The View

This evening, for the first time, I watched part of The View; I Tivoed it this morning because Glenn Beck was a guest. Putting aside the fact that my personal convictions and political views are closely aligned with Mr. Beck's, The View has to be THE MOST pointless show ever; it's on the same level as Jerry Springer. The only thing that I can hear is Whoopie Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, and Barbara Walters squacking about meaningless issues. Elisabeth Hasselbeck seems to provide some sort of normality and stability to an otherwise pointless television show. Glenn Beck takes the time to appear on their show, and none of them even have the courtesy to let him respond to their five-at-a-time questions/accusations. Beck was on the show for two segments. The first segment was 100% focused on a lie that Glenn told. You won't believe this whopper! Long story short, Glenn was on the train when Barbara Walters and Whoopie Goldberg got on. On his radio show, Glenn did an unflattering, yet remarkably accurate, impression of Barbara Walters and said that she called him over to her. But, and this is a HUGE deal, Glenn actually approached Barbara!!! That's it, that's the big lie... In the first minute of his appearance, he easily admitted that he mispoke. Why was it so easy? Because it doesn't amount to anything and changes nothing about the story! The first 30 seconds of the second segment were allocated to Glenn actually voicing his opinion. After that, Whoopie and Joy just couldn't take it anymore. They were so incredibly rude to their "guest," I'm not sure how they get anybody on the program. The entire show, Whoopie would not even make eye contact with Glenn, and she has plenty of room for that over her teenie tiny glasses.

Bottom line, I can't believe that ABC wastes money on this trash. How The View ever won an Emmy is beyond me; that discredits the Emmy's more than it credits The View.

Inspiration

Inspiration is a tricky thing. It's easy to wait around for something or someone to provide it, but the truly gifted individuals are those who can will it upon themselves. I have been having trouble getting motivated to write blog posts because I can't seem to find anything to write about. So, I sit down, and type in the title "golf"...no, no, no. I don't know enough about that fickle game. So, I try "How did the U.S. government post a deficit for the month of April?" Nope, I don't have the energy, and frowning emoticons do not do justice to my frustration (last year we had a surplus of over $150 billion, and now, one year later, we post a $20.9 billion deficit?! Come on, Barry, get your game together. Or, is it "still like the Special Olympics or something"?). So, I settle in to discover my issue and find that it's not ADD, but a lack of inspiring topics.

So, what is more inspiring than inspiration itself? Let's talk about it. During my week long stint as a bachelor, I found that I wanted my wife to come home to a clean and organized home. So I was uber-productive around the house, and she returned to a cleaner, more organized home. BAM! Inspiration came from my wife's happiness - now, if I can only get her and her family to read this... I am inspired and motivated to work on my golf game because Brice King and I have a few dozen Kang Kups to win, and my dad and I have a member-guest to win. Inspiration can come from anywhere: music, art, people, events, etc. So, why is it so difficult to find sometimes?

I guess it is simply important to keep looking for ways to become inspired. It seems that even the smallest things have the capability to provide enough inspiration to conquer large obstacles.

We'll see what other incongruent topics will inspire my next post.

The Diary of a Groomed Bachelor

So, here we are, the fourth day of my experience. I have three vacation days to take before Monday, or I lose em; this is the first, and it was wonderfully productive. In fact, this may have been one of the more manly days that I have ever had. I slept in until 8:00, took out the trash, cleaned out the closet, cleaned the garage, finished building a flower bed, donated to Good Will, recycled newspaper and cardboard, and went to the driving range/practice green. Yep, this was one hairy, manly day.

I have wonderful plans for the rest of the week. Golf on Thursday, Friday, and maybe Saturday, and David Price is coming to visit tomorrow through Sunday. I'm sorry I don't have anything interesting to say right now, but hopefully some things will inspire me over the next couple of days.

ARGHH!

Welcome Back!

Not that any mass of people visit the blog, but just in case. I guess I'm really just using this as a journal and venting medium, so I can see why people wouldn't visit this site religiously.

So, my wife left for a week-long trip to the Dominican Republic yesterday morning. You know what that means! Seven days of casserole-eating for yours truly! I have a breakfast sausage/egg bake for breakfast and a huge pan of lasagna for lunch and dinner. Who knows? maybe I will actually get around to making some vegetables for a side or something...but, right now, A Goofy Movie is on TV.

A new series for this week, The Diary of a Groomed Bachelor.

Chapter 11? And other AIG musings...

In all of this AIG mess, I continue to wonder what would have happened if the government would have let business run its course. There is a reason that Chapter 11 Bankruptcy exists! It is for companies that have gotten into contracts that they can no longer honor, so that the may reorganize. Hmm...this situation sounds eerily familiar... Now, as it stands, the AIG bonus scandal is dominating headlines, and taking the focus away from the real crooks in this situation: Congress.

Simply put, AIG was required to pay these bonuses; Chris Dodd wrote the contract that said so. A lot of those executives don't take a large salary because of a salary tax. So, in an effort to keep more of their money, they started giving bonuses. Now, the government is attempting to take back the bonuses, tax the snot out of them, or require that they are "voluntarily returned" if AIG is to receive anymore tax dollars. Say that you, Mr. Average American, make $40,000 per year. However, your company elects to pay you $1 in salary and a $39,999 bonus at the end of the year. What happens to your take home pay as soon as your "distasteful bonus" is dismantled? And, since when can Congress be so judgemental? Last I checked, this country was in some serious debt, and earmarks are still being put into bills.

Consider this analogy: Mr. and Mrs. Average American just lost their jobs but have yet to pay off their house. Mr. American decides to continue to uphold his family's contractual obligation to pay their monthly morgage, and his family becomes outraged. They might say, "How can you possibly justify paying this amount of money every month?! We don't have any income!" The next day, Mr. American pulls up in the driveway in a brand new Rolls, and nobody puts up a fuss.

How backwards is that? But, that's exactly what is happening in our country right now.

Home Prices

I know that this video is a little old, two weeks or so, but it isn't really "mainstream media."



I found some additional data from the Standard & Poor's webpage. I believe that this data mirrors the entire U.S. economy. History supports the cyclical behavior of the economy in general, and we have been able to enjoy a large period of prosperous times. Now, it is time to return to earth. From a purely egocentric standpoint, the next few years aren't bad for young people that are ready to invest. As all things having to do with the U.S. economy drop, it seems like a great time to buy and hold.

UMass, Take 2

I am at a loss for words after staying up to watch that Texas Tech game last night. Thinking back, I am not sure that we could look any worse. The game was worse than UMass because we were supposed to have "broken through the wall." The Jayhawk faithful witnessed our potential against Mizzou and OU. And now, we have witnessed how bad we can really look.

It is difficult to pin the loss on one particular person. If anybody can be mostly absolved of blame, it would be Bill Self. We had PLENTY of open looks and stifled their offense with a change to zone. The calls from the bench were spot on. However, when Sherron Collins goes 3 for 19 (1 for 10 from deep) and Cole Aldrich goes without a field goal and a rebound for almost the entire first half, it's tough to win a ball game. On top of that, our on ball defense was pitiful. How does Brady Morningstar let Alan Voskuil make 9 of 14 threes and go for a career high 35 points? That could be Coach Self's one question mark: why didn't he put Sherron on him for a while? In my opinion, the loss boils down to our star performers not perfoming.

I realized that I may seem harsh to pin the majority of this loss on Collins and Aldrich, but that's facts, Jack. The reliable role is what the two of them have fallen into, and, for the most part, they have embraced it. I'm not saying we needed 25 points and 15 boards from Cole or 30 points and 10 assists from Sherron. A slightly under average game would have done just fine. Maybe Cole makes a LAY UP early in the second half to tie the game at 43. Then, who knows what happens? Our team gets energized and storms past the Voskuil Raiders. Or, maybe it wasn't our night, and they would have finished it off anyway. I know that everybody can't be on every game, but come on, everybody off on the same game? I'm sorry. The responsibility to pick up a down team falls upon its leaders.

The good thing, however, is that I still feel like we played hard. I am confident that Coach Self will have them ready for Saturday in Allen, and I look forward to finishing off a great season with an out-right BigXII regular season championship. Thanks Missouri.