Edwards AFB

Visited Edwards AFB today. Wow what a difference 10 years makes. I was stationed here for 3 years. At first the desert, the antelope valley, the desert, the desolation really made me wonder if my sanity would be intact. But after spending time here, the area kind of grows on you. The base itself is a living museum. Being a airplane (and space) buff almost every astronaut at one time or another flew something over the lake beds. Really amazing to think how many aircraft first flew (see picture above, taken at the museum, shows every plane that had its first flight here) over the skies at Edwards. Looking at the list, it is pretty amazing. Did you realize the T-38 and X-15 both had their first flights in 1959 about 2 months apart? The XB-70 first flight was in Sept 1964? The F-15 in July 1972 (threw up in one of these bad boys!) B-1 in December 1974 (was't it finally deployed in the 80s after Carter canceled it?) The Enterprise in August 1977. Pretty neat place

2007 Colorado Rockies Preview

Here is your 2007 Colorado Rockies


























Well one thing that jumps out at you is the $16.6 M that goes to one player. Helton is obviously a fan favorite who has played on some mediocre teams at best. Awesome numbers, off year last year, will Todd ever get a chance to play for a playoff team? This is supposed to be the year the Rockies make strides in that direction. We've put up with the GenR logo for long enough...it is time for these youngsters to start making a run for the division. All the pundits don't give the Roxs too much of a chance with an average of a 4th or 5th place finish in the division. Throw in that Vegas only expects a 73 win season and well what does a long time Rockie fan have to smile about?

Well I for one think the Roxs will make strides this year (assuming our coach doesn't bunt our way out of anything!). Realistically the division isn't all that great...no real powerhouses. The Giants are old, LA's offensive is hit or miss, San Diego is consistent, and Arizona has touted young players (wait minute, why do they get headlines for their young players, what about ours?). Pitching is always an issue but alot of NL West teams are banking on some old arms (Maddux and Johnson come to mind). It is a long season...I like youth.

The Roxs lineup could be potent with Taveras and Matsui as table setters for the big bats of Atkins, Helton, Holliday, and Hawpe. Not the Blake Street Bombers but maybe the "20 Somethings". Hopefully Atkins, Holliday, and Hawpe continue to mature and add to their HR totals. The bottom of the order has some questions but who worries about the 7 - 9 hitters?

Pitching will continue to win divisions. Last year the Roxs had a break out season (they didn't finish last or next to last in pitching stats!). They will miss their ace but hopefully Hirsch will be something. Cook and Francis are a good 1 - 2 punch with some hope that Lopez will be glad to be out of the AL East. The relief corps is decent. I like the Roxs to finish better than 4th or 5th. I predict they will win 83 games. Maybe be a outside player for the Wild Card.

Entertainment Weekly

Once again one of my dirty little secrets is that I used to subscribe to EW and read it religiously. I was able to break the habit but when traveling I will occasionally grab one just to see what I am missing. Anyway points of interest include:

- Indiana Jones 4 will be in theaters May 22, 2008 staring Cate Blanchett
- Lena Heady was the Spartan queen in 300 and is scheduled to play Sarah Conner in the Sarah Conner Chronicales, a new Fox pilot
- Grindhouse looks interesting
- NewUniversal gets a plug a B+ no less

That is about the excitement

Charles Seife - Zero, The Biography of a Dangerous Idea

Basic book nothing too exciting but an interesting book with lots of useless knowledge. Like the following:

"Dionysius, a monk in charge of determining the dates for Easter, got the date of Christ's birth wrong. The sources agree that Mary and Joseph feld the wrath of king Herod, since Herod had heard a prophecy about a newborn Messiah. But Herod died in 3 BC, and most scholars believe the birth was in 4 BC."

Nice to know that our calendar is all messed up because of math (and of course the dislike of 0...there was never a zero year) Fascinating how a concept especially in the west just never was well liked. Just because of a number. Other interesting quote:

"What is man in nature?...a mean between nothing and everything" - Blaise Pascal

and finally

"Leibniz thought that i was a bizarre mix between existence and nonexistence, something like a cross between 1 and 0."

There is Leibniz again...where is newton? ; - )

Mojo Risin

Just a quick riff of Morrison's LA Woman. Since I am hanging out in the City of Angels I thought it would be apropo

Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light
Or just another lost angel...city of night
City of night, city of night, city of night, woo, cmon
L.A. woman, L.A. woman
L.A. woman Sunday afternoon
Drive through your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah
I see your hair is burnin
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar
Drivin down your freeways
Midnight alleys roam
Cops in cars, the topless bars
Never saw a woman...So alone, so alone
Motel money murder madness
Lets change the mood from glad to sadness
Mr. mojo risin, mr. mojo risin

Crazy city. Just so different for a large city. East Coast cities just seem to be stacked up while LA just seems to sprawl over the coast. Hills seem to be swallowed up, houses placed anywhere, highways as arteries giving the life blood to the city. Highways are highways but LA highways are in a class by themselves. Huge mammoth concrete structures, always busy. Swooping into the Wilshire, Sunset, Hollywood, and Westwood area is just a mass of what the entertainment capital is all about. Cars everywhere, tourist gawking at it all, locals trying to be hip (are there any real locals? Aren't they all looking to be that star?), and overlooking it all is the famous sign signifying you've made it, or there's hope, or magic in that hill. The myth, the underlying energy, the glam and glitter is what one would expect from Southern California.

Fantasy Baseball 2007 Team

Draft Day! Well have to admit I made a mistake...sort of. ESPN this year decided to offer Fantasy Baseball for free, I'm all for that but once I signed up, found a league, joined and didn't look into any further until draft day and that is when I discovered that for free leagues they don't offer the standard that I have been playing for the last 7 years. So no 5 outfielders and in actuality a more truer game. Well that kind of threw me off as I've so nicely kept records to determine how to win that type of league...oh well...I was getting stagnant anyway so maybe something fresh will work. So here is my team:

C - Brian McCann, Atl (go with a hot hitting catcher)
1B - Adam LaRoche, Pit (another Atl product but lot's of 1B with big numbers...hoping to get Helton)
2B - Brian Roberts, Bal (one stat - stolen bases)
3B - Morgan Ensberg, Hou (not real pleased with this selection)
SS - Jose Reyes, NYM (stolen bases and runs)
OF - Jermaine Dye, CWS (still playing?)
OF - Adam Dunn, Cin (big bat)
OF - Xavier Nady, Pit (who knows?)
Util - Adrian Beltre, Sea (sleeper team for the year?0

I'm awful at picking offensive...put too much weight on position scarity but end up with not enough big boppers

P - Roy Hallady, Tor (local product year 2 with him)
P - B.J. Ryan, Tor (need lots of saves)
P - Jose Valverde, Ari
P - Brian Fuentes, Col (hometown)
P - Ryan Dempster, ChC (errrr)
P - Joe Borowski, Cle (another errr)
P - Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos (give it up to the Japan phenom)
P - Barry Zito, SF (slow starter)
P - Daniel Cabrera, Bal (hmmmm)
P - Chad Paronto, Atl (Atl's hot hand?)
P - Ian Snell, Pit (we shall see)

This Week in Comics

Witchblade Manga 2 was okay...the Japanese version is bit too slow and ackward. Big panes, little dialogue, seems they are having trouble putting together an americanized version. Might be moving on without this one. Tired story, silly art, and painful plotting.















Finally a good Bendis Spidey. Last few issues lost the fun that was essential to this books success. When Spidey has it going with his dialogue the book just works. When Spidey is down in the dumps for like 8 issues it just doesn't work as well. I realize the character needs more then just web-slinging and catchy phrases but the whole clone thing was a downer. Again I don't think it really did much to the overall ultimate spidey mythos.

Classic line:

"Put the moon toys away, Casper. I'm just here for the chicken wings."







Will the real Grant Morrison stand up? Having started on Morrison's thread I keep waiting for a decent Morrison story. This one finally has it all. Good plot, good lines, and great art. A complete package. I was going to give up but this issue might keep me hanging on a bit longer. The spread on page 12 and 13 is a classic batman montage. Finally who is the big bad bat dude in the end? I have my thoughts...

300 - The Movie

Okay, I'm on the road, so nothing better to do but go the movies especially when in Hollywood! Saw the movie on an IMAX and wow that was impressive...don't know how I can go back to the small screen ;-)

Two Points about the movie:
1) The movie itself...good. Visually stunning, excellent translation from the comic book. Enjoyed the film...fight scenes were good...overall I thought it had a good plot. Good all around Saturday adventure movie!

2) Realize I am probably giving the movie too much credit but I really saw parallels with today's news lines. Try not to read too much into it but Sparta throwing out the duty honor country thing versus the persians slavery and backwards (East vs West). Definite stereotypes that were tough not to see.

Just my 2 cents.

Somedays Are Just Girrrrrrrr!

Fantasy Baseball 2007

My goal is to improve...I hope! My record lately has been dismal...10, 8, 9, 6, and 3 since I last won a league. I start out strong, pitching always seems to be good but I get killed in offensive. Have some new tools this year hopefully the draft will go smoother than last year. Again the numbers to shoot for are (in a 5 x 5 scoring):

Wins 98
Saves 136
Ks 1248
ERA 3.770
WHIP 1.266
Runs 1194
HRs 315
RBIs 1155
SB 174
Ave 0.2877

Play Ball

Douglas Coupland - Eleanor Rigby

Not for sure which book this is in Coupland's run but I've read most of his works. Microserfs is still my all time favorite but each book he has put together as had something decent. I have never felt like I wasted time giving his books a read. In fact when I think about it...his books are so uncanny at times that they often just stick with you. Just when I started to write and I was thinking of titles the odd stories all came back, girlfriend in a coma, all families are psychotic, miss wyoming...yikes. The thing about Coupland is his wacky characterizations and how they react with one another. I have noticed lately he also has been dealing with a lot of death...hmmmm. Any Eleanor Rigby is a good little story. Some good lines or concepts...see below:

"I also have another program that tell me my one thousandth birthday..."

"Where is the correct path?"

"What is God exists but he doesn't really like people very much?"

Two good characters and a wacky plot. The girl in the story is supposed to be really fat and plain but I never pictured her like that. Love the meteorite subplot. Enjoy how the son and the end all kind of wrapped up. Overall good read and I have to admit major marketing potential that wasn't used. In his book he had a character google "rome disco liz 1976 high school canada" Well I googled it and nothing Coupland related. I would have thought for sure there would be some link!

This Week in Comics

Not much this week in volume but huge in the way of number ones! Have to admit I am looking forward to Buffy's return. I miss the show or maybe I just miss Sarah (girrr!). Does Sarah think it is funny to see her profile done in comics, not just a redo of the TV show, but actual new material that uses here likeness (does she get royalties?). Anyway great first issue. Loved the first page...loved the slayers. Loved the Nick Fury reference with Xander. Great first issue hope the rest of it lives up to it...

3rd Base Coaches

Interesting article at baseball analyst on the effect of 3rd base coaches

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2007/03/quantifying_coa.php

∏ (pi) Day

In honor of pi Day here is the first...whatever ;-)

3.

1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510
5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679
8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128
4811174502 8410270193 8521105559 6446229489 5493038196
4428810975 6659334461 2847564823 3786783165 2712019091
4564856692 3460348610 4543266482 1339360726 0249141273
7245870066 0631558817 4881520920 9628292540 9171536436
7892590360 0113305305 4882046652 1384146951 9415116094
3305727036 5759591953 0921861173 8193261179 3105118548
0744623799 6274956735 1885752724 8912279381 8301194912
9833673362 4406566430 8602139494 6395224737 1907021798
6094370277 0539217176 2931767523 8467481846 7669405132
0005681271 4526356082 7785771342 7577896091 7363717872
1468440901 2249534301 4654958537 1050792279 6892589235
4201995611 2129021960 8640344181 5981362977 4771309960
5187072113 4999999837 2978049951 0597317328 1609631859
5024459455 3469083026 4252230825 3344685035 2619311881
7101000313 7838752886 5875332083 8142061717 7669147303
5982534904 2875546873 1159562863 8823537875 9375195778
1857780532 1712268066 1300192787 6611195909 2164201989

Nike+

Since July 13, 2006 I have been logging every run using the Nike+ Apple iPod nano to track my runs. On 3/6/07, a total of 236 days later I had run a 159 runs or 67% of the days I put in some kind of run. Over those 159 runs I ran 546.83 miles or about 3.4 miles a run. Average pace was 10:03 a mile. My farthest run was 8.74 miles. So there is a summary.

March Madness

Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch

Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch interested me because of the connection with the movie "Fever Pitch". The movie about an obsessed Red Sox fan and the book about an obsessed Arsenal football fan. Funny thing about all this is that before I read this book I had become an outside Arsenal fan...no real reason why other than I liked their uniform with the big O2 on the front. Being a chemist geek I thought it would be cool to have a big oxygen symbol on my shirt ;) Anyway after reading the book I have a lot more intimate view of arsenal and England football. Wow what an eye opener about British soccer. Some of the undercurrents was just amazing...I had no ideal. Overall interesting view of soccer but frankly a bit over my head. If I ever get to England I will definately go see an Arsenal game. Oh yeah another little twist in all of this is that the Colorado Rapids is partnering with Arsenal! I find this all to be a bit weird!

Captain America - RIP

Okay they broke Batman's back, he came back, they killed Superman, he came back, they killed Colossus, he came back, they killed Hawkeye, he came back....are you starting to get the picture? Gimmick? Possibly but the issue was good...very emotional. Not for sure if I liked the whole Civil War thing but I do think that putting Capt A and Iron Man against each other was a good touch. Two dynamic figures with definate histories. With the finish of Civil War, they really had to move the character forward and this was a logical step but still it was Capt America! He's the man...to see him shot...that was tough. Definately provides a point forward, but will they cheapen it by bringing him back? Wouldn't it be nice if they let the character move on? Why cheapen it? Let the character move on and allow it to move the mythos forward. Hopefully Brubaker has something up his sleeve...I would like to see the Capt kick some Iron Man butt! Oh yeah the whole downfall of America and Capt America...please don't go so deep.

This Week in Comics

New story line...can't say bringing the Kingpin into play is really what I am looking for in Ultimate Spider-Man. The Kingpin is and older harsher villain that really doesn't play well in the Ultimate Spider-Man world. I prefer if we stick to the spidey villains. I also wish these story within stories had some connections. I mean we do have the triangle between MJ, Peter, and Kitty but what about some bigger plots especially those one pagers that give us a peak into the future direction. We shall see...



I admit I fell off the Avengers bandwagon...the stories just weren't fun but I gather Bendis had to go into a holding pattern due to the events of Civil War. Still not for sure why we need two teams and why is Wonder Man an Avenger and who is Ares? Black Widow is not a team character. Not for sure if this line up is Avenger worthy...is this West Coast Avengers redux?





Yawn...is this storyline over yet? Maybe if you are an age old JLA fan this story get you rev'd up but for me...just too many holes. Sorry to say but if you get too far away from the mythos of the big three is just doesn't do much for me.






Book 2, the story deepens, although not quite as good as the first book, it does set up the tale. Again I probably should revisit the original tale but so much too read. I wonder how this tale sets up for people in the know and thus of us who haven't read the books? Also does King ok the storyline?

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Good if not better second offering from Arcade Fire. I gave in to the tipping point and decided to get the album. Some decent songs especially Intervention, No Cars Go, and Black Mirror. Next to Silversun Pickups this is the best album I've heard in 2007. Quite a musical extravaganza. Lots of musical themes. Good beats...not quite running music, but good to work to. Overall the album lives up to the hype although it isn't a superalbum like Joshua Tree or Born in the USA.

Random Thoughts

Just a nothing kind of day! Not much that really jumped out at me so just a useless bit of randomness...

Random Quote:
"I push it, study it, tweak it and listen to it" is how Armstrong tells us he prepares his body for a race. When questioned about what he is "on," his response is a simple: "I am on my bike busting my ass six hours a day... what are you on?"

Random Poem From Me:
The path is worn the ruts exposed
            My feet glided through the air
            The sky is a brilliant red
            The mountains glow with an eeiry darkness

New York Times Maganzine - 3/4/07 Edition

On a whim I purchased the Sunday New York Times...I used to subscribe to the Sunday version but couldn't justify the monthly cost so every once in a while I seek it out or it just happens to find itself in my hands...like this weekend. Anyway I had a nice 2 1/2 hour flight to Fresno and having the Times made me seem worldly...as if going to Fresno quench any possible thoughts of that! Ha! This week's magazine was great...all three main stories were must reads.

Darwin's God
"In the world of evolutionary biology, the question is not whether God exists but why we believe in him. Is belief a helpful adaptation or an evolutionary accident?"

Well there you have it. Fascinating article. As a scientist I don't truly believe in what God as become. The capitalism of God would truly sicken any omniscient being! Our country has taken a good thing a bit too far. Looking at this world, seeing how religion has polarized our world and created way too much bloodshed, how father's can get a brain tumor, I truly have a hard time believing that such a being exists. All the same when you do look at the amazing universe we live in, you sometimes have to wonder. It is a great duality, zero and infinity. Anyway these are simply my thoughts and reading this article was very thoughtful especially since I have always wondered how so many people believe and put faith in something that doesn't exist.

"Why, he wondered, was religion so pervasive, when it was something that seemed so costly from an evolutionary point of view?"

Stephen Jay Gould (I'm more of a Dawkins fan...although after reading this article I think Dawkins might be a bit too harsh in his views) put forth an interesting ideal of "spandrel" or traits that have no adaptive value of its own. Gould says, "Natural selection made the human brain big but most of our mental properties and potentials may be to spandrels - that is, nonadaptive side consequences of building a device wth such structural complexity." Our mental capacity has gotten to such a point that it begins to ultimately question our existence. Because of the sheer complexity of our being it becomes only natural for us to seek answers. Most answers are not easy so the simple believe of a greater power helps to alleviate that big nothing.

"What about Atheists...if the evolutionary view of religion is true, they have to work hard at being atheists, to resist slipping into intrinsic habits of mind that make it easier to believe than not believe."

"No matter how much science can explaine it seems the real gap that God fills is an emptiness that our big-brained mental architecture interprets as yearning for the supernatural. The drive to satisfy that yearning, might be an inevitable and eternal part of the tragedy of human cognition."

One Very, Very Indie Band
Okay I'm really not jumping on the band wagon here. I heard about Arcade Fire about 6 months ago on the Dan Patrick show. He has a favorite pick me up song that he plays and he also mentioned the connection with U2. So I tracked them done a while ago...then boom, last Friday I had the day off, Dan plays the tune, and I go get their first album. Meanwhile last week there was in article in the New Yorker, this article, and a side note in Wired Magazine all touting their new album, Neon Bible. What to make of this? Is all this a sublimal mind f#$k luring me to finally buy the album. Is this a tipping point? This happens to me like so sort of deja vu. I buy something and then boom it goes mainstream. I won't take any credit but I do often wonder if it isn't just some marketing scam that I have fallen into.

By the way their first album, Funeral, was decent on the first listen. Need to bury it into my nano and see if anything sticks...

Campus Exposure
Interesting article about porn on high brow campuses. Something of interest to me lately as I have a friend who is dating a different generation and he informs me that taboo's aren't quite the same with younger women as it is with our generation. This article seems to confirm in some respect how sex and objectiving everything about it has become so mainstream that I don't think we really realize it anymore. It doesn't bother me but I imagine young people growing up in this ever present over sexual generation it must be overwhelming. Or perhaps I am just old. Does it seem to matter? I'm happily married but I often hear stories of couples in our social circle having all kinds of interesting propositions. No sex and swinger parites just to name a few. Has this always been present, an underlying current of society or because how mainstream sex has become it just doesn't matter anymore? Are we just looking for something new? (note: my Carrie Bradshaw impression is now over...)

For All Mankind

Yup, I did it again. My inner NASA geek made me watch this. This documentary was recommended as one of the top Apollo films. Filmed entirely by Astronauts with astronauts commentary (mainly Cernan...who appears to be the only one willing to actually speak about going to the moon...heck 1 out of 12 ain't bad!). Overall some stunning filmography. Nothing new...thought the IMAX version of walking on the moon was much more impressive. Good footage but once again devoid of any real emotional. As much insight as the grey moon. Did have a nice feature on Alan Bean's paintings.