theashtraysays

Turning 39 on a Monday. That calls for something. Maybe two somethings.

Happy Birthday Flick.

Happy Birthday Sue! Have a great time at whatever you're doing.

UK - Bama was a pretty good game all in all. Downright respectable. I'm liking that Big Blue defense. I'll take 17-14...

I have to agree. I didn't imagine we would get our program turned around so quickly. Last weekend might have been the best athens trip I have ever made and I look for this weekend in Tuscaloosa to be equally grand. Definitely a little worried about LSU though (and of course Auburn). Hell, Ole Miss looks pretty good under Nutt too. It's a long road in the SEC. I wish we could play more of an Ohio State of Michigan schedule. You know, one that's more of a cake walk and all.

The thing I worry about is that Saban has raised the market price for college coaching to an exorbitant level. That can't be a good thing. It just can't.

That said, I'm not looking forward to our chances (UK) in the game tomorrow. I'm not one for whining, but this is a pretty tough opener for on-the-road conference play. And our 4-0 record isn't quite as menacing as it looks on paper. We'll see...

So, I was listening to the YHF Demo on the way to work this morning, and I had a question that I know someone here will know the answer to. On the demo version of Poor Places (the one I have, anyway), there's no "Yankee ... Hotel ... Foxtrot" radio thing at the end of the song. So, when did the album get its name? What was the demo called when it was made? This is probly in a book somewhere or buried deep within the catacombs of VC, but I thought I'd just ask...

Has any team ever played 4 top ten teams in a row?

 

AP Top 10

1. USC (61) 2-0 1,596

2. Oklahoma 3-0 1,485

3. Georgia (2) 3-0 1,437

4. Florida (1) 2-0 1,414

5. Missouri 3-0 1,389

6. LSU 2-0 1,274

7. Texas 2-0 1,140

8. Wisconsin 3-0 1,076

9. Alabama 3-0 982

10. Auburn 3-0 958

 

 

Arkansas will begin the road to 2-6 Saturday.

That's just life in the SEC. We play Georgia, LSU and Florida this year, albeit not in a row. Seems like every year we play Auburn, they're ranked Top 10. Same for Tennessee.

Well, you both get to play Kentucky in there somewhere (10-11 for SC and 10-18 for Ark), so things are not all bleak. Seems like we always either get the hard SEC teams, or teams who come in with "must win" situations after other SEC thumpings. Life in the SEC, indeed...

We were able to hold off a non-cupcake Middle Tennessee on a last-second shoestring tackle at the 1 on Saturday... not pretty.

Today is bill-payin' day, and I noticed for the first time that our newspaper will now has a "Fuel Surcharge" of two dollars and something added on to the usual subscription price.

We also had some gas lines around lunchtime yesterday, but it was back to normal when I came home from work around 6. I topped off. $3.75 here. Seemed like the prudent thing to do.

Fifty pages in eight days. You people.

That is a very interesting method of hiring principals.

indeed...

The only solution is to only hire competent administrators that are able to properly judge the work of their employees.

Good post - it's easy to poke holes but harder to find real answers. And congratulations on 23 years of teaching...

I'm curious how you all have dealt with the issue of hiring principals there in FL. Here in KY (not an education mecca, to be sure) we have implement School-Based councils at each school which consist of the principal, 3-4 teachers, and 2 parents. When there is a principal vacancy at the school, the council (sans principal, obviously) interview and decide. Obviously, there are more teachers than parents on that, so it's essentially up to the teachers on the council who have the majority. I've been one of the parents on that council during the selection process, and I found it a little weird that the teachers essentially pick their new boss. If the council happens to be loaded with "not so great" teachers at the time, you're not exactly going to get a hard-driving / effective principal. I understand the wisdom of the school-based councils for accountability and all that, but this part always seemed to be a flaw to me.

How do the FL schools deal with that?

Jealous, jealous, jealous.... Sea Change in particular.

Radiohead did all 10 In Rainbows tunes on 8/3/08 in Indy, plus one from the EP.

I'm guessing technology, or light manufacturing where you're not dealing with large cube or weight issues to market?

 

As far as the push for cost reductions, you can blame Wal-Mart for that as much as the government. They've put every entity in the supply chain's tit in a ringer to squeeze out every penny they can. That predator mindset has spread so much that you left trying to find places to pass off the loss of margin.

This is our fault as a consumer society, not the government or Wal-Mart or big bidness. Yes, WM is a machine and a nasty one at that. But we're the ones buying the $10 DVD player and camping out on Black Friday for the low-low priced plasma. We're the fuel. That's a generalization, and not everyone plays into that mentality as consumers, but it's us. We made WM the world's largest corporation, and the largest importer from China. I know they're a horrible corporate player in many ways, but we get to look in the mirror on that one. We made them.

As for world flatness, I think it will continue to get flatter. Yes, energy/transportation is a speed bump in that process, but we are offshoring things today that we never thought possible even 10 years ago. I've spent time in the south China manufacturing region, and I see where it's going. And I see companies chasing lower wages rates to some might lowly places, as Jules said, in the insatiable quest for cost reductions. It's insane, but it's not going to stop. At least as long as we keep buying $10 DVD players. And what politician in his/her right mind will throw a monkey wrench in that little slice of the American dream? None.

So back to the topic of the thread, that's the plan I'd like to see - how to end that offshoring madness before we collapse as an economy and I have to learn Mandarin. I share your frustration, Jules... wish I had a lotta answers.

YHF started making a few of the "best of this year" lists in late 2002. I saw it and decided to give it a try. I bought it at a Wal-Mart in Austin, TX on a business trip. Funny how you remember these things... I listened to it on the plane ride home on a portable CD player (pre-mp3 for me), and I thought it was the most amazing thing I had ever heard from the first listen to IATTBYH all the way through the outro of Reservations. I saw them live for the first time in 05 at the end of the AGIB tour. 6 of the last 7 concerts I've been to have been Wilco...

Happy Birthday, Johnny!!! Welcome to 46. I hear it's the new 44. Or whatever. See you soon...

Vince

It's relatively short sighted, but it is going to be outrageously profitable.

Isn't that really the American Dream? I mean, as a society, we aren't exactly masters of long range planning...

Well, since you asked (twice, even).

No, I don't think we need that. The NSFW rule is useful, and refraining from gratuitous profanity is equally appreciated. The interwebs has a zillion places for anything you care to find in that genre, and I don't think that VC needs to be one of them. I don't think a person has to use unlimited vulgarity for shock-value or to prove his/her adultness here or anywhere for that matter. It's just not necessary.

Vince

"The Kentucky defense dominated the annual UK - UL game yesterday, holding the UL offense scoreless and generating five turnovers in the course of the game..."

Yeah, that's not what I expected to read in the paper today, either.

I have one of the memory foam pillows from Sam's and it's awesome.

Voted! Good luck on the next cut. The top 2 when I voted were "Save Sick Children" and "Feeding 1 Million Children Daily". Kinda tough competition...

Wear a funny hat. People will say "How much for the hat?" and you can say "Not for sale, but how about these awesomly rare collector Elvis plates?"....

And, yeah, set up as much as possible on Friday night.

Try to plan for a 1-2 week gap between taking ownership and the actual move-in date... the best time to do stuff like painting/cleaning (esp. the garage) is before you move all your crap in.

Yeah, that's a really good point. It's exciting to "move right in" as soon as you close, and that's probably what most people do on a first home. But having some time to paint, clean up, replace lights, etc, with an empty place is really really going to make it more livable when you do move in. DO IT!!!!!!!!!

Funny scene: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, when the whale is falling and coming to grips with his existence. That last line of "Hellllooooo groooouuuunnd" still throws me into a uncontrollable laughing fit when someone says that.

Heavy scene: In Million Dollar Baby, when Hillary Swank takes her mom to the house she just bought her, and her mom blasts her because it's going to mess up her welfare. The mom is one of the most memorable characters I've ever seen in a movie. I've only seen that movie once, and I refuse to see it again. I had no idea what it was about when I saw it, and it freaked me out big time.

Mr. and Mrs. Jules,

Well done, people!

Ah, that new-baby, top-of-the-head smell is one of life's simple pleasures. Enjoy. And get some rest.

Happy Birthday, Jeff. Thanks for everything.

PS... don't pay any attention to that whole "fear" thread thing. Rogue trolls have invaded the board.