Still more journal entries (I didn't have time to post any over the weekend).
5/23/04
So long, Flyers!
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good-bye!
My only source of consolation about the Wings early departure from the playoffs is the Flyers departure from them last night.
One of the runners for (Lucas County) Job and Family Services is a big Flyers fan. He’s been giving me grief about the Wings loss for days now. He’s going to learn that payback’s a BEEYOTCH!!!
Hm. I’ll try that again. Beeyotch.
BEEYOTCH. beeyotch
That’s interesting. The spell-checker catches the un-capitalized version, but not the capitalized one.
I’m getting off subject here.
Where was I—Oh yes! IN YOUR FACE, FLYERS! Losers!
Well, we all gotta go sometime. Sorry Philadelphia. At least you still have the Phillies (Snicker). Or the Eagles (Chortle). Or the 76ers (guffaw).
Actually, that first one doesn’t work right now—the Phillies are in first place. I remain confident that they'll blow it eventually
5/24/2004
OK, one more hockey rant.
They’re now saying that whichever team takes Lord Stanley’s cup home may be keeping it for a long time.
At least, that’s the current story.
It is rumored that there will be a lockout of the players when this season is over. Ergo, no more NHL, and no more Stanley cup Playoffs.
Better wise up, people. Hockey may not yet be dead, but it’s surely in critical condition, on life support, and about to have its plug pulled. And a lockout would mean the end of a sport that is popular with a small but very fanatical fan base. And it would show just how rotten everything is about professional sports.
Here’s a few ways to fix hockey:
1) Make the goals bigger and/or the goalies’ pads smaller. The low-scoring games are getting ridiculous.
2)Make the game more exciting. I don’t want to pay good money to watch a game of keep-away. I can see that on any school playground. Institute a shot clock that requires the team to put a shot on net every two minutes or give up the puck.
3)Quit talking about a salary cap. I’m pretty sure it’s quite difficult to skate down the ice at 25+ mph and direct a three-inch-wide hunk of frozen hard rubber through a gap that’s barely wide enough for it to fit with only a stick, all while everyone on the other team is trying to stop you. Anyone who’s good at it deserves to be well-paid for it.
4)Broadcast more games, and skip the color commentary. It just distracts from the game. Try a few other tricks too, like helmet cams on a few players, maybe. And NO commercials during the period. You’ve got 20 minutes between each period to show all the ads you want.
5)Shorten the damn season! A winter sport should be played in, uh, WINTER! There’s NO REASON to have teams playing hockey in June. And reduce the size of the playoff pool. Eight teams is more than enough. That’s each division champ plus one wild card for each conference.
6)Lighten up on the penalty rules. Hitting is part of hockey. As long as it’s not malicious or intended to injure, let it slide a little more.
7)Require face masks for all players. Getting hit in the face with a frozen puck traveling at nearly 100 mph can be bad for your health, not to mention your looks.
8)No more ties. Whether you do it with continuous OT or a shootout, just get rid of them. Ties don’t make ANYBODY happy!
If you make it exciting, they will come.
5/25/2004
More about hybrid cars.
OK, I’ve said before that gas-electric hybrid vehicles are a great innovation. And now, with the price of gas more than $2 a gallon in most places, they are starting to make a lot more sense.
They’re also becoming more sophisticated and powerful. Gone are the golf carts of a couple years ago. They now are making full-sized versions of them, even an SUV. And everyone raves about how smoothly they ride. I’m sure my next car will be a hybrid.
Of course, they still have one BIG problem: No matter how advanced they get, they will still always have to use GAS.
Yes, they use less of it. But they still use it.
They are a stopgap, nothing more. They are like the paramedics who work to stabilize an accident victim until he or she can be brought to a hospital for more advanced treatment. That may be why carmakers are reluctant to invest too heavily in this technology—of course, the cynic in me believes that carmakers just don’t want to, because nobody is forcing them to.
The basic cause of all the modern problems in the Middle East can be summed up in one word: OIL. And as long as modern society continues its unhealthy addiction to oil, those problems will never be solved. Our entire economy is based on a fossil fuel that is difficult to obtain under the best of circumstances, and when some of the largest reserves of it are underneath one of the most unstable regions in the world, those difficulties are only compounded.
We live in a world where we managed to put two men on the moon in less than ten years using technology that today can only be found in a museum. Surely we can find a way to build cars that can run endlessly on cheap, clean, easily renewable fuel.
5/26/2004
I wanted to fly airplanes when I grew up,.
I always thought it would be cool.
Now I’m working in a low-wage clerical position. It’s the NEW American dream.
How did I end up here?
Why does anyone end up in the job they are at?
I mean, can you imagine anyone working at the DMV thinking when they were a kid, “You know, when I grow up, I want to work all day in a boring job where I give eye exams to dozens of angry, impatient people who have been standing in a slow-moving line for an hour, and make their license pictures look as bad as possible.”
I would imagine that few of us live up to our childhood fantasies. If we did, probably one out of every five of us would be an astronaut. I’m pretty sure that’s not the case.
Everyone wants their children to do better than they did. In these troubled times, I think a more realistic goal would simply be for them not to do any worse…
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