Are you kidding me?

Please fire this man!!

I can't even begin to express my frustration with the Eagles this season. Yesterday's game has to be one of the worst I've ever watched. Keep in mind I endured the Kotite Era, the man who single handedly destroyed one of my favorite Eagles teams ever. I can only imagine the sports radio in Philly today. For all the calls to get rid of McNabb (which I think is a bad idea), who really thinks that Feeley is the answer. One decent game vs. NE does not a QB make. He's a serviceable backup at best. He couldn't even win the job in Miami. The real question is not who should be the QB but rather is a retarded lemming calling these games?

Can someone please answer these questions:
1) In freezing rain, sleet, Philly slop whatever you want to call it, why are they asking a touch passer to try and throw the ball deep?
2) After the 2nd ridiculous INT why are they still asking him to pass it?
3) Why when there is under 4 minutes to go are they wasting the clock; because they're so sure they're going to score?
4) Why when we (and I say we because apparently I am more in touch with this team than the coaching staff)...when we have one of, if not the best RB in the league (Westbrook) does he only touch the ball 3 times in the final 5 minutes and not at all in the final series especially when he just had an amazing punt return of 64 yards to give us a chance and the win?

I just don't get it. Seattle practically begged us to win that game. The Philly D wasn't great but they did their job. It's time for a little house cleaning and it has to start at the top...

Underdog much?

I've resisted commenting on this Eagles season so far for a number of reasons, partly because it was just too painful, partly because I just didn't want to admit just how bad we look. Not to mention the thorough job being done by my friends over at City of Pain.

I'm still holding out hope that we can turn the season around. Also, K got me one of the all time best gifts for my birthday, 2 tix to go see the Eagles vs. Buffalo in Philly (and we're sticking around for New Years in Philly which makes it all the better). I still think this is a decent though horrifically underachieving team. Watching Westbrook this year has been spectacular. Even with the Eagles struggles he has to be on the short list for MVP.

However, I just couldn't resist posting about this article.

I have to say the Pats this year may be the best team I've ever seen. Up there with the best 49ers team. They are beyond dominant, I would liken it more to a viking rape and pillage complete with Blood Eagle. All stats aside the efficiency has been mesmerizing. The birds have been...shall we say, less than stellar. I have many theories on this, but first and foremost I blame the coaching (particularlly offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg who couldn't coach himself out of a paper bag).

The Pats are great, the Eagles not so much. How do two teams that played for the Superbowl just less than 3 years ago go in such opposite directions? I don't blame McNabb for this season, though he's a part of it and I don't agree with all the calls for his head in Philly (see my comment over at CoP), but if this doesn't cause Lurie to pause I don't know what will.

23.5 pts... I'm not sure what to say.

That being said, I'll be rooting my hardest this Sunday along with the rest of the Phans.

GO BIRDS!!

Apocalypse Now

We live in the red circle, 20 mile from either major fire. 1000+ homes burnt down in the last 24 hrs. There is smoke the the north, south and east of us. At least there is water to the west! We are fine and thanks to everyone for checking in on us.

The Codex Seraphinianus

What is this ? Is it really really cool, or is it just some man's crazy-ness put on paper? Either way, the pictures are pretty.

Public Service Announcement

As of Oct. 1 you will be required to present a passport for travel by air to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or countries in the Caribbean region.

It can take a while to get a passport so if you want to apply now here's the link.

Ah Trinity...

From the Princeton Review rankings:

Trinity College (CT)'s
Best 366 College Rankings

Click on the list name to see all the schools on that list or click the category name to see all the lists in the category.

Rank List Category #7 Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative Demographics #1 Little Race/Class Interaction Demographics #19 Lots of Beer Parties #13 Lots of Hard Liquor Parties #17 More to Do on Campus Social #1 Town-Gown Relations are Strained Social

Trinity College (CT) Appears on These Lists

Best Northeastern Colleges

This school is one of the 222 colleges named a Best Northeastern College by The Princeton Review. Our goal is simple: to identify some of the colleges and universities that we feel stand out within each region.

See the full list

Buy the book

Colleges With a Conscience

This school is one of the colleges profiled in The Princeton Review's book, Colleges with a Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement. It was selected because of its record of having excellent service-learning programs and blending academics with community work.

In a recent letter from the President of Trinity, apparently Trinity has opted not to be included in the US News and World Report rankings anymore because they feel the rankings are not representative of the school. I'm sure it's not because they've dropped to 34th of liberal arts colleges. Somehow I think Williams and Amherst won't be opting out. Well, good thing they're still #1 in being thought of as white elitists. What the @#$% happened?!?!? Interesting that Trinity is considered one of the "Colleges with a Conscience"

Max Roach 1924-2007

One of my all time favorite Jazz musicians passed away yesterday. If you've never heard Max Roach, take a few minutes and enjoy.

Here is a good biography with music and videos. Also here is a good NY Times piece.

Musician, teacher and activist, Mr Roach helped to make the drums a centerpiece of jazz and music in general.

Thanks.

In a word: Awesome

No Real Than You Are Right back at ya big guy!

The wait is finally over...

Congratulations to the Phillies; at least they're first in something.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20070716_Phils_Reach_Millstone.html

http://celebrate10000.com/home.asp

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270715122&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

The Rim Campsite is gone....

PROMONTORY FIRE (4,044 acres; 90% contained) started Sunday above the Mogollon Rim near Promontory Lookout Tower on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests and burned south over the Rim into Tonto National Forest. Evacuated residents have returned to their homes. Crews continue mopping up and patrolling the fireline. Tony Sciacca's Central-West Arizona Type 2 Incident Management Team is assigned to the fire, also 3 Type 1 (interagency hotshot) crews, 2 Type 2 crews, 2 helicopters, 7 engines, 1 dozer, 10 water tenders, 160 overhead, 5 camp crews, 311 total personnel.

They are all winners

Once again McSweeny’s breaks it down for us:

PROS AND CONS OF THE TOP 20 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.

PROS AND CONS OF THE TOP 20 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.

Daily Dose of Lit

DailyLit.com will email you books. They’ll send you the entire text – daily in chunks that take about 5 min to read. You can read the bible (Gensis will take 56 emails), or the Count of Monte Cristo (581 emails!) or a hundred others. I’m going to start with "Room with a View, A" by E.M. Forster (in 89 parts).

The Tao Te Ching only takes 14 emails! The would be an uplifting thing to have in your inbox on a Monday morning!

Pet food recall list continues to grow

Here is an updated list of the pet foods that have been recalled so far. This list is from the FDA and is current as of 4-20-07. Though this has dropped out of the news of late, more foods are still being added. Most are gone from the stores, but you should check to be sure you don't have any of these at home. The file is a long sortable Excel file.

Sometimes Y

The most awesome t-shirts ever!

Where was this when I had to attend 6 departmental seminars a week?

Here are printable cards so others can play along also. Make sure to hide inside a paper from a field-appropriate journal.

Maybe I should be glad I didn’t have this – if I was playing bingo I would have never had time to write up the weekly menu & grocery list.

Agent is typing

The following is a transcript of the customer service chat session I just had with turbo tax. This took about 30 min to complete and I'm guessing he had 3 other simultaneous sessions going on. I realize this guy has little actual power, is most likely in south Asia or the like meaning it's 10:30pm and do appreciate his courtesy but I'd really like to have that half hour of my life back. Taryn, is this what you deal with everyday?

01_Ramil : Thank you for contacting TurboTax support, my name is RamiL. How may I help you?
Dave Herman: I'm wondering about the change in fees for state taxes.
Dave Herman: when i started my return, it stated that multiple states could be filed for $29.95
Dave Herman: now it says it's $30.95/state.
01_Ramil : I do understand the inconvenience that you have experienced, however I will be glad to assist you today. As I understand your concern, the state charge for filing has changed and you want to be guided on which price you will be charged, is that correct?
Dave Herman: yes, when i started, it said that i could file up to 3 state returns for $29.95 (total) now it says it's $30.95 per state.
01_Ramil : Your reference number for this contact is 71283281, in case our chat session get disconnected. Before we proceed, is it okay if I call you by your first name?
Dave Herman: sure
01_Ramil : Okay.
01_Ramil : Let me check on this.
01_Ramil : I will need to be idle for the next two minutes for me to research on this topic, will that be okay?
Dave Herman: sure
01_Ramil : Thank you.
01_Ramil : Thank you for waiting.
Dave Herman: no problem
01_Ramil : Dave, I would like to confirm that there has been a price increase for the month of April, from $29.95 to $30.95.
01_Ramil : That was for the state filing in the Free edition.
Dave Herman: my concern is that the fee now states that it's $30.95 for each state, rather than the one fee for up to three states.
01_Ramil : Let us proceed with that second concern of yours.
01_Ramil : We have maintained in our site that the cost for state filing is for every state you file.
01_Ramil : You may be referring to the statement that you may file up to three state returns. That means for one personal federal return, you may file three states, but does not necessarily mean that the charge is for the three states together.
Dave Herman: that was not how it read when i started my filing. the whole reason i chose to use turbo tax was that there was a reasonable single fee
Dave Herman: i believe it said something to the effect of "file up to three state returns" and the cost was listed...no mention of per state
01_Ramil : The statement must have confused you then, but we are here to make things clear to you. I apologize for the inconvenience.
01_Ramil : Also, before you proceed with state filing, you will have a screen that says the state you are filing will cost you a charge.
Dave Herman: yes, that's what tipped me off to the change.
01_Ramil : I believe I have tried to make things clear to you about state charges.
Dave Herman: yes, it's clear, the problem is it wasn't clear when i began filing.
01_Ramil : Thank you for bringing that up. I would like to inform you that our website is constantly undergoing screen changes to provide the best information and convenience. Thank you for bringing that up.
Dave Herman: thanks for you help
01_Ramil : You are very welcome! Is there anything else that I can help you with?
Dave Herman: no, that's it.
01_Ramil : Have I been able to assist you with your inquiry?
Dave Herman: well, you explained the policy and it seems there's not much more we can do.
01_Ramil : I understand.
01_Ramil : Thank you for allowing me to assist you today! I am going to send you a 10-question e-mail survey about the assistance that I have provided you. Please respond with feedback on so that I may continue to provide great assistance to everyone.

Thanks again and have a blessed day!
Dave Herman: you too.

A WMD hunt for the adults will follow

I honestly had to check if this was a real news story or a spoof...it's real. The organizers do claim "the event is supposed to be humorous and organizers want kids to have fun." I thought it was odd that bunny was wearing an ear piece and flak jacket.

On a lighter note this is awesome! I particularly like #7 and 17. Note the age of most of the contestants is over 30 and only 1 entry by people under 20.

Happy Easter and Passover!

Mmmm...meat cake....

Is this the greatest culinary idea ever since the whole stuffed camel and turducken? Karl and Lisa, I'm guessing you'll want to weigh in on this one.

Grad School: It seemed better than getting a real job

I just noticed that Jorge Cham the author of PhD comic will be speaking and doing a signing at the U of A on April 25. Unfortunately the time and place are still TBA but if you can go, I suggest you attend. If you haven't read the comic and you've ever been in grad school you're missing out.

Easter Season

Resurrection is in the air! How to tell the real Savior from the Antichrist in four easy steps. You DO NOT want to pick the wrong team.