On Sunday, I watched the US vs Brazil soccer match for the Confederation Cup. Unlike the majority of Americans, I think soccer is an exciting sport to watch and I fully understand why it is the number one sport in the world. The match was thrilling with the US taking an early 2-0 lead, and by halftime I was nerve racked and shaking. I was really wondering if the US was finally to make a splash on the global soccer scene.
But, of course, it all came unraveled. To say I didn't see it coming would be a lie. When Brazil scored less than a minute into the second half, I no longer was hoping the US would hold, but was waiting for the moment when we would fall. That moment came, and I suddenly felt all the air go out of me. The US was so close but just couldn't hang on. All the passion, all the urgency that had been on the surface in the first half was buried in the second. The entire team looked flat. There were an uncountable number of times US players stopped and stared as balls rolled away from them. In short, what was lacking in the Second half was heart.
I want the US to do well, and I'm hoping we qualify for the World Cup next year. I honesty believe that, if we play with the urgency, passion, and heart we showed in the first half versus Brazil, we can play with any team on the planet.
The major plus I had from watching this match was some great company that watched it with me, and they too felt the dejection of defeat before schooling me in air hockey.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
The Rule of Three
As of now, everyone knows about the deaths of three icons this past week: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. The death of these three icons brings to light once again what is known by many as The Rule of Three. Namely, that things always happen in threes. When you think about it, however, there are many things that seam to lend credence to this theory. Not just in occurrences, but in the way humans function. A letter consists of three parts: Opening, Body, and Closing. Most good jokes function the same way: Setup, Reinforcement, and Punch-line. Goldilocks encountered three bears, Snow White had three visits from here evil step mother, Jack climbed the beanstalk three times. Three is everywhere.
Three is not limited to writing, however. In photography, the rule of thirds is taught for lining up a shot. If a series of movies is being made, it is most common to make a trilogy. On top of that one, the third movie is almost always considered a bad compared to the first to. In music, the third album is supposed to be the most difficult to make. It almost makes it seem that three is some kind of special number.
All of this makes you wonder, what does the rule of three have in store for us next? Three more celebrity deaths (don't want to sound bad, but I can think of two off the top of my head that wouldn't surprise me)? Maybe three bits of good luck sprinkled together. Who knows what it will be or when it will come.
Of course, the most telling example of the rule the three: The answer to life, the universe, and everything (three parts there) is 42. Not only is 42 a multiple of three, but it's the two numbers surrounding 3.
Three is not limited to writing, however. In photography, the rule of thirds is taught for lining up a shot. If a series of movies is being made, it is most common to make a trilogy. On top of that one, the third movie is almost always considered a bad compared to the first to. In music, the third album is supposed to be the most difficult to make. It almost makes it seem that three is some kind of special number.
All of this makes you wonder, what does the rule of three have in store for us next? Three more celebrity deaths (don't want to sound bad, but I can think of two off the top of my head that wouldn't surprise me)? Maybe three bits of good luck sprinkled together. Who knows what it will be or when it will come.
Of course, the most telling example of the rule the three: The answer to life, the universe, and everything (three parts there) is 42. Not only is 42 a multiple of three, but it's the two numbers surrounding 3.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
We've got a Mac, let's put Windows on it!
Yes, this was the decision at my office recently with a shiny, brand new MacBook Air. Since the laptop is a loaner, it was decided that it would be easier for the users if it just had windows on it. Forget the fact that we spent over $1500 for a Mac, then bought Mac specific software for a few hundred dollars more. Forget that the broadband card is designed for a Mac and not for Windows. What was really important was that we have a light-weight, portable laptop to be checked out when necessary.
Are you ready for the hypocrisy? The only people allowed to check out our new WinBook Air (made that up on the fly) will be people that already have laptops of their own. I'll say that again, the only people authorized to leave the building with this new laptop on their person are people that already have their own laptops. Here's how this came to be, someone was going on a trip to another country. They wanted to be able to check their work email while they were away. The System Department's suggestion "Take your laptop, we already put all the necessary programs on it for you to not only check your email, but to work remotely." Well that wasn't going to work. Why? Because the laptop was too heavy. Apparently, the laptops whopping 6.4 pounds was just to much to be carried around. So instead, we had to spec notebooks that were "light-weight". My initial suggestion was an Asus Eee PC. Everything seemed fine until the issue of price came up. A max price of under $500?! That would never work. I was told money was not an object and to find something else.
So the search began again. The key was that it needed to be both light-weight, have a decent screen size, and cost at least $1000. I only made one of those items up. In my second round of laptops, I submit the MacBook Air as a joke. I figured it would never fly. But oh, I was so wrong. We ended up getting a top of the line MacBook Air. And do you know how much it weighs? A gargantuan 3 pounds. So, in order to please someone and give them a 3 pound lighter beg, we spent upwards of $2000, and then had to put Windows on the machine anyway. The lesson to be learned from all this? I have no idea, I just know that sometimes it's better just to shred money, because we're pretty much throwing it away.
Are you ready for the hypocrisy? The only people allowed to check out our new WinBook Air (made that up on the fly) will be people that already have laptops of their own. I'll say that again, the only people authorized to leave the building with this new laptop on their person are people that already have their own laptops. Here's how this came to be, someone was going on a trip to another country. They wanted to be able to check their work email while they were away. The System Department's suggestion "Take your laptop, we already put all the necessary programs on it for you to not only check your email, but to work remotely." Well that wasn't going to work. Why? Because the laptop was too heavy. Apparently, the laptops whopping 6.4 pounds was just to much to be carried around. So instead, we had to spec notebooks that were "light-weight". My initial suggestion was an Asus Eee PC. Everything seemed fine until the issue of price came up. A max price of under $500?! That would never work. I was told money was not an object and to find something else.
So the search began again. The key was that it needed to be both light-weight, have a decent screen size, and cost at least $1000. I only made one of those items up. In my second round of laptops, I submit the MacBook Air as a joke. I figured it would never fly. But oh, I was so wrong. We ended up getting a top of the line MacBook Air. And do you know how much it weighs? A gargantuan 3 pounds. So, in order to please someone and give them a 3 pound lighter beg, we spent upwards of $2000, and then had to put Windows on the machine anyway. The lesson to be learned from all this? I have no idea, I just know that sometimes it's better just to shred money, because we're pretty much throwing it away.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
iPhone 3.0: Something I've noticed
I, like many technology geeks, am the proud owner of an iPhone 3G. Last night, when I got home from work, I downloaded and installed the latest upgrade for my phone, taking it from 2.2.1 to 3.0. The download was much faster than previous upgrades, and the install was quick and painless. I've had no problems since I upgraded, and have, in fact, had a delightful result. In the building where I work, I'm on the 22nd floor. I'm in the middle of downtown Atlanta, but apparently, the height of my building had been a problem with my connection. Instead of 3G, I was almost always on EDGE while at work. This was very annoying, as I was without a service I had and still was paying for. Today, however, I have yet to drop to an EDGE connection. Not once. I've never had a day before where this happened. It seems that something in the update fixed my connection issues. While I like being able to copy and paste, having a landscape keyboard in most apps, and being able to perform a search from just about anywhere in my phone, I'd have to say keeping a 3G connection is definitely my favorite thing about this upgrade so far.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Iranian Elections, Protests, and Riots
It's been a long time since I posted in here, and I figured why not start again today with the major news story of the day.
Of course, I'm referring to the Elections and subsequent protests and riots in Iran's capital city of Tehran. The results leave a lot of questions in my eyes. I can accept that the incumbent won while garnering nearly 63% of the vote. What I find odd is that the results were reported within an hour of the polls closing, despite 80% voter turnout in a country that performs it's elections with paper ballots. Are you telling me that approximately 50 million votes were counted, by hand, in less than a day? Seriously? I've got a couple sayings that go with that: I was born at night, but not last night or, the one I prefer, momma raised ugly children not stupid.
In my high school we did elections by paper and they still took a couple of days to sort through. That was with a few thousand students voting at a set time. But 50 million people voting in different locations at different times and you finished your count in less than a day? No, it just isn't plausible to me.
I may not like Ahmedinejad, but if he really won the majority vote in Iran, then he is who the people of that country have chosen to represent them. But if not, if this election is rigged, as it at least appears to be to me, then the Iranian Revolution of 1979 has been rendered moot and the country has fallen into the throes of a dictatorship once again.
Of course, I'm referring to the Elections and subsequent protests and riots in Iran's capital city of Tehran. The results leave a lot of questions in my eyes. I can accept that the incumbent won while garnering nearly 63% of the vote. What I find odd is that the results were reported within an hour of the polls closing, despite 80% voter turnout in a country that performs it's elections with paper ballots. Are you telling me that approximately 50 million votes were counted, by hand, in less than a day? Seriously? I've got a couple sayings that go with that: I was born at night, but not last night or, the one I prefer, momma raised ugly children not stupid.
In my high school we did elections by paper and they still took a couple of days to sort through. That was with a few thousand students voting at a set time. But 50 million people voting in different locations at different times and you finished your count in less than a day? No, it just isn't plausible to me.
I may not like Ahmedinejad, but if he really won the majority vote in Iran, then he is who the people of that country have chosen to represent them. But if not, if this election is rigged, as it at least appears to be to me, then the Iranian Revolution of 1979 has been rendered moot and the country has fallen into the throes of a dictatorship once again.
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