Maybe I Was Wrong

Lebron might be a Romantic figure.  We might be "witnessing" the greatest.

But if he doesn't win, I will be disappointed.  There are only so many "next years."  He is one injury away from irrelevancy.  

Depressing

I thought Lebron could be a great Romantic figure.  I thought he could single-handily slay the mediocrity of the NBA.  For some reason, I really wanted to see this.  I didn't feel like I was old enough to appreciate Jordan's reign.  I wanted to see the "greatest."

But I will not see it this year.  And I am disappointed.   

The Value Of A Bottle Cap Or An Exam Question

Coke offers rewards if you have the patience to enter their bottle cap codes on the Internet.  Eight bottle caps lead to a free 20oz drink.  A 20oz drink costs $1.49 at the campus store.  It is less at other places.  Coke seems to be doing away with 20oz bottles in favor of half-liter bottles.  Many people recycle their bottles with the caps left on them.  I recover these caps from the recycling bins.  This costs me very little except for funny looks from passer-bys.  I readily admit I drink too much soda.  It is bad for my acid reflux.  I prefer Diet Pepsi to Coke Zero or Diet Coke.  I usually buy store brand soda (Big K).  There are other rewards (offers) from Coke for bottle cap points, but I find these unattainable and overpriced.  

What is the value of a Coke bottle cap?

    

NBA Morning Thoughts And Another Stupid Thing I Have Done Or Doing A Good Thing The Wrong Way

1.  I really want to get into the NBA playoffs.  The Lakers are my villains.  I want Cleveland to win.  I thought and still think that Houston doesn't have a chance without Yao.  Dallas is tragic.  Denver is a story.  The Magic, Celtics, and Hawks just aren't that good.  If everything goes as planned and there is a Cavs-Lakers final , I will stay interested.  If not, I will pay attention but not care.

2.  I grew up on the Bad Boy Pistons.  Rest in peace Chuck Daly.        

3.  I went home Saturday.  The grass was long.  My dad had to work Sunday.  I got on the riding mower and started to cut.  I was being a good son.  I was bringing up mud, and the other half of the grass wasn't trimmed.  I blamed it on the grass being wet.  The tires were pushing the grass down, and since the grass was wet, it didn't have resiliency.  I finish.  I park the mower.  The grass looks horrible.  When I was a kid, it wouldn't have been acceptable to my dad or myself.  Now it was cut.  And that was good enough.  My dad gets home.  "Why is this so uneven?"  He looks at the mower, and it has a flat tire.  Yes, I mowed the lawn with a flat tire.  We pumped up the tire, and my dad went back over the lawn as I push mowed some places.  It still looks horrible, and I am worried about some spots that were cut too low.  I might have brought my parents neighborhood shame.  But it is cut, and I am back in Blacksburg.       

Sunday Afternoon Or Stupid Things I Have Done

1.  I listened to the Braves beat the Phillies.  The Braves are a .500 team.  And a lucky .500 team has a chance.  All I need a chance is to keep my interest.

2.  I am listening to the Yankees beat the Orioles.  I don't like the Yankees.  I don't really care about the Orioles.  I just find the Yankee situation entertaining  The Braves are a .500 team.  At least they don't spend a billion dollars on players and a new stadium to be a .500 team.  

3.  From Ayn Rand's Foreword to We The Living: "Writers are made, not born.  To be exact, writers are self-made."  I find this encouraging.

4.  I did a little Spring cleaning yesterday.  I changed the bed and put on a Summer blanket.  I left the windows cracked last night.  I woke up shivering this morning.

5.  I have shoes that have to be fifteen years old.  They were one of the first pairs I bought when my feet stopped growing.   I still wear them.  There is a crack in the sole.  When it is rains for 40 days and 40 nights, one should not wear fifteen year old shoes with a crack in the sole.

6.  I've been trying to do too much and not getting anything done.  It is time to rectify this.

    

       

You Have To Believe

The belief that you have something relevant to say has to supersede the fear that the people who hear won't care.  

Depression is letting the fear of people not caring get in the way of the belief that you have something relevant to say.  

It really doesn't matter what is.  All that matters is that you believe, and you don't let anyone take that belief away from you.    

Some More Things

1.  I think it is time to close this school for good.

2.  Twitter.  I don't know what to think about it.

3.  I thumb downed Coldplay today.  I had to do it.

4.  Three things are better than none.  I guess.     

Some Things To (Hopefully) Get Me Started

1.  I can't decide what makes you stupider:  

1.  Sports Talk Radio  

2.  Country Music Radio Stations  

3.  Reality TV Shows

2.  Getting started is imperative to finishing anything.  

3.  I slow-cooked this Boston Butt.  I tried to mimic North Carolina Barbecue.  But I didn't have the ingredients.  I didn't have the energy and time to do it right.  So my finished product wasn't great.  It was (barely) edible, but it wasn't great.   There is a lesson here.  But I can't determine what exactly the lesson means.  Maybe the lesson is that the Boston Butt is really insignificant in the grand scheme.

4.  This A-Rod book could be an interesting character study if Pat Jordan did it.  I am not old-school, but there seems to be too much inuendo and unnamed sources in Roberts' work.  Pat Jordan would have followed A-Rod around for a week or six months and captured his ego-mania with specific quotes and stories.  

5.  This one is complicated, so bear with me.  I wonder when some one will start a (Swine) Flu research foundation.  I have always had an issue with people who have been directly affected by a disease or situation starting foundations and raising money for these or other related foundations.  Michael J. Fox comes to mind.  He is a good guy and has done a lot of good things.  But if he started raising money for heart disease or cancer or AIDS, I would have more respect for him.  "I have Parkinson's disease, but AIDS affects a lot more people and is more devastating."  The idea being that it would be less self-serving more utilitarian and encourage cynical (people who believe in incentive-theory) people like myself.  The point here is that there are a lot of good causes and flu research is one of them, but the relative importance of these is very subjective.