Monthly Archives: September 2004

Tomorrow night we stage episode 4 of the improvisational soap opera Enemies. at the arts guild, at 8pm. Episodes 5 & 6 will occur on the next two following Thursdays.

This is the third season for Enemies. I was involved last year and enjoyed it enough to come back this year for another set of episodes. This year, most of the scenarios take place in Las Vegas.

Tonight’s dress rehearsal went better than I expected. I am not one of those who believe a good dress rehearsal means a bad opening night. I think a good dress rehearsal means a good dress rehearsal.

Anyway, if you’re looking for something to do, drop by and see the show.

Seven and seven. Is that the name of a drink? 7-Up and some brand of gin, perhaps?

Anyway, I went 7-7 last weekend in my football picks. Yay, I made it to 50%! I made to “Guessing Quality” picking!
I’ll have to re-tune my picking strategy further. Last week I picked opposite to what I’d normally pick, even though on some games I was almost 100% certain I’d be wrong (and I was). By picking opposite, I did quite well on the games where I was unsure of the outcome.

So, this week, I’m going to go with my gut on those games that I think are certain of their outcome. And I’ll stick with the Opposite Pick strategy on those games where the outcome is closer to a guess.

I’m on my way to a perfect pick week, I tell yas!

Jacques Villeneuve is my favourite race car driver.
Ever since, about a year ago, Jacques Villeneuve left Formula One racing, I’ve been checking TSN’s Formula One racing page, hoping to someday see the headline that “Jacks is Back”. Well, I was pleased to see that headline about a week or two ago, annoucing he’s signed with Sauber-Petronas for the next two year. I wasn’t so pleased that it was Sauber, a middling team at best, that he signed with. I was hoping it would be Renault. That displeasure was somewhat lessened though, when, the next day, it was announced that Jacques would finish out this year (3 more races) with Renault, starting with this weekend’s race in China. (does that mean he was this >

This week, I attemp to better my (sad) 2-week-in-a-row 7-9 record by picking the exact opposite of who I pick as winners in the games this week. This week there are only 14 games scheduled, so I am aiming at going 8-6.
My Picks This Week will be ALL IN CAPITALS

NEW ORLEANS at St. Louis – I expect the Rams to win, so I will say the Saints will take this game.
PITTSBURGH at Miami – This is a tricky one. I always have to bet on the Dolphins, because they are my team. However, I expect the Steelers to win. However, I would have picked Dolphins. So, I have to pick Steelers to win.
CHICAGO at Minnesota – I am so sure that the Vikings will win this game that I expect Opposite Day to fail me on this pick.
Cleveland at NY GIANTS – This one could go either way. Normally, I’d pick the Browns because I’d kinda like them to be successful. Therefore, I pick the Giants.
Arizona at ATLANTA – First I all-capitalized Arizona, thinking that Atlanta would win this game. Then I thought for a moment: I bet this is a game where the Cardinals surprise and win. Therefore, I pick the Falcons.
Baltimore at CINCINATTI – There is no way that the Bengals will win this game. My pick: Bengals.
Philadelphia at DETROIT – In the past twenty years, have the Lioins ever started a season 3-0? Not in the last ten, and certainly not this year. Therefore, I pick them to win this game and go 3-0.
JACKSONVILLE at Tennessee – Quite simply, the Titans will win, so I’ll pick the Jags.
HOUSTON at Kansas City – I gave the Texans two weeks to disappoint me. Each week I picked them to win, and each time they lost. This week, I cannot pick Houston to win, so, Houston wins.
SAN DIEGO at Denver – I couldn’t possibly bet against the Broncos in this game: Chargers win.
GREEN BAY at Indianapolis – I am still proclaiming the Colts to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl this year. To that end, they will defeat a not-so-potent Packer team. My pick: Packers.
SAN FRANSISCO at Seattle – I cannot pick the 49ers again until they show me something, anything that gives me reason to pick them. They’ll lose this game, so I’ll pick them to win.
TAMPA BAY at Oakland – okay, I find it very hard to pick the Raiders, just because I don’t like the team. However, I don’t think the Bucs can beat them at home. I pick the Bucs to beat them.
DALLAS at Washington – I had a hard time picking who I thought would win this game. I decided on the Redskins and that’s why I’m going with the Cowboys this week.

So, there they are. The picks that are opposite to what I would normally pick. 8 and 6, here I come. It’s guaranteed. Maybe even 9 and 5. That’s right, I’m THAT bad at picking, normally.

For the past couple of months, I’ve been daily driving by the site where Sears is being built. I’ve been seeing all the workers, some in their machines, some on the road, others in other places. Mostly they seem busy.
Lately I’ve been wondering how it is they remain busy. Are they each told, each day, what they are expected to accomplish? When the bulldozer guy, for instance, goes to work in the morning, does he have a good idea of what he’s going to be doing that day, or does he wait to find out from a foreman what his job is? Is the bulldozer guy in fact a “bulldozer guy”? Or does he somedays work the bulldozer, and other days pour concrete?
Who is it that decides these things, and how early in the process are they decided?What if bulldozer guy calls in sick?

What if foreman calls in sick?

Is it stressful work, or just tedious hard work, or both?

Will I be able to sleep tonight?

Today, I was wondering how the world would be different if, through whatever means necessary for it to be possible, some of our thoughts were randomly broadcast out loud to those around us. Kind of like a bull-horn type affair.
Because it’d be random, one would never know when or what thoughts would be amplified. Would people have learned to adapt, to keep those dangerous or embarrassing thoughts tamped down in their brains in some way? Or would the world be more accepting of these random audible bursts of thought? Would we become more thick-skinned or thin-skinned people?
Having given practically no thought to this, I think people would have learned to keep thoughts like “boy is that guy ever ugly” from happening, for fear of that thought being a random burst. I also think we’d be a more sexually liberated society, because we’d be hearing people’s thoughts like “Great ass!”. I think we’d be a more honest society. Whether that’d be good or bad, I don’t really know.

Would we have more friends or less friends?

Well, really, seven of sixteen. Yes, once again I manage to get 7 correct picks out of a potential 16. Yes, that is a statistic that is less than random guessing would have garnered.
But I’m not gonna give up. In fact, I’m gonna take the opportunity each week (until I get bored with the whole affair – kinda like my Word of the Day posts) to test out different approaches and theories in regards to picking winning football teams.

So, this week and last, I tried to pick who would win each game. Each time I got 7 out of 16 correct. For the upcoming weekend, I am going to pick who I think will win each game, and then present the opposite team as the winner. This should net me a third week record of 9-16.

Let the experimental picking begin.

Lordy, lordy, look who’s 39.

Yes, today is my 39th birthday.
Happy Birthday, Mom.
Thirty-nine sounds like an ‘old’ age to be. I don’t have the “oh my god, what have I done/will I do with my life, I need to leave my mark” panic that some people do around this point in their lives. The only regret or sadness I have is that my body has aged more than my mind. In my brain, I still feel like a twenty-seven year old (the pinnacle age to be, I suppose), but my body tells me otherwise. I’m the anti-Dorian Gray. Sometimes, I walk by a mirror and I think “who the hell is that old geezer?”. And I think the regret is there because I still believe that I could reverse the trend. There’s still time to get healthier.

So, it’s not the “time’s running out, when will I write that great novel” neuroses that occupies my mind. It’s more a sighing of “I couldn’t play a competitive set of tennis now”.

The “write a novel, quick!” panic will likely strike next year when I turn four-oh-my-god. By that time, of course, I’ll have completely given up the belief that I can still improve my body and physical health, and all I’ll have left are frettings over more intellectual pursuits.

Despite a first week score of 7-9 (a .438 percentage), and the vow to never pick again, I feel compelled to attempt to vindicate myself. Therefore, here are my NFL picks for week two. WINNER in all caps.

St. Louis at ATLANTA – Both teams are now undefeated. The one thing I can guarantee is that neither will be undefeated for long. In fact, the once-might Rams will only have a few more hours to enjoy their perfects-so-far season. The Falcons will have about 7 more days before the ’72 Dolphins can stop worrying about Atlanta threatening their Perfect Season.

WASHINGTON at N.Y. Giants – It’s still early, but I may have to re-evaluate my stance on the Redskins’ potential this year. Perhaps Portis was their missing ingredient. While I still expect them to fall apart before season’s end, they’ll take it to the Giants this weekend.

SAN FRANCISCO at New Orleans – Here’s the question regarding this game. This week, was Hurricane Ivan more a distraction to the Saints than not having a quarterback was to the 49’ers. I’m saying San Fran wins only because the Saints were more concerned with the blowing Ivan this week than they were the sucking 49’ers.

Carolina at KANSAS CITY – Are people expecting the Panthers to do good this year? I think people are thinking that. I don’t know ’bout that, but I do know it’s tough to win in KC. The Chiefs should have won last week. They’ll do so this week.

DENVER at Jacksonville – I don’t know why, but I find it hard to bet on the Jags to win. I’m not a big fan of Denver, but I suspect they’ll do okay.

Chicago at GREEN BAY – I am so confident that the Packers will beat the Bears that I fully expect the Bears to prevail. Not really, but maybe. Still, I’m picking Packers.

HOUSTON at Detroit – I am giving the Texans one more week – this one – before I bail on them as the surprise team of the season. If they don’t beat the Lions, they simply don’t deserve that recognition.

INDIANAPOLIS at Tennessee – I’m still thinking the Colts will be in the SuperBowl this year (yes, I expect the Patriots to finally fail. Damn I hate their skillful flukiness.), and they should handle the Titans this weekend. In fact, I really wouldn’t want to be the Titans this weekend. I expect big numbers from the Colts offense.

PITTSBURGH at Baltimore – How many losses will the Ravens get before people stop calling them a SuperBowl contending team. After this weekend, they’ll be 0-2. Will that be enough for people to start jumping off the bandwagon. Yep, it will.

SEATTLE at Tampa Bay – The “we scored!” pirate cannon won’t be going off very often for the Buccaneers this weekend. Seattle should win this one.

NEW ENGLAND at Arizona – The only time I want to capitalize the Patriots name is when I write I HATE THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS. Still, only a fool (or someone who performs worse than .438 in the first week) would bet against that Pats in this game. (watch out for the Cardinals victory!)

Cleveland at DALLAS – They lost last week, but I still think they’re gonna be a contending team this year. Cowboys over Browns at home. Sounds good to me.

NY JETS at San Diego – I was so close to going the other way on this one. Mostly, though, because I ‘want’ the Jets to fail more than I ‘expect’ them too. The Chargers surprised me last week. Maybe their decade of funk is coming to an end. I’ll be so happy to be wrong about this pick.

BUFFALO at Oakland – I’m a sucker when it comes to the Raiders. I so want them to lose that I’ll even pick against them in games where I really think they’ll win, like this one. Okay, the Bills may win, but not likely. Still, I’m picking Bills because the football gods may read this blog and my pick may end up being a factor in the outcome.

MIAMI at Cincinatti – Straight up, I’ll tell you that I pick the Dolphins when I shouldn’t because they’re my team (and because of that football gods thing from above). Still, if there’s any hope to having a respectable season, they’re gonna have to win a game like this one. I honestly expect the Dolphins to win this weekend.

Minnesota at PHILADELPHIA – When games like this are imagined, people expect a high-scoring, fun and wild game. The result is usually a low-scoring sombre affair. Not this time. Both teams are gonna light it up this week, and this’ll be the game of the week. Eagles win because of home field advantage.

My goal for this weekend it to get my average above .500. Note, above .500, not at .500. Therefore I need to go 10-6 in my picks to get me to 17-15 for the season.
Piece of cake.