Daisy and Bentley

Check out these two dogs:

Okay, that's not actually our dog on the right, we were just watching her.  But, if I was given the opportunity to keep her, I probably would.

Goodbye Eddie.

Today, we had to finally do something we've been discussing for months, and that's put our 17 year old Jack Russell terrier, Eddie, to sleep.  Eddie had been suffering for some time with a neurological disorder that preventing him from using his hind left leg, and coupled with blindness and deafness, he had become basically unable to walk, so, today we bade him farewell and happy trails as he takes his place in doggie heaven.

Daisy has not been taking the loss of her brother too well, as we think she is still waiting for him to come home.  Say a little prayer for Eddie tonight as he makes new friends in his new home.

Braves. Was I wrong? Now the Phillies stink.

Back in early May, I posted this, "Braves stink."

This was as the Braves were recovering from a 9 games losing streak and their continued inability to win on the road.  Since then, buoyed by series against Milwaukee, Arizona, and going 5 for 6 versus the Pirates, they have been the NL's best team in May.

At the same time, since May 12th, when the Phillies were called out for cheating for stealing signs from the bullpen, they have been in a tailslide, were shut out 4 of 5 games, and scored 2 in the final 18 innings of their just-completed series against the Marlins, only winning when Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game.

But, this is about the Braves, not those cheating Phillies.

Back in the May 7th post, I said some of these hitters would improve - so what have they done since then:

• Matt Diaz - .178 (.190 on 5/7) - on DL, perhaps out for an extended period.
• Melky Cabrera - .241 (.191 on 5/7) - definitely improving
• Nate McLouth - .179 (.187 on 5/7) - there is still a problem with this guy. There are 2 starting pitchers hitting better than him.  Trade?  Would anyone take him?  DFA?
• Chipper Jones - .250 (.228 on 5/7) - still only has 3 homers, but Chipper's bat seems to be coming around
• Troy Glaus - .274 (.228 on 5/7) - Hitting now ABOVE his lifetime average, Glaus has carried this team for the month
• Yunel Escobar - .212 (.215 on 5/7) - Yunel spent 15 days on the DL during this time, and has only now gotten back in the lineup.
• Brian McCann - .259 (.243 on 5.7) - McCann also has spent some time injured but is improving of late, and he still has

The one batter I didn't mention then was a guy not getting much playing time, but who, the last 3 weeks has been fantastic, and that's been Eric Hinske, who is now hitting .329 with 4 HR's and 22 RBI's in very limited playing time.  Of course, Martin Prado (.323/4/26) and Jason Heyward (.292/10/38) have stayed consistently good.  I look forward to Chipper moving to the 2 spot and Heyward batting 3rd.  Those three guys have been the spark the last few weeks - moving Prado to lead-off and Heyward to 2, then Hinske gatting a lot of playing time.

Meanwhile, I lambasted the pitchers, and they have improved as well, to wit:

• Hudson - Lowered his era from 2.82 to 2.24
• Hanson - Had one rotten start (the 10-9 comeback versus Cincinnati), and his ERA has climbed from 2.83 to 3.83
• Lowe - has been resurgent, lowered his era to 4.86 from 6.16 and leads with 7 wins.
• Kawakami - despite still not recording a win, has lowered his era from 5.47 to 4.66
• Jurrjens remains injured, but, in relief, Kris Medlen has been very good and has era at 2.85.  What will the Braves do when JJ comes back from the DL because Medlen has earned a starting spot, while KK has also earned the right to keep his.
• The bullpen has been just great and Billy Wagner who I believe had 2 saves on 5/7, now has 7, but, the Braves haven't been in that many close games since then, either.

My new prognosis?  Dramatic turn-around, and a team capable of 90 wins. Capable.  We will see

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day all you mothers out there!

Braves stink.

The Atlanta Braves stink.

Let's face it, our hometown South team is awful.  The hitting sucks, the pitching is so-so.  Only the bullpen is decent, as a unit.  At least since they don't hit, the losses only take a couple of hours to endure.  Tonight, the Braves were shutout on 2 hits by Jamie Moyer.  Jamie Moyer!  The guy is 101 years old (ok, 47), and throws 82 mph with a tailwind.

Here in the ATL, people are fretting that this team is too awful to even compete.  I am starting to worry that they are digging a hole too large to get out of.  We could follow the Bobby Cox "stay the course" routine.  We have nearly an entire team hitting at levels way, way below their career averages.  Surely, that can't continue.  Only two regulars are hitting better than their career averages, Martin Prado, and Jason Heyward (and, who knows, .296 might be below his career average).  Let's look at the other regulars:

• Matt Diaz, LF, .190 (.304 career)
• Melky Cabrera, LF, .191 (.266 career)
• Nate McLouth, CF, .187 (.257 career)
• Chipper Jones, 3B, .231 (.307 career)
• Troy Glaus, 1B, .228 (.255 career)
• Yunel Escobar, SS, .215 (.297 career)
• Brian McCann, C, .243 (.292 career)

So, if we assume these guys will come back to their career averages, we should see some improvement in the Braves run scoring.  Since hitters tend to find their natural averages, we have to assume that most of these guys will find their way back.  If I were playing GM, though, I'd have to have some concern about a couple of these guys career averages.  Melky Cabrera and Nate McLouth are not that great to start with, and you have to wonder how much Cabrera's stats were influenced by playing at Yankee stadium.  So, that's 2 guys without much of an upside to begin with.  Two other guys, Chipper Jones, and Troy Glaus, we have to wonder what they have left in the tank.  Chipper's power numbers have been way down the last two seasons, and Glaus has not shown that he's recovered from his injured 2009 year.  Yunel Escobar is a head case, so, that leaves only McCann and Diaz that we can have any real confidence that they will recover and produce. 

Now, how about the pitching.  Turns out, not that great.  Braves starters are only 7th in ERA in the NL.  And, look at these guys ERA's:

• Hudson: 2.82
• Hanson: 2.83
• Lowe: 6.16
• Kawakami: 5.47
• Jurrjens: 6.38

Ouch!  Jurrjens escaped the sophomore wall last season, but it appears he has hit it here at the beginning of this one.  Kawakami was never that good, and Lowe, like Chipper, is probably at the end of the road.  Of course, the Braves management knew this, and tried to unload him during the Fall and Spring, with no takers. Unfortunately, the rest of baseball knew it as well.

So, what do the Braves do?  Tomorrow, Kris Medlen, who I really like, is getting a start as Jurrjens is on the DL, but he's really auditioning for Kawakami's slot.  If it goes well, look for Kawakami to audition for Lowe's spot.  Here we run into problems, because although Lowe had a great career as a closer, he's not going back to the bullpen for the large contract the Braves gave him.  So, KK is the odd man out here.

What's my prognosis?

Continued losing.  I think this is a 75 win team, at best.  By late June, the Braves will finally be acknowledged sellers.  Perhaps Lowe will right himself enough that a sucker can be found to send us some prospects.  Although I think the organization has largely soured on him, I expect we'll see Freddie Freeman before the all-star break and Glaus will get traded.  Could Chipper be on the block?  That would hurt in Cox's last season, because I think if Chipper has another sub-par year, he's going to retire, and he wants to do it in a Braves uniform.  So, if Chipper is playing well, he stays.  If he's not, no one is going to want him anyway, and he's going to veto a trade.  So, Chipper stays.  I think it's a possibility that Escobar goes. If Bobby was staying, he'd be gone, because he is the kind of player Cox can't stomach.  With Bobby going, it depends on his trade value.  I could see him going.  

I don't think any of the other pitchers go.  Jojo Reyes (remember him) may get thrown into a mid-season trade, but KK has no value to anyone, and Hudson and Hanson aren't going anywhere.

So, dismal!

Go Phillies.

Happy Birthday!

Today, is Nana's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

As always, there's a package in the mail, should arrive sometime in May :)

Project Time!

Well, it's project time around our house.

This winter we completed the redo of the kids bathroom, we did some minor changes to the kitchen (replaced our old nasty vent fan with a microwave and did some painting in the kitchen), replaced the roof and hot water heater, and now it's time for some other items that have been lacking.

The Grand Cherokee is getting fixed (by Ryan and I) after being involved in a fender bender last fall, the house is getting painted soon, and we're finally! going to get our shower repaired and the laundry room who's ceiling it destroyed repaired.  We think we've found a great contractor to handle those chores and replace our gutters, repair our front porch, and remove wallpaper in our master bathroom and kitchen, so we can paint them.

We shall see how those projects go.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Tech Advances to second round

Proving that if you don't turn it over (only 13 TO's) and you shoot 96% from the line (24/25), you win, Tech uncharacteristically played like a good team and beat a decent Oklahoma State team tonight.

I don't care who's next, I am just happy we're playing.

Still think the team would be better with a different coach, but Hewitt got it done tonight.

CIA preventing former engineer from writing book on K-129 salvage

CIA preventing former engineer from writing book on K-129 salvage: "David Sharp, now 75 and one of the CIA engineers behind the Glomar Explorer's attempt to raise the Soviet submarine, K-129, has been trying to write a book about the mission.

The CIA has been denying him the ability to tell his story based on 'security' concerns, although most of the details of this story have been revealed already.

You may have read and seen it in Blind Man's Bluff, but there have been several documentaries about this, as well.

Hopefully, Mr. Green will get to write his book, and tell us something new about this exercise. Sounds like his angle is the engineering challenges this project faced.

"

Alfa Romeo Coming Back to States in 2012

I had been considering getting rid of my Jeep Liberty soon, but, if Alfa is coming back to the states in 2012, I guess I can wait two years.

If all Fiat/Chrysler is going to do is badge engineer and position Alfa against BMW/Mercedes, I may have to reconsider.  I really can't see paying a premium for Chrysler.

Fiat, however, is bringing the Fiat 500 microcar to market first.  If you're not familiar with these size cars, check it out here...

Tech blows another one at home. One game closer to end of Hewitt era.

After handing Carolina its ass this week, Tech was primed to win one on the road at Maryland.

However, horrible free throw shooting (as usual; 11-20 and 2-8 for Gani Lawal), and an interesting addition of .6 seconds to the clock at the end allowed Maryland to hit a jumper as time ran out to pull out the home win.

Unless Paul Hewitt somehow convinces Derrick Favors to stick around for another year, here's to another nail in the Hewitt coffin.

Tech Sucking it up against Wake

Tech losing to Wake Forest now 70-64.  Playing our way to an NIT berth.

Good thing from this season: Goodbye Paul Hewitt.

More Snow Pics...

Snow Day in Georgia

Since the rest of the East Coast is enjoying an unusually snowy winter, the South finally decided that instead of our usual 2 inches of rain this week, we'd go for a little snow.

Without further ado, it's been snowing about 1.5 hours now, and here's how it looks here.  We're expecting a whopping 1"-3" today.

That's a lot for us, though.

Obligatory Porch View

View from the front

Another front view

Fun Times!

Just wanted to go ahead and spread the news.  I was accepted entry into the Help for Heroes 2010 European Rally.  http://www.h4hrally.co.uk/  H4H is a charity in the UK here for wounded British soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  The event is to raise money for the charity.  The itinerary is amazing, It's 10 days driving across Europe covering 1800 miles through six countries. 

I'll be driving my 1984 Land Rover 90.  It'll be set up for the offroad events along the way and will likely be painted up by a guy in my squadron who's very talented and has created lots of T-shirts and patches.  I'm going to be doing a bunch of fund raisers here to raise money for the event, but just wanted to share the news with the rest of y'all.  I'll be sure to post updates as I get the truck ready and kitted out.  The event is June 19th-29th, so I won't be in the UK if anybody is planning a visit at those times. 

Got cancer, but no insurance? Don't worry, Obama will eulogize you if you wear his t-shirt to the grave

I guess it doesn't matter to the universal health care crowd that this a woman who was "very active" in the Obama campaign had breast cancer and no health insurance, but, at least she will be buried in her Obama t-shirt.

From Moonbattery, Moonbat Burial Shroud:

"At a Democrat fundraiser in Washington DC, Zero informed his Cult that true devotion to the Leader extends beyond life, and into the grave.

'I got a letter - I got a note today from one of my staff -- they forwarded it to me -- from a woman in St. Louis who had been part of our campaign, very active, who had passed away from breast cancer. She didn't have insurance. She couldn't afford it, so she had put off having the kind of exams that she needed. And she had fought a tough battle for four years. All through the campaign she was fighting it, but finally she succumbed to it. And she insisted she's going to be buried in an Obama t-shirt.'"

Aerial View of Starfish

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What the iPad Means for the Future of Computing

What the iPad Means for the Future of Computing

Tech Wins!

Tech hands Wake Forest a beat down.  After losing to ACC also-ran FSU twice this season, it's nice to beat the crap out of a second tier ACC school.

How's Carolina doing?

Bad to Worse for Obama - Random Thoughts

• Frank J (over at IMAO) says Obama is going to announce a freeze on any new Democrat representatives.
• Tacking to the center, Obama will ask Congress to repeal 'Don't ask, don't tell' in SOTU
• Michael Bloomberg (Mayor of New York) says no to terror trial in lower Manhattan.
• Can't wait to see Eric Holder up on the Hill testifying about the interrogation and subsequent Mirandizing of underwear bomber.
• World class cretin John Edwards and wife split . Didn't see that one coming.
• Apple introduced the iPad today. Just a big iPod Touch? For $499 you get a big MP3 player and an ebook reader, plus it is promised to run iWorks, so you can work on the thing.
• Republicans have been warned: No "You Lie" moments. Jay to Bam: Try not lying.

"

Bam to Moon: "Been There, Done That"

The Orlando Sentinel reports today that the Obama administration plans to propose cutting funds for further manned moon exploration.

As you may know, a key part of NASA's post-Space Shuttle plans involved a return to the moon, using the Ares booster as part of the Constellation project. It has been controversial, with a recent commission headed by former Lockheed CEO Norm Augustine, saying NASA's plans were significantly underfunded.

As a conservative, and in a time of great budget pressures, the cancellation of a return to the moon is probably a good decision, if it hurts national pride somewhat, and means that people in Florida, Alabama, and Texas will lose jobs, well, what does Bam care about those red staters, anyway.

On the other hand, as I have posted before, I'd rather us spend $787B on space exploration and defense projects than what Stimulus 1 spent it on (ummm, nothing useful). To reiterate, nothing would show the Chinese who the biggest, baddest kid on the block is than sending men back to the moon, and building a 600 ship Navy. Take that, China!

Instead, Bam wants NASA to focus on measuring the effects of global warming. Now, that's useful.

Anyway, a pretty sad day.

Toyota's Suck?

Toyota is recalling over 2M cars, and suspending sales of pretty much every model they make, due to issues with stuck accelerator pedals.

I know many of the readers and contributors to this blog have Toyotas.  They are great, reliable cars.  However, better be careful in your Avalon, Matrix, Highlander, and Sequoia.  I think they're all guilty models.

This article has some useful advice about what to do if this happens to you:

• First, try to hit the pedal or agitate it to make sure nothing is forcing it down.
• Next, PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL IMMEDIATELY, and gently start to brake, being aware of the traffic around you, and pull the car to the side of the street or road as soon as possible.  
• The last resort is turning off the ignition, but you have to make sure that you do not lock the steering wheel. You will lose your power in the brakes and steering. DO NOT try to drive the vehicle, as it will rev the engine to a dangerous level.

It would take a series of malfunctions to prevent the car from going into neutral and still have this problem, but, I suppose it's possible that a stuck accelerator, coupled with a transmission problem, coupled with a car that has one of those pushbutton starters that fails, could make all these ineffective.  Then, what do you do?

My suggestion would be to use all the brakes the car can muster.  Try anything you can to get the car out of gear.  Neutral obviously preferred.  But, lower gears will slow the car, perhaps enough to allow you to safely use the brakes without burning them out.  Use the parking brake.

Here's the deal on that California accident that started this whole mania with Toyota.  I don't believe it, because the driver was a state trooper, who should have known how to stop the car.  My theory is it was suicide.

Women and rats...

So, we've been having a little rodent problem here in Georgia.

A couple weeks ago, a guest saw a rat in the kitchen. I kind of discounted it, but, discovered some evidence and trotted out a couple of traps to catch the little guy.  With two dogs, hiding places that the sleeping idiots (the dogs) wouldn't stumble on and injure themselves are at a premium, but I found one.

At the same time, granma had rotator cuff surgery and was staying with us (and her two dogs, making four) and sleeping in our recliner to recover.  One night, we're watching a movie, and we hear a "bang."  It's one of my traps going off, and there's a rat, free of the trap, but, obviously incapacitated.  Well, suddenly, the two women are all compassionate for this not-dead cretin.  He hadn't gotten himself snared in the trap, but I boxed him up and took him outside to whack him and put him out of his misery.  Well, when I opened the box to smack him (oh, for a gun!), he had recovered enough and sped off into the darkness.  Drat!

Now, Amy is going to to stay at granma's for a few days as she recovers at home, but, I am thinking, ok, rat gone.  All is well.  Except, one night I am enjoying "24" and I hear a racket from under the stove, and I turn around, and there's a big ole rat and I in a Mexican standoff.  Either he has a friend, or he's back. Amy's still staying with granma and one morning I come downstairs and I have a little blood trail.  I check my traps and sure enough, one's tripped, but he someone freed himself, or was injured in the process.  At this point, without telling Amy, I decide to supplement my traps with a couple of glue traps.  I had been forbidden to use these, as they were inhumane.  But, hey, she's at granma's and won't be the wiser.  Can anyone, please, tell me, the plan is the RAT ENDS UP DEAD, since when do I have a responsibility to be humane?  I have a responsibility to KILL him.

This past Friday, Amy's back for good, since granma is able to take care of herself pretty much on her own now, and she notices the glue traps.  She's not happy, but, I am like, hey, gotta catch the little rat, and he's evading the real traps.

So, this morning, at 7:30, we're awakened, as usual, by whining dogs (pee time?).  Amy is kind enough to let them out and she hears squirming under the piece of furniture I have my rat gauntlet (2 glue traps, 2 traditional traps) under.  She's all mad, because she thinks this rat has gotten itself caught in the glue trap and is suffering, so I am summoned, to finish it off.

Turns out, the little moron got whacked by the regular trap and was just finishing up his death throes (this is probably what got the dogs up, of course, they didn't have the energy to do any real investigation).  The trap had flipped and landed in the glue trap beside it.  So, I have a rat caught in a trap caught in a glue trap.  It's actually funny.  Not to mention that when I go to get my reusable trap unstuck from the glue trap, I get my gloves caught in the glue.   haha.

Keeping  a long story long, rat's gone (confirmed dead). Hopefully he has no more brothers, but I have a glue trap and a regular trap still waiting for them....

What's your best rat story and what do you find the most effective way to capture these disgusting little creatures?

Gibbs on Fox, redux

My latest political brilliance is up at SleepyEyedWhiners.  Washington Bob Gibbs on Fox News with Chris Wallace today.

A brilliant analysis of the moron Gibbs and the head-in-the-ground Obama administration.

Can  you say "President Palin"?

Get used to it now.

KKG website

Here's the link to the Epsilon Gamma website, in case anyone wants to see what I've been up to at school. I'm in pictures all over the website, so take a look!

Also, sad about the Carolina basketball game tonight. I guess it's too much to ask to have a good season after winning the National Championship...