Author Archives: Jon Lowder

One of the All Time Great College B-Ball Weekends

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Some observations from the Sweet-16, Elite-8 weekend of the 2005 NCAA tournament:

  • I’m an ACC fan, but basically I have to admit that the Big-10 waxed them when it really counted.  Of course the ACC has won the December show-downs every year they’ve had it, which is like winning during the NFL pre-season.
  • I don’t think the Big-10’s success is a coincidence.  In general the Big-10 teams played with more deliberate offensive schemes and their defenses held up well against the superior offensive talent of their opponents.  This was very clear in clutch situations when teams like Duke, NC State and Arizona resorted to one-on-one clear outs while the Big-10 teams all seemed to have the ability to stay in their offense no matter what the situation.
  • Word Association: West Virginia – Minor Choke; Arizona – Garphrezaaakerageckaaaaaack!
  • Is it easier to count the number of games that DIDN’T go to overtime this year?

Hopefully the final four will live up to this last weekend, but unfortunately that usually doesn’t happen.  Good regionals=lame final four.  Fire up the TIVO!

Buyer Beware or Joys of Homeownership

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YardjunkSee that junk pile to the left?  That’s what I dug out of one side of my property over the last weekend.  It was buried under a layer of mulch.

From what I can tell it was left there by the previous owners when they built the addition on the back of the house.

Anyone need rotted 2x 4s, a 20" long 6×6 joist (very rotted), broken slate, metal rods, two 3" long neon light bulbs, a couple of containers of some goop or some very rotted press board?  Give me a call.

Solitaire, Minesweeper and Your Taxes

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Here’s a stat from an article in the Christian Science Monitor about our friends at the IRS:

But research done by the IRS has shown that over 50
percent of the time an IRS employee goes on a computer, he or she also
hooks up to the Internet to shop, gamble or play games.

The article was about a piece of legislation in North Carolina that would require the state to remove solitaire and other games from all 50,000 state computers.  What would you expect from the largest state that does NOT have a lottery?

Fark Headline of the Day

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Courtesy of Fark.com: "Massive rallies sweep across Kyrgyzstan over election fraud, vowel shortage"

It was originally "In order to shake label of ‘Fat City USA,’ Houston organizes a bike ride with free beer and tacos," until this one came along.  I also considered "North Carolina considering banning ‘Solitaire’ on state-owned machines" just because I live in NC and I’m beginning to wonder about our elected officials and our state employees.

Congress and the Roid Boys

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Anybody watch the congressional testimony of the roidboys, I mean "baseball-players-who-couldn’t-hold-Hank-Aaron’s-Jock"? 

How funny is it that we have congressmen, those paragons of propriety, calling baseball players on the carpet for setting a bad example to America’s yutes?  How bizarre is this country we call the US of A?

The committee that is putting on this fiasco is the "House Government Reform Committee."  Huh? What does this have to do with government reform?

So I decide to check out this House Government Reform Committee.  A quick Google search and I’m on their website.  I look at their oversight plan, and I find that this is one ambitious group of legislators.

Here’s a partial list of what they are supposed to oversee:  Homeland Security, National Guard, US Postal Service, Management Reform, Diploma Mills (huh?), Electronic Voting, Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Unfunded Mandate Reform Act, New Dietary Guidelines (huh?), US Visitor & Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, Transportation Security Administration, Oversight of District of Columbia (great job guys!), 21st Century Healthcare yada, yada, yada.

Okay let’s state the obvious: these guys are 1. jock sniffers and 2. looking for a little network camera time.  I know that major league baseball as well as the other major sports leagues in the U.S. enjoy a special business status (I’m of the opinion that should end), but there’s no need for congress to be involved.

Steroids are illegal.  Let law enforcement take care of it.  Put a few players and their suppliers behind bars and you’ll start to see some action.

As for congress, start working on real problems like 21st century healthcare, medicare, homeland security and real government reform.