The drunken fan: It’s a sporting event, NOT Disneyland!! Sports are what they are because people (for whatever reason) take pride in their favorite teams , they are passionate and have a sense of ownership, and when you get 15,000 of them together you create an energy that just can’t be matched anywhere else. As long as there has been sporting events, there has been alcohol, and as long as there has been alcohol there has been drunks. Point being, getting drunk at a sporting event is nothing new.  In fact, like a bar, it is the one place where a group of passionate people can come together, let their guard down, and rally behind their favorite sports team. People who choose to take their families should, at the very least, be aware that potential “hecklers” might be sitting nearby. As long as the person is not physically assaulting anyone or causing damage shouldn’t they be allowed to display their excitement however they choose? And we can’t forget to mention here as well that it is quite expensive to see one of these sporting events - yup, drunks have to pay too!!!!

The cops: Over the past several months, police officers have taken quite a barrage of criticism, thanks largely in part to the media (that’s a whole other discussion). But regardless of who is, has, or will be at fault, the fact remains that cops are given instruments to use in order to protect themselves and the rest of us. To claim it is used excessively or without regard probably depends on who you ask…but take a look at this situation in particular. You have an older man, presumably in his 60’s, who is obviously drunk. But he’s not just a little old drunk guy, he is 6′2 and nearly 300lbs. After repeatedly refusing to leave, the man becomes combative. There are 2-3 officers on the scene and it’s pretty obvious that simple small talk is not going to do the trick. After attempting to forcefully remove him one of the officers tase him, bringing 6′2″ 300 sitting defiantly down to 2′1″ 300 flopping on the ground. Once it was apparent that this individual was not only going to be defiant, but also combative, the officer had every right to use whatever means necessary to subdue the individual. Why should they stand toe to toe (even 3:1) with anyone? This wasn’t a street fight? They shouldn’t have to be worried about being called punks for backing off and using a weapon - they put their lives on the line everyday, and everyday I am sure it is their intent on going home to see their families.
You be the judge:

Enjoy retirement Patillac
Welcome, iMac (Name TBD)

Mark Primavera June 9th, 2009 12:59 pm ET

You play with fire you get burnt, North Korea is not like the US. You just cant sneak under a fence, or swim across a stream and cut grass for a living. You want to sneak into someone else’s country you pay the price. Too bad we don’t do the same with all the garbage from Mexico and Guatemala.

It is so tough to draw a line between ignorance, racism, and opinion. Unfortunately, decades ago, the three were tossed into a blender, pulse’d for generations, and now we all get to sip on the product - hate! Seriously, there are bad seeds in any race, religion, or creed… and to continue to label an entire group based on those bad seeds is, in my opinion, irresponsible. Before you can call someone, or some group, garbage, take a long look in the mirror and realize that the your disdain for “Mexicans and Guatemalans” or anyone for that matter who come here illegally is as shameful as the act of them getting here. So, as your taking the “garbage” out, realize your current way of thinking is merely a contribution to the pollution that is influencing the next generation. Hatred and ignorance are viral, they are contagious, and honestly I would much rather live a life with “garbage” than a virus. Garbage can always be recycled and turned into something useful, a virus destroys life.

What caught my attention was the piece where allegations and corruption were brought into the discussion (if you have ever heard a talk on college athletics, 9 times out of 10 there is SOME discussion of corruption). Essentially, the commentator made this point: People constantly blame the “NCAA” for being corrupt. They blame the “NCAA” for making decisions based on financial gain, not the student-athletes best interest or what will appeal to the fans. So, who is the NCAA? The executive director is Myles Brand. Their headquarters are located in Indianapolis, Indiana. They have an annual budget of ~$5.64 billion (yes, billion, with a BEE)!!!!!! But that is not who or what defines the NCAA. Rather, the NCAA is an association, as it’s name implies. As an association, there is a governing body that dictates the direction of the organization. The management team handles the day to day operations and have the authority to make decisions as long as they are parallel with the governing bodies agenda. If a decision needs to be made that will affect the direction of the association, or will divert funding or leverage from the constituents of the association, than the governing body will be called in to make that decision. The governing body represents the group of individuals or organizations (the constituents) that make up the association. In the case of the NCAA, the constituents are ~1,200 colleges and universities who have college sports at their institutions. The governing body, therefore, are elected university presidents and athletic director’s. They are charged with making decisions that are in the best interest of the universities, student-athlete’s, and fans. In my opinion, they do so in that particular order!!

What does all this mean? It means take a long look at what the association represents. Of course financial gain is going to of top priority. One of the longest running debates is whether or not the NCAA should do away with the BCS and move over to a playoff format for determining the national champion in college football. The BCS generates millions for the schools who participate in the bowl games. Yet, every year there are legitimate contenders who get left out because the algorithm the BCS uses to determine who plays for the national championship determines so. Forget the expression “Any given sunday…!!” I honestly believe if the financial gain were less, you would

NCAA Headquarter's in Indianapolis, IN

What’s gonna be announced? New iPhone? Snow Leopard? Who’s going to do the keynote? Phil Schiller? Steve Jobs?

Can’t wait!!!!!!! I soooo want to make one of these conferences!!!

WWDC 2009 - Make Your Mark Here

But oh did it taste so good
No more though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your a 1st gen MacBook Pro and I think it’s time we accept the truth. Your currently on life support and the prognosis isn’t looking good. You’ve been a dear friend, always there for me when I needed you. We learned things together, had many “firsts” together, and learned each other’s quirky habits so well that we are practically one and the same. In a sense, you have defined me. When your mouse pad starting showing symptoms of uncontrollable shakes, I said, hey I’m going to stick by your side. We’ll just get a peripheral and disable the mouse pad. It’s been ~9 months since we parted w/the mouse pad. And yes, the constant need of the peripheral mouse is quite an inconvenience, but the sacrifices we make for true love are well worth it. Then the fevers got really bad. Your bottom side was burning up like a fire side grill. I couldn’t sit you on my lap like I used to in the good old days when you were younger. The thought and smell of burning flesh were enough to make you desk-ridden for the rest of your life. No worries. Nothing a nice desk and small fan mounted right behind you can’t take care of!! At least we still had each other, right. However, your first stroke really scared me. I trusted that reliable brain of yours so much I never thought of backing you up. External Hard-drive? For what? I have a Mac Book Pro named Patillac that was as reliable as a Cadillac (that’s where you got your name - Me=Pat, You=Cadillac Quality). I was using nearly all 80 GB of your storage capacity…not a byte of which was anywhere else. Some might say that was careless, I just called it trust. But oh that fateful December day was a tough one.

I booted you up like I had everyday for the past few years. I saw the same grey screen I saw thousands of times before. But this time you were showing it to me for longer than you usually had. After about 10 minutes I became a little worried. I did what I thought was the obvious thing to do and forced you back to bed. After giving you a few more hours alone I came back in the room with uber-confidence and pushed the circle of life. Except you were paralyzed again. Something about that grey screen was haunting. It was like a block in the road that we have never encountered before. I hadn’t yet learned of your uncanny ability to share the contents of your brain with another Mac via Target Mode - silly you, that was such a brilliant option you should have told me about that when I first got you. Nonetheless, I spend ~12-15 hours operating on your software and trying everything I could think of. Because we had you at so much capacity the restore option wasn’t an option at all. Sad. So after alot of deliberating I did it. Erase & Install. I lost everything, but the good news was I still had you. You came back to life like a true champ!! I lost alot of important documents, and some photos I’ll never get back. But it’s okay. Memories can be remade and documents rewritten. But I did have to invest in hard drive. The “all my eggs in one basket” approach stung a little. It’s okay, you got along well with the WD 1TB Drive!! I also did a little homework and learned of the Target Mode option to recover all the goodies before giving you the fresh start. FireWire Cable was now on the shopping list!!

Life was normal again, at least for a couple months. One February day you started acting sick. You couldn’t do some of the things we commonly did. Playing with iTunes, Safari, and Mail seemed to exhaust you. No way could we play with all three at the same time. Over the next few days the symptoms got worse. I was usng the right click, force quit medicine many times AN HOUR!!! You used to just let me quit whatever we were playing with. But then it was as if you wouldn’t let me just quit those things we were doing, if one of them wouldn’t respond to me, none of you would. After one of the many forced shut downs you gave me the dreaded gray screen. I knew what it meant. Just to be safe I used the life support cable (FireWire) and saved everything on ur brain. I labeled the folder: Patillac’s Brain - Feb 2009. Like a true companion I walked you through the rescesitation process and brought you back to life. You were a trooper and came back like a star.

Unfortunately, I have four files on that Western Digital that start out “Patillac’s Brain…”. Just a couple days ago you started making a sound I haven’t heard before. Like a purring of sorts. I’ve read about this sound. I don’t want to think about what the next gray screen may bring (you started showing me a “file” with a question mark in it) but I’m afraid the next time you may not come back. I’m okay with the inconveniences. Traveling with a mouse is easy: stuff it in the side of the back pack. The life support cable is small and can fit in my pocket,  but making sure we have access to another Mac is sometimes challenging. The fan is a bit cumbersome and inappropriate for some places, but we find ways to make this one work (I’ve learned that propping your backside up with something keeps you cool a BIT longer…). The western digital isn’t so bad…kind of bulky but knowing you’ll always have a second storage (backup) is reassuring. And the fact that because of the mouse/fan/etc. you’ve essentially become a desktop computer just means no more watching TV and playing with you at the same time - maybe this was a deliberate move on your part!! You were getting jealous huh!! I thought so!! It’s okay, we learned about the wonders of fancast.com so we could do EVERYTHING together!!

But it’s time. It’s time I accept the fact that your on your last leg. The purring noise may be a signal that the time is near. Your successor will have big shoes to fill. I’ve started looking into it and I think the new iMac 24″ will be the one. But I hope you can hang in there a bit longer. Money is a bit tight and I can’t afford to go pick up the newbie for a while. It’s been a blast and I wouldn’t have wanted it to happen any other way!! If I can get the newbie in here before you check-out for good, I promise to not get rid of you. You’ll just be officially “retired.” Limited use only!! Who knows, I may get brave and open you up and see what kind of surgery we can do…maybe replace some of the problems and get you healthy again!! Time will tell. Until then, hang tough and keep doin ur thang!!

We’ll see!!