Dear New Sonics Ownership Group (number 7) ...

Dear New Sonics Ownership Group (number 7) ...

It is very clear that your level of tolerance to embarrassment is fairly high.

Because ... and lets be really honest here ... whether I was from Seattle or not and just a sports fan I would think that you guys are morons ...

Do you really think even Oklahoma City fans believe any thing you say?

Really ... the spin you are trying to put on the emails just makes you look like dumb, dumber, dumberer, and really freaking stupid ...

Even Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata has realized that he said something stupid and took full responsibility for his comments. I actually believe Licata because his explanation and mea culpa was during a deposition and not merely at a press conference trying for political gain ... Licata had the guts to just say that he was clearly wrong and did not speak for a large part of the population that considers sports important ... I can respect that ...

But Clay Clay et al ... you guys are trying to have us believe your spin when all you have done is lie. Liars are not to be believed ... because they are liars ...

The real question is ... and the one you guys really need to be worried about ... is how much embarrassment are the other owners and NBA really willing to put up with in order to have a team in Oklahoma City ...

It is clear that national sports fans and media consider it a bad idea ...

It is clear that the players don't want to go ... good luck signing free agents ...

How much is David Stern really willing to put up with?

The NBA has a chance to get the Ballmer group and all that comes with those owners into their club ... would they rather have them or you?

The NBA is finding its dirty laundry in court and likely to be in court on other suits as well because of your actions, your lies ...

Even David Stern has to have his limits ... at some point your value will no longer outweigh the liability of keeping you around ... it happened once here in Seattle when the NFL decided it would rather have Paul Allen and it hopefully will happen to you ...

What a difference 20 years makes ... (Oxymoron project)

What a difference 20 years makes ...

It was the Summer of 1988 and ESPN was actually showing a soccer game ... a World Cup Qualifier in fact ... Jamaica had just tied the game at 1-1 ... The USA was not even going to make the final round of WCQ for Italia 90 unless something happened ... we had just been awarded the 94 cup and that could be in peril because if we didn't qualify for 90 there were forces that wanted to pull the plug on us for 94 ....

There were 10k there in attendance and the ESPN announcers were almost giddy over the attendance ... We came through and scored several goals and eventually did move on to Italia 90 and every World Cup since ...

Now ... we expect to qualify ... Even though CONCACAF has improved light years from 20 years ago ... The US is clearly with Mexico as the class of the region ...

In June the US will play Barbados in two matches to move into the next round of qualifying. The two Barbados matches would have been viewed as a huge road block in 1988 and are being treated as formalities today ...

In 1988 they were simply hoping to stay alive for 1989 and now the US Soccer Federation is already announcing next round venues and fans are planning trips to South Africa ...

This is so hard to describe ...

This is so hard to describe ...

"Star Trek: New Voyages"
World Enough and Time
EMP - JBL Theatre
5-20-08

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879856/

I recently had the opportunity to watch a special presentation of an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages ... A series of episodes of classic Star Trek material set in what would have been the 4th and 5th seasons of a original series, had the show not been cancelled three years into the five year mission ...

It takes a few minutes to get into the replacement characters, and to accept that the 60's style acting was NOT parody, but homage ...

They even had a few original cast members make appearances including the original Sulu George Takei; who elevated the entire production and gave it a legitimacy that was very cool ... I wish he would have been there as originally advertised ...

A Star Trek episode on the big screen was a different feel ... especially one like this

Alana (Sulu's daughter) was played by an actress named Christina Moses ... Sulu's daughter was hot and had a good screen presence ... and I thought I had seen her before, but since she basically has no other IMDB credits that is impossible ... I think she has a future and would like to see her get a few other roles ...

It was cool to have the director in attendance and to get a good explanation of the project and process in advance ...

Bottom line is that I could picture this really being an episode of the 4th season that never happened ...

My guest was sad at the end ...

I am going to have to look online and see other episodes now ...

... and yes, it was very clear that Captain Kirk wanted to shag Sulu's daughter ...

By George, I Think He's Lost It ...

May is the kickoff month of the Hollywood blockbuster season ...

This month, I went and saw all 4 of what I considered to be the movies to see that would fit that mold ...

Iron Man ... Holy Moley Andy! ... a good movie that happened to be a comic book movie with real actors, an intelligent script, and good effects that did not completely dominate the film in order to take away from what had been accomplished by the good acting and script ... the bar has been raised ...

Prince Caspian ... a bit slow and plodding, but better than the next two ... I did enjoy it and it felt like an installment but it is what it is and would not stand alone ... I am looking forward to the remaining films in this series ...

Indiana Jones 4 ... very disappointing ... the crystal skull looked like the same plastic used for 2 liter bottles and distracted from the film every time it was on screen it was so bad ... the acting and chemistry and direction were fine and they did a nice job of clearly placing it in the 50s ... but in the end the movie was a big waste of time ... there was nothing resembling drama or peril; in fact the sequences sometimes made me cringe and laugh (I am referring to the 3 waterfalls and the flying refrigerator here) ...

Speed Racer ... it is a sad day for the legacy of George Lucas (he had screenwriting and production credit on IJ4) when Speed Racer was a more enjoyable movie experience than an Indiana Jones film ... not to knock Speed, but this clearly should not have happened ... I almost enjoyed this more than Caspian for its sheer audacity in going for the anime world the way it did ... this is a classic case of the directors really enjoying the source material and trying to use TLC ... kick back with some popcorn and root beer and just be entertained by seeing your favorite childhood cartoon come to life and this is totally worth the time and money ...

In all ... a decent start to the summer season with a number of fun ones to come that I have to hope are at least Speed Racer good ... and I never thought that this would be the bar ...

But George ... stop ... just stop ... the Star Wars prequels were not a fluke ...

Rocky 6 ...

Rocky 6 ...

Some movies are simply SUPPOSED to suck ... this premise holds true for other aspects of the arts, but just for the sake of argument let's focus on movies, especially sequels, and especially Stallone sequels ...

Rocky ... a truly great movie ...

First Blood ... a very good action film ...

The movies that followed? Dear Lord ...

I must admit to having never watched a Rambo sequel simply on general principle, but I have seen a few of the Rocky sequels and wondered how I would get those hours of my life back ...

Rocky 2 ... okay and a logical progression ...

Rocky 3 ... made some sense the first part of the film to see how the guy would handle fame ... but the character stopped being Rocky of Rocky 1 to me ...

Rocky 4 ... Rocky wins the Cold War was simply unacceptable and Stallone clearly knew nothing of Soviet culture while making this film ...

I stopped ...

Rocky Balboa (aka Rocky 6) simply HAD to be awful ...

Then the reviews were decent ...

Then The Razzies expressed disappointment in the film being entertaining ...

And so ... I got it from the library recently after watching Rocky 1 ...

Rocky Balboa is the real sequel ... if someone only watched 1 and 6 and skipped the rest it gave you enough flashback to make it work ... and it really felt like Rocky was being Rocky ...

Rocky Balboa in Rocky 6 is a very lonely man in a sea of many, many friends ... the first hour clearly shows a man putting on a brave face to the world that he does not feel a real part of ... There's a Cats in the Cradle feeling with his son and a genuine sense of grief throughout ...

Even the boxing and training elements work ...

Stallone deserves a lot of credit for sitting back and stripping Rock down and showing us where this important character might really end up ... I joked to some friends that I almost don't know what to do about liking this ...

What NOT to do when pulled over ...

What NOT to do when pulled over ...

circa 1992 ... Mountlake Terrace ... it's late on a weekend night ...

I pull out of the 7-11 and head up 52nd and crest the hill ...

I am not speeding ...

I have not been drinking ....

There are flashing lights behind me ...

I pull over ...

A Terrace cop with a questionable attitude simply tells me that I did not stop when pulling out of the 7-11 (this is something that they call "Failure to come to a complete stop when leaving a private drive onto an arterial" or something) and that I was going to get a ticket for that ...

Please bear in mind that had I not come to a complete stop when leaving that 7-11 the differential on my truck would still be down there and so would I ... the dip when coming out of that lot is severe and there was simply no way I could have blasted out of there ...

I told him so ...

He said he saw me ...

I did not believe him and told him so and that I thought he was just a bored Terrace cop living up to the way everyone feels about Terrace cops ...

He disagreed ...

I got the ticket ... he looked smug as all get out handing it to me ...

There was no real way to fight the ticket without a day off from work and going to court, which likely would have cost me more than the ticket ...

I still think he saw a car blast out of there that was not mine and lost track of vehicles in the dark or simply wanted to spot check a car for drinking or something and when I pointed out his error he got prissy about it and wrote the lamest ticket ever ...

I felt like Jim Carey in Liar Liar when he pointed out that there was nothing he could really do about his treatment other than whine and complain ...

I have not received a ticket since and the couple times I have been pulled over I have been nice, even when the reasoning given was lame ... I guess there is a lesson in here somewhere ...

Smoking in bars ...

Smoking in bars ...

Smokers are feeling picked on ...

We get it ...

There are bars trying to get around the smoking ban and I saw interviews with smokers who were trying to come across as sympathetic characters that are patriotically fighting for their rights ... it felt like watching satire ... to be honest, the more I watched, the less i felt sorry for them ...

For as long as any of us have been alive smokers have been able to impose smoke on us with impunity ...

Is there a civil rights element to tobacco? Maybe on some level ... but when someone does something that causes harm to others that simply is not a strong case ...

Don't give us all the 2nd hand smoke kool-aid ... the notion that 2nd hand smoke is not harmful is both wishful thinking and denial mixed up in guilt and wrapped around a lie ... studies are coming out that finally prove that ridiculous and insulting assertion ...

When smoking was taken out of public places I finally didn't hack up crap out of my lungs when i would go out dancing ...

When smoking was taken out of public places I finally didn't need a change of clothes to be able to stand my own smell while driving ...

When smoking was taken out of public places I finally didn't need a bath prior to bed ...

When smoking was taken out of public places bands played longer ...

I understand that there is a sense that smokers consider something to be taken from them ... However, it is clear that what has really happened is that the rest of us simply are no longer willing to be subjected to something harmful on those grounds ...

Smokers ... prove it is not harmful to the rest of us and that it is not an infringement on your civil rights ... prove that your choice to smoke has no effect on others and I will vote to repeal the smoking ban ...

Didn't think so ...

A whole new level of old ... Funny Subbing Stories updates ...

A whole new level of old ...

Sound Off!
CD review

So I go to EMP the other night and cash in my membership freebie tickets and get handed a CD from EMP's "Sound Off!" school age battle of the bands competition ... In and of itself this is hardly interesting, but when I looked at the photos of the bands, there was a student I regularly work with ... I felt a whole new level of old when I realized this ... I can't quite place it as to why, when I deal with stuff every day that clearly defines my age in relation to my students, but somehow this is different to me ... but still cool ...

The CD itself is an interesting mix of different ways "young people" are making rock and how it is morphing with this generation ... all I can say is that some of it I like and some of it I don't ... tastes are one's own and I am glad so many "young people" are going out there and doing this ...

With myspace and the web, it is so different today for musicians in a good news slash bad news sort of way ... it is good news that people can browse and find new acts sort of randomly, but it is bad news that they may only give it a few seconds before moving on ... Still, 16 year olds can now record and post their stuff online and find an audience where bands when i was that age simply did not have that opportunity ...

I have decided to combine the post above with an update to my regular postings about life as a substitute teacher ...

Recent funny subbing stories ...

The fifth grade class i was working with was doing an art project and so all sorts of materials were out. I asked, "Does anyone have any white out I can borrow?" A moment passed and a girl walked up to me, empty handed, and informed me, "Mr. L ... you can get white out for 59 cents at Office Depot." She returned to her desk. I was told.

I was at a local high school lately when a student informed me that he had used you tube to turn in his work the night before and emailed the link to the teacher in order to time stamp that he had finished the project at a certain time ... I am officially now in the 21st Century and feeling more like a Luddite every day ...

I can work electronics okay, but sometimes the hookups in classrooms can be kind of off ... I was set to play a video for a class when i looked down at the dvd instructions for the player and projector... there was a full page of instructions on how to run the projector ... I thought at first the teacher was committing a gross act of overkill ... they were actually needed ... and I saved them ...

There is nothing quite like the gleam in the eye a 5th or 6th grade girl gets when about to peg a boy in the ... midsection ... while playing dodgeball ... I asked a couple of girls if they enjoyed the game and they told me the following ... "They deserve it ... well ... most of them", "duh", "they squeal" ... any further explanation would be superfluous ...

I was checking my messages outside on a break between classes when I noticed something shiny and colorful in the grass ... funny that it was in the grass ... yep, a pipe ... at least it wasn't smoldering ... but the pipe hardly got a shocked reaction from the security guard or admin ...

I overheard a comment from two lunch ladies discussing what to do about a suspended kid buying lunch ... apparently he was sneaking into school during lunch to not only see his friends but to cash in his free hot lunch ... ingenious in its own way ...

A bunch of students were speaking in Spanish and I did not feel that they were discussing classwork ... so I said one phrase of Spanish and that was all it took to get them on task since they could not be certain how much i was really understanding ... I don't speak Spanish ...

I have also discovered that I want a nanny ... any further explanation would also be superfluous ...

More later ...

Dehumanizing the candidates

Here it comes ...

Let's just make fun of Obama's middle name ... to make him sound dangerous ...

Let's talk about how old McCain is ... to make him seem used up and useless ...

Let's question Hilary's fitness based on hormones ... to play on stereotypes ...

I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.

I really am ...

If it doesn't have anything to do with the presidency, I don't care ...

20 years?!? ... It can't be ...

20 years?!? ... It can't be ...

Operation: Mindcrime is 20 years old ...

I took these photos at a Bellevue Tower Records in store signing in May of 1988 ... the shot of Chris DeGarmo was published in Blitzkrieg! Magazine ...

Congrats to Harry Redknapp!!!

Congrats to Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth on winning the 2008 FA Cup. If liverpool can't hoist it, an ex-Sounder certainly is the next best thing ...

'arry!!

From my Oxymoron notes in a previous post ...

1977

Harry Redknapp

He was just sitting there shopping with his family and I am not mistaken now, that little kid with him played for Liverpool and England; Jamie Redknapp.

The Team That Was Not For Sale ...

The Team That Was Not For Sale ...

... has a home opener with new owners ...

... new owners (4th ownership group in 9 seasons) that sat front and center with the WNBA President and a local US Senator ... Clay Clay and Stern would never have the nerve to show their faces here for all the wrongs they've done, let alone sit front and center ...

Seattle Storm 67
Chicago Sky 61
5-17-08
Key Arena Seattle WA

















Things got off to a good start for me last night, because even with somewhat heavy traffic I got to where I needed to get to and parked where I liked to park and had time to walk instead of run past the scalper guys I hate to the box office to get cheap seats and into the arena and to my seats with enough time to be comfortable before tip off ...

... and they were playing Led Zep through the PA during warm ups ...

... and Brandi Carlisle did the National Anthem ...

... and the Storm have an All-Star team starting lineup with multiple MVP's and 3 of the 6 women who have won a WNBA, Olympic, and NCAA title all playing together ...

... and the Upper Bowl was partly open, meaning I was at the absolute top of Key Arena with a wall behind me ... which I have also done at Qwest, Safeco, the Kingdome, Mercer, and Memorial Stadiums over the years ...

... and they got off to a bit of a slow start ... a start that was as much in part the Chicago zone as it was simply missing open shots ...

... At 9:01 left in the Third Agler calls a timeout and they go from 9 down to 17 up by 5:49 left in the Fourth ...

... Once they got it going, my goodness that was a clinic in how to move the ball ... fun to watch veterans click and school a younger team ...

My Ozzfest streak ...

My Ozzfest streak is over this year ....

The sad and terrible rumor is true ... Ozzfest will only be a one day event in Dallas this summer ...

I actually like Dallas ... but, I won't be going ...

No Metallica ... who I have not seen in almost 20 years ...

No Ozzy ... for the first time in many summers ...

No KISW Rock Girls drawing tattoos on my shoulders and posing for pictures ...

No bonding ritual with my brother ...

No 2nd Stage discoveries ...

Cruefest?

Mayhem?

Perhaps ...

I drank the M's Kool-aid too ...

I fell for the M's hype too ...

I drank the M's Kool-aid too ...

They won 88 games last year despite a long losing streak in September ...

They were in a position late last season to make the playoffs ...

They got better - on paper - in the offseason ...

They looked healthy in Spring Training ...

The manager was willing to go on the record and talk about their postseason aspirations ...

The manager was willing to say that the first baseman would win a comeback award ...

They had the "best starting rotation in baseball" ...

Ichiro signed an extension ...

16-26 on May 15?

Barring a 20-2 stretch ... the season might already be over ...

And it is clear that we all drank the Kool-aid ...

A decade worth of ...

A decade worth of ...

Dear Hillary ...

For the better part of a decadde you have worked, raised money, ran for the Senate, and basically sculpted an image so that in 2008 you would be the Deomocratic nomimee to be POTUS ...

After years of working to get Bill there, it was your turn ...

There is no way you ran for the Senate to be a Senator ... you ran to build up to be POTUS, no other reason ... it was never about New York ...

And now, despite everything ... it does not appear that it is going to happen.

Instead of being a help, Bill hurt your campaign ...

Instead of being the force of change, you look like the insider ...

Instead of being inevitable, your time is apparently over ...

Now, I am not one to misunderestimate the Clinton's ... your ability to bounce back and pull it out of the fire is legendary ...

... and if McCain wins, it will be hard for a lot of people not to assume that the wrong candidate was put forward and you might then be the nominee in 2012 ... maybe ...

Are you being strong and thorough or stubborn and spiteful?

Can you really get behind the other candidate?

Can you really wait?

It's hard to believe that the Clinton Era in US politics might actually be over ...

In Praise of Vinyl (part II) - Singles ...

In Praise of Vinyl (part II) - Singles ...

Having a record player again has been cool ... and while albums are labor intensive in comparison to CDs ... SINGLES are labor intensive compared to albums ... which is cool ... since I get to play these songs and B sides that I have not been able to for some time ...

The above are a sample of some of the singles I have ...

I miss B sides ...


"When he was a young man ..."
Actually a "double single" package ...
A great little band from Spokane ... on colored vinyl no less ...
Heavy Metal fights hunger in Africa
Before that guy from the Foo Fighters started drumming for them
yep ...
again ... yep ...
once more ... yep ... but the B side is a great song ...
The original ...
The singer from Supertramp goes solo ... not many noticed ... but this is still a song I really like ...

The Last Ever Seattle Sounders Home Opener At Qwest Field ...

Shotgun Prose with the Cascadia Cup ... I point this out for the TA since I am not sure that they have ever seen one of these ... Jimmy Gabriel enjoys retirement Under the tarp with the ECS Championship Banners Opening Kickoff First Half Action This is what 10k+ looks like ... Closing Minutes

The Last Ever Seattle Sounders Home Opener At Qwest Field ...

... that is, until the Seattle Sounders FC have a home opener there next year ...
Seattle Sounders 0
Portland Timbers 0
5-10-08 Qwest Field Seattle WA

Let's face it ... a tap in during that first 20 minutes of domination and the entire game takes a different track ... that is all I have to say about this game ... Oh, and I owe Eric a Beer ...

Another Look At ... (#1) ... Metal Church - The Dark

Another Look At ... (#1) ... Metal Church - The Dark

I used to do a lot of reviews for my college paper and various magazines ... what I am going to do now is occasionally post reviews of gems from my record and tape collection that I never reviewed, but are very worthy of anyone who reads this taking a moment to consider ....

I saw Metal Church ... but it was after the most dreaded of all personnel changes any band can face; the loss of a lead singer. They were still a good band, but it just was not the same for me because I loved this record more than I even could have liked the one they were touring on with the new guy.

David Wayne died on May 9, 2005.

Track Listing:
"Ton of Bricks" - 3:00
"Start the Fire" - 3:50
"Method to Your Madness" - 4:52
"Watch the Children Pray" - 5:57
"Over My Dead Body" - 3:36
"The Dark" - 4:11
"Psycho" - 3:32
"Line of Death" - 4:42
"Burial at Sea" - 4:58
"Western Alliance" - 3:18

This is a record that I can still put in and play more than once in a row. "Ton of Bricks" is one of my favorite opening numbers of all time; it just sets the tone for the entire album. "Watch the Children Pray" is one of the best metal songs of the 80s. "Line of Death" clearly dates the album because it deals with Muammar Gaddafi. "Method to Your Madness" showed Wayne to be more than just a screamer. I mention Wayne here, but the band as a whole was simply fantastic on this record with great riffs and head banging moments throughout ...

A great record from a band that seemed to be head to head with Metallica when it came out in 1986 ...

"The Dog Who Came To Stay" ...

"The Dog Who Came To Stay" by Hal Borland

Books I should have read while in school ...

... and probably took credit for ...

So, I have occasionally run across books I was supposed to have read for school and read them later as an adult ... For whatever reason this title stood out ... so I went to the library and checked it out ...

I was a terrible high school student ... not terrible in the sense of having really bad grades, but in the sense that I could read really fast and could generally coast to the 3 point needed to keep my car insurance cheap and every one off my back ... for the most part I could get away with it, skimming some books or reading cliff notes or just generally faking it (sorry APES teachers, it's true) ... there was one night as a junior where I read all of Wuthering Heights on a dare, but for the most part I half read things at best ...

As a result there are a number of books I never read that I have taken the occasional time to read as an adult ...

Every so often i will come across a book in a used book store and realize that it makes the list above ... please do bear in mind that I am not talking about a list of dozens of books, but of several total ...

Hal Borland's "The Dog Who Came To Stay" hit the mark as something I know I had held in my hands before, probably as a library book in the 5th grade or something ... so, I checked it out ...

I am pretty certain that I would not have appreciated this book in 1978 the way I do today. I probably got about 6 pages into it at the time and simply gave up ...

Today I found it engrossing, detailing the relationship we can have with our dogs. As a life long dog owner and currently owner of a very old and frail dog I will likely be losing soon, it really was choice reading ...

I am kind of glad now that I waited to read this book until 2008, even if it was not intentionally ...

Despite everything, I still can't vote for McCain ...

Despite everything, I still can't vote for McCain ...

I am frustrated.

For months now I have tried to avoid the debacle that is the 2008 presidential primary season. But, it keeps forcing its way into my vision.

I am a Democrat. Years ago I decided that my politics do not perfectly fit into the Democratic Party, but that they would hardly fit at all in the Republican fold.

However, I like John McCain.

There are those in the US electorate that continually state that they vote for the man and not the party, but that is foolhardy since you get the party with the man. When Senator McCain comes out and promises more conservative judges it reminds me of this fact.

In 2000, I found myself rooting against Hillary Clinton in New York so as to end the Clinton Era in US politics; but Rudy imploded and here we are. It would not be my preference to see her in the Oval Office, but with everything that would come along with McCain I would consider myself as having no choice but to vote for her.

The more I listen to and follow Barack Obama, the less impressed I get. I recently watched him on Sunday morning TV repudiating his 2 decades old relationship with his pastor; an effort that seemed at best half-hearted and calculated on his part. Change? Hardly ...

However, again I would find myself voting for him because of what would come with a McCain presidency.

Should Senator McCain win I know I will be able to live with that aspect of another Republican victory, as he is likely to be able to work fairly well with Democrats given his history. But should McCain win, the Democratic candidate that was not nominated will simply be back in 4 years since they will spend all of that time saying, "See, you nominated the wrong one." No matter which of the two it is ...

I used to be a political junkie. Now, I am just tired of it. The 2008 election feels like it will never go away.

100 Things To Do Before I Die ...

100 Things ...

My favorite Texan Janet emailed me this exercise ... 100 Things To Do Before I Die ... The timing of it was interesting, since I was subbing a high school life skills class and told them I had just received it and printed it out for them to look at as well ... in the interests of setting a a good example I thought I would toss out a few of the things I would like to do myself and found myself completing the exercise in a couple of class periods ... I went over and stopped, figuring that this was a good example of how I felt on the day I did it ... April 24, 2008 ...

Since I went ahead and did this and typed it up to send back I decided to post it here ...

To be fair and give proper credit he exercise comes from "Caroline Miller Coaching" ...

Jefferson's 100 ...

1) Publish in hardcover
- I have a serialized novel, but this would be so much better

2) Direct a feature length film
- "the comic book shop" was a good attempt, but this would be so much better

3) Ride the Seattle To Portland bike race

4) Complete 25 Marathons (including Boston and New York at least once each)
- currently at 10 completed full marathons, all Seattle

5) 2nd Degree International Taekwondo Black Belt
- currently 1st Degree National

6) Own a condo

7) Teach English in a foreign country (most likely Korea)

8) Drive cross country to all states

9) Watch a rocket launch

10) Take a trip on Virgin Galactic

11) Take and Africa trip focusing on Egypt and South Africa
- 2010 would be perfect, but slipping away

12) Front a band in a bar for a night
- if only I could sing

13) Attend the Oscars
- be it as a fan or pro

14) Sit in The Kop for a game at Liverpool

15) Sit on the bench for a Sounders game

16) A NASCAR and/or INDY 500 weekend
- including a ride on the track

17) Cook with a famous cook

18) Write a story arc for Captain America or the Fantastic Four

19) Guest on a TV talk show
- preferably Republica Deportiva so that Alba could escort me to El Bar

20) Do a stand up comedy routine in a club
- working on that one about my adventures as a substitute teacher

21) Learn to play my favorite songs on the guitar
- I can play a little, but not nearly enough

22) Have a private Q & A with Stephen Hawking

23) Dine with the President and stay overnight at the White House

24) Take an art class in sculpture or pottery

25) Work in Antarctica for a season

26) Train in the martial arts in Asia
- which will happen if I teach English in Korea

27) Play kick with Pele

28) Learn to Tango
- by this I mean actually take lessons

29) Become fluent in a foreign language
- which could come in handy while Alba escorted me out on Republica Deportiva

30) Climb a mountain top

31) Be a pro wrestling manager for a night
- I have my character

32) Spend a week at the Sundance Film Festival
- be it as a fan, for school, or to show

33) Ph.D. in Political Science

34) Advise a political campaign
- #33 would likely need to come first

35) Guest star in a Star Trek film or TV episode

36) Fishing in Alaska

37) Hang out back stage at a Rolling Stones or other big name band concert
- U2, The Police, Iron Maiden ...

38) Dance with Cheryl Burke

39) Get a rose tattoo

40) Luge

41) Attend a Summer Olympics
- been to a Winter Olympics

42) Photo a major sports event with media credentials

43) Ask a question at a political press conference

44) Jeopardy!

45) Own a minor league sports team

46) Have my own microbrewery
- Jefferson's Brewery ...

47) Write a song and have it produced and played on the radio

48) Host a KISW or KJR segment

49) Do color commentary on a TV soccer match

50) Give a public reading or book signing
- See #1

51) Try out as an AFL kicker
- should have done this with the Everett Hawks

52) Drink from the FA Cup or Stanley Cup

53) Stay a night in the Waldorf Astoria or the Burj Al Arab

54) Tour the Louvre

55) Win a million dollar contest
- note: to win the lottery one must actually buy a ticket

56) Spend a week on a tropical island

57) Take an underwater tour of the Titanic wreckage

58) Ride in a Nuclear Submarine

59) Fly off of and onto an aircraft carrier

60) Hot air balloon ride

61) Feed the Lions at the zoo

62) Walk along famous walls like Hadrian's or the Great Wall

63) Attend a Hollywood Movie Premiere
- ideally #2 above

64) Fly in a helicopter

65) See the world's major holy sites
- I have attended mass at the Vatican

66) Weekend in Vegas as a high roller

67) Opening Pitch at a Mariners game

68) Raise the 12th Man Flag at a Seahawks game

69) Owe no one anything (be it money or apologies)

70) Build a cabin

71) River Rafting

72) Skydiving

73) Hang glide

74) Bungee Jump

75) Take paparazzi photos in Hollywood for a night

76) Learn to high dive

77) Compete on Dancing With The Stars

78) Audition for a Broadway show

79) Ride on a camel or elephant

80) Go to a Super Bowl

81) Work as a photographer's assistant on a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition photo shoot

82) Write for Esquire Magazine - "What I've Learned" segment

83) Give Distinguished Alumnus Address at WSU or MTHS

84) Have my own charitable foundation

85) Live long enough to meet my great grandchildren

86) Attend a Supreme Court session and or State of the Union

87) Get vision fixed

88) Work for ESPN dot com

89) New Year's Eve in Times Square

90) Completely circumnavigate the globe

91) Have something named after me

92) Patent something
- I have this idea for floating board games for hot tubs ...

93) See the Cougs play in a Rose Bowl, a Final Four, and/or a College World Series in person

94) Face Major League pitching
- be it BP or Spring Training ...

95) Spend an evening in a major observatory

96) Write a front page or cover story for a major newspaper or magazine

97) Write a SNL skit
- I have one about an actress and her agent

98) Wear armor

99) Police ride along
- been meaning to do this with Lance for 15 years now

100) Attend a major demolition
- I had to watch the Kingdome on TV

101) Attend the Triple Crown races with my daughter

102) Play chess with Kasparov

Stamps

I use a PO Box ...

Many years ago I got a PO Box because I was moving a lot and simply kept up the habit. It's actually kind of nice to have one since I have had mail stolen from home mailboxes, but the PO box is secure. I have access to the box 24/7. There has been a nice little stamp vending machine 4 feet from the box that I have now had for ten years ...

It has not mattered my schedule. When I was working nights or days or weekends I could grab my mail, buy stamps, drop stuff off. When there was something too big they put a key in the box and I grab it from the lockers. I have simply not had to worry about post office hours for years now.

Until the last week or two when the vending machines were taken from the building.

There is a wonderful sign there announcing that I can use their business partners to buy stamps.

Now I can't even buy stamps at the post office unless they are open.

The post office is not open convenient hours. Oh, yes they have limited Saturday hours, but the line is long and the post office is slow.

This is mostly just a rant, but it completely sucks and is totally unreasonable to remove the vending machines from the lobby of the Lynnwood 98046 post office.

"I don't believe that Dave Sim is a misogynist."

Dave,

I do not believe that you are a misogynist.

I respectfully disagree with some of your published commentaries, but I am absolutely willing to go on the record on your behalf. I do not find it to be intellectually honest or logically consistent to believe that the necessary opposite of feminism is misogynist. Dave, you don't hate women; you disagree with a political philosophy.

Overly Melodramatic Environmentalism

Overly Melodramatic Environmentalism

I consider myself to be environmentally conscious, an environmentalist if you will.

Being green is something I do work to do.

But sometimes I find the rhetoric to be a bit tiresome, melodramatic, and counter-porductive.

You can only pound people with a message of despair so often before it starts to become white noise.

Sometimes I see a much better approach, but often we get the tactics of the Seattle City Council shoving stuff down from high above on environmental issues. Those tactics and the overly-meloidramatic way TV news covers environmental issues often does damage and not help to the environmental cause.

The following poem was one I wrote a few years back when I was frustrated with the backlash I was seeing from overly-melodramatic environmentalism.

11.26.95 poetry slam - 3 hr

How can people relate to "save the earth"
when they've never left their home town?
Is a can in a ditch a crime against the earth?
Or an easy to remedy problem?
Slogans overstate the truth
even when they are mostly accurate
turn into a backlash
those in agreement say "yeah"
those who don't say "puh-lease"
cynics and doubters exploit the claims
ecotopians are labeled as dangerous
extremists of the worst kind
corporations buy ad time
and let us know how safe things really are
yet elitism within the movement
hes led to battles and disharmony
letting people like Limbaugh have influence
even when they lie
and their sponsors cheat and steal
our heritage
our planet
our grandchildren's future

Watercolors with Kindergartners ...

Watercolors with Kindergartners ...

I told them yesterday to paint a dream and that I would paint a dream of music as an example ...

My Inner Redneck

My Inner Redneck

I am finally starting to get and get into NASCAR (thanks Scott).

Once again ... I am getting in touch with My Inner Redneck ...

(Poem from The Voice - Bad Poetry Section - p.10 - January 1999

Years ago I went to Reno ...

During my Senior Year at Wazzu we went on a little family Thanksgiving vacation to Reno ...

I was a month away from betting my BA and to get away for a few days was really nice; since I mostly worked all my breaks from school ...

As part of this I was given $200 and told to gamble it and NOT to save it ... basically, I was TOLD to have fun ...

And so ... I saved my winnings and gambled my $200 ... it was free money ... I was not a high roller and the money wasn't really mine so I was expected to just go out and blow it ... it was nice, but weird at the same time and it still made more sense to me to pay some bills and save the money ...

Which is sort of how I feel about the $600 checks that are being sent out by the IRS ...

(The chip above is actually Pink and scanned plain.)

Just a little thought about the food and fuel crisis ...

Since I generally don't believe a farmer would really care what is grown if it is all good and legal and profitable ...

And since there is a growing crisis about staple food items being used for fuel ...

And since there are a couple billion more people on Earth than just a few decades ago ... and they all need food and fuel and everything else ...

And since alternate fuel sources are so important ...

And since growing staple food is so important ...

And since the crops will all go up in smoke any ways ...

Why not have all those tobacco farmers grow fuel ???

No, it would not solve all of the food issues ...

Yes, cigarette costs would skyrocket ... with the tobacco related health care costs declining most likely as an additional benefit ...

The crops are all going to go up in smoke any ways ... so why not ???

How I Ended Up Having Eggo's and a Pot Pie For Dinner ...

Snow on the 18th of April

I sat on the little fold out love seat on my back porch and watched the snow fall. It was pretty. It was getting close to four inches after snowing all afternoon. My driveway was treacherous enough that I was not even considering going out on a Friday night ... and it was the 18th of April in Seattle ...

The radio was on in the dining room so I closed the screen and listened to sports radio while the snow continued to fall with really big flakes. The cat was not pleased; he whined at the screen to be let out, like that might actually be allowed to happen ...

However, I had decided that morning to come home, clean up, get in a jog, do some laundry, and head out dancing at McCabe's since I had not been there since the week of Thanksgiving ...

There was a video from the library near the TV and I could always watch pro wrestling, so the night would not be a complete waste ...

I was hungry and payday was a while away ... the cupboard was not bare, per se, but it was hardly inspiring ...

And so I had one of those "bachelor moments" and raided the freezer ... and had a chicken pot pie and Eggo's for dinner ... while watching it continue to snow on my back porch ...

I held out picking an MLS team to follow ...

I held out picking an MLS team to follow ...

In 1996 I faced the same dilemma other Seattle Sounders fans faced ... do I choose a team in MLS to support?

See ... here was the problem ... I had a team, even if it was now in what was to be considered the 2nd Division ... I had no idea if and or when I would have a local MLS team to support, but I had a sense that Seattle would get a team eventually ... I watched games and cheered for players and good games ... but, still I held out, not allowing myself to get too attached to any MLS side ...

It did not take long for MLS to make the now infamous 2002 promise during the electoral push for funding for what has become Qwest Field ... 2002 felt like a long way away, but I held out ...

And then Crew Stadium got built, the MLS changed commissioners, and the economics of the game led to a brief contraction ... but still, I held out ...

And then Qwest Field opened and the Sounders played in it ... and despite its size, I held out ...

And then the Sounders beat MLS teams in the Open Cup and when they played MLS teams the crowds were significantly larger ... and still I held out ...

And then MLS started expanding to places like Salt Lake City and added a 2nd LA team ... and still I held out ...

And then it happened ... and I went to the George & Dragon on Veteran's Day in 2007 and Drew Carey put on an Emerald City Supporters scarf and told us what we want to hear ...

A year from now I will not be trying to find the Sounders on FSC on a Friday night USL Game of the Week against Atlanta ... I can watch the Sounders FC on ESPN2 on a Thursday playing DC United ...

The ride in the USL has had some ups and downs but it has been worth staying with the home side and waiting for the move up ... and next weekend I plan on being in Qwest Field for the last ever home opener of the Seattle Sounders ...

and the notion that patience pays off rings true ...