Of all the times, and all the places

I have a large client based in New Jersey, just outside of NYC. They are just off Route 46, close to the NY/NJ border.

This client is new to our department, and is my largest based on bank service revenue as they have locations all around the country.

We've been planning to meet with them, and the rest of the servicing team has discussed me going along as well. It would be my first visit to a client within the recent portfolio that I've taken over the past few months, and I've been looking forward to these types of visits.

Everything was fine and dandy, until I found out this morning when the meeting was going to be held.

Just outside of New York, at the company's corporate headquarters.

Traveling via plane.

Monday, September 11, 2006.

I'm now a bit nervous. Frankly, the LAST place I want to be on 9/11 is ON A FRIGGIN AIRPLANE.

The car

I haven't come up with a name for her yet - perhaps that should be a contest.




Since it was a fairly good experience and a fairly good deal, I'd probably recommend CarMax to anyone else looking for a car too. So I guess it could be called a good experience.

I'm also wondering if we'll end up buying anything other than Fords from now on. The last two vehicles have both been Fords, and the Escort is still going at 200,000 miles.

I am such a hypocrite

I just spent about ten hours this past weekend killing off one of my last liberal vestiges.

We realized over the course of the past week that, much as we would like to continue with just one car, that it was time to look for another car. The current car, while running fairly well, is about to surpass 200,000 miles, and with another baby on the way it would be very difficult cramming everyone into a two-door coupe.

The last realization came Thursday night, when we realized that leaving class at 9:45 PM, taking a train four stops, waiting 45 minutes for a 40-minute bus ride, and then taking a taxi four miles to get home at 12:15 AM was not going to be a feasible solution. Not when I'd driven back the night before and got home at 10:25 PM. The time and expense was ridiculous to compare between the two.

We needed to find a vehicle which had quite a bit more room - enough to cover two baby seats, and various other items - groceries, luggage, a dog, etc.

We knew what we wanted to look for - sedan, wagon, van, or (gasp) SUV. None of which would get very nice gas mileage, but the savings in miles driven compared to putting it all into one car now would be nice.

We started out at a local dealership, based on specials we saw advertised. After four hours of answers that weren't at all straight and endless waiting, we left. Tom Jumper, you are now on my Dead To Me list.

We finally ended up at Carmax at Town Center on Barrett Pkwy. in Kennesaw, just a few miles away. I had seen some vehicles while searching Friday and sent some information requests, so we decided to go and follow up on those requests.

Based on everything above and what we were looking for budget-wise, we found two vehicles which would work for everything we were looking for. Thankfully, unlike Tom Jumper, the Carmax staff were very knowledgeable and considerate to what we desired, and showed us the vehicles that fit those criteria.

One was a Windstar van, which had too many things that needed to be fixed.

The other vehicle had a lot of nice acoutrements, and was very cheaply priced considering the model of car. The gas mileage, though - 21 MPG - was quite a bit less than we were used to. But, we would be saving on mileage driven locally, and be much more comfortable for trips and lugging any heavy items.

We both thought, upon seeing it for the first time, that it would be a perfect fit for us, but it's a big purchase, so we looked at it. A lot. In, around, under, over, through, under again. We did notice one item that needed to be worked on, but aside from that (which is common to Fords) it seemed to be a vehicle which exceeded all our expectations.

After much profound thought, we decided to get the car. And with it, died any hope I can ever truly have of criticizing any other car owner, ever. Despite earlier blog posts and my constant ravings, we decided that, overall, this was the best fit for our current needs and our pocketbook. We also have it worked in for any returns, defects, etc., for coverage so that it will either last for a while, or break down right away and be fixed or returned. So there's some precaution against risk, which is good.

Yes......you have probably figured it out by now.

A SUV. A Ford Explorer.

Yep - after all I write about eco-friendly cars and gas policies, I just went and bought one that represents the antithesis of such (at least, it was until Hummer came along). At the same time, though, for the price (which I won't say), the size (quite enough for two carseats in the back, and Maggie, for any trips), and the other functions included in the vehicles, we can deal with getting six to seven miles less per gallon.

At the same time, before you ask, yes, I do feel a bit bastardly right now.

I will now log off to light myself on fire, before I get flamed to death.

Time for tailgating

It's time to start tailgating, practicing crowd chants, and drunken revelry. That's right, college football is back!

The rules are different this year for determining BCS slots. Instead of eight slots, there are now 10 slots available to teams. A mid-major team can now qualify by being in the top 12 or by being in the top 16 and finishing higher than a BCS league champ (that means, you, 2005 Seminoles!) Notre Dame can qualify by being in the top 8 which, with 2 or 3 losses, isn’t going to happen. Good.

Who will win their respective conferences?

Big 10 – Michigan
Big 12 – Texas over Iowa State
Big East – West Virginia
ACC – Miami over Clemson
SEC – Florida over Auburn
Pac 10 - Cal
Mtn. West – TCU
Sun Belt – Arkansas State
MAC - Toledo
WAC – Boise State
C-USA – Southern MS

The whole description is here. Read it if you need to get some sleep.

At least one mid-major will make it. I’d bet it would be TCU, which will get some momentum by outgunning Texas Tech and rolling onward from that point. The Mountain West is the best non-BCS conference, and has even been better than other conferences in recent years, so it will get a BCS nod for the second time in three years (Utah went to the Fiesta in 2005). I don't think Boise State has the schedule to get up into the top 12, but if enough major teams falter, it could vault up. I'm betting not.

Beyond that, I’d say that USC, LSU, and Iowa get the other at-large BCS bids in addition to TCU and the conference champs Michigan, Texas, West Virginia, Miami, Florida, and Cal.

Sugar Bowl – USC v. LSU
Orange – Miami v. TCU
Fiesta – Texas v. Iowa
Rose – Cal v. Michigan

The BCS Championship will be held a few days after the other bowl games. It won’t have two of the winners from these games, but will have the #1 and #2 ranked teams playing on January 8. Frankly, in going so late, they may as well throw in the towel and make it a playoff, but that’s not happening for a while.

It hurts to write the following sentence:

Florida defeats West Virginia in the BCS Championship in Glendale, AZ.

And yes, I’m also hoping this is a reverse jinx.

Woof, woof.

Woof woof

Puppy power!

Bark in the Park, at Turner Field, Sunday, August 27.

I might have to consider this. Though I'm not sure if a 65-lb dog is allowed.

I'm wondering how many dogs might try to run onto the field to leave a message.

Bush divorces voters who elected him

I didn't even catch wind of this until Paul wrote about it first:

President Bush Approves Over the Counter Early Abortion Pill

Amazingly, I haven't even seen this written about elsewhere. Anywhere. At all.

Just to be clear, it's not OK to conduct stem-cell research on aborted fetuses for human and genetic research, but it is OK to allow an easier way to terminate the pregnancy in the first place and move even more into abortion-on-demand, despite all previous stances.

At least now the left AND right can unify on something - getting this sorry excuse for a president out of office. Perhaps John Conyers isn't so far from a good idea as we thought. Between war mis-management, financial mis-management, poor judicial appointments, failing to execute almost all of his ideas aside from tax cuts, and failing to react as needed to crises such as Katrina, I'd say it's time to go.

When it is all said and done, he may be ranked as a President as badly as Jimmy Carter. Possibly even worse, because he stuck around for eight years instead of four.

Hopefully, in 2008, we can elect a president who has a clue and a brain. I only know of one person who could win the presidency and be true to the conservative movement without making a complete ass out of himself. Frankly, the 2008 race will be a war between parties regardless, so as Jeff pointed out it might be best to at least run with the candidate that best represents them than running with the most liked, most conflicting candidate, or the most controversial candidate within the party, or a continuation of the past eight years.

And yes, I'm cranky at the moment.

Clearing the logjam

Trade went down today for the Falcons.

Atlanta traded RB T. J. Duckett to Washington. WR Ashley Lelie goes from Denver to Atlanta. Washington send a draft pick in 2007 to Denver.

This is an interesting trade, for a lot of reasons:

• Atlanta clears its clogged backfield, as Warrick Dunn has been the better back and will undoubtedly have a lot more carries this season.
• Clinton Portis must be hurt very badly, and will most likely miss significant time in the regular season - at least the first few weeks.
• Vick now has someone halfway decent to pass to, with Brian Finneran out for the season. Lelie couls step right into the #1 WR spot with the dearth of talent at wideout.
• Denver sheds a crybaby from its team and doesn't have to worry about re-signing him.
• The Braves still suck, as they lost tonight to Pittsburgh, so I can't wait for the regular season to begin.

OK, that last topic is off a bit, but you get the idea.

How are they not a top 10 party school?

Athens - Parents and educators are doing a double-take at a coupon book advertising alcohol specials and bail bonds being handed to University of Georgia students at a pair of Athens bookstores.

Unfortunately, all I got when I bought my books was a coupon for a Chick-fil-A sandwich. $1 drinks would be a lot more useful, both now and 10 years ago!

Seriously, though, this is a bit on the stupid side. First, for being so blatant in advertising, and second, for doing it while parents are still around. I'm not going to bring up the whole illegal part of it, considering how much we all indulged during our college days, and frankly I think the age should be 18 anyway. Even so, this is just a bit too brazen for my taste.

This is slightly different than finding out through word-of-mouth about Rocky's Package store. Just seems a bit brazen in promotion. At least let them attend a class or two first before getting them hammered.

In related news, UGA was left off the top 10 party schools list. However, I'm sure quite a few folks who read this are happy that Texas is #1 in something other than football.

Draft Recap

Well, we had our FFL draft today. First time on a new site, using CBS.

I feel OK about the team, though there are defintely several that are better. I ended up with the following roster:

QB: Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Leinart
RB: Edgerrin James, Corey Dillon, Frank Gore, LenDale White
WR: Reggie Wayne, Joe Horn, Matt Jones, Mark Clayton
TE: Antonio Gates, Heath Miller
K: Jeff Wilkins
D: Baltimore, Denver

I feel good about everything except WR. I seriously misjudged when certain ones would still be available, so I kept seeing my targeted WR's go a slot or two before I was going to take them.

I took the first TE and first D, so I'm hoping they pan out. I'm also hoping Edge does well in Arizona and Dillon does OK this season, but if not, I'm expecting Gore or White will break out in their first years of full-time duty.

If nothing else, I think my QB depth is fairly decent. Eli Manning may put up numbers as good as Peyton, and Big Ben, if he comes back fully from his accident, should improve even more from last year.

But those receivers could be scary. Scary bad, or scary good. Not sure.

Warrior Resurrection?

As I'm up configuring this new computer, I managed to catch a fight tonight.

I didn't realize it was tonight, but about 30 minutes ago, Evander Holyfield (38-8-2) returned to the boxing ring at 43 years old to take on Jeremy "Beast" Bates (21-11-2).

The track record of aged fighters, George Foreman notwithstanding, hasn't been very good. Considering it was Evander's first fight in two years, I wasn't really sure how this would look.

Holyfield appeared to be in pretty good shape - for someone who's 43 years old. Compared to 2002, when he last held a title belt, he's definitely put on a bit of fat around the edges.

No matter. Evander and his group made sure this wouldn't be too strenuous of a comeback. Holyfield beat up on Bates at the end of the first round before absolutely pummeling him in the second, leading the referee to stop the fight. He looked good in moving around the ring and landing his combinations, but Bates was so stationery that it wasn't too difficult, and the early end meant that stamina didn't matter. Evander barely broke a sweat.

Can Evander climb the ladder to become a heavyweight champion for the 5th time? Looking at his physique, I would say no. But considering the dearth of talent in the heavyweight division right now, who's to say that he can't? Boxing hasn't been able to develop any names since...well, since Evander Holyfield took the title in 1991, Lewis, Rahman, Byrd, Klitschko(s)? None of them had the mass appeal Evander still enjoys.

A couple new additions

I've made some additions to the blog roll:

1. Suburban Conspiracy: APO brother from Tennessee Tech and Georgia who used to live here in Atlanta, but now lives in Virginia.
2. GOPBloggers: I've linked to them before, when I had the poll for 2008 GOP contenders. I'm just now getting around to adding it on.
3. APONationals2006: Since I seem to be getting increased traffic for this, I might as well add it on - it's a blog pertaining to upcoming National Convention in Louisville, KY in December 2006. It's a lot easier than mailing a few hundred chapters through the Post Office.
4. Tomahawk: A Braves blog that isn't hosted by the AJC. For that reason alone, I'm adding it. Even though it's just about all over for the Braves, tied with Florida and gaining zero games since the All-Star break. I'd better stop writing before I get angry.

Today's the day!

No words needed.

A ratings grabber

Dick licks Farrah Fawcett - yes, I did type that correctly. It's not backwards. Really.

OK, which would be scarier - a berserk Andy Dick at the William Shatner roast, or a berserk Courtney Love at the Pamela Anderson roast?

Please, for the love of God, don't put Love and Dick in the same room with a mountain of cocaine.

The roast of William Shatner is this Sunday at 10 PM. Yes, I will be watching. I love a good train wreck as much as the next guy. And yes, if you click on the link you might see what is describerd above.

How Lovely

Former Atlanta mayor, UN Ambassador, and flaming liberal Andrew Young had these nice, gentle comments about Walmart in an interview:

"But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us — selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

Oh, those naughty, naughty Jews again. Apparently now they work with Koreans and A-rabs to keep the black man down! I didn't know Jews and Arabs got along so well.

What is it with Atlanta's black leaders (Young, McKinney, Campbell, etc.) that we keep hearing about how it's all the Jews' fault? I thought I got away from Farrakhan's and Sharpton's hate-thought when I left New York.

Perhaps if they didn't play the race card so much and actually, oh, I don't know, DID SOMETHING USEFUL, we might have a bit more respect for them. But that would be too hard - it's much easier to complain and bitch and moan and not actually lead.

Ugh.

Road to the White House (already?)

Rudy in South Carolina, getting a warm reception?

Perhaps it is true that while a lot of the GOP may disagree on social stances with Rudy, those barriers may not trump how tvoters feel on national security and what he brings to the table, and vote for him anyway.

30-40% in a multi-way race is still a strong showing if it were to be the case.

I still anticipate Newt in the mix, though. Romney seems impressive so far.

Allen - who knows, but my opinion is that after 8 years of Dubya, the GOP won't want to nominate Dubya-lite.

Courtesy of NRO.

200!

Hard to believe, but this is my 200th post on this humble little site. That seems to be fitting, as it was 199 days ago that I started blogging - about once a day seems right. About 2250 visits, so thanks to all y'all for the traffic and interest.

Anyway, since I'm apparently getting old, I was also thinking about technology changes. Not just since the beginning of the year, or last year, but even since starting college in 1995 (gasp!)

It wasn't until I went to college that I got my first computer. It was a Macintosh Performa Power PC, and I thought it was really cool because it had a 1 GB hard drive and a blazing-fast 75 Mhz processor. To its credit, it did last about 7 years before I got a refurbished replacement through Dell's eBay store (which no longer exists, otherwise I would link to it). It had to, with as much as it cost back then!

How things have changed. Two weeks ago, in getting ready to go back to school, I again visited the store for a computer, but this time, for a notebook computer. I'd been thinking about it for a while anyway for work items, and with school coming up figured it would be a worthwhile purchase.

So, thanks to online purchasing combined with Georgia's tax-free weekend, I took the plunge and got a new Gateway notebook at Best Buy. This one, though, has an 80 GB drive (slightly more than the old Mac) and a 1.8 Ghz processor (24 times faster than the old Mac - again, a slight improvement) and has a whole bunch of other nice bells and whistles (DVD/CD RW, built-in ethernet card, wi-fi capability) that will do just fine. Especially since it only weighs 6 pounds and fits in my briefcase.

The strangest part was that, with all of these new features & technological developments, was that it cost less than one-fourth of what we paid for that big, hulking Mac 11 years ago - unbelievably, less than $500, which would have been unthinkable even a couple of years ago.

And I sure didn't think I'd be doing this blog, own something like this, working in this field, in this city, or returning to school 11 years ago, either.

How times change. Technology for the budget-conscious.

And, thankfully, I have it ready for a Fantasy Football draft on Sunday.

Something that may interest only me.

Last night, on the Daily Show, Tom Kean was the special guest plugging a new book.

You might know him as the head of the 9/11 commission and as the former governor of New Jersey before Flim-Flam Florio (and whose son, Tom Kean, Jr., trails Bob Menendez by only 2 points in the latest NJ Senate poll).

He was also my pledge class namesake in Alpha Phi Omega - and as I watched last night, realized that it's been 10 years since I pledged APO in Fall 1996.

I suddenly felt very, very old.

Sacrilege

Yankees break ground on new $1 billion home

Luxury boxes, luxury boxes, luxury boxes.

A billion dollars for a ballpark.

Maybe I'm angry about such an inordinate sum being spent on a ballpark.

Maybe I'm sad because it's where I saw my first game and many games thereafter - probably at least 30, maybe 40 games, many in the bleachers during summers when the Yankees absolutely SUCKED.

Maybe I'm ticked off that a historic structure, and the site of many important moments is being razed and tossed aside for the latest new thing.

No matter which, I'm just upset.

Do you really want to hurt me?

A picture is worth a thousand words.......

Boy George performing court-ordered community service. Though I'm not sure how he could perform, being surrounded by a few hundred photographers.

Besides, it's also tough to properly accessorize with an orange vest.

So much for that cease-fire

2 FOX News Journalists Kidnapped By Palestinian Gunman in Gaza City

Boy, that didn't take long, did it? Less than 24 hours from the time the "cease-fire" went into agreement.

I mean, the terrorists didn't even wait for their new munitions supplies from Syria and Iran before acting up again.

"Peace" agreements don't mean very much when one side never has and never will have any plans to honor them.

Thinking that it is possible to negotiate with any "representatives" of the Caliphate at this point is total fantasy. Thinking appeasement of any sort, whether it is in regard to the Golan Heights, Gaza, Shebaa Farms, or any other insignificant part of desert, will actually bring peace in our time is similarly ludicrous.

There will never be peace, because it is almost a guarantee that the Islamofascist side of any conflict will not honor any "peace" agreement.

Which leaves, by my count, exactly one other option. A bloody, violent, and disgusting option, but one that might be totally necessary. It might be the worst solution for all sides, as Pope Benedict XVI recently stated, but at the same point other options seem to disappear rapidly.

One could even make the argument that this would now be a just war per Catholic teaching as ALL other options have now been exhausted......thoughts?

Ladder Theory

After reading this marathon comment list over at Ace's, I clicked through to this site discussing a "Ladder Theory".

Read only if you have a good amount of time. It's a good read, though.

And you probably shouldn't read it at work.

You've been warned.

Let's hug it out, bitch

After 12 days of play, the WSOP main event is now over. Wait until next year.

If you want to read about the new winner, click here. I wish I could link to a site other than ESPN, but at the moment I can't. I'll fix it later with something better.

12 days, $12 million. Nice work if you can get it.

This is the fifth year in a row that an "amateur" has won. This year's field was 8773. It's possible next year would have over 10,000 entrants. Hopefully Harrah's can figure out a way to have the tournament proceed quicker and not take two weeks for the Main Event, let alone seven weeks for the entire tourney.

Better luck next year.

Idiot of the day

Today, the honor goes to Skip Bayless, who amazingly tries to lay the blame for Maurice Clarett's shenanigans at the feet of the NFL.

Sure. I mean, it's not like he had previous problems. You know, like preferential treatment while in school, academic misconduct, then turning on everyone at Ohio State, falsifying theft reports, getting kicked out of school.......and that's before the robbery at gunpoint.

When pulled over, it's being speculated that he may have been on the way to one of the witness' homes, with those guns, booze, and a hatchet while wearing a bulletproof vest.

But it's the NFL's fault.

Riiiiiiight.

And Bayless is one of the faces ESPN loves to trot out every chance it can - Around the Horn, Cold Pizza, etc.

F**king schmuck.

A lot more Waffle Houses

Article in today's AJC about metro Atlanta's population boom.

Metro Atlanta now numbers almost 4 million people in 10 counties. What was most surprising to me is the county with the fastest growth. In recent years, it's been Cobb County, Gwinnett County, or Henry County - all suburbs with third-tier cities like Marietta, Duluth, and McDonough.

The fastest growing county this year? Fulton County, adding over 26,000 new residents. The actual city of Atlanta, which is fully contained within Fulton County, added 9500 by itself.

Perhaps that's why my commute downtown has been easier than ever. Everyone is moving back intown - at least, more than they are adding to the suburbs.

Click here for the ARC's website.

After a little digging, it appears Cobb County increased by about 8,000 residents as well, and almost every county increased significantly.

Now, about that regional transportation system.....

Because it's funny

I don't have much to write that isn't being covered almost everywhere else today, so I'm just linking to a somewhat funny column on ESPN.

I like the last line the best: And oddest of all, we believe the results of a national poll of 1,100 people accurately reflects the beliefs of a nation of nearly 300 million citizens.

So perhaps we should save the predictions of a 30-seat change in the House for the time being.

What a night

I came home tonight, with the expectation of just mowing the lawn and writing a few political items.

I'd been planning to write about McKinney getting tossed out (again) and the winner in Connecticut (which appears to give the nutroots their first victorious candidate ever, with a possible defeat of Joe Lieberman).

Nope.

Got home around 8:15 and started mowing. It normally takes about 45 minutes to an hour to mow the front lawn. It was going quickly....until a four-legged creature ran down the street from the subdivision entrance onto the grass outside our house.

Since moving in a couple years ago, we've had several stray dogs. In each instance, we've been able to return the dog or someone has come by to claim the dog.

Anyway, I went in and brought out some food and water for the dog, and kept mowing. I figured if someone was looking for him, they'd drive by, see me, see the dog, and claim the dog.

40 minutes - no one comes by. Alex comes outside in this time, and sees the strange puppy. Maggie sees him too. Doesn't like a strange puppy on her turf. Especially a boy.

It's now 10:00. We decide to bring the dog into the backyard. I bring out a little more food, some water, and a mat so the dog can sleep. He seems quite content in the backyard.

So, for the time being, we've adopted what appears to be a 18-24 month old boxer/Jack Russell mix non-neutered male who is extremely rambunctious and happy to have a place to sleep.

Tomorrow, we make up signs to post and call animal control/animal shelters to see if anyone's called in a missing puppy matching him.

I'm hoping he's a runaway, and not a case someone opening the car, letting him out, and driving off and abandoning him. He seemed to be in good shape, not misfed or mistreated, but no tags or collar so I have a sinking feeling that may be the case.

Well, it's a good thing I just bought extra dog food. Guess this will go down as the good deed for the day. For now, he's happy, comfortable, and sleeping. Now if we could just learn his name.

As for the races.....I have no idea.

We're #1!

Courtesy of Reuters:

Bank of America passes Citigroup in market value

Based on market capitalization, BAC is now worth $239.36 BILLION dollars, edging out Citigroup by $20 million.

I worked for Citigroup at Smith Barney when they were #1 and left to come back to Bank of America. I didn't leave Citi on very good terms, so I'm quite glad to see them dethroned. I'm even happier that we're the ones to take them down.

OK, that's the end of the advertisement for today.

Samuel L. Jackson REALLY wants you to see this movie.

F***ing brilliant idea.

11,000 Units For Sale

I missed this when it posted last month, mostly because I don't follow it very much anymore:

How Met Life is Moving in Hot Real Estate Market

Here's the passage that caught my eye:

Industry leaders expect MetLife to record another history-making event if it sells the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town rental properties that make up the largest apartment complex in Manhattan, totaling more than 11,200 units in 110 buildings spread over 80 contiguous acres.

Since this is where I lived in New York for the first couple decades of my life, this is a bit interesting. The complex has undergone a lot of transformations over the last ten years, and pretty much the only way to get a place has been to sublet or wait for someone to die. MetLife has tried various means to bring the prices it charges up, most recently a 25% hike earlier this year. It's gone a long way from $850-900 20 years ago to over $3,000 now, for in some cases a smaller place.

In a few visits there since leaving, I've even noticed the changes just by walking through. It is a lot different than it was 10, 15, 20 years ago. For a while, it's been rumored than the units would eventually be turned into condos, so news of this sale doesn't surprise me too much. What does surprise me is the fact that such a complex is apparently going to bring at least $3.3 billion.

Click here for a link to the Tenants Association.

Suddenly, a monthly housing payment in Atlanta doesn't seem so bad - being less by half and then some. And yet, even with these prices, there's a 10-year waitlist to get into PCV/ST.

I hate this time of year

I don't like this path:

I don't like where this goes if the line stays straight or barely curves....

August is never a good month.