Water-Logged in Astoria

Spaghetti with Fennel & Herbs

2010-04-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

I am back! But I still don't have a whole lot to talk about. So, I have decided to at least post about my adventures in the kitchen. Tonights dinner was a based on this recipe.

Notes:

1) Tonight I didn't have any red jalapeño peppers, so I used some dried chiles that I had in the cupboard. It worked reasonably well, but I would prefer the jalapeños myself.

2) Although the instructions say to put the garlic in the skillet first, I would advise sweating the fennel first. Garlic has a tendency to burn too quickly.

3) You can get away with less chicken broth then is listed since you reduce most of it away. I only used 3/4 of cup (it was all I had).

4) If you like garlic, like I do, go with 4-5 cloves instead of 3.

5) If at all possible, buy whole fennel seed, toast it and grind it yourself. You will appreciate the flavor.

6) Although I am sure it would be delicious with pancetta, normal bacon works well. If you use regular bacon, use a little more since it the flavor isn't as powerful as pancetta.

7) I don't cook with fresh fennel very often. It was sweeter than I expected. Also, don't be alarmed by the licorice smell, even if you don't like black licorice. The flavor changes significantly during the cooking process.

I guess that is it for tonight. There will hopefully be a post on blackened steelhead and rice later this weekend.

New Project

2009-06-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

I am not the kind of man that can spend most of his evenings and weekends sitting around the house. Throughout my time in school I always had a goal I was working toward. That goal kept me occupied, driven. Once I hit the work-a-day world I had some trouble adjusting. Certainly I still had goals, but they were either too long term (save for retirement, improve as a trial lawyer etc), or too mundane to sate my desire. It seems I need goals that are, although difficult, obtainable in the mid-term. To put it quite bluntly, I need projects. Those that have followed my occasional postings have seen several posts on my last large project (my house). To be sure, the house is not yet complete, but the remaining projects are weekend sized for the most part. With the tangible end in sight, I decided it was time to acquire my next project: a 1967 Mustang Coupe. As it happens, my father is liquidating a good deal of things he has bought over the last few years, and he happened to still have the first car we bought together. The idea of finishing a project that stalled out so long ago was intoxicating. It simply had to be done.

About the car:

1967 Mustang Coupe w/ a vinyl top.

289, V-8 (and it runs)

3 speed automatic

Color: currently a mix of bondo gray, red, and Wimbledon White.

Interior: Black (except for the white high-back bucket seats that someone dropped in. I think they from a Ford Maverick)

Best of all: Manuel drum brakes...

Here some pictures to fill in what my words do not.

Santa clause multiplied by i

2009-03-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

Other then my awesome new washer and dryer, there isn't a whole lot of news out here. But I did want to share something with you all: Bo Burnham. Not only does he have the coolest first name ever (even if he spells it wrong), he is damn funny. So take 4 minutes, watch this video. You will be glad you did. Be warned, it is musical comedy.

Aging

2009-03-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

I am only 27 years old. But I don't feel so young today.

Last weekend our dryer died. It was clearly old. Older than Sam or I in fact. So last week we spent a couple of evening shopping for replacement. We were confronted by a fairly common and obvious problem. With the dryer dead, could the washer be far behind? It was clearly of the same vintage as the dryer. Wouldn't it make sense to replace them both now? So we shopped not just for a dryer, but for a good deal on a washer/dryer set. In the end we choose to spend extra money and purchase high-efficiency front loading units. They arrived today. And they made me feel old. Not in their newness, or moderness. Not even for the fact that I spent a large sum of money on appliances. But for the way I looked forward to their arrival for the last couple of days. And the excitement I felt in starting the first load. I don't know exactly when it happened, but I have become... domesticated. The urge to go out drinking and get a tatoo is so strong... but it is almost time to move the clothes to the dryer.

Authors Note: I know I was never the most exciting person, but I didn't think I would be this old at 27...

Poor Sierpinski

2009-03-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been a bit of a roller-coaster. On Friday morning one of our two cats failed to show up for her usual snuggle time with Sam. This is uncommon, but not unheard of. Around 9:00 am Sam started looking for Sierpinski (the black and white one) only to find her hiding under my dresser. Over the course of the morning it became clear that something was wrong. Eventually she came out from under the dresser and Sam was able to see that she had a hard time moving her hind legs. By some confluence of luck Sam went outside and found the cat's collar in the street smashed; it had clearly been run over by a car. This led to the conclusion that the cat had also been hit.

As I am sure you can imagine, Sam and I were expecting dire news from the veterinarian once it was clear what had happened. Luckily most vets (and ours is no exception) are good at making time in situations like this. The initial report was shockingly good. It seemed as though Sierpi had dislocated her hip, but there didn't seem to be any broken bones or internal damage. Fantastic news!

With that good news in hand and a sore kitty at home Sam and I went out to see Watchmen and relax. Then Saturday we headed down to Rockaway to help my folks with a little project on their beach house (soon to just be their house...). When we got back there was very unpleasant news in the form of blood spots on the bedroom carpet. Not being able to tell where they came from we quickly isolated Sierpi in the bathroom. Paying attention to her, it seemed that the blood was coming from a small wound near her butt. We decided to leave her in the bathroom so she couldn't run or jump and let the wound heal.

Come the next morning it looked like the plan had worked well. There were fewer blood spots on the bath mat then there had been on the bedroom rug the night before. So I scratched her on the head and got into the shower. When I got out there appeared to be a gout of blood on the floor. I was understandably concerned. Upon closer inspection it wasn't entirely blood. It had the unmistakable odor of cat urine. I was still (understandably) concerned. But it was Sunday morning and the veterinarian was closed. There was little we could do but watch and wait.

I left for Rockaway again and left Sam behind to monitor Sierpi. But I was not hopeful. Around 3:30 that afternoon she again urinated and it was quite bloody. Yet, she didn't seem much worse for the wear. She was walking around, she wanted out of the bathroom. She ate a little and drank plenty of water. I was confused.

Come Monday morning there was no new blood on the rug. We decided to wait until she evacuated her bladder to see if she still needed to go to the vet. Despite drinking water she didn't seem to want to go. Finally after lunch, when her stomach appeared full and tender we decided she need to go in to the veterinarian again. I was expecting the worst. I had even prepared Sam for the worst.

This time we saw the cat specialist. After a brief examination she was ready with the verdict, but it wasn't as dire as I expected. Sierpinski's tail had been severed internally from the rest of her body. It was, for all intents and purposes dead. When the car hit her and (for lack of a better term) broke her tail, it also caused a problem with the nerves that control urine function. It won't be clear for 7-14 days whether normal bladder function will resume.

To conclude, for at least a week either Sam or I (mostly Sam) has to juice one of our kitties. She also has a bald butt and no tail. I know, deep down inside, that this isn't funny. But given that I was prepared for the worst, it is not not funny either. Observe:

Coming Attractions

2009-03-02T19:03:00.000-08:00

So I know it has been a little while since I have dropped a post. Honestly there really hasn't been a whole lot going on to talk about. I haven't taken up a new sport/turned Canadian, or climbed a mountain, or even returned from two years abroad like many of my friends. Sam and I are just continuing our quiet but quite enjoyable time out here on the coast.

That said, I am working on (or at least thinking about) a couple of posts that I hope to have finished soon. One is (predictably) sports related, the other is (probably just as predictably) related to a recent ruling from the US Supreme Court on free speech/governmental speech issues.

I am also working on my over-use of parentheticals, but that is another topic for another day. I hope you all are well out there.

This is not a Blazers Post

2009-01-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

In fact, I thought I would give a little update about how things have been going on the coast out here. So here we go:

Holidays:

I am sure most of you have heard we had a bought of winter weather out here in Oregon around the holidays. Sam and I went to Portland on the 20^th to try and finish some Christmas shopping. We knew it was snowy and going to snow more. What we hadn't heard was it was going to snow a foot on Saturday. On top of that the freezing rain came in 36 hours earlier then I had been told it would. This is long way of saying that Sam and I wound up snowed in in Portland for a few days. However, come Monday we had to try and fight our way out of the city and over the passes since we were supposed to both be at work that day (luckily we have understanding bosses). So, we dug her Beetle out of the snow and we chained it up, and dug a ramp through the drifts to the hard pack snow. We loaded up, and I gave it good hard run. We made it some 250 feet to where my parents cul-de-sac runs into the main road. From there it took about an hour to get unstuck and heading home again. But after some working, some sand and some digging we were on our way again. And he made it a little over a half a mile. At the intersection of Pinehurst and Oatfield Rd. we hit another heavy bit in the road and it pushed us wide. By wide I mean we ran into a 3.5 foot snow bank on the far side of Oatfield. And we were stuck again. I was about to throw in the towel and walk back to my parents house when a very nice fellow (in shorts no less) pulled us out with a winch. From there we were able to make it on main roads and the free way all the way home. All told it took us about 4.5 hours. Sam held up like a champ though, and we played a rousing game of chain counting. This consists of counting peoples lost chains on the side of the road. He saw 27 of them between Portland and Astoria. Probably should have picked them up, I could have made a fortune reselling them.

Given the weather Sam and I spent a rather nice Christmas at home together in Portland. It was the first time I had ever spent Christmas without my family. It was a little strange but nice. There is something to be said for having a quite, stress-free holiday. After Christmas and with the weather thawing I headed for Portland for my vacation (I took a good 11 days off, counting holidays and weekends). I hit up Powell's and Everyday Music as well as hung out with some friends. (Note, to those friends I missed, I am sorry... perhaps we can try to grab lunch next time I am in town w/ free time.)

Back on the home-front as it were. Things in Astoria are good. Sam seems to like her job, (She has been blogging again, for those that might be interested). And 2 years in I still like mine. I have a nice routine, but there is a good deal of variation week to week. I started off he year with a trial and a good win over a rather good attorney. I have a few more trials coming up this month and next. If one of them turns out interesting I may toss out a post on that.

I am looking forward to this coming weekend. I have Monday off for President's Day (thank you government work...) and Friday night I am going to Fountains of Wayne concert with Paul in Portland. That should be awesome.

That is about it for now. Sorry, nothing so interesting as an abandoned dildo in an alleyway.

Two links before I go though:

Stuff White People Like – Damn funny, worth a browse.
Paul has started to use his blog it would seem. Holler.

The Darius Miles Situation

2009-01-09T23:48:00.000-08:00

So, I am sure most of you that care already know, but there are big doings for the Blazers on the whole Darius Miles thing.

For now I am not going to delve into the whys, whats or wherefores of the whole thing, but there is one point I feel compelled to get out there. Many of the people that are discussing this issue find the letter/email sent out threatening litigation to have been little more then bluster. "How can you prove the other team acted maliciously?" they ask. The short answer is "circumstantial evidence," or "inferential reasoning" if you will.

Here is the crux of the issue: If Miles plays 2 more games this year it would have a somewhat significant negative impact on Portland's cap space heading into the off season. In the NBA a team can sign a player to 10 day contract which would be enough to Miles in to two games without significant cost to the signing team. Portland sent out a letter making it clear that if it appeared a team was signing and playing Miles for the purpose of harming Portland's cap they would take legal action.

So consider this: Team A signs Miles to a 10 day contract, plays him 1 minute of garbage time in each of 2 games during that 10 days and then lets him go. Miles isn't signed and doesn't play another game all season. In other words, Team A did just enough to put Miles' salery pack on Portland's cap. Sure there is no direct evidence of the intent, NBA executives are smart enough not to put thier ill intent in an email. But we can infer their intent. And a jury/judge could do the exact same thing. I am not saying it would be the easiest case, but the "journalists" claiming that it can't be proven are some combination of naieve, dumb or too lazy to think it through.

Rip City

2008-12-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

So, a month or two ago I was thinking about the Blazers. Specifically, around the time they announced they were going to retire Terry Porter's number I started remenicing about those old Blazer teams again. Then I remembered the awesome Blazer rap songs and Rip City Rhapsody in particular. I spent hours (literally several hours over 2-3 nights) searching for an mp3 or youtube video of the that song. You see I loved that song. I had the cassette tape. I had a VHS tape of the highlights from that season that had the video. And I watched it on a pretty regular basis. But I couldn't find it. It didn't exist anywhere. Adter that amount of searching I was convinced that the internet had let me down.

So, why did I tell you all of this? Because I thought perhaps it wasn't clear how big of a dork I was/am? No, not exactly. You see, the great Lord of the Tubes has granted my wish. So to all of you that love it, to all of you that have never seen it, I present the video of Rip City Rhapsody! Big thanks to Bust-a-Bucket for getting this done.

While watching the video keep your eye out for some classic Drazen shots... as well as Kevin Johnson crying like a baby. But perhaps best of all, is hearing the Schonz calls in the background.

Random Acts of Kindness

2008-12-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

Before reaching our feature presentation, a short note. As I typed the title to this post, my mind half wandered and before I knew it I had types "Random Acts of Congress." I am sure that isn't exactly a new joke, but it made me chuckle. Anyway, on to the real reason I am here:

First things first, here is the article that inspired this post.

There, have you read it? You should, my rant will make more sense that way. In case you are too lazy here are the cliffs notes: 1) Girl at Sheldon High starts a club to perform random acts of kindness. It grows quickly. 2) They start by giving free hugs at a Duck game, and all is good. 3) They try to rake leaves for people in the neighborhood. One of the people they approach decides these high-schoolers (7 girls and 1 guy) are there to burgle her house and calls the cops. 4) They try to hand out cards with nice messages and mints at VRC. Security kicks them out for violating the anti-soliciting rule.

It really is quite incredible. Unbelievable, frankly. Now, I can be as cynical as the next guy. Maybe even more so. I try not to be, but the fact is it is almost impossible not to grow cynical in my job. But here we have kids trying to be good. High schoolers spending time doing something other then drinking, or trying to score some dope, or partying etc. and what happens? They get kicked out of VRC? An older woman calls the police and reports them as suspicious for trying to rake her leaves? I always knew that the world wasn't a place all full of happy sunshine and rainbows etc. And I know most people know it too. But still, if 7 girls and 1 guy, all of high-school age offered to rake my yard for free? I really don't think I would suspect them of trying to burgle me. And I deal with thieves, burglars and drug addicts on a daily basis.

I don't know, maybe if it was in Detroit, or certain parts of Los Angeles or something I could understand the suspicion. But Eugene? C'mon! I guess I am just disappointed in people. I seems like such a wonderful idea for the students, and that it got such an antagonistic reception saddens me.

Unbelievable

2008-11-22T17:21:00.001-08:00

I mean unfathomable, as in someone making a watchable movie out of the Silmarilion unbelievable. Now obviously I am Duck fan. But with the Ducks idle, and being a college football fan (and a little under the weather and thereby confined to my chair) I thought I would watch the OSU @ U of A game, right? Wrong. For some reason known only to FSN, which I now strongly suspect is actually run by a small cadre of monkeys, they have decided to replay the Apple Cup. The game they just showed at noon! For god's sake the Washington schools had 1 win between them. Why in the name of all that is holy would you re-play a game between two shitty teams (that was just on) instead of a new game that has Rose Bowl implications.

2008-11-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

So I am laying her in my bedroom, listening to the Blazer game. You see I don't have Comcast, nor is there a Trailblazer radio affiliate in the Astoria area. Luckily, from one spot in my bedroom I can pickup the broadcast on 95.5 out of Portland. Anyway, none of that has a whole lot to do with this post. This post is actually another in my sporadic series looking at modern statistical analysis and the NBA.

It is still pretty early in the season, so any statistics we could look at would be significantly limited by small sample size limitations. However, I came across a couple of articles at Basketball Prospectus (main page: here) that I think bear some comment, and with a little luck, some discussion. Kevin Pelton is the main writer for Basketball Prospectus, and he has worked to develop a projection system called SCHOENE that is (at least in some ways) similar to PECOTA, a baseball projection system. See here for a nice in depth explanation. In essence, SCHOENE uses last years stats to build a projection for every player that played at least 250 minutes in the previous season. Once the player projections are finished, those can then be used to build team projections. There are obviously several important adjustments made, if you are curious about those follow the link above.

So, that is a long explanation that you probably didn't need just to link to this. That is the SCHOENE projection for the Northwest Division this year. A little surprising to me was the projection for Portland: 51-31 and the division winner. Now don't get me wrong, I love the Blazers. I am just not sure they are 50+ win team this year. Compare this with Hollinger, who looks at Portland as more or less a .500 team. In some ways I tend to think Hollinger's projection is closer to reality, but honestly I am not qualified to discuss which system is stronger. I do think it is important to point out that Hollinger uses 3 years of weighted statistics rather then just last years. Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting.

PS. Kind of funny, looking at Lamarcus Aldridge's closest comparison (that is what player of similar size, position, etc. did his last season match closest): Channing Frye.

1st half thoughts.

2008-10-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Sort of live blogging this... Here are the thougths I had.

Frye's first 3 of the season didn't look good. I know he has been working on it, and I won't judge from one shot but it looked rushed and flat.

Frankly, the whole team has looked jittery and rushed. I know they are young, but I was hoping at least Roy and Aldridge would show a little more poise. I hope it gets better soon or tonight could get long in a hurry.

Greg looks a little lost on the offensive side of the ball, at times I can't say I am completely surprised, but this is the first chance I have been able to watch him. He does look rebounding on the defensive side.

Half way through the 2^nd and Outlaw looks like he is starting to heat up. That would help. Portland needs some kind of offensive spark if they are going to make a game of this. Of course, that doesn't mean he nees to force ugly shots...

Like you would expect from a young team, Portland looks really good on one defensive possession, and really bad on the next. If there is anything to take away from this game going forward I think it is this. There is a lot of talent, but it is still young. Consistency will take time, and I think Blazer fans are going to need patience.

I still say Portland should make one of the last 2 spots in the playoffs this year.

Greg just dropped a great move. Drew the double team, split it, drew the foul and still got off a clean shot.. It didn't go in, but it was a look at what he can do.

That goal tending call on Oden looked like bullshit to me. You will notice TNT didn't show the replay...

Blake needs to knock down wide open shots. I have been a big defender of him, but you need to knock down those shots.

LA is playing aggressive defense, but Portland is making it really easy on them. They have no offensive focus. Whatever the game plan was, it doesn't seem that Portland is executing it.

The last 2 minutes there looked a lot better. Let's hope Portland comes out with better energy after the half.

No matter what the TNT announcers say, I don't think there is any legitimate home court advantage in the LA Coliseum.

Quick Thoughts from Early in the Blazer Game

2008-10-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

I am not particularly surprised that Oden caught a couple of quick fouls. That is just the refs saying welcome to LA.

Portland is jacking up too many jump shots, and the ball really isn't moving. Once it gets into the hands of either Outlaw or Aldridge the whole arena knows a shot is going up. If that is going to be the case, Portland doesn't have a chance in this one.

I haven't seen enough to comment on the defense yet.

Look for another, more in depth post later.

More on Kittys.

2008-10-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

So, a comment on my last post reminded me something. I posted about our new kitty a little while ago. But I forgot to tell you wonderful readers that we got another one. Specifically, we got Misha's sister since nobody else was going to take her. I couldn't stand the idea of having her go feral, or be turned over to the county shelter. We have a good shelter, but they are very full.

So we have two kittys now. We (really, I) named the new one Sierpinski, though we often call her Sierpi for short. They have similar coloring patterns, except that Sierpi is black with white (it took me three tries to spell "white" right there. Not typos, just three wrong spellings...) instead of grey with white.

Anyway, here are some photos of the two kittys. It is kind of tough to get a picture of just Sierpi on her own.

538

2008-10-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Astute, politically savvy readers know the meaning of the number 538. They also know the importance of 270. For those that might be a little behind in their high-school civics 538 is the number of electoral votes for a presidential election, 270 is magic number to move to White House.

I have been watching this election shape up for a long, long time. I may not be the political junkie that some of you out there are, but I find presidential politics to be darn interesting. In furtherance of that, and with a healthy thanks to my boy Paul, I have been cruising around a pretty awesome new site.

Some of the numbers there are pretty encouraging for someone of my personal leanings. But more interesting for me is that nobody in the news seems to be looking or talking about the numbers in this much detail. Now, I am not a statistical genius. In fact most of my knowledge in statistical analysis comes from a few college classes a growing love affair with in-depth statistical analysis in a sports context. That said, based on my somewhat limited knowledge, the methodology here looks quite solid. I understand sports announcers not digging into SABR type numbers. Most viewers don't know what to do with honest statistical analysis, and it is too tough to explain. But here, the people that watch MSNBC, or CNN are obviously fairly well informed, but nobody references numbers this in depth. Instead they use one or two polls to give them a jumping off point. It seems to me that honest, hardcore, statistical analysis of an election should have a place in the media. Alright, enough ranting about the statistical illiteracy of the populace, I do enough of that when I am talking about sports.

Small Personal Update Space:

My life is 90% boring, and I like it that way.

I just finished reading The Center Holds. It was pretty good. Not quite in the league of The Brethren, but good. I am about to start on Democracy Reborn. Let there be no doubt that I am a dork...

Only new music lately isn't that new, but if you haven't listened to Band of Horses, you should probably fix that, lest your life seem empty and grey.

Oregon vs Boise State

2008-09-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a few of my thoughts on this game since I am not particularly sleepy.

But before I do, I have to drop an insanly awesome link. If you haven't heard of Hulu.com, you have problems in your life. Seriously, what do you do all day? I suppose if you live somewhere with Comcast's OnDemand, this would be of a little less interest. If, like me, your cable company doesn't have such a service, this website is pretty rockin. It seems to work like this: Get yourself a free account, watch tv shows and movies for free with fairly limited interuptions. So far I have had no freezing, skipping or caching issues, and the video quality is awesome. Did you miss Arrested Development when it was on the air, or maybe you just miss it in general? Not to fear, Hulu has the entire series. Ready to watch, for free. It is also the only place I know where you can still see the 3 part musical blog of Dr. Horrible. I shouldn't have to tell you how awesome that is.

Alright, interlude aside, how does it look for Oregon tomorrow? Well, I don't see a blow out, but I think if you played the game under these conditions 10 seperate times Oregon comes out on top 7 of them. This one may look like some old-school football. Lean on the defense and run the ball. With Oregon's somewhat green (thank god they played the backups in the first few games) QB's the goal should be to make it easy for them to succeed. And although BSU has good team speed, I don't think they will be able to completly stop the running game. I also think Oregon's defense is extremely good. Good enough to keep them in most games. Maybe not against USC in the Collesium, but good enough for just about anything else. Given that, and that BSU's QB is making his first ever college road start, I think the defense should have a pretty good game. I would be really suprised if BSU scored more than 24, and pretty suprised if they even break 20. If the Oregon O-line does it's job, and the recievers catch the balls that are thrown, I think Oregon will just about cover the spread. I am calling 28-17 Oregon. Not quite enough to cover the spread (11.5) but a winner if you took the under (o/u @55).

Go Ducks. (BTW, in 2 years Harper = very scary )

An Update! But not much of one.

2008-09-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

This makes me feel like I wasted my time in highschool. Ok, they probably didn't do it in the back of class, but still...

I know I should drop a post about the Ducks, but I am too drained after yestday's game. I don't even know what I would do if there was another season like Joey's with the 5 comebacks. I don't think my heart could take it.

As for what I have been up to, not much really. I built a new parking place in my back yard. Now I have a nice flat place to park my car, which is nice. I have been doing some yardwork and watching football. That is about it. Work is good, but not particularly exciting.

I suppose that is it for now. I am going to go eat some cereal.

2008-09-08T00:42:00.000-07:00

The light always seems to change a bit at this time of year. Summer has clearly faded and autumn is here. Today was certainly a warm one in the valley, but it didn't have the teeth of a true summer day. It is my favorite season of the year and it is not really even close. The breeze turns a cooler, and the light turns a little softer then that of summer. It is less the changing leaves than the changing light and breeze that marks the demise of summer for me.

And of course, with fall comes football. Games at Autzen in the long late afternoon, the changing colors of the hillside in the distance. I know the U of O is best regarded in the spring, but I always preferred it in that sweet slice of season when the leaves were changing, but the real rains were still a few weeks off. And not to sound horribly chauvanistic but I love how women look in jeans and a sweatshirt. Simple, but kind of elegant as well.

That is all I have to say for now. I should have an actual update as to what I have been upto shortly, and maybe some thoughts on the Ducks.

Trial Time

2008-07-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

So at least one reader has asked to be kept abreast of how my trials go etc. So, to the extent I am comfortable putting that type of information on the internet (and I know I have mentioned it in at least one other post) here is a report from my most recent trial.

I wasn't sure which, if any of the three trials I had scheduled would actually happen last week. It turned out to be the DUII. I won't say I was disappointed, I wanted to try this case. But there was another case set last week I also wanted to get my teeth into. That case has been re-set until September, so I tried the DUII instead.

To me this was a pretty clear-cut case, but most of the other people I have talked to seemed to think otherwise. Although part of that was the defense attorney. He comes with a reputation as a heck of DUII defense attorney (and he lived up to it). Anyway, the evidence was fairly clear cut from my seat: Some pretty bad weaving, observations from a state trooper that the defendant was under the influence of a narcotic analgesic. The trooper was trained through the DRE (drug recognition evaluator/expert) program, so his testimony was a bit better then a guess. There was also a video showing the defendant's condition (not great) and a urine test positive for a prescption narcotic analgesic. Well, there really weren't any suprises during the actual trial. The suprise was how long the jury took. They got the case at about 4:10 in the afternoon. I didn't get a verdict until almost 8:00 that night. But, I can't complain too much, I did get a guilty verdict.

That is about all there is really. As much as I love my job, it is never as exciting as it seems to sound to other people. Anyway, I am out for now, I need to listen to some Billie.

Some news, some links

2008-07-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Time to get you all caught up on some of my doings lately. As a couple of you know I took a good bit of time off last week, and did a little traveling around the state and caught up with some good friends.

On Friday 7/11, I hooked up for lunch with Eric in downtown Portland. I really think I have been in living in Astoria too long. I didn't have too much trouble driving around downtown, but I got confused trying to walk around. All those damn tall buildings look the same. It probably didn't help that the landmarks I was looking for weren't there anymore. Once I actually made it to the rendezvous point, it was a good time.

Then that night I met up with these two questionable characters for dinner. Also a great time. Good food, some pretty good beer, and we learned that I am horrible at Boom Blox. I am pretty sure an epileptic in the midst of a full seizure would be better.

After Portland I took off for Lincoln City to hang with P and J for a few days. That is about all the travel news. I have few other things to mention though.

Work: I was pretty excited for a couple of trials this week. Unfortunately, one of them has already been bumped, and there is a good chance my other one will as well. Suck.

Cool things:

http://www.drhorrible.com/ I know most of you read Penny Arcade, so you probably saw the link to this there. If not, I guess you suck. Seriously, what is wrong with you? It is a musical super-hero movie. Joss Whedon is involved, and NPH is the star. You can watch the trailer, but it isn't as awesome as what was up over the last weekend. So hopefully, you saw what it was they had up.

http://triplea.sourceforge.net/mywiki If you were looking for a way to mess around with Axis and Allies, you could do a lot worse then this. The AI isn't great, but it isn't too bad. You can also set up email games, or online games. Not to shabby...

That is about all I have for now.

New Family Member

2008-07-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

So Sam and I have added a new member to our family out here on the coast. A little over a week ago I was alerted to a new litter of kittens that had been born in the basement of a local landmark (the Flavel House). Since they would face grim chances otherwise, Sam and I decided to adopt one. We brought her home last Saturday after luring into our grasp with some tuna. She looks to be about 6-8 weeks old, and according to the vet is in perfect health. There are couple of pictures below. Oh, her name is Misha (Sam named her).

Evil

2008-07-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

It wasn't my idea. I want that on the record at the start. But there is no denying it now. No stopping it. Evil has come to roost in my house again and I am powerless to expel it. It started when Blizzard announced Diablo III. I started to prepare myself. I knew that in 12-18 months I would be fighting that old addiction again. What I didn't expect, what I couldn't anticipate, was Sam diving into Diablo II. I though I had time to prepare, to fortify against the attack. I was wrong. The old pull is still strong. I find myself thinking about barbarian builds. I am saved only by the inability of this laptop to install the game. I have never been more thankful that my CD drive is finicky and rarely works.

Last Blazers Post for a While

2008-06-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

Alright, I was sitting down to drop a short draft preview and I saw something so wrong, so incongruous with my world view I had to mention it here. I just saw Bill O'Reilly, avowed conservative arguing for more regulation of a certain business. I'm still not sure what to say.

Anyway, draft day is tomorrow, and the 3rd annual pritch-slapping of the NBA has already begun. In case you haven't heard, the Blazers bought the 27th pick from New Orleans for cash consideration. This is the same kind of move that netted Portland the rights to supposed sensation Rudy Fernandez. I have a had few comments asking what I would like to see Portland do, and what I think is likely. Well, for all my thoughts are worth, here you go:

I still see Pritchard trying to move the 13th pick. I really don't see there being a player available that will be ready to step in and contribute in the way Portland really needs. Moreover, given the working plan (AKA the Cap-Space for 2009-10 Plan), Portland likely needs to move one or more of Frye, J Jack, and Webster. (For more detail see this site.) Based on that I think Pritchard is most likely to either trade up from 13, or trade for a player that fits Portland's needs.

What I would like to see: Of the three players mentioned I would prefer to see them keep Webster. I think at worst he is a legit 3-point threat that can open the floor a-la James Jones or Kyle Korver. If he continues to develop to his true potential, his ceiling is much much higher. That isn't to say I don't like Jack or Frye, I just think Webster is the more rare of the commodities. I am not as convinced as some that SF is a big need for Portland. I think Outlaw and Webster both have big potential at the 3. I am much more convinced that we need an improvement at the point. So, I guess I'm looking for Pritchard to try and pick up a quality point, but one that is comfortable without the ball. A good shooter, and a good defender with a good handle under pressure.

Other then that, given Pritchard's general MO of stocking talent, I expect to see a lot of BPA tommorrow. (And at least 2 more trades... but I am not plugged in enough to really speculate with who/for who.) I do like Heinrich a lot, but I am not a fan of contract, and that rumor seems to have died out.

Advanced Statistics and the Portland Trailblazers Pt. II

2008-06-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

I was going to start writing this post a couple of days ago, but I had a little bit of trouble coming by the numbers that I needed. Pace and efficiency stats aren't too tough to come by, but the other numbers are. Well, they are in the form I wanted them in. 82games.com (which is awesome for other reasons...) has the rebounding numbers, but only to 2 decimal places. To really compare across the whole league, the third decimal is important. So, I wound up building a spreadsheet and calculating the numbers by hand. That was before I found the table I was looking for on basketball-reference. I got lazy when it came to calculating league averages for pace and efficiency. I am sure you will cope. Well, with that out of the way, here are the numbers.

	Portland	League Rank	League Leader	League Worst	League Average
Pace	89.7	29	99.7 (Denver)	87.3 (Detroit)	Not Available
Offensive Efficiency	107.3	14	113.8 (Utah)	100.5 (Seattle)	Not Available
Defensive Efficiency	108.4	17	98.9 (Boston	112.8 (Milwaukee)	Not Available
eFG%	49.00%	16	55.2% (Phoenix)	44.3% (Miami)	49.30%
oReb%	26.70%	15	31.8% (Philadelphia)	22.1% (Miami)	26.70%
dReb%	71.80%	24	.783 (LA Clippers)	70.3% (Golden State)	73.40%
TO%	13.40%	7	11.4% (Toronto & Detroit)	16.5% (Boston)	13.00%
FT Rate	22.80%	21	27.6% (Sacramento)	18.3% (Minnesota)	23.20%

Alright, so there are the numbers. What do they mean? That is a good question. And it is a question that doesn't have an easy answer.

First, looking at pace we see something that I think we knew intuitively. Specifically Portland plays slow, deliberate basketball. Moreover, I don't see that changing a whole lot as long as B. Roy is around. But we also see that Portland is pretty efficient on the offensive end. And efficiency is the important thing.

The defensive end is another story. And, to further illustrate why pace independent statistics are important, if we look solely at opp points/game, Portland is 8^th in the league. But once we take Portland snail like pace into account, we see that rather than in the top 1/3 of the league, the Blazers are really in the bottom half. I also think it is important to note that although Portland is near the middle of the league in Defensive Efficiency ranking wise, the distance between Portland and Milwaukee is pretty small.

The other two numbers that really jump out are defensive rebounding and FT Rate. I think most people recognized that Portland struggled on the defensive glass this year. This is an area Portland should look to improve on. With the addition of Oden in the middle, I am expecting some strong improvement here. A better dReb% should also help improve Defensive Efficiency. It is pretty easy to see the strength of keeping an opponent of the offensive glass.

I am less sure what to make the FT Rate numbers. Of the Four Factors, this one is generally regarded as the least important. Also, although ranked quite low, it appears there is a big bunch near the midpoint, and Portland isn't far from it. Looking at the numbers behind Portland's FT Rate, the Blazes made their foul shots at a good clip (about 76.6%), but really didn't get to the line that often. If Portland had gotten to the line as often as the league average, they would have scored almost 1.34 more points per game. Is that much of a difference? It is worth about 4 wins under the basketball Pythagorean formula*. I would say that is fairly significant.

So, did any of this really communicate information that wasn't clear to somebody just watching the season? I am sure some of it was clear. But if you didn't dig into these numbers, you may think that Portland didn't have much trouble on defense, or that the lack of defensive rebounding wasn't particularly crucial. Either of those beliefs could lead to bad moves as it comes time to build the team for next year.

*In case you are not familiar with it, one of the first big advances in sports statistical research was the so called Pythagorean Theorem of Baseball, or Pythagorean Records. It seems almost a truism to say that your win/lose record is going to be determined by the number of runs(or points) you score and the number you give up. However, a little research showed that a teams winning percentage in baseball is closely tied to: runs scored^2/(runs scored^2 + runs allowed^2). It turns out if we tweak the exponent a little we get an even better fit. The same can be said for NBA Basketball. The generally agreed upon formula for basketball is: Pythagorean Expectation % = Tm pts^14/(Tm pts^14+Opp pts^14).

It should be noted that Portland exceeded it's Pythagorean Expectation this year by about 3 wins. Anecdotally it would seem this would be due to performing better then expected in close games, and losing a few more blow-outs then they won. I haven't taken the time to examine this, and I won't now as this post is getting a bit long.

Modern Basketball Statistics and the Portland Trailblazers (Part 1)

2008-06-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

So, those of you that have had more than a beer or two with me lately know that for the last year or so I have become intrigued with the so called sabremetrics (or statistical) approach to looking at baseball performances. My interest in this topic has been fired by the Seattle Mariners blog community. It turns out that the two biggest blogs covering the Mariners both take a decidedly statistical approach to analyzing baseball performances. From there I started thinking about and looking into what work has been done in this realm for other sports. This post is a discussion of the new thinking as it applies to the Portland Trailblazers.

Before discussing where the Blazers are and where they could be going, it would be helpful to give a basic description of what new statistics I am talking about and why things like points per game should become obsolete in the near future much as ERA has.

Some of the my favorite work to date has been done looking at offensive and defensive efficiency. The concept is this: Basic statistics measure how many points a team scores and how many points a team gives up. But, these numbers doesn't exist in a vacuum, and teams that score fewer points don't necessarily have worse offenses. If a team is more deliberate in it's offense, if it uses more of the shot clock each trip down the floor, that team will have fewer overall possessions then a team that shots quickly (like the Suns of the last couple of years). Even a team that is efficient in terms of how it uses it's possessions may score fewer points in a game than a less efficient, but faster team.

Since a game is of a defined length (48 minutes in the NBA) it isn't too difficult to calculate the number of possessions per game a team gets (See here: http://www.basketball-reference.com/about/glossary.html for the formula)* Once we know how many possessions a team has in an average game we can look at how many points per possession a team generates. Although this could be a useful measure, most sites extrapolate out to points scored per 100 possessions to compare across teams. This is useful not just to see how efficient an offense is, but it can also be used as a measure of team defense. Looking at offensive and defensive efficiency will give you a basic measure of a teams health.

Although there are other advanced statistics that bear discussion, today I am going to talk about The Four Factors. This is a concept advanced by Dean Oliver in his book Basketball on Paper. Now, this discussion should come with the caveat that I haven't read that book yet. As such, this discussion will be somewhat cursory. The idea is that a basketball game can be broken down into (shocked face) Four Factors:

Shooting
Rebounding
Ball handling
Getting to the free throw line.

This may sound a little simplistic, but it should be noted his work was good enough to get him a job with the Seattle Supersonics and the Denver Nuggets as a full time statistical analyst. Since I am starting to run out of time, tonight I will cover the basics of the four factors and the simple, but more useful statistic.

1) Shooting

When talking about shooting, normal FG% isn't enough. Specifically it fails to account for the added importance of a 3 point field goal. Since a three is worth 50% more than a two, we need to use a waited percentage. This number is generally referred to as “effective field goal percentage” or eFG%. Simply put eFG = (fgm + .5*3fgm)/fga.

2) Rebounding

Once again per game stats are insufficient to measure how well a team does. Per game stats don't account for the number of rebounds that are available in a given game. The better measure is offensive and defensive rebounding percentage. These numbers are fairly self explanatory.

OReb% = OReb / (OReb + Opp DReb)

DReb% = DReb / (DReb + Opp OReb)

3) Ball Handling

Rather then just looking at pure turnovers per game, we can use a possession based statistic: Turnover % = Turnovers / Possession.

4) Free Throws

This one is a little more strange. Although we could just look at FTA or FTM, its always better to take into account the pace of the team you are talking about. Most researchers look at FTM/FGA and dub this “free throw rate”.

None of these stats is the be all end all, and all statistics can be effected by factors that aren't necessarily what we are trying to measure. Alright, it is getting late tonight. Sometime tomorrow or later this week I will drop a post discussing what these numbers say about Portland and where they need to improve.

*Basketball reference is an awesome site. If you like basketball and/or statistics, it is a site you can lose a lot of time at. Their formula is quite good, but also a bit complex. If you need a short version FGA + TO + ~.5 FTA – ORB will get you close, but it isn't particularly exact.

Shooting Fish in a Barrel?

2008-05-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

I am aware that some journalists and newspaper publishers argue that a columnist's job is to stir the pot, provoke discussion and sell papers. And if the columnists at the Oregonian did that, I don't think I would have nearly as many complaints. Now, the Oregonian is not widely known as a home for brilliant, erudite columnists and I don't expect that to change any time soon. But damn it, the Oregonian is the State's biggest daily newspaper. The fact that I see better reasoned argument in the Daily Astorian is frightening.

Here is the column that has me irked this evening. (Lucky for me I don't have a big enough readership to worry about driving up Mr. Duin's statistics by linking him.)

I want to make two things clear at the outset. First, as just about everyone reading this knows, I am a Duck Sports fan. I own season football tickets. Second, I agree the U of O needs to significantly renovate it's residence halls. But the basis of Duin's column isn't research, or reasoned argument. He throws out short, sound-bite style paragraphs, tosses cheesy innuendo at the University and chooses to blame a popular scape-goat in the academic realm: athletics.

It seems that about 800 incoming freshman at the U of O have been told there will not be space for them in the "residence halls" (as I no longer work for Campus Housing, I will be calling them "dorms" from here on out). He then points out the recent spending on the U of O's new basketball arena. It's clear that he sees these two as not just happening at the same time but as a cause and effect, though he won't come right out and say it.

Perhaps most galling to me is the lack of context of the current housing issue on campus. My freshman year (that would be 1999-2000) there were so few students (not just freshman) in the dorms that an entire hall in Bean was closed after the first month of the year (it had briefly housed freshman that were waiting to rush and then moved into a frat/sorority house). My sophomore year, there was talk that there wouldn't be enough students living on campus to keep Earl Hall open. An entire hall. There were open rooms in the UI (now Barnhardt hall). It was easy to buy a double room and use it as a single. A large number of incoming freshman were choosing to live off-campus because, they told me, it was cheaper. Duin makes no effort to discuss what the living situation has been in years passed or how it has changed recently.

On top of failing to discuss the recent changes in housing demand (or investigating a root cause), Duin fails to mention that the U of O opened a new dorm this past year. Presumably such information would get in the way of laying the blame for this on the stoop of the "pampered athletes and boosters." This doesn't even take effort to discover. It is a huge new building, right there on campus. They took out the outdoor tennis courts to build it. Instead he leaves the impression that the U of O is spending all of its resources on new arenas and leaving these freshmen to freeze.

On the other side of the issue, Duin neglects to discuss or mention the baseball stadium that is scheduled to break ground this winter. Frankly, I can think of no explanation other then shear sloth and shoddy reporting (columnizing?). A ready-made bolster to his argument is left rotting in the dustbin. Did he consider his argument too airtight to need a supporting point?

I know it is easy to Monday-morning quarterback these things. I'll admit I haven't dug in and researched the issue. But I am also not paid to do so. This is Duin's job, his chosen profession. If I took a case to trial with this little research and preparation I would deserve to be disbarred.

I can't speak to Duin's qualities as a human, or even the majority of his other writing, but this column is crap. It adds nothing to the important discussion of the needs of higher education in this state and the spending priorities of this "state run" school. This is an important issue that deserves well researched and well reasoned positions. Duin adds nothing to the pot.

Quick Update

2008-04-29T20:20:00.001-07:00

Once again I have let it go too long between posts. I don't have a whole lot of time at the moment either, as Sam and I are about to grab some pizza.

Sam and I are doing well. We are both plugging away with work and things and getting started taming the yard here at the house. I have a DUII trial tomorrow. It should be a pretty good one. As I have discussed before, I don't really feel comfortable discussing specifics before the trial, but it looks better then the last couple cases I have tried.

We have had a couple of visitors come out lately from Eugene. It is nice getting to show off the house and our new hometown / county. I believe (though I hate to assume) they had a good time.

I will probably try to write something a little more in depth soon, but Sam says it is time to go.

Since most of my readers are current/recovering dorks, and many of you have significant others (or roommates) I will pass along this link. Perhaps someone can get some use out of it.

Flaming Genitals

2008-04-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

Now, I know it has been a while since my last post (Purple Nurples excluded). I have had a couple of ideas for posts to write, but I never got around to sitting down and typing them out. I guess I could, but the inspiring events are no longer fresh. Anyway, I am not going to let that happen this time! Today I have a harrowing tale for you regarding, well, flaming genitals.

It all starts with the decision to make some dinner; specifically beef and pepper stir fry. Well, I don't like my beef and peppers supper spicy, but I do like a little bit of bite. So along with the bell peppers and beef I chopped up a couple of Serrano peppers. As some of you may know (I am looking at you JT) the substance that makes anything hot/spicy is a chemical called capsaicin. Capsaicin is a rather sticky substance in that it isn't really water soluble (hence why drinking water doesn't help the burn). After chopping the peppers I forgot to clean my hands, and went off to eat my tasty dinner.

Here is where it gets painful. After eating dinner I was relaxing in my chair, watching the Mariners rally back from a 3-1 deficit. Sometime during the rally I got an itch. It is an itch I am going to guess most men are familiar with and any woman that has lived with a man longer than 3 months has probably witnessed. For reasons unknown to me or modern science, a man's junk just itches some days. Most days when such an itch is scratched it is a pleasurable thing. If not quite near the top of simple pleasures, scratching that particular itch is certainly in the top 50. Most days. Scratching that particular area when your hands have capsaicin on them is not pleasurable.

Let me say this. I have experienced a lot of pain in my life. I have taken several direct hits to the crotch, including on nasty kick and a surprise frisbee. I have sprained my ankle, I have bruised my ribs, I have fallen off ladders and hit my head with the claw side of a hammer. I have even knocked myself out on the desk in my room back in Henderson. I will tell you now, capsaicin on the junk is easily one of the 5 most painful things I have ever experienced. It starts as this gentle heat and you start to wonder what it is. Within 30 seconds my eyes were welling with water and I could barely breath. Worst of all there isn't a whole lot you can do. Obviously just water won't work. Capsaicin is (I think) alcohol soluble but I sure wasn't going to waste good scotch or Guiness (the only booze in the house at the moment) on my burning junk. Then I remember that the Scoville Rating of a pepper is determined by diluting the capsaicin with sugar water until there is no detectable heat left. Not remembering that dairy (i.e. Milk) could also be effective I went ahead and rinsed off with sugar water, over and over again. The heat did subside, but I was then left with another problem. You are all smart I am sure you can see what the problem was. Exciting night.

PS> I really do wish this was an April Fools joke. It is not.

Purple Nurple

2008-03-08T20:02:00.000-08:00

That's right.

On the Road

2008-02-27T20:25:00.001-08:00

As the title may suggest, I am again on the road. This week it is Salem, Oregon for a 3 day DUII enforcement training. Today was day one, so far it has been pretty interesting stuff. I am looking forward to the next couple of days.

So, since there really isn't too much news to report on my end, but I have come across a couple of links I thought I would pass along.

I haven't seen this in Astoria. Yet. I am not ruling it out.

If you read Penny-Arcade (and the news posts) you will have already seen this.

Thats all for now. Be excellent to each other.

The Power of Voices

2008-02-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

I doubt this particular bit of news found its way to too many of you out there, but Dave Niehaus was just elected to the baseball hall of fame as a broadcaster. Make no mistake this is an honor the man has earned and then some. Dave has been the voice of the Mariners since day one of the franchise.

But this post isn't exactly about how awesome Dave is, how he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Hearing about Dave, and also having read on of Canzano's better columns about the Schonz has had me thinking about the voices that define teams and sports for me. More than any specific game, any player or any heroic performance those two announcers are my childhood sports memories.

I know a couple of you out there grew up in Portland and grew up as Blazer fans. I am still a Blazer fan, and Brian Wheeler isn't bad. But it doesn't always feel like listening to a Blazer game either. The voice of Bill Schonely is so iconic to me it is hard not hearing it, even 10 years after he was run out of the organization. I know he is back doing some work for the Blazers and you can still hear a few of his wonderful phrases but so many are lost. It's almost worst hearing the few that they have as sound bites for the radio broadcast or for Standard TV commercials. Yet, every now and again, from somewhere deep in the back of my memory snippets of his calls come back.

I am thankful that Dave Niehaus is still working for the Mariners. Like Schonely, he doesn't work full games anymore, but there is couple of innings each game that he does call the play by play. I know there will come a day when he is too old to handle even the light duties he has and we will hear his last call. If I am aware of it on that day, I am sure I will feel sad, wistful perhaps. I have a feeling it won't really sink in until the next summer though. One day, when I am in my office tuning into the game I will forget that Dave is gone and expect to hear his voice, and it won't be there.

This post got a little sentimental, which wasn't my original intent. In the end, perhaps the Northwest should be happy to have been blessed with two fantastic, iconic, and long-lasting play by play announcers.

My oh my.

Thoughts on Ties

2008-02-13T22:57:00.000-08:00

So, I am not exactly what most would call a metro-sexual. If you are reading this blog, it is likely that this isn't news. At least one person has described me as “the straightest guy I know.” I am not sure that was meant as a compliment, but what the hell... I take what I can get.

All that said, I do have at least a small interest in men's fashion. Specifically, the areas of men's fashion relating to the proper fit, cut and style of suits, dress shirts and the proper way to tie a tie. To me this is only natural since I wear a shirt and tie most days. Also, show me a guy that didn't at least have some interest in knot tying as a kid. All boys love knots, I don't know why, but they do! This is an interest I have discussed more then once with one of my good friends, J.T. We have downed more than a pint talking about ties and tie knots. So what is the point of all of this?

Let me give you a little background first. As discussed in the paper, and later their book “85 Ways to Tie a Tie” given certain assumptions there are only 85 ways to tie a tie (excluding mirror images). To those of you interested in the basics, look here, for a more in depth look, start here.

After careful review of the literature, it seems to me (unless I am seriously misreading this information) my two favorite tie knots are not amount those considered among the “13 useful knots.” I find this deeply disturbing. I started tying these knots in the mistaken impression that they were a Windsor and a Half-Windsor. As far as I can tell, this was due to some bad information on the web and my misreading of some of what was out there. That said I think both of these knots look just fine. I am not the kind of guy that needs marching orders for everything, and I am certainly not going to stop using the knots, but I find it interesting that these knots aren't on the list.

For those of you that might be interested, here they are (using the notation most commonly used) Maybe I am just not reading the symbols and tables right...

My version of the “half-windsor:”

Li, Co, Li, Ro, Li, Co, T

This knot is a little asymmetrical, but not overly so. Really, I think it makes a nice compliment to a well tailored suit. It is not my everyday knot, but some days when I am feeling slightly off kilter myself it is quite nice.

My version of the windsor:

Li, Co, Li, Ro, Ci, Ro, Li, Co, T

This is my everyday knot. This knot is quite symmetrical and makes a nice, medium sized triangle. It is neither as large as a try windsor, nor as difficult to tie. I feel it fits better in most shirt collars (especially button down collars) than a true windsor.

I don't know. Maybe I am way off base. For those of you out there that wear ties, or have an eye for such things, tell me what you think.

Also... for the cooks out there, this site is awesome.

Exciting Saturday Night

2008-02-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

Exciting! By which I mean sitting at my dinning room table writing a post while my girlfriend sits at the other end play World of Warcraft. I do have cookies though. And cookies are awesome. Alright, so I am figuring this post will be mostly an update as to what we have been up to. After that I will probably go back to intermittent silence punctuated with some rambling sports posts and other half formed thoughts.

First, Work!

I am still with the DA's office. If I haven't mentioned it, we recently (within a couple of months) moved into completely remodeled offices. It hard to describe the improvement, but let me try. When I started I had an 8x6 (give or take) office with a window. Pretty swank! Until you realize it wasn't in the DA's office. It was out the back door, kind of set off from everything else. It looked a lot like a broom closet door. Then the workers got started remodeling the 3rd floor of the courthouse where our offices had been. So we moved into some temporary digs on the 2nd floor (near the elk and deer heads). My "office" was a former file room that I shared with 2 other people. It was narrow enough I could touch both walls when I stood in the middle, and maybe 15 feet long. Anyway, short story long, my new office is awesome.

Really, work in general is pretty good. I have a pretty good handle on my caseload at this point and it feels easier and easier to keep all the strands in the old duder's head. This month is pretty light. It doesn't look like I have any trials set this month. I am going to a DUII enforcement conference at the end of the month. Being the giant dork that I am that should be pretty fun. March is shaping into a busy month on the trial calender. I will try to let you all know how that goes when I can.

Side note: The Girlfriend is starting a new job on Friday. We are excited. There may even be covert jig dancing. (Free associated note: An undercover officer infiltrating the mob actually used the last name of Covert. And they never suspected him...)

Second: Non-Work! (A broad topic, but I couldn't really think of other ways to break it down.)

I am working my way through FF XII when the mood strikes me. I am fairly impressed with it. I like it more than FF X to be sure. I never could get into that one.

I am also doing a bit of reading. I got started on the Three Kingdoms thanks to an awesome Christmas gift from Paul. It is fairly dense and it is taking time to make a dent. But it is good so far. I have also been reading my way through the entire transcript of the Rosenberg trial. I am not sure why I decided to do it. I remember reading a short news article about a motion (Petition actually,) to unseal the Grand Jury records on the case. Then I just decided, what the hell, the transcript is available in a nice handy .pdf, why not read it.

That is about it for leisurely pursuits at the moment. The weather hasn't been good enough for much outdoor activity out here. I don't mind getting wet, but when its wet, cold and windy I tend to stay inside. I watch a little TV, but nothing to exciting.

I think I want to subscribe to a couple of the criminal law journals that are out there. I have had a couple of ideas for scholarly articles, but nothing with any real creative/scholarly force behind it. I have been thinking maybe if I dig into some of the literature that is out there I might find a little more energy for it.

Closing - The house.

I will spare you a lengthy discussion of the plumbing ordeal from the last 2 weeks. The important thing is that now we can do dishes.

But maybe even better then the clean dishes: The house is, for all intents and purposes DONE!
There will always be a couple of little projects to attack, but it is done. Feel free to check out the pictures below. Also, if any of you (that is the "yous" that I actually know) want to come for a visit there is a functional and furnished guest bedroom. Day visits also rock.

First Post in 2008

2008-01-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

Hello again and welcome to a new year. I know I have been a little lax in the whole posting side of this blog thing. Which, I guess is the only side of the whole blogging thing. And while there are some interesting things out there that I would like to post about (including a response or 2 to some of Syd's most recent thoughts), something has come up which I feel demands attention.

I am going to start with a disclaimer before I launch into this. I have a standing bet with a friend about who will win each of the major party definitions. In the race relevant to the discussion (diatribe) I am about to launch, I win a meal if Obama wins the primary.

As some people might know, today as the Nevada Caucuses. It seems Iowa isn't the only state using this strange system. This really isn't that crucial of a state in the grand scheme of things. A candidate (democrat) needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination. Nevada (not counting any applicable super delegates) was worth 25. So, in terms of actually moving closer to the nomination Nevada is not that important. However, it is the first state with a significant minority voting bloc. Additionally in a primary, perhaps more then any other form of combat or competition momentum is king. Headlines and news get votes.

Now, with all that said, the results of the Nevada Caucus are as follows:

Clinton: 12 Delegates, 51% of the actual vote.
Obama: 13 Delegates, 45% of the actual vote.
Edwards: 0 Delegates, 4% of the actual vote.

Based on those results who do you call the winner? I don't feel the need to get into a debate about the substance of any given candidate, but to me this is more a matter of honest reporting.

Is the person that got more votes? Or the person that actually won more delegates?

Now, I was as upset as anybody that Gore won the popular vote but lost the actual election. That said, if you are the NY Times, the LA Times or the Washington Post, what headline would be an actual HONEST report of the news?

Clinton scores election win. (LA Times, subhead to McCain's win...)
McCain Clinton capture tough wins.
Clinton, Romeny win Nevada.

It would seem 3 of the largest newspapers have chosen to go with the popular vote, despite its clear irrelevance. This is the same as writing "Gore wins!!" the day after the 2000 election was decided (I know there was a lot of confusion with the 2000 election, but I think you get my point. I could try to think of some other more amusing comparisons, but I don't have the energy tonight). Given the importance of headlines, of momentum and of looking like the inevitable winner how do you think this will effect the upcoming primaries in other states? The answer seems clear to me.

I am not sure I am ready to accuse all three papers (or most other news media) of having an agenda. I will say I find it unfortunate that they have all chosen to run the story this way.

Feel free to post your own thoughts below.

Cleaning Up

2007-11-14T22:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, a few things to clean up I guess. I had planned on finishing off the saga of my Bandon Trip back on Sunday, or Monday but that didn't happen. So I am gonna take care of that. I also wanted to drop a little news on the trial I had today and lastly I wanted to make sure that everyone out there has heard what the Oregon O-Line laid down on the Jim Rome show.

Bandon Conclusion

So first things first. The conclusion to the trip to Bandon was fantastic. Four days of golf on the coast in November and no rain. I finished my match with Dad all square and frankly had to work to get that. Its not that I was playing that poorly, it was more a combination of some real bad bounces my way and that I now give him 2 shots a side (4 shots on 18 holes).

Anyway, here is a link to some of the pictures I took of Bandon Trails and Pacific Dunes. I forgot my camera the day we played Bandon Dunes.

Trial

I had another trial today, my first since the 2 days trial I talked about earlier. It went pretty well actually. I won a conviction on the DUII and lost on the Hit and Run. In all honesty though, I would take that outcome 99 out of 100 times. That makes my personal record 3-2. I am sure at some point I will stop keeping mental count of my record, but not yet. Although the facts and proceedings are public record, the case is still technically pending so I won't write anymore about it until after the sentencing. I am just still a little excited.

Oregon Football

Some of you may know, and some of you may not but Oregon has been getting a fair bit of Rome Karma and Rome love of late. In fact, counting the 3 Oregon o-lineman that went on last week thats 6 Oregon interviews in 2 weeks. None of them rocked like Jeff Kendall's though. Fan-freaking-tastic. I thought I should throw up a link just in case some of you missed it. Here is to the fat kids living the dream.

Also, here are some links to the reactions to that rant:

Rome
More Rome
More More Rome

Another Post From the Road

2007-11-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

Another day, another round of beautiful golf. I should have some pictures up later, probably tomorrow or Monday. The weather has been perfect so far. At least as perfect as weather on the Oregon Coast is going to get in the winter.

I took good advantage of the calm winds and no rain today to fire my best round of the weekend by a good 7 shots (I shot 85 today). And frankly, I am still not putting well at all.

Also, and I am pretty excited about this, I am finally getting the chance to use the gift certificate I have for this place. So, for that I owe thanks to Dirty P (and his lady) and Snowman. (Let me say this: I have thought a long time how to deal with talking about friends etc on this blog. I considered the "First Initial Approach" but I am not a fan... I have settled [as you can clearly see] on the "strange and amusing nickname method." Please know that this is done with all possible ironic intent... also, Dirty P, get off your lazy ass and post something! Football, work, your recent trip, anything.)

Match Update:

With 18 holes left to play, the match is all square.

In other news: the Fightin' Illini rock... and I am still a sucker a good football movie.

Post from the Road

2007-11-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

Back country roads change after the sun goes down. They change even more when the fog rolls in at night. I thought I knew that... my drive to Portland taught me otherwise.

I wasn't really thinking too hard when I left and I just jumped onto Highway 202 (runs into Highway 26 eventually...) and started driving. After a short stop at the Olney general store (can't make a long drive without some Mt. Dew, and Whoppers... well the Whoppers are optional) I just started making miles. And more miles. After a while I started to wonder where Jewell had gone. It wasn't until I hit Birkenfeld that I realized what had happened. In the dark and the fog I had missed the turn onto Highway 103. Worst was, once I realized my mistake it was just as fast to continue on through Vernonia as turn around.

Also on the list of things fog changes: Elk. So there I am driving along in the dark and the fog on a road I've never driven. When suddenly, out of nowhere, just off the road 4 huge bull elk show up. Now normally I am cool with elk. I look at them from a distance, watch the males ram each other now and again. But when you add dark fog and a touch of surprise to the equation, elk are downright frightening. And I don't mean dark, unfamiliar basement with strange sounds frightening, I mean like change your pants terrifying.

I did eventually make it to Portland, elks and fog be damned. And from there down to Bandon. I can firmly say this about golf here. No matter what anyone else tells you, walking up and down these hills with a groin pull is very very painful.

Through 36 holes I am not playing well, but not all that badly either. I won't bore you all with any kind of blow by blow, but I will say its been fun and the weather has been pretty good so far.

Match Update:

As you may know, my father and have been competing against each other for as long as I can remember. To those that have heard me talk about it, you know this is as deep and intense a rivalry as you are apt to find in the world.

Through 18 holes I was one up.
Through 36 holes I am three down.
36 holes left to play - Look for another update tomorrow.

4th Quarter

2007-11-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

(God damn you Alabama!! ) (Now all thats left is to throw a few Seminole Chops around)

Great hit on Carpenter! He barely had a chance to cover up before that one. Good series for the Duck D. They have really stepped up again.

OK, 13 min left, you are up 19 in what may be the biggest game of the year (at least short of the bowl game). Do you a) run it into the middle of the line 3 times. Or b) stick to the offensive game plan, keep the Devils on their heels and in over pursuit and make a firm statement on national television? I think you all know my preference, lets see what they do.

Oh no!! Dixon took a stinger on the knee there!. He is up and walking off, but I think I suffered a minor coronary.

There goes the last timeout... Now I am more ok with a little more conservative offensive series. But not much. Its not like Leaf is some schmuck red-shirt freshman with no game time experience.

Great play call to start of Leaf. Love to convert here... gonna be 3^rd and long it looks like though.

Good look at Scott, ball just drifted a little. Gotta believe it would have been complete if Dixon were throwing. Syria is kicking well today. To bad he is already a Junior. It's so nice to not live in mortal fear of punting

Eleven more minutes of sold defense. Thats all he need. And not the “keep it all in front of you, let them dink and dunk defense” stay a little aggressive and trust your secondary.

Reason # 4,135 I hate these announcers. They don't even bother to understand the difference in pass interference rules between college and the NFL. The NFL has a 5 yard rule for pass interference, in college you can bump until the ball is in the air.

Great defense there. You gotta believe its 4 down territory here. And it is, Carpenter is still on the field. One more big stop could be the game.

ASU may have converted on 4 and 10 but I am proud of Aliotti. He didn't rush 3 or 4, he sent a linebacker and it nearly paid off. No reason not to play balls out in a game like this!

Picked!!! I had feeling one of those was going to come one of these plays. Would preferred a knee and a touch back, but its tough to keep your head sometimes.

Looks like Dixon will be ok. Glad to see him moving on the sideline. Also more than ok seeing them leave Leaf out there. At this point, no reason to risk Dixon any more.

Nice pass by Leaf gets it to third and manageable. On third and three, it will probably stay on the ground... and nothing gained unfortunately.

Drained a good 2 minutes off the clock though.

ASU will be going to the air here. We'll see how good Carpenter really is. Down 19 with 6 min to play. Still hoping that Aliotti doesn't get too complacent

Rushed 3 lineman on each of those. You would think Aliotti might of learned something from last week and the first 54 min of this game. You would be wrong.

Thats an ASU TD... took a whole 41 seconds off the clock. Still a two score lead, but this game is by no means over. Big question... does Dixon come back in now? Only if ASU scores again? (Also up for debate, you need 2 scores in 5:20 seconds, do you try the on-sides? [I say no, given Oregon's past history of being extremely conservative in situations like this])

Well... its a long field Oregon can use to drain the clock. Just have to do it. No three and out here. Gotta run 5-7 plays.

It is still Leaf... and they throw a short pass! Complete, and still in bounds. 2 & 8... Stewart dances, and leaves it at 3 & 7ish. ASU uses one of its last 2 timeouts. Down to 4:14... need a conversion here.

Damn it! Two good play calls, and Leaf can't keep it in bounds on the sideline route. I know its a tough throw, but you need to convert on something like that. Weight is back on the defense.... and a bad bounce costs the Ducks 20 yards on the point.

Send a blitz Aliotti! Got him!!! 7^th sack of the game and another from Reed. Exactly what I wanted to see.

Didn't want to see that long pass caught... FUMBLED!! I know he is fighting for yards, but you have to hang on to the ball. Heads up play by Glasper to get on top of it. And not try and pick it up or carry it.

That should seal the game. Not as huge as Harper's pick, but it really is just about the nail in the coffin.

Oregon closes the game with a sack... 8 on the night. Fantastic game all around.

Thats all for tonight. BC is down 7-0 at the half. Go Seminoles! Go Bobby Bowden you crazy old sonuvabitch go!

3rd Quarter

2007-11-03T18:32:00.001-07:00

(Almost forgot to break at the quarter and post)

As I am sure you have all heard. ASU has outscored opponents 153-29 in second halves. Oregon hasn't been the strongest 2^nd half team, but I think a good part of that is that they are usually way up coming into the 3^rd.

Here we go starting the 2^nd half.

That shoulda been a free shot on Carpenter there. I can't even describe how much I would like a takeaway right now.

Great pressure on two snaps in row there, and good perseverance getting to Carpenter. One more stop now. False start... thats Autzen getting loud early in the 3^rd I love it! (Ageyman showing blitz probably helped. Time for another FG. If Oregon keeps holding ASU to FG's... even 50 yarders, Oregon will be in good shape.

Time for a good offensive series now... Starting with great field position. Stewart could have taken that to the house with a little more room.

Oregon's O-line doesn't seem to be getting off the ball as fast. When Oregon is moving the ball well (on the ground), the O-line explodes off the line and pushes the actual line of scrimmage down field. It will look like no gain until you realize all the linemen are 4 yards down field.

Williams!!! You have got to catch that ball baby... Great punt by Syria.

Good stop by the Ducks. Good penetration by the front four there. Oregon should have good field position here.

Thats what I want to see on offense. Get the ASU defense over pursuing again. Use that aggressiveness against them.

Fantastic run by Stewart! I know he should go to the NFL after this year. Its the right thing to do, but it would sure be fantastic to see him for one more year. But if I were advising him, I would have to say go to the NFL. Running back is just to vulnerable of a position. Way to easy to blow a knee or an ankle and miss your shot (or seriously risk it... reference Willis McGehee here (not that he could have come out in the 1^st round after his junior year, but you get the idea). That said... if any running back out there would come back to finish his degree (he wants to be police officer apparently) Stewart is the type.

ASU is getting its yards and all, but Oregon's front four (and the linebackers at times too) are just playing fantastic. Good pressure all day long so far. I hope Allioti doesn't pull the linebackers back as we get to the 4^th.

Fantastic hit! Here we go on the first 4^th down try of the evening. Stuffed! Oregon's defense is looking for a second statement game in a row I think. And they are making a heck of a statement.

On a side note... I know there are a lot of defensive schemes out there, and I know I don't understand Aliotti's that well. But if you are going to cover one of these games at least make some effort. It is a gap control scheme. Even the linebackers are mostly containing and funneling. In a normal defense its bad if your DB's lead in tackles, but at Oregon its fairly common. (I know this would be a point to critisize Aliotti's scheme, and I have on numerous occasions.) Even on good Oregon offenses the rover and “strong safety” (counts as a DB, plays like a linebacker) are often the top tacklers. I don't love the “bend but don't break” style, but I do like the TFL's that Allioti's defense tends to rack up. If they could stiffen up on third down (in general... doing pretty well tonight) people would think he is a genius.

Short offensive series. The Oregon defense is going to get warn down if the offense can't stay on the field longer. (Reference the long run play that just happened)

Except for the long run there (which would have been much longer if the back had just ran all out he probably would gone to the house, holding up there allowed the strong Oregon pursuit to catch him) that was a real strong defensive series.

A solid scoring drive right here would right here would go a long way to making be feel more secure in this one. Not completely secure... not against this team until the final whistle. But better.

That shoestring tackle saved at least 5 yards if not 6 points. Would it be unreasonable for Oregon to send two to New York? I never have understood why Stewart doesn't get more national press. I know he is a quite guy and doesn't interview much, but the game tape should speak for itself.

Now its Oregon burning timeouts. Only one left now if it gets close.

>_>

<_<

That was a pretty pretty pass to Davis. Dixon doesn't make that throw last year. Last year (even in the beginning of the year when he still had his confidence) he doesn't complete that.

2nd Quarter

2007-11-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

And Oregon right back at it for the 2^nd Quarter... as is Williams. A lot of people were looking for him to have a break out game today. I wasn't so sure it wouldn't be Garren Strong... but its looking like the experts knew a little better then me on that one.

BTW if you all aren't reading Stewert Mandel's blog reports from Oregon, you should be.

Good contain on the kickoff, could have had him at the 10 though.

Good lead for the Ducks here at 21 to 3, but I really hope Oregon doesn't get complacent. ASU has made their living in the 2^nd half all year long. I don't know that I would feel comfortable until it was 4+ TD lead heading into the 4^th. Even then I would want to see Oregon do more than run straight ahead.

Speaking of running straight ahead, the ASU line is looking a bit better then I expected. I knew they could move the ball on the ground, but I wasn't expecting as good as this.

Oregon got hosed on the spot on Carpenter's scramble. Love to see Oregon take the ball away here. Though ASU burning a TO because Carpenter is sprinting to the sideline like an Pop Warner QB is almost as nice.

Damn! When Carpenter let that go, it looked like a pickable ball to me. Just nobody in position.

Another misread on the 1^st down through... Hate to see that... After an ASU TD I would really like to see a sustained drive if not a solid TD. I like the play call on 3^rd and 7, but punting the ball after an ASU TD is disappointing. I guess here's hoping for a good defensive stand.

Carpenter hasn't missed a pass yet. I know that won't keep up the whole game, but it could be telling.

Another ASU TO... only 1 left with 9 minutes in the 1^st half. It looks like the crowd is rocking today... Now for a sold defensive stop to make...

There we go... force them to 3^rd and long. A good stop here keeps them to another field goal...

Thats to FG where it probably should have been another TD the way ASU had been moving the ball.

That is a heck of a play by the ASU corner Bolden. After the inside screen its now third and longish again. Or even longer with the false start. I would love to see a 3^rd down conversion here. Not to be though... looked like Dixon forced that a little. But if he puts some air under it it might have been 6 for Oregon.

The defenses are starting to settle in. Hurts Oregon to see the starting middle linebacker go down though. I know Bacon doesn't have big tackle numbers, but he does good job Qbing the defense. (Bad sign to see him on the cart...)

Big sack from Nick Reed there! Two today, I wouldn't be surprised to see two more at least.

Time for a big stop... or for Autzen to take ASU's last time out with still 6 minutes on the clock.

Way to force the punt... good pursuit by Agyeman. I love how Oregon is flying to ball the last couple of games on defense.

Fuckity Fuck Fuck Fuck!!!(to quote a dear friend of mine...) 3^rd and 1 and a turnover on a fumble! If Oregon doesn't hang on to the ball today, its going to be tougher dog fight than Oregon is looking for. You can't keep going back to the defensive well through out this game.

I know Oregon's offense isn't a time of possession offense, but 7 minute (and growing) advantage for ASU is going to start to hurt.

Great coverage sack there. Gonna need to find a few more of those today.

Thats a flat out shitty late hit call. I have seen that move countless times and I have never seen it flagged.

Thats a good stop on 2^nd and short. Hold them again here, and the hero of the 2^nd quarter is clearly the defense. (Didn't get the stop, but they should have... Nance is slippery though)

Bad idea to run the ball there with no timeouts... took a chance at TD and turned it into a FG. Cuts the lead to less then a TD, but still I don't like the run call. Could have taken 2 shots at least.

I bet Erickson hates it more now that the kid hooked it.

Well that brings us to the half. Here is hoping that the Ducks come back out fired up and ready to go back to work. (Wow... these are running longer then I thought they would.)

Live Blogging the Duck Game - 1st Quarter

2007-11-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Alright, I am gonna give this live blogging the game thing a shot.

I was almost late getting set up for the game... ok, actually I was a bit late. Well, I was in the room and folding laundry, but I had forgotten to do key things like grab a Mt. Dew, and my laptop.

Anyway, I am here now. Those of you that know me may be wondering why I am not at the game (being a season ticket holder and all). I had a bit of a calendering error. I thought I had my reservations for Bandon Dunes this weekend, so I promised the tickets to P and JT. As it turns out I was confused and off by a week. They said I didn't have to give them the tickets, but last Saturday we (My father and I... Dad has the other ticket) thought we would be putting my kitchen together and such so we gave them up anyway. We are not putting the kitchen tofether but I did finish my bamboo floor. Anyway, on to the game!

Fantastic catch by Williams on the first play. I am really glad to see Oregon go to the air early. I love seeing huge ground numbers, but I am a big fan of coming out aggressive in big games. (And Williams scores..)

Ouch... I was really hoping to see more pressure on the QB. Oregon's pass defense is looking a little soft. I know Allioti loves to stop the run, and ASU does run a lot, but... if you are going to go heavy in the box you have to get better pressure on the QB.

This is starting to look like a game that could break the scoreboard.... 1^st and goal for ASU already. In other football news: I don't know why, but I feel a little dirty rooting for 'Bama. I want them to win, and I have even given a “Role Tide” or two today, but I feel almost like a little piece of me dies each time.

Great stop from the Ducks front seven. ASU really moved the ball there, its great to see them stiffen their backs a little.

ASU is really over committing up front. I know Erickson likes an aggressive defense, but against the spread you really need to stay home. This could open up a lot of good lanes for Stewert and Dixon today.

That may go as a drop in the end zone by Williams, but it looked over thrown to me. Once again, ASU over commits and gets burned on the screen. I am serious, this may become a big pattern today.

Lets look for some better defense on this set... And I think I am going to get really really tired of hearing announcers say “All ASU needs to do is take the crowd out of the game.” Its really not gonna happen this year...Well except to start the 2^nd half....damn drunks in the Mo Center...

What is with the announcers saying “Pacific Ten Conference.” I know thats the name and all, but just stop it! It doesn't make you sound better, or more articulate. You are announcing a football game and its only being broadcast in Oregon and Arizona. We all know its the Pac-10. Call it the Pac-10 and save that air for someone more useful then you!

I am coming to dislike these FSN Arizona announcers...

But I am loving the game so far... and thats the end of the 1^st Quarter... We'll see if I can keep this up for the whole game. I wouldn't be too hopeful. Its tough to not jump around and such (at least there are no fans to break.)

Crap that amused me.

2007-10-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

I don't have a whole lot of news as far as things I have done. Mostly because I don't do much. I did go to the Oregon v. USC game, but I doubt you guys need to read a blow by blow of that. I have come across a few things that amused the hell out of me. And since I liked them, I thought you might also.

First:

So I am looking for the phone number of the Lynnwood Municipal Court (its outside of Seattle) and I find their website. On that site, I see a link to a document entitled Court's Ruling on Numerous DUI Motions. Being a curious sort I thought I would read it. Now, I am not naive enough to think that the actual ruling would be of interest to you (but you can read it at the above link if you wish). No, this post is about what happens when former history majors become judges and then get bored. Each of the following is a direct quote from the court's order.

"The parties... have banded together like the Hanseatic League. The hegemonious leader of this band has been..., Counsel for Defendant Meeks"

"The City of Lynnwood, like King Waldemar (sic) IV of Denmark, had struggled valiantly against thses many motions and the many moving parties..."

" DONE this 9th day of March, 2005, being the Feast of Saint Joseph and a rainy day in Lynnwood."

Second:

It would seem pirate attacks are up 14% this year. Not only are there still pirates out there, the numbers are growing, and someone is actually charting it.

Third:

Bob Saget = fantastic. (damn funny here, and here too)

What a weekend.

2007-10-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

My oh my!

From Thursday on its just been unbelievable. The football, the work on the house. Fantastic!

I will mostly be talking about football here. But there is a slide show of the advances on the house below. Now, on to the football!

Number 2 looses again. LSU almost throws away the game against Auburn. How do you not kick the field goal at that point?!? Oklahoma struggles, Kentucky goes down, and so do the Cocks. But perhaps most important, Oregon jumps 5 spots in all the polls and controls its own destiny in the Pac-10.

Speaking of Oregon, what a game by the O-line. I have it on the DVR for whenever I want to watch it again this week. The offensive side of the ball was pure domination. The defensive side... well, I think Allioti was too stubborn on his game plan of blitzing Locker.

Also speaking of Oregon, feel free to start envying me and my tickets to the USC game. It is apparently the first meeting of Top 10 teams in Autzen. I actually know someone that has season tickets and won't be at the game. (He will be in Hawaii, but for Duck's sake,wouldn't you check the schedule before buying your plane tickets!!)

Anyway, enough short paragraphs. Not a whole lot to talk about really. I am sure you all get tired of hearing about the house, so I am done for now. Here is the slide show I promised.

Two Quick Sports Links

2007-10-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

So, a couple of sports things to pass on.

1) Greg Oden has a blog. Quite frankly, an awesome blog. This kid is hysterical.

2) It seems many of the current Oregon players don't really understand why Washington is a hated rival of Oregon. I can understand that from some standpoint it can be a good idea to keep the team on an even keel. On the other hand, this used to be such a hated rivalry. It would be a shame for it to fade. For any of you out there not familiar with the history of this particular border war, there have been a few nice articles about it here, here and here.

I think thats about it for now. I should have more about the house in the next week or two.

Ramblings

2007-10-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while, but then I have been busy. I think of things I should talk about occasionally, but I am too tired by the time I have a chance. Tonight, however, I have the time and a little bit of energy but not much in the way of things to say.

I guess first off, I am alive and doing well, as is Sam. Now that things are in good shape on the house, she is back to looking for work. The job market isn't the best out here, but I am sure she will find something soon.

I am sitting here watching the Florida vs. LSU game and I must confese, I feel quit torn. An LSU win would likely move Oregon up in the standings whereas an LSU loss would not. And yet, I hate LSU. I don't know why, but I always have. Maybe its because Shaq went there, I don't know. Maybe its because I resent Death Valley's being so much louder and more intimidating than Autzen... Damn fans actually caused an earthquake in 1988. I guess I should look at it as a no lose situation.

This is actually the first game I have watched today. I spent most of the day on the road driving into Portland to buy bamboo flooring and kitchen cabinets. It is looking like we should be done with most of the major renovations on the house done within the next month. (As for what he have gotten done, see the sideshow at the end of the post.)

Work is going well. We had one of the two new people start last Monday, and we have another starting this Monday. While I will miss the chance to get my hands on felony work as often, it will be nice to have the help. It has been pretty absurdly busy the last few weeks.

Of the work highlights recently was my 4th jury trial. (HOLY FUCK!!! Stanford drops USC!!!)
It was 2 day DUII trial against a former chief deputy of our office (she was the defense attorney, not the defendant obviously). The facts, frankly, were weak for my case. It was the investigating officer's first trial and only his 2nd solo investigation. He didn't see her driving (we did have strong circumstantial evidence on this point), she didn't give a breath test and she had a nice big sympathy card in that she had been at friends memorial service the day of the arrest. On top of all that, the officer made an error during one of the Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs) and one of the jail deputies testified that the defendant didn't seem that intoxicated. In essence, I had two FSTs (they weren't bad, but they weren't great) and some strange behavior by the defendant. Somehow, and while I have my theories I am not sure of any of them, but somehow I won. It took the jury just about two and half hours to return a guilty verdict.

Alright, that would be all I have to say at this point I think. I will close with a couple pictures of the house.

Something I Forgot

2007-09-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

There was one more thing I wanted to mention to you all. Especially since I know a good many of you are all dorks. While surfing around, looking at various things I stumbled upon this. If you like Risk, Risk 2210, etc, check it out. The AI isn't great, its a little on the conservative side, but its kinda fun.

It also seems to allow for online play, although I haven't really investigated that portion yet. But... if anybody were interested, hint hint.

Sunday's Thoughts

2007-09-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

So for the first time in quite I while I took most of a day off. More than that, there was nothing I had to do and nowhere I had to be. I had the whole day stretched out before me. It was a thing of beauty, a thing to be cherished.

I watched the rain come in. The first real rains of the fall have hit the coast today. There have been showers over the last month or so, and there will be dry days ahead. But today was the first honest rain of the changing season.

I also watched Accepted. I know it is by no means a great piece of American cinema. That said, it really sucked me in. A much better movie then I expected. And Maria Thayer may well be the most attractive person ever born in Boring Oregon. How a town like that turned out a woman like that is completely beyond me.

I also just watched the then of The Shadow. Well, I wasn't really watching, the TV was just on that channel while I worked on the Sunday crossword. At some point I started to think Penelope Ann Miller was quite fetching as well. Then I started to wonder if it was just because Sam has been out of town for almost a week now.

Just one last thing before I go, well two things really. Two movies to be specific. As opposed to the two mentioned above, these two should be actively sought out and watched if you haven't seen them yet.

1) Wordplay - A must if you enjoy crosswords and/or wordplay. A very well filmed documentary about crosswords and the people that do them and make them (including John Stewart).

2) The Aristocrats - Warning: this movie is quite raw. Foul in fact. But hysterical. If you can handle dirty language and subject matter, its well worth it.

All right, I am out folks. Sorry no comments on the Ducks this week, but there isn't a whole lot to say.

Saturday Wrap Up

2007-09-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

My oh my what a day!

Despite giving up a good deal of the day to football, I did get quite a but done around the house. I know the house updates aren't the most thrilling, but the outside is starting to undergo some significant changes. I stripped the old cedar shake off of the garage and the lower half of the house (well half way around the lower half of the house). By the end of the day Monday we should have it all re-sided. Check back later this week for pictures :)

On to football!!

I am not sure there is a whole lot I can say about the Duck game that hasn't already been said, or that won't be said by some news outlet with 100,000 times the readership I have. Still, since I like hearing the sound of my own voice (or keyboard, as it were) I will mention a few key points.

- I think Chip Kelly has the offense on the right track. They may have left as many as 24 points off the board today, but I am not seeing the red zone futility of last year.

- I don't know if it was just Dixon maturing, or if Kelly has worked with him, but DD is throwing a very nice long ball at the moment.

- The Oregon defense is still a big question mark in my opinion. Yes, this week they looked much much better, but there still seems to be trouble stopping the run. Looked much better against the pass. r

- Special teams are looking better each week. I don't know if it was noticed by many, but early in the 1st half, Oregon even tried to steal a kick off back with a high pooch to the sideline. If it hadn't bounced out of bounds it would have been real close to Oregon ball again.

- Its a lot of fun to see the Ducks on ESPN's Top 10 twice in a single night (both with #1 and #10)

There has been a good bit of a shake up in the rest of the Top 25 this week too. I would look for Oregon to enter the Top 25 polls this week. I would say somewhere between 21 and 25, most likely at 24.

Next up Fresno State. They aren't the giant killers they used to be, but it will be a tough game nonetheless.

As Requested

2007-09-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

Rip Tatermen (does he need a new handle with the new last name?) has asked my thoughts headed into the Oregon Michigan game. And since I am sitting here on a Friday night with nothing better to do, I figured "Why not?"

Perhaps in the future I will try and get posts of this nature up on Wed. or Thu. night so you all actually have a chance to read and comment. Anyway, on the real post:

I don't think anyone really knows what to expect out of Michigan tomorrow. My best guess is that they will come out looking for redemption. They are a veteran group with a lot of talent. That said, I haven't seen anything suggesting that they have learned to stop a spread attack with a dual threat QB. If they were going to find a defensive scheme that works against the spread, you would think they would have done so over the summer.

So, based on what we saw of Oregon last week, and what I think its fair to expect of Michigan, I get the feeling this is going to be an old fashioned shootout. Neither team looks strong on the defensive side of the ball, and I think both can put up a lot of points. It could come down to who has the ball last (cliche, I know, but this one really looks like that). I am hoping that Michigan's general lack of misdirection will help the Oregon defense, but I don't think it will help that much.

Players that will have big games:

Oregon:
1) Dixon (has to be good for Oregon to have a chance)
2) Stewart (Michigan's lateral speed on defense will limit JJ's effectiveness, but the power of Stewart will be huge)
3) Chung, Ward, Thurmond III (If the DB's are strong enough, we may be able to slow the run)

Michigan:
1) Mike Hart

I don't think Henne or Manningham have big days. If they do, Oregon is in a world of hurt.

Final Prediction:

Lots of points, if Oregon can force a turnover or two, they can get pull off the win. 45-42 Oregon.

Oregon vs. Houston Report (and More)

2007-09-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

I have shiny new wireless router, I am relaxed out in bed, I have a Mountain Dew near at hand, and Clapton on my headphones. Its time to get my blog on.

So I am just recently back home after a trip to the wonderful land of Eugene. I don't get back down there often enough, but that should change for at least the next few months (even if it is just for the football games). Paul, as usual, was gracious enough to play host and make sure I had a fantastic time. I am linking his blog there in the hopes that he actually posts something. Do it you drunk, lazy jack-ass!

Seriously though I had a great time. I got into Eugene around 9:30 and was greeted at my car with a big ol' hug. Of course, I was so excited to see him I locked my keys in my car. I didn't even realize it until Saturday morning when I was looking for my sunglasses. Paul, Jess, Josh and I got some dinner at the Steelhead and then went to the Starlight Lounge (sans Jess) for some honest drinking. If you happen to be in Eugene, and you are looking for a low key place that pours absurdly strong cocktails, give it a shot. It's about a block from where Cafe' Paradisio used to sit (now Jameson's Meat Market (aka Bar)). Saturday morning we woke up and rolled out for some tailgating. We found 2 of the 3 we were looking for and still made it to our seats for the pre-game video. Sadly, I think we missed the weather forecast. I will talk a bit about the game below. Spent the rest of the weekend just hanging around, crashing birthday parties, etc.

So, the game. The first half was every bit as lackluster as you have probably heard. The defense made some clutch plays, but the offense couldn't capitalize. That left the defense on the field for way too long and really started to expose some of its holes. I knew coming in the front seven was questionable. I am honestly quite nervous about facing any solid rushing team. And most of the good teams Oregon plays this year are running schools. The inability to stop the run, or sustain an effective pass rush left the secondary flapping in the wind. They had to sit in too many soft zones to deal with all the time the Houston QB had to through. Like so many Alliotti run defenses, they could look great on first and second down, but Houston converted way too many third downs. I am hoping (and it is more like a slim glimmer than any real hope) that facing a more traditional running attack may help. Houston runs a pretty unique version of the spread and I think that may have been amplifying Oregon's problems. I guess we will see how they fair against Michigan.

I am not sure that Oregon's defense even got better in the second half. I think it was more that the offense kept them off the field a little better. When they were able to get their breath they showed a little stronger. The offense was clearly better in the second half. Dixon (for the most part) made better decisions this year than last. He still tries to the force the ball into too many small windows. And he still has trouble getting back across the field in his reads. On one play in particular, he took the snap, saw the blind (and weak) side corner blitz and made a good move to buy time and dump it off to J. Johnson for a solid game. But had he made that same escape, set up and looked back across the field he would have seen J. Williams 1 on 1 with the weak side safety. Easily could have been a TD. You can't call it a mistake, but it could have been a more successful play. He did make some very good decisions to tuck and run. And despite what the people near me thought, I like him getting what he can and getting out of bounds... with his frame, he needs to limit the contact he takes.

Alright, if anyone who couldn't see the game has any questions, feel free to ask. Thats about all I have to say. Here is a look at where we are on the house though. Things should pick up and start moving quick again here pretty soon.

Thoughts on Belloti (Part 1)

2007-08-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

I have been asked to provide my thoughts on whether Mike Bellotti is "good coach." As I said at the time (see comments to the last post) this is a complicated question. Before we can even start to answer the question, we need to decide what a good football coach is and what it is not, or even more accuratly what a good college football coach is and is not. And I think that distinction is an important one. Coaching in college has different requirements, demands and expectations than coaching in high-school or the NFL.

(Note: This post is a little long. I have decided to insert my conclusion to date here. My opinion is that Belloti is pretty good coach. There may be better ones out there, but not many. And not many that could do what he has done in Eugene. He may frustrate me and other fans at times, but before the Brooks/Belloti era a bowl game was cause for celebration in the streets.)

I suppose the simplistic route is to say that a good coach wins games. But I really do think that is too simplistic. Even good coaches will have down seasons. Even the best coaches have to go through rebuilding years and periods. So I think in evaluating how good a coach is we need to look not only at winning games but at some other statistics. Moreover, since this is still college we are talking about I think it is important to pay attention to how the team itself conducts itself. Finally, to the extent that the coach and the team is an extension and a reflection on the university I think that any NCAA disciplinary record should weigh against the coach. Alright, now that we have at least a rough idea of what to look at, lets dig in:

Mike Bellotti is heading into his 12th season as U of O's head coach. While we could look at that whole chunk of time in evaluating his performance few other coaches have been at thier possitions that long, making any comparisons difficult. With that in mind I will, for the most part, be looking at what he has done in the last 7 years.

Regular Season Winning Percentage:

* = Bowl Game Played
**= Bowl Game Won

2000-01: 9-2**
2001-02: 10-1**
2002-03: 7-5*
2003-04: 8-4*
2004-05: 5-6
2005-06: 10-1*
2006-07: 7-5*

Total: 56-24 = .700 Winning Percentage.

Comparison Winning Percentages (not counting bowls):

Pete Carrol: 61-10 = .889 (6 seasons only)
Lloyd Carr: 62-18 = .775 (last 7 seasons) (career @ .758)
Bob Stoops: 75-14 = .842
Joe Pa: 44-37 = .543 (last 7 seasons) (career @ .745)
Phil Fulmer: 61-27 = .670 (last 7 seasons) (May include bowl wins)
Dirk Koetter: 39-31 = .557 (6 seasons only)
Glen Mason (Minn): 45-35 = .563 (last 7 seasons)

In choosing comparison coaches I have tried to do a couple of things. First, each of the coaches is, or was (Koetter having been recently fired) at the same school for the duration of the comparison period. Except for Koetter and Mason the coaches chosen are widely regarded as some of the best college coaches currently coaching. Koetter and Mason where choosen because the situation in which they coach is similar in a lot of ways to that at the University of Oregon. U of O probably provides better facilities, but all three coach at state schools in states that offer little in the way of in state talent; and all three coach at schools that are not traditionally football power programs. Fans of the program like to see Oregon as on its way to the upper echelon, but the other schools have been at the top of the college football consciousness for years.

So, what does this tell us? It would seem to indicate that Belloti wins a good percentage of games given the situation he is coaching in. One other thing it is important to note. Both Pete Carrol and Bob Stoops (the two with the highest winning percentage on that list) have both been head coach of their programs when the NCAA investigators came knocking. So far Carrol has stayed pretty clean, but Oklahoma (Stoops’ school) recently had the entirety of its 2005-06 season wiped from the books for NCAA violations. For now at least, the U of O has stayed pretty clear of NCAA violations.

There is more information I would like to have brought to bear. I would like to look at the offensive and defensive production under Belloti and at other programs. I would also like to see how the Oregon recruiting classes and NFL players rate in compared to other programs. It seems to me that if Belloti were winning substantially more (or fewer) games than would be expected based on the recruits that come in and the players the NFL takes, that would give a pretty clear look as to how his coaching actually effects the outcome.

Feel free to let me know what you think.

Title Not Found

2007-08-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time or energy to drop a post for you all, but I thought I would give you all a quick something.

Work is rolling along. I am starting to handle a few of the lower level felonies that role in. I had my first trip in front of the grand jury last week, and I have another one coming up this week. So that has been pretty exciting. I really didn't expect to start touching felonies for at least 6 more months if not longer. But, we have had a couple of more senior deputies leave the office, so at least until those positions are filled I will be racking up the extra experience. I seem to have a knack for finding "right place, right time" situations like these.

The house is also moving about as quick as one could hope for. The upstairs is all sheet rocked textured. I sprayed the primer on it tonight, and tomorrow the walls and ceilings will get painted. The main floor still had some trim to brush out and some cutting in to finish, but its getting close. Then its just new windows and floors to do. Once we do something that will actually show as being an improvement, I will get more pictures up.

I don't have much time for things outside of working and, well, working but thats alright for now. My mini-gut seems to be shrinking and with all this work and the lack of real food (its tough to cook when your kitchen consists of a fridge and a microwave on the floor).

Anyway, I suppose thats all I have for now. A couple of fun times coming up though. A wedding reception on Aug 26th, and a long weekend in Eugene for the Ducks home opener. So I guess I got that going for me.

House Update

2007-07-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

A few days later then I expected it to be, but its time for an update on the project house. The sheetrock is all up on the main floor, and we should be spraying texture tomorrow. Which means we can spray primer and paint the ceilings on Wednesday. All in all it looks like Sam and I will be moving on the weekend, more or less. I would like to get most of the stuff moved before the weekend actually, so I can take a load of debris to the dump... I didn't get a picture of the debris pile, but it is not small.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Mostly About the New House

2007-07-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

As the title says, this post will be mostly about what has been going on with the new house. But first, I have a question for the peanut gallery (that would be you): If you were, in some way, acquire a cast-iron skillet, and said skillet claimed to be "Pre-Cured" wouldn't you be surprised to learn (from the instructions included with the skillet) that before using the nice new skillet you needed to cure it?

I have been a home owner for a few hours over a week now. If you are a reader here you would have seen the pictures I took down below. Not much of what those pictures show of the interior is accurate anymore, at least not the main floor. The living room, dining room and back bedroom all have new sheet-rock hung, and most of the kitchen. We ripped down the acoustic tile ceiling in the bathroom, framed it in the right way, and have new rock up there too. Dad and I took care of the bug rot in the garage and we had a good friend make sure the wiring was up to snuff. All in all this is the best I really could have hoped for on this remodel. But, that doesn't mean there haven't been some hiccups. One of the more amusing stories follows below.

So last Sunday we are all working hard trying to get things done and make sure that Bob and his step-son Donny (they were there to make sure the electrical was all ok) finished what we had them out there to do. Around 11:30 we sent Mom and Sam to get lunch for everyone. During the time they were gone a lot of things started going wrong. After Dad and I screwed up trying to sister a new rafter into the garage roof I mentioned how shit tends to start going wrong around lunch time.

About that time Bob comes out bitching about having screwed up something or another and it was decided that it was beer time (for Dad and Bob at least). About that time I heard a yelp come from the house where Donny was still working. But when we asked if he was ok, he said he was. Just a few minutes later he comes walking out into the garage where the three of us are and he is rubbing his head. I swear it just looked like he just had his hair parted. But as he sat down I realized it was more than just a part in his hair. It turns out Donny was trying to get a whole drilled with one of Bob's specialty bits (they are in 4-6 foot long range) and he was having trouble. So he was really leaning into it and trying to get good downward force ton the bit. Then, next thing he knows his hair catches around the bit and the drill runs right down to his scalp (this, presumably, is when we heard him yelp). So, if you can imagine it, there was Donny, with the drill bit stuck in his hair, the drill well above his head, trying to thumb around and find reverse so he could free himself. I swear, the 2.5 inch groove down the side of Donny's head was so clean and neat it looked like he did with a razor. Mean though it may be, seeing Donny sit on the back of that truck pulling out little curls of his hair was far and away the funniest thing I have seen in a long long time.

Past Nastification

2007-07-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

This post doesn't actually deal with any past nastifications... mine or any one else. I was just watching an old episode of Futurama, and I love that phrase.

So, a little news. I closed on the house yesterday. So I am now the proud owner of a run down 4 bedroom house on the South Slope of Astoria. The downside to this whole thing is I have to cancel the weekend I was planning on spending in Portland for my birthday. Ah well, such is life. The upside is, I should get some decent blog material out of the deal.

I know I mentioned last time that I was thinking about a post about work, it hasn't happened yet (obviously). I just haven't felt much like writing when I get home lately. Mostly I was thinking about how it felt different to sentence a person that was still professing their innocence then someone that has admitted their guilt (or at least stops contesting it). Early last week was the sentencing of the first defendant I have convicted at a trial (other then traffic violations). Heading into it, I really wasn't sure how I would feel. Obviously I believed that he was guilty, but to have him continue to profess his innocence was weird. On one hand it seemed quite clear that he was lying. But going in, I didn't know if the soft side of me (or less cynical side) wouldn't feel a little bad for him. I know I still have a soft side (I tend to be a little soft when it comes to making plea deals), but I really didn't feel had for this guy. I am sure I will have more to say about things like this some other time. For now, its getting late and I need some sleep.

Take care all.

The Post With No Name

2007-07-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

When I opened up this window there were several things I wanted to blog about. Now that I am here, I seem to be having a hard time getting anything down in words. I have been feeling a little off lately. My 26th birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks. I think that might have something to do with it. For some reason 26 feels different than any birthday so far. Twenty five was my first birthday being out of school. But it didn't really feel like it. I spent most of last summer prepping for the bar, and then took the bar just 2 days after my birthday. Maybe thats it... maybe I am just starting to feel... well not old. I know I am not actually old. But I am not exactly young anymore either. Maybe I will come back to this topic a little later. It wasn't really what I was planning on writing anyway.

One thing I had wanted to say, and I know that nobody reading this (at least no one that I know is reading this) golfs, but I wanted to say: I played a heck of a round today. The thing is, it didn't seem like it was that different from a lot of the other rounds of golf I have played. Most days I shoot between 82 and 85. Today I shout 78. But it didn't feel 4 to 7 shots better. I hit my irons a little better then usual. That seems to be the main difference. For the most part I made the 6 foot putts. Maybe that is where the difference was. It just seems strange that the best round I have shot in almost a year felt so ho-hum.

I should have something to say about work and the like tomorrow.

Last, but not least, I thought you all might like to get a look at the house I am buying. So, here you go:

As you can see, it will be a busy couple of months getting it in shape. But I am looking forward to it. I must be nuts.

Short grumbly update

2007-07-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I haven't posted in a while. And lo, though there are a few things I could update you on this is not that time. I am really just here to drop two tidbits.

1) I made an offer on a house out here in Astoria. We shall see if the offer is accepted. If it is, you can look forward to lots of pictures and construction updates.

2) I just got back from an advanced showing of Transformers. Don't worry, I won't toss any spoilers out here. I will just say two things. The first 1:45, give or take, was pretty darn good*. Unfortunately I can't even give that much of a comment on the rest of the movie. The damn, podunk movie theater here in town loaded the second reel (yes, the theater still uses reels, no digital theaters out here) upside down, and backwards. It made for an interesting watch until it became clear they had no intention of rectifying the problem. They were nice enough to give us free passes at least. (Note: This would be why I am grumbling softly under my breath and about to commence shuffling around the living room.)

*I should qualify my statement that this movie is enjoyable with a couple brief sentiments:

1) I love going to the movies... this means my standards a little lower then some of my friends.
2) I went in expecting very little from this movie, that tends to make it easier to enjoy these movies.
3) I am a Transformers fan. But I am not a fanboy. I don't know the comics, I don't know the backstory. I grew up playing with the toys and watching the cartoon. In fact the very first movie I remember ever seeing in the theater was Transformers (of which I have incredibly fond memories). I believe this may have made me predisposed to the powerful JuJu of giant space robots.

All right. I will try to get a more complete update up when I have time.

Change of Plans

2007-06-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

I feel quite worn-out. Today was longer then expected and much more draining as well. Looks like I won't be making it to the concert I was planning to see (Referenced in the post below). Suckalicious...

Items both sundry and various

2007-06-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

One of these days I am going to actually think of a witty gripping lead in for one of these things. And you wonderful readers out there are going to be so shocked you will spit coffee all over your keyboard. And I will probably get sued for the cost of replacing all those keyboards. Today is not that day.

First things first: The Code Monkey!
(Note: The song is by Jonathan Coulton. Even some of his non-monkey based songs are awesome.)

Second things Second: At least in Michigan it is a Class C felony to piggyback a WiFi network without permission. Moreover, someone has actually been prosecuted! This seems to be due to an odd wrinkle in Michigan's criminal hacking statute that presumes that any connection made is unauthorized unless the Defendant can show otherwise, or unless the Network in question falls into a couple of the defined statutory exceptions. Food for thought the next time one of you surreptitiously connects to your neighbor's WiFi.

Alright, enough of things that amuse me... What have I been up to you ask? You mean besides trolling the web for amusing things to share? Well... mostly work and puppy sitting. My sister got a standard poodle puppy recently, but she had to take a vacation so Sam and I wound up puppy sitting for a good 10+ days. I am sure if I dug around in my mind I could come up with a few cute stories of things the puppy did or something... but that really isn't my style. I will leave things of that nature to Sam.

Thats all for now folks. I will be Portland for the weekend for some golfing mostly. I might head out to this show though. It is unlikely I would object to seeing any of you there. You could even let me know in advance :)

Not a Short Post

2007-05-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hmm... its been a little while eh? Almost a month it looks like. One would think I would therefore have a lot to talk about. One would be wrong.

Its not that I don't have things to talk about actually, its that some of the things I could talk about would probably bore you (my hypothetical, mythical reader) to tears, and some of the more interesting things I could talk about I really don't think I should talk about on such a public forum. Those of my friends that read this... or I should say those friends I have regular face to face / phone contact with will have heard some of these tales; these thrilling, edge of your seat yarns of my epic deeds as a DA. And while what I would speak of is technically a mater of public record (most of it having occurred in open court, and on the record) the ethics of posting such things on a public blog are a little unsettled. I don't claim to be a genius when it comes to ethics. I know there are some things I can't talk about at all. And there are some things I can. There also seems to be this gray area where I can talk about them, but posting about them in a public forum may be considered different. Bah! I really need to re-read the Rules of Professional Responsibility.

In other news: Many of you may have known this already... some of you likely expected it: I am really quite a klutz... and not all that bright either. As proof, I offer this tale of my culinary exploits: I decided I really wanted a dutch baby (for the record, this is all Eric's fault) for breakfast. And since the Pig n' Pancake does not offer them, and I am miles from the closest Original Pancake House (and even farther from Eric's breakfast table)... I did what anyone else would do. I turned to the wonderful tubes of this very interweb to find a recipe. And find one I did... several. So I set out to make one. I blend up the ingredients, I prime the pan in the oven and bam! its off and running. Only... it doesn't come out looking much like the dutch babies I have eaten. It puffed up and all but it was mostly the middle rather than the edges. Well, to make a long story end sooner after pulling it out of the oven I reach for my trusty spatula and I grab for the handle on the pan... and then the air is rent with the my best impression of a small school girl as I hop around the kitchen like a baboon. Here is a piece of advice for all of you out there... unless you want the imprint of the pan handle on your hand (and I can see why you might) its a really really good idea to use a pot holder. It may be the best idea you could ever have.

On a related note... I still haven't decided if the problem with the actual dutch baby was recipe based or equipment based. I didn't have an iron skillet to use... and I think that would have helped, or at least done better then my non-stick skillet. But the flavor was off too... Hmm... In hindsight I would say the whole thing was a pretty big disaster

Sam is doing well. She makes an awfully cute barrista in training. If you want to know much more about what is going on with her, I suggest poking her here. Maybe if enough of you clamor, she will actually post something.

Parting notes:

Stephen Lynch = hysterical. If you don't know already, its just a shame.

The Mariners = Crap... Crap with a hell of a young pitcher, but crap nonetheless.

Lastly: This spicy BBQ turkey breast I just made is fantastic... I am going to go eat it instead of typing more.

Ultimate

2007-04-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

I was really hoping getting to play disc last weekend would sort of soothe my craving. It really hasn't. And since I haven't really found a game out here yet I am forced to get a fix in whatever way I can. Its by no means as good playing but this has helped a bit. Check it out. By the way, that is Oregon Ego Alum (and Callahan award winner of 2004) Ben Willard with the color commentary.

On a related note: I am thinking of heading down to the College Regionals in Corvallis. Its on the weekend of April 28th/29th. Let me know if you be interested in checking out some fantastic ultimate that weekend. I am planning on staying in Eugene, so at a minimum perhaps we could get together for a beer or three. Alright... thats all for now

PS> If you are not in the Oregon area, you can check the schedule and find a Regional or Sectional tourney in your area. It is very much worth checking out.

Sundry News

2007-04-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I really haven't been up to that much. But I have thought of a few things now and again that might be of interest.

I spent last weekend in Eugene hanging with Paul and Jess and Josh. That was a heck of a time, although it was 3 days until I could walk normally (but Ultimate was a blast). Jess picked up her Wii on that Saturday so I now have some hands on experience with it. That thing is absurdly fun. I am not even sure I can describe it. Even the process of making a "mii" is pretty damn amusing. I really hope the developers make some good use of the online play possibilities.

In further geek news, I am in the process (15% through!) of downloading the open beta for Lord of the Rings Online (just to take a looksee really).

Also, reviewing a baseball game through the lens of D&D mechanics (and stereotypes) is a fantastic idea! See it here. And yes, I am aware this shows I am a giant dork in several ways. If you are reading my blog, you probably already knew that.

Work news: I am down for three trials next week, but they really aren't all that interesting. Two of them are 2nd set and very likely won't go, and the one that isn't is just a violation (as opposed to a misdemeanor or felony). I am not even certain I will be going in on the violation (our office doesn't usually appear in violation trials). Anyway... thats the bulk of what I have going on next week. For the most part, work is good. I am happy with the hours, I like the people and I am not bored to tears with substance either.

Thats about all the news I have got for now. As a Judge said just yesterday and in the words of Bill S. Preston, Esquire: "Be excellent to each other."

Frightening

2007-04-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

I really should stop just posting about the horribly frightening things I see while surfing the web... but I just can't seem to help it (for proof see the link to MC Rove below).

So what is today's topic you might ask? Well, I would have to respond that today's topic is:

What Keith Richards does when Coke isn't strong enough:

Apparently, if you are famous guitarist impersonating the living dead... or possibly vice - versa, you grind up a little of your father's ashes, mix it with your coke and party down. Part of me really wants to know what the hell is going through your mind when you decide: "You know, I really want to know what it would be like to snort some of my old Pops." Part of me really really doesn't... (You can read the whole interview here.)

I think it really comes down to one thing in my book: If thats what it takes to be a world class rock guitarist (or what world class rock guitarists do in their leisure time)... I am glad I became a lawyer.

Now, I realize his manager is claiming it was "said in jest" (a few days after the interview was released) and its possible that it was... but would anyone really be surprised if it were true? And in all truth, my money is on him getting really high and trying it one night.

Holy Politicos Batman!

2007-03-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Another Post! I should warn you up front, this one leans into some political realms.

Issue 1: What is my take on the whole US Attorney Firing issue?

Well, this is a tricky issue really. Most of the time, I am not a big fan of GW. It would be safe to say I have disagreed with him from time to time. And to some extent I do believe that a prosecutor needs to be left to do his/her job with a good deal of autonomy. That said, these positions are not front line attorneys. They are political appointments, and although I haven't engaged in any serious legal research (i.e. there could be a statute or case saying I am wrong on this) I do believe the top officer in each office serves at the pleasure of the President.

Now let me be clear. I don't mean your average US Attorney. I am talking about the US Attorney appointed to each District. The average US Attorney is a civil servant and should be protected from political house cleanings like any other government employee. But the US Attorney is a different beast. Not quite as high as the Attorney General clearly, or a member of the cabinet, but certainly closer to a cabinet member then some entry level trial attorney. And as such, I can see the importance of those people toeing the line on certain key policy issues. The President is the head of the Executive Branch. His job is to execute and prosecute the laws of the US (among other jobs obviously). It is therefore important that those he have confidence and trust with those people he chooses to act for him.

So, I think, had the President and AG Gonzales come out and clearly stated that they no longer felt the US Attorneys that had been fired fit in with the administration's goals and policies; and if they had stated clearly that it was a political decision well within the scope of the President's power there wouldn't be a controversy. But as is all too often the case this administration felt the need to hide the ball. They didn't want to take whatever political fallout there may have been from such a statement and they all started lying. That is really where the problem comes in, with one exception. That exception being the US Attorney that was pretty clearly fired for failing to pursue charges of voter fraud. It is paramount to our system that decisions of that nature be left to the discretion of the US Attorney in charge. Now wait, I know, your saying Beau! Your contradicting yourself.

I disagree. I think there is a clear difference between dismissing an appointee because you no longer believe that your policies are being carried out effectively, and dismissing an appointee because that person wouldn't pursue charges that were thin at best. Actual charging, prosecuting and plea bargain decisions should remain in the discretion of the acting attorney (barring gross misconduct).

So thats how I see it. For the most part its a tempest in a teapot, and it would have blown itself out had the administration not been so terminally dumb. But they are...

Issue 2: Where can I buy that MC Rove Album?

Ok... This isn't so much an "issue" as me wanting to drop a link. I must warn you: This clip may cause bleeding of the ears and eyes. There have been reports of seizures. Some have claimed that it may single handedly destroy the hip-hop culture. Some have speculated only Satan the Dark Lord himself could have created it in attempt to destroy rap. At best it makes you wonder how cool rap can be anymore. Watch it at your own risk...

Issue 3: Best Republican Candidate for 2008?

Disregarding any wagers, bets or gambles I may have made regarding the outcomes of the upcoming primaries,(Paul: I can't even remember who I took on the Demo side... but I do recall that as long as Rudy doesn't snag the RNC Nomination I can do no worse than break even) I have to say this: I really hope Fred Thompson runs, and wins the Republican Nomination. Hell I might even vote for him in the general. Now, I don't know his politics. But I know 2 things:

1) He would have the greatest career arc ever: Actor that played sleazy politicians => Sleazy politician => actor that played sleazy DA of NY (and really he has done quite well at filling in for Adam Schiff...) => Sleazy President. All that would be left would be to leave the White House and actually start taking acting jobs playing the President...

2) Can you say hottest 1st lady ever! (No, she isn't that hot... but still not too shabby)

Alright folks, thats all the news thats fit to print for now. I am still planning a post breaking down the changes in the Ultimate Rules (v.10 to v. 11) Edge of your seat stuff! Until then, you know where to find me.

Where in I reflect upon the meaning of life...

2007-03-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Well, not really. I actually just wanted to give you all a little update.

Life is rolling along as it tends to in small towns. It seems to move very fast at times, and very slow at others. I am really having a hard time believing I have only been at this job for less then 2 months. As I have probably told many of you already, I am pretty happy with my job. The people are good, the work is interesting and I am getting a lot of great experience.

I had my first jury trial last week. I lost, but I can't call it a bad trial, or even a failure. There are things I could have done better to be sure, but it was a good learning experience. And to tell the truth, I am not all that sure that anything I could have done would have changed the outcome. Sometimes thats just the way things shake out I guess.

Spring is teasing us here out on the coast. We have actually had a couple of sunny days and temperatures approaching the 60's. I know it won't really get that sunny and warm for another couple of months, but it is something at least. I was even able to drop the top on my car a couple of times over the last week. I am really starting to jones for some frisbee though... this sun just makes me miss Ultimate that much more. I haven't found a pickup game out here yet... or even someone to toss plastic with. I am sure I will eventually though. At worst I am planning a trip to Corvallis for the NW Regionals of the UPA College Division. I would urge any and all of you to check out any of the UPA events in your area if you can. You can find the schedule here.

I have been playing some FFXII, but I am not all that far yet... maybe 20 hours in at the moment and just getting to the Sandsea. I like it so far... I am hesitant to rank it in with the others until I am much further along, but I would say its better then VIII >_<.

I guess thats all I have got for now... Take care you there all.

PS: You should read this... its damn funny "Thank you CBS, for turning my son gay."

Strangely Addicting

2007-03-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

My lovely lady Sam may find this to be decidedly crack like... I am guessing because it is pretty darn messed up, and strangely addicting. It is clips like this I find myself watching over and over again... go figure eh? Seriously though, how can anyone say his beats are whack?!?

Preview of Upcoming Posts:

1) The UPA has release a new edition of the Rules of Ultimate. I have been thinking about these quite a bit, shaping a post in my mind.

2) I have had a couple of people ask me what I think about the US Attorney firing scandal. So I will likely make my feeling known!

3) What I have been up to lately. I will get around to this... honest!

For now however, its time for the Duck Game!

Crumbling Brackets

2007-03-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today has made it more or less official. With Texas A&M losing to the Paper Tigers of Memphis (clearly a hardier paper than I had thought) my bracket is pretty much in shambles. I won't join the hard core Aggies fans thinking they got jobbed on the clock, but I will keep wondering how they didn't get the ball to Acie Law for the last shot... Now both Texas and A&M are out... thats half my final four. Damn you Texas!! If you hadn't made my list with the whole Bush thing, or well, numerous other things, this would certainly have qualified!

In other news... well, I am actually going to go watch more of the Sweet Sixteen. I will get up a little something about what I am up to later this weekend maybe.

Remember the SNL Skit about Battle Cats?

2007-03-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

Admit it: Fighting Hamster's are so much more awesome, its hardly even funny! Now if you will excuse me; I need to build an arena in which to host HamsterMania. Last hamster standing wins his dinner!

Obligatory “Who I am Post.”

2007-03-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

Not to be confused with the Who am I? post. That post may be coming, but hopefully, if it comes to that, my version won't be filled with too much existential quasi-intellectual whining.

So... who am I? I am a 25 year old Oregonian (born and raised thank you). I have degrees in Psychology and Law from the University of Oregon and I live in a fairly quite, decidedly wet little town on the Columbia River.

Until recently I worked at a horrible, soul-sucking job. For some 7 months I seriously questioned my choice to be a lawyer. I could probably spend pages talking about why that place but the important thing is I don't work there anymore. I have a much better job now.

I don't know what else there is to. In all likelihood, anybody actually reading this already knows most of what I just covered, but at least know this place isn't empty.