or ruin teh career of a promising taken.

If the season ended today the Lions would have the 11th pick, I think they could drop into the top 5, but what good what it do for them?

I almost became what I mock

Black Friday...Busiest shopping day of the year..Logic says stay away from the malls.

Never before have I even thought about getting up at to be at a store at 5 AM, but for some reason this year was different. We saw a list of Te sales at Best Buy of the sales, and They had something that we wanted. I was talking with a friend, we'll call him daniel, and he said he would go up with me. We would be in touch around 4:30 in the morning.

I get up at the appointed time, and see that I received a text message from Daniel at 2:15 saying he wasn't going to go. I was already up and dressed, so I went. There was no traffic, kinda peaceful driving on the empty peaceful roads.

I was thinking hoe crowded could it possibly be? There are so many stores all opening at the same time, all with the same sales, I figured there would 30-40 people, and they probably didn't need the same crap I needed.

I pull into the parking find a spot, the line doesn't look too bad, its pretty cold and still 20 mins till the store opens. As i walk closer to the store I see that the line doesn't end, and instantly I regret my decision.

i call my friend in Pittsburgh we'll call him Zip. Zip is a huge fan of the sale, he called at about 12:30 in the morning to tell me that he had just gotten to the store and was 14th on line. I called up Zip and asked him if he could get me what I needed, he said sure, and so I got back in my car, and drove home. Got back in bed by 5:00 and went back to sleep.

You may be wondering why I didn't ask Zip to get the stuff the night before, that thought did cross my mind, but I didn't think I could get in touch with him, and would have felt bad not showing up.

Lions and Thanksgiving

Many people wonder why the Lions play every year on Thanksgiving. They are the only game on TV and every one in the country who watches football must watch the woeful Lions.

I believe the reason the Lions are on Thanksgiving is so that everyone else in the country is thankful that their team isn't as crappy as the Lions. (They have the worst record in the entire NFL since 2001)

Yay me

I would like to offer congratulation to myself for winning my first super Bowl in Madden '06. This was the 4th season of my franchise, playing with a second year QB, and a team that missed the playoffs last season. Ironically, I missed the playoffs because I lost the Indy Colts on the final game of the season, and I played the Colts in the Super Bowl.

Things didn't start out good for the Leo's. I threw two first half INT'S one returned for a TD and the other inside my own 20, but the defense was able to hold of the Colts offense to a field goal. I did manage a TD before the half, and the team went into the Locker room down 17-7.

I received the ball at the start of the second half and drove my team down to the 15 yard line but had to settle for a field goal (17-10). The colts took the ball and drove through my Defense like it was practice squad. With the ball inside the red zone, I was having the dreaded thought that i would have to wait another season to taste victory in the big dance.

Then came the turning point, Peyton Manning tossed a what should have been a harmless screen pass, but it hit Edgerrin James in the back, FUMBLE, James Hall picked up the ball and rumbled stumbled for 6o yards, and breathed life back into the Lions.

Using the short field Ralph Ford (My second year QB) drove the Lions into the end zone, tying the game with just over 3:00 minutes left. It was time for the Defense, ranked number 1 the past two seasons to make a stand. It didn't start out well, Twice the Colts converted third and long. Would three times be a charm? (Obviously not, as I mentioned earlier I won the game) 3rd and 14, I used both safeties to double team the WR and dropped the Linebackers into coverage.

Manning dropped back, and as he had all game, he had great protection. But their was nowhere to toss the ball. Big Baby Shaun Rogers finally broke through the the O Line and sacked Manning forcing the Colts to punt the ball with 1:58.

Now it was time for the Ford to prove he deserved his Pro Bowl selection and drive this offense. He too converted some clutch third downs (for the game I believe i was 10/14, and with just 2 seconds left Jason Hanson kicked a 30 yard field goal to finally after all his years as a Lion win the big game.

James Hall was named MVP for his recovered fumble, a sack and a bunch of tackles.

If only real life followed Madden life, the Lions game tommorow may be exciting..HAPPY THANKSGOVING TO ALL

7-11 that delivers

I was sitting in my nice warm house this afternoon and I really wanted a Slurpee. I knew that if I went out to get the Slurpee, I would get cold, and then it wouldn't be worth it. Also I didn't want it that badly, that I would get my shoes on and drive there. That's when it hit me, 7-11 should deliver. They could have trucks, like ice cream trucks, with teh machine built in it, so that your Slurpee wouldn't melt.

Dogs

If you read my wife blog you may have read that it appears we may get a dog. I have a few concerns regarding this situation, obe is I hate dog hair. The other is about Jonah and how he would react with the dog.

This Shabbos we spent in Pittsburgh with the Siedmens, friends of ours, who own two monster dogs. Second things first, for the most part Jonah was great with these two dogs, except when they barked really loud, he ran to them petted them and threw toys at them. SO that concern was eased.

My first concern wasn't solved, these dogs are crazy hairy, hair everywhere, in the beds, on my clothes I can't deal with that. From what I hear teh dog we may get, a chochlate Labrador, is a short hair dog and shouldnt be a problem.

Article

Here is an article that was written in the Ann Arbor News, about my company, and I am quoted throughout it..Very cool
Ypsilanti schools allow ads in buses

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

I have mentioned in the past that my basement is prone to flooding. We built up dirt on the side of the house and that didn't solve the problem. On Tuesday it rained and rained and appeared that it night never stop, I even thought about building and ark. But I digress. I went into my basement and saw the puddle in its usual place. But something was different this time, I saw the splashing, water was coming in front of me for the first time. I followed the stream and discovered it was shooting out of my wall. It appeared like my wall was peeing.

I stuck my finger over the hole to see what would happen if I covered the hole. I don';t know what I expected, maybe the pressure would build and the whole wall would cave in and water would rush in like Niagara falls. That didn't happen, the wall was so weak where my finger touched that it pushed it in and another leak sprung. Since this hole was bigger the water didn't squirt as much as it just ran down the wall.

This caused a minor problem because I had put a bucket under the stream to catch it, but the bucket couldn't stand flush against the wall to capture the water. So I thought deep thoughts and here's what I did: I took aluminum foil, and taped it right under the holes, and then angled the foil towards the bucket, thus catching all the water.

Not all my idea were great, I had to mark the area where the hole was so I wouldn't forget and then be unable to fix it, so I took a sharpie and drew a circle around it. This didn't make the wife happy. She thought I should have used a pen or pencil to mark the spot. .

Finally it stopped raining at some point during the night and I was able to put cement over the hole which will hopefully prevent this debacle from happening in the future. I also made that the cement covered up the sharpie circle.

Ads on buses

History was made yesterday and I went and placed an ad on school buses in the Ypsilanti School District. It was raining the entire time I was sticking em to the bus, as if the heavens themselves were crying at the innocence lost to these kids.

In all seriousness, it was really cool to finally put some ads on the buses and see the fruit of my labor (Nats term i believe) Also congrats to bus #32 which was the first bus to leave the lot with an ad in it.. I told the bus driver about her historic drive. I hope it stays with her forever.

Burger Buddy

My lovely Sis in law was in Chicago and she brought back burger buddies for me and Nat. My oldest swears that these burgers are the best burgers in teh world and he has driven to Chicago for dinner just to get some.

I may not be a burger Connoisseur like my brother but I didn't think this burger was so special. I should point out that they were bought Sunday evening, and weren't eaten until Monday night, but still nothing to special. In fact I think the burgers that I make have more flavor then these burger buddies.

(The opinions stated here are soley the opinion of teh author and not of his family or anyone else who may tasted both burgers)

If only...

If only the Lions played the Arizona Cardinals a few times a year. (It's nice to lay a team even worse than the Lions)

If only Joey played like this every sunday.

If only I picked Roy Williams up when he was a free agent in my fanatsy league (3 TD)

Meetings

The past few work days have been among my most productive and promising lately. I met with three interested clients yesterday and I have another meeting next week.

As I went to sleep the a few nights ago, I was thinking about the upcoming meeting I was going to have and it hit me, I had no clue what I was doing. Well, I knew what I was doing in theory, I was going to convince these people to advertise on the school bus. While I work in sales, sales people have always bothered me. I'm not an idiot, if I need it or it will work for me, then I'll get it. So I felt that I should walk in to the meeting, tell him what we do, and the guy will understand if its a worthwhile opportunity for him.

So I get to my meeting, and in two of the three the client tells me his concerns, and instead of saying, you're right that makes sense, I told him he was wrong (nicely of course) and I anticipate hearing from them shortly that they will sign on with our company. The third meeting was more to my liking. The guy just wanted a quick overview, he understood its value and will get back to me on Monday as to what his company plans on doing.

My next meeting should be interesting, It's with an ad agency, The guy already has all the information he will need, so I'm not quite sure what we will be talking about, Probably the amount of students who ride the us and the final costs. I'm pretty confident that it will go well, The guy has the info he looked it over, and he stills wants the meeting. Or I guess he can be bored and needed something interesting so he invited me down. But I doubt it, I am confident that the meeting will go well.

Maybe I'll bring him donuts or something so that he likes me and spends his clients money on a worthy investment

Moral Question

Interesting thing came in teh mail today. It was from "Help Hospitalized Veterans" In it was a $2.25 check. The letter enclosed said that they obviously don't have money to send out, and they hope that instead of taking the check we send them more money.

Is it wrong for me to deposit the check. They are dumb for sending me a check, its a risk, that in this case doesnt pay off. Also the envelope they sent for me to return the check in didnt come prestamped. So I'dhaveto also include a stamp

Bull Crap

The other night before the Detroit Pistons played the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, the Kings played a video on the jumbo screen during the introduction of the Pistons. It showed video of burning cars, abandoned dilapidated buildings and not so flattering video of Detroit.

The Kings ownership apologized profusely saying they didn't know about it before hand. they took out ads in the Detroit papers to apologize and called the Pistons owner to apologize.

That's all good and nice but what about the guy who did create the video, what happens to him? I would think that the guy would be fired. He wont be according to Kings president John Thomas no one would be fired for the incident, including Leland Patton, the Kings' director of event presentation.
"We're not going to fire the individual," Thomas said. "He is distraught today, like we all are, but he's in bad shape. He feels horrible emotionally."

What the Hell does that mean, it wasn't like this was a snap decision, or an accident where he pushed the wrong button. This was a premeditated attack on Detroit. What does it mean he "feels horrible emotionally"

If that all it takes to get out of being fired, more people should screw up and instead of getting fired they should be "feel bad emotionally"

Brian, if I ever screw up just know I will probably feel bad emotionally about it

Ed Note ---
I just saw a video from a sacremento tv station regarding this topic, and they said that while teh Kings are very sorry about what happened no one will even be suspended...Thats even more crap and a bigger slap in teh face, I once punched a kid in teh face in school(he deserved it) and I got suspended, these people slapped an entire region, and they arent getting punished at all. I no longer accept their apolgy I think it's as sincere as T.O. apology to the Eagles.

hmmmm

I noticed something interesting the other day while playing Madden. When I lean back on the couch, I tend to play worse, make bad passes, and not tackle well. But if I sit up, I play much better. Better play calling, better execution odds of winning increase.

You may be wondering, why don't I always sit up, why lean back ever? The answer my friends and loyal readers, is I play the games so I can relax. So naturally, I relax while playing. Which means that there times that I relax. think if I went pro at Madden I hopefully wouldn't sit back and chill while playing. (Although Charles Rogers is a pro football player, and apparently he relaxes through practices and games as well. That's a different story for a different time)

Glad they traded him

Looks like the Tigers were smart for getting rid of this guy Urbina faces attempted murder charges in Venezuela

F@#$ing Lions

It was so tough to watch the Lions game, I actually fell asleep during the first half. They went up against a team that lost their starting QB, has sucked all year long, and showed no run D in the 1st half.

Joey got his starting job back and did OK, thank goodness for Scott Vines and 9 catches. Who would have thought that Lions could draft so crappy 3 straight years. Can you think of more disappointing draft picks then Rogers, Williams and Williams. All big strong and slow. And Mike Williams can't hold onto the ball. The Lions should take the extension they gave Matt Millen and shred it, he wasted three straight top 10 picks. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lions are the new Bengals, a symbol of mediocrity in the Parity NFL.

I would be surprised if the Lions end up in last place in the division. Yes, I think the 1-6 Packers, who will probably lose the game they are playing to Charlie Batch led Steelers, will still win enough games to pass the Lions. That outta cost Mooch his job, not that he has done anything in three years here to deserve to keep his job anyways, but that should guarantee his firing.

Ron Artest

I am really surprised by all the love Ron Artest has been getting in the national media. They are treating him like he's Nelson Mandela, punished for a crime he didn't commit (Honestly, how many people are shocked that I used Mandela as an analogy, for that matter how many people are shocked I even know who he is. And no, I didn't look him up) Don't forget this is the man who ran into the stands and attacked a fan, inciting a riot. Whereever you are boo teh crap out of Ron Artest

Poor Jonah

I feel bad for Jonah lately. Nothing seems to be going his way. He's had diarrhea for what seems like forever, he had a bad cold over Sucot, While we were in St Louis he got a bad second degree burn in between two of his fingers. I guess kids that young can strike a match(Just Kidding he burnt it on a steam humidifier).

When we got home he develops and ear infection is terrified of his bed room and the bath tub. If all this isn't bad enough today I had to take him for his 1 year old shots. they gave him 4 shots two in one leg, one in the other leg, and a shot in the arm.

He did OK with the shots, he cried when the lady shot him up, but he was done crying by the time we left her office. By the time we got to the car he was acting high. He is now crying in his bed, but its bedtime, so he can cry.

Bumper sticker

I saw a bumpoer sticker on a car today that said "If animals could talk, we'd all be vegetarians"


luckily they don't talk. I guess God must have known what he was doing when he made them.

Tuesday Night Ball

As you may know I play basletball on Tuesday night. The game follows an hour long study program. The official rules state that people who attend learning are automatically in teh first game. For the most part I have no problem with that rule, the people who just shopw up for ball shouldnt play ahead of the learners.

But I think this rule needs to be ammended, and they shoudl add a time limit. Learning ends at 9:00, followed by Maariv (evening prayer) which takes about 15 minutes. The first game should start around 9:20 AT THE LATEST. Last night we didnt get the first game started untill 9:30, because we had to wait for all teh leraners to get ready and show up, even though we had 8 guys ready to play.

In case you are wondering, last night I didn't make it to learning and had to sit untill the second game.

I'm back

I'm back

life has been busy lately and I didn't have much to say, but life is back to normal and I have lots to say. (I think)

Work is going well, we basically signed on our second school distroct and have a third one that has agreed in principle.

Jonah is doing OK, he has screamed bloody murder teh past few nighst when we took him in hios room at nbight. Turns out he has ann ear infection and it hurts him at night when its time to sleep. Reminds me of a times I used to get a "12 hour virus" on days when I had a big test, and then would feel better when school was over.

I went U of D and Specs Howard today, I'm an alum of both those places, I thought it was cool. So much education, and I put it to good use.