Poker Source Online Free Poker gifts sound too good to be true? It's not! Pick from a dozen online poker rooms!

Monday, January 29, 2007

i love my wife...

- she coined a new phrase today, "debutards" . noun. a combination of a debutant and retard. See also, "My Super Sweet 16"

- While watching the Apprentice she said, "You know what the problem is with this team. There are too many damn women."

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Its official... im a traitor

After 9 years, I'm coming back. Just purchased a new computer and it is a Mac. I'm sick of slow boot ups and it will make photo editing and storing easier for Wifey.

Should be here Tuesday.

great quote...

from my friend Erin, regarding Duke guard.

Marty Pocius.

"In my country, this is where the talking stop and the sexxing begin."

Poor guy, the only attractive man on the basketball team who gets more applause for checking out of the game than most get for scoring 30 points. Somewhere J.D. Simpson is smiling.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

damn

Indy beats the Pats. So I actually need to root for Bears in a couple weeks. I hate being part of the crowd.

The American Pasttime

...not baseball, real estate.

If you like real estate, live in Chicago, or are just nosey, go here. If up and coming website, just got a plug in today's Tribune, tracks recent real estate sales with some stories about the people doing the buying and selling.

Shows the wonders of Google.

what's on my tv

have a few new favorite shows...

these are the type of shows that you feel bad before it ends and are disappointed when a week goes by without a new episode.
Here are my two new favorites:

  • Its always sunny in Philadelphia.-
  • Iconoclasts.

Sunny is like Seinfeld on crack. Probably more like a combo between Seinfeld and Larry David. five self-absorbed people own a bar and always look for the quick score. The writing is incredible and I can't wait until new episodes next season. Its on FX, but you think it should belong on HBO.

Iconoclasts is a simple concepts. Bring two people, each famous for separate unrealted things together and see what happens. I've seen two episodes so fair-- one with David Chappelle and Maya Angelou, the other with Laird Hamilton and Eddie Vedder. I was blown away by each of them.I even started lookin to book a Malibu vacation after watching Laird and Eddie surf the other day.

Football picks for the day

everything logicial points to the Saints, but everyone and their dog like the Saints. So as much as it pains me, i'll pick the bears.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Getting good value in manhattan

New York city to eliminate sales tax on clothing. link. Wifey will be quite happy. She will definitely want to visit more.

The fundamanetal economics of this still don't make sense to me. Take Manhattan. You have a concentrated population of comparative wealthy people, many of whom don't have transportation of their own. Now this is a captive audience if I have ever seen one. Where is the lift from this effective price decrease. Does the New York department of tourism think that Manhattanites are fleeing to Jersey to go shopping. Are they concerned about internet sales. Are girls from Queens no longer going to go to the trendy boutiques for their shiny halters top to wear to the best clubs on Staten Island?

Is this driven by trying to draw tourists for shopping vacations? Maybe. However, if this can't be driven by price due to the prohibitive cost of New York hotel rooms. The only legit argument I could think of is competition from the internet. However, I think this has to be marginal at best. This is a TON of $$ that NYC is walking away from, most of which is paid by people who are willing to pay it.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

in breaking news...

The Miami, DC and Vegas condo markets have collapsed. Couldn't see that coming. Let's see in cities with no real growth in industry, quadrupling the amount of high-income housing in a concentrated area.

link

Heidi-larious: The season premier of The Hills

OMG, like this is a total bummer, dude.
Is MTV now trying to create Heidi into a sympathic characters? She is now getting played instead of doing the playing and making accidently have been pregnant. Maybe they are just trying to delay her inevitable career into the porn industry. And by the way.. That Bolthouse guy looks like the dirtiest pimp I have ever seen. I guarantee there are some "extras" available to the VIP room in his clubs.

And what's up with this doofus that she and Audrina are hanging out with? He must either have a billionaire father or a 12 inch cock because I just don't get. He isn't that attractive and is way too cheesy. These two girls are hotter than most of the girls in "The Janice Dickinson Modelling Agency" and they are chilling with an extra from the 2007 version of Mayberry.

At least Kristin Cavellieri knew how to be a good power dater. Matt Leinhart and Nick Lachey. And she wasn't as attractive as these two either.

Now if only Matt L. had given Kristin a pregnancy scare... that would have been some must-see television.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Duking it out on campus

Get your bets in now people. Duke is going to a bowl in 2008. Don't believe me. Ask head coach Ted Roof. Or Duke President Dick Brodhead. Or Duke Athletic Director Joe Alleva. Apparently, the pieces are in place to get to a bowl in TWO year.

Quite impressive and ballsy for a team that hasn't beaten a division I opponent in two and a half years.

This weekend was the 1st Annual Duke University Football summit. A rah-rah meeting attended by former football alums and some other friends of Duke athletics.

So quick summary-- noone is accountable for anything for another year. We are going to "stay the course." Gee, I wish I could get a job where I didn't have to deliver any results for 4 years before being held accountable. Boy, I'm glad to be an alum.

If this enrages you and you want to complain, go here

Can he sink any lower

Apparently, Tom Cruise helped influence David Beckham to the LA so he could join the church of what's happening now, I mean scientology.

Admittedly, the source is the New York Daily News, but still it makes you wonder. Maybe some of Beck's $200MM of endorsements will be for books by L. Ron Hubbard.


In other news, the most hyped day of NFL playoffs came and went yesteday. Good thing I didn't bet on either game since I would have gone 0-fer. (Even though Philly covered, i would have taken the money line.).

It also got me to thinking about why I like or dislike certain people. Those who know me know that I refer to Peyton Manning as "the anti-Christ". Don't like Tiger Woods, but like Phil Mickelson and Barry Bonds. At this point, I don't even know why I hate Peyton Manning. Is it because he is smug, but Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are just as smug? Is it because he is a huge choker, well, I liked Phil before he choked.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

I love revenge

especially for small and pretty stuff.

We sold our condo about a year ago. The new buyer (whose wife was a C*NT at the close has had his cell phone bill forwarded to our address for the past 6 months (no idea why). We called the cell phone provider and they will not allow us to change the address.

So now Wifey has let me get some revenge. I don't want to just cancel his cell phone service because that can be detected and corrected easily. Instead, I want to deluge him with telephone solicitations. Since this is a work phone and he is likely a drug rep, he can't easily change his number.Any ideas on how to quickly sign him up for really ANNOYING and persistant telemarketer?

Guerrilla Marketing

Anyone who drives through the River north neighborhood in Chicago is familiar with it. Going south on Wells a big green billboard saying "If you were offended by the Rolling Rock "Beer Ape" ad please email rob_xxx@rollingrock.com."

Now, as someone who works in the consumer packaged goods industry, this has me thinking.. Is this really a guerrilla marketing programs, that should be driving web traffic? Or was there an ad where somebody truly was offended.

The biggest issue from a marketing perspective, is "Is this something you want to be associates your brand with?" Admittedly, I don't know what the rolling rock brand stands for. However, creating offensive commercials is probably not something that I would want to put in my brand key. It reminds me of interest companies circa 2000, who launched via Superbowl ads which had nothing to do with the product. The one shooting the squirrel out of a cannonball was particularly poignant.

Admittedly, I still need to try to go a find the commercial, but that doesn't mean this is good marketing.

Friday, January 12, 2007

today's news

A few very good things online today..


- From Jonathan Kaplan: Interesting post about the stock options activity at Apple with backdated stock options. What I didn't know, though, was that Al Gore served on the board of directors and didn't say a word. Kinda suprising and it will definitely kill any chances Al has of getting elected President. Interesting since I think that he is the most electable Democratic BY FAR in the next election.

I also posted a reply on why legal backdating of stock options is not necessarily a bad thing due to the inherent assymetry of interests between shareholders and optionholders.

- From Bill Simmons Lots of good stuff today from the huge demise of Dante Hall (Are you listen Devin Hester) to the why Chris Collinsworth is the best announcer in the business. however, the best part was his arguments of why all football teams should have a Assistant coach of strategy.

Which leads me to wonder: I've already made the argument for coaches hiring a clock-management consultant (Andy Reid clearly needs one) and a VP of common sense (to talk them into things like, "Definitely try to punch it in on fourth-and-goal, otherwise you're giving up either an extra four points or 30 yards of field position and you're showing no confidence in your offense" and "Maybe we shouldn't call that quick pass to Terry Glenn on our own 1-yard line and just run the ball three times; we have the lead, for God's sake"). Well, why wouldn't they also have some slacker college student who has played 250,000 hours of "Madden" the past three years and faced every conceivable football situation on hand to throw out advice like, "Dude, let them score here; we can get the ball back down eight?" With those three advisers flanking him on the sideline, even Bruce Coslet would have been unstoppable.

Other than being my dream job, it just makes good sense. What other company do you have a key executive making decisions with little to no analysis nor training in the area of risk? None. You need a specialist game theorist to make specific recommendations to the coach during a game. Especially in the NFL with no limit on coaches or coaching salaries. Kinda surprised little Danny Snyder doesn't do this. I know Mark Cuban would if he owned an NFL team.

Things I wish I could bet on....


1) Time until Jimmy Clausen has his first arrest on the Notre Dame campus. (My bet: September)

2) What Jimmy Clausen will be charged with on his first arrest (Smart money is on underage drinking, but I like pot possession.)

3) Time until O. J. Mayo is compared with Harold Miner by Dick Vitale. (Any time now.)

4) Time until Justin Timberlake gets back from Britney. Need to ask Wifey on this one.

5) Time until the NFL person who hired Prince for the Superbowl halftime show is fired.

6) First member of "The hills" to do porn. Smart money is on Heidi, but don't put it past Jason. Also, Breanna Conrad could be a good sleeper as well to get out of LC's shadow.


7) Time until my wife slaps me, the next time I drop Breanna Conrad in the Alphabet game.


more to come...

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I guess Joe really know how to work his Dick

quotes from Dick Brodhead regarding Duke athletics.

Q: How would you evaluate Joe Alleva's leadership of the Department of Athletics?

A: I'm in my third year as president. I met Joe as I met many others before I became president, because I spent six months here in my transition. I really have almost three full years of working with Joe as with everyone else here.

I think it would be fair to say athletics has thrived at Duke in the time that I've been here. Look how many teams have gone so far in postseason championship play. I'm also going to take note of Duke leading the pack in graduation rates of schools with strong sports programs. That's great too because the whole point is we really try to take the student-athlete concept seriously here and not just have students who are great athletes who do not participate in the academic life of the school.

Our one Rhodes scholar this year was a varsity athlete and a captain of a team. That's great. One of the things that's very much to Joe's credit is the evenness of attention that's been given to lots of sports. There are some schools where only a couple sports are taken seriously. I think Joe takes them all seriously, which is a very good thing. To be sure, last spring was a challenging time for him and his department as it was for the rest of the university.

Joe Alleva is the athletic director of this place, and he's our athletic director going forward

--------------------------------

I don't even know where to began. Is the worst part of the article...

1) the perception that we needed to invest in all sports evenly?

2) the fact that Dick perceives Joe as doing a good job or

3) the perception that Joe has been responsible for our increase in the Sears Cup rankings? No sport where he has hired the Head coach is in a better position now compared to when he arrived.

misery

something is wrong with me. Or wrong with wifey... possibly both.

Wifey was upset this past week because she told off some horrible customer service reps. She was upset that she was particularly mean to them . Me, I feel better after doing that.

Also, I have started to be addicted to cruise message boards. Especially those from people who had miserable times. though i would likely never go on another cruise (at least a middle market one), for some reason i love reading about people whose experience was worse than mine.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

High comedy in the NFL

There is comedy, there is high comedy and then there is Nick Saban. Check out this link for the most mind numbing press conference ever. At this season ending press conference when asked about whether or not he would return next year as a dolphins coach.

If he won't answer that question, what will he answer?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIoqLcP1X1s