Put down your cell phone

I took a study break on Saturday afternoon and went downstairs in our building to run on the treadmill. Mrs. Bubba and I are studying for the PE test which we will be taking in April. It was still a bit too chilly to run outside, plus if I run on the treadmill I can watch college basketball while I run. I know that our apartment "gym" is not a real gym, but we have some nice equipment. I went in to run and there was one other guy in there doing free weights. He was wearing cargo shorts and flip flops. Flip flops, while he handled free weights. Ridiculous.

Then another girl came in talking on her cell phone with a big bag and the entire Saturday New York Times. She hung up the phone and got on the treadmill next to me. She then called her girlfriend back and talked while she was walking. The newspaper she had, why?, then fell onto the treadmill and off the back so she had to stop, get off, gather her newspapers so she could put them right back where they were when the fell. She caught them as they fell the second time. She then speed up the treadmill so she was walking fast, but had to jog a few steps to keep up every so often. All while she analyzed her date to her girlfriend.

We need some gym rules. No cell phones, proper gym attire required. Why are you even bothering doing this if you are going to talk on the phone the whole time? You are just going through the motions and you aren't doing yourself any good. You aren't taking your exercise seriously if you think you can combine it with your paper reading and phone talking. And damn it, can't any one do anything by themselves anymore without having to talk to someone all the time. You live a sad life if you are so co-dependent that you can't exercise by yourself, you have to be talking on the phone while you do it. Cell phones are not bad things, but I think they are destroying people's ability to enjoy being alone. Alone time is important, leads to self discovery, observation and helps you appreciate those that are around you.

Colder Than ... (Fill in Blank with something that is really cold)

So, good news, no more slush. Bad news, no slush because it is frozen. It was 11 going to work yesterday and 6 today!

We went out for Happy Hour (Happy Evening, really) with some co-workers and their spouses in the Upper West Side after work yesterday. We left the bar about 10:00 and it is 10 degrees outside, so quite chilly. This man runs by without a shirt on and his pants were falling down. We stand in amazement and watch as he crosses the street and someone else unzips his backpack and gives this man a sweatshirt. The man is jumping around trying to put it on, when the light changed for us and our friends from the Upper East Side jumped into a cab and we ran for the warmth of the subway station to take us home.

It was weird, I initially thought it was some sort of polar bear club thing, but it was obvious this man was homeless. But what happened to his clothes? It's been cold for a while and there are places you can go and get coats, etc. It all happened so fast, by the time you figured out what was going on it was over.

Snow

O.K. first everyone should know that I was the first to utter the phrase, "Blizzard of 2005." That was Friday night when we were out with friends. It was butt cold Friday night and the storm was coming. I think I should get royalty or something.

So, in New York City we got 14" of snow, that is a substantial amount of snow, but nothing to write home about. It is enough to blog about, but not to write home. We enjoyed the snow, or I did, don't know about Mrs. Bubba. When you grow up a Bubba, you don't see much snow. We went out on Sat. when it was snowing and took some pictures. We saw the frozen Hudson River, which was cool. Then Mrs. Bubba sang in Carnegie Hall on Sat. night, so we went down to Midtown for the concert. Sunday the snow had stopped by the time we got up and about. But we went sledding, which I have only done once in Crested Butte, CO on a ski trip. We took pictures there too. I did the double black diamond slope. Our friend took out 5 people at the bottom of the hill, it was like bowling. One guy was going down on a raft, that was cool. The disk is the most fun because you can spin around and circles and go down the hill. Lots of fun.

The not so fun part of snow is now, now that it will be around until Opening Day of the baseball season. Stained yellow, turned brown, gross. You try not to drop anything in the subway these days, as the floor is gross, wet and muddy. But fun things turn up, like frozen vomit, frozen pooh, etc.

We are suppose to get another 1" to 2" on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and that will be a nice topping. It was snowing when I left work, but not when I got off the subway at home, so we will just get flurries tonight.

All and all, snow is cool, errr.... cold.

Thumb War

I can't beat my wife at thumb war anymore. Before we were married I dominated, I could beat her while I was driving. Now she gets me everytime. We "play" during the offering at Church, on the subway, or other slow moments.

More on Liar Beltran

From the Houston Chronicle Richard Justice:

"The thing that was disappointing is that we never really had any negotiations until Saturday night," McLane said. "We tried. We offered to fly to Puerto Rico. We've negotiated five contracts with Craig Biggio and four with Jeff Bagwell. Every time we did it with the player in the room. I thought if we could all sit down, Carlos included, we could get a deal done."

Funny, Beltran was quite impressed with the Mets coming to Puerto Rico, this from ESPN:

Boras suggested the two sides meet in Miami. Minaya, fresh off his successful recruiting trip to the Dominican Republic where he charmed pitcher Pedro Martinez with Thanksgiving dinner, said the Mets would travel to San Juan to see Beltran on his home turf.

Earlier in the day ESPN ran this as well, they have since taken it down, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Beltran said he was impressed that Mets owner Fred Wilpon and general manager Omar Minaya flew down to visit him in his native Puerto Rico.

So, the Astros were not allowed or welcome to come to Puerto Rico, which was apparently the deciding factor. What a loser.

Lets talk no-trade clause again, as Beltran is using that as his good guy out. This is what Drayton McLane says in Justice's piece in the Chronicle.

McLane acknowledged he had offered only a partial no-trade clause, but he emphasized there were a host of other unresolved issues. He considered all of them negotiable.

He said the real problem was that the two sides didn't really begin negotiating until the deadline was closing in. He said he tried to draw Boras into serious discussions several times but was always put off.

And from Richard Justice's Q&A on the Chronicle, you may have to scrow down...

Question: Do you really think that the no-trade clause was the primary reason that Carlos Beltran picked the Mets over the Astros?
Roger in Houston

Answer: I don't think the no-trade killed it, but it does make for a convenient excuse now. I'm sure Scott Boras wants everyone to think that's what did it. Based on what I've been told, Drayton McLane and Scott talked at around 8:30 Saturday morning and Scott agreed to get back to him. He did -- at 7 p.m. At that point, he started making big changes to the deal. He wanted more money moved up front. He wanted a longer contract. He wanted a no-trade clause. There were so many issues on the table that they never got down specifically to the no-trade clause. If they'd been able to agree on everything else, the no-trade clause wouldn't have killed the deal. In the end, they never had anything approaching real negotiations, at least in the usual sense. I think it struck the Astros late Saturday that Beltran never had any intention of re-signing with them. I'm not sure we'll ever know his reasons.

CARLOS, STOP THE LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He states the Mets really wanted him, like the Astros didn't. He got the petition that everyone in Houston signed that said they wanted him back. Did he read any of the signs at the stadium? What a louse.

The bottom line is he had no intention of every signing with Houston. Boras wanted him in NY, so that is where he is. That is fine, it is life as a fan of a mid market team. I understand that, I never thought the Astros would sign him. But he doesn't have to drag the Astros through the mud and lie about everything like he did. Scott Boras is the devil. I'm sick of the lies. Come clean Carlos, stop the lies.

Carlos Beltran is a Liar

Carlos Beltran is a liar. He rejected the Astros offer of 7 years and 108 million dollars for the Mets 7 years and 119 million dollars, see ESPN article.

He said he wanted a winning organization, a comfortable clubhouse, a nice city, a home. He said that money was not the biggest issue. He said he like the ballpark in Houston, he liked living in Houston, his wife liked Houston, he enjoyed his Astros teammates. But in the end it was all about money. Read what Richard Justice for the Houston Chronicle has to say...

The Mets are about nothing.
The Mets are a bad team with a stupid front office. Despite throwing millions at a few high-profile free agents in recent years, they aren't close to being competitive.

They're promising they'll do things right under new general manager Omar Minaya. But even if Minaya is allowed the autonomy his predecessors never had, the Mets are years away from being competitive.

All the Mets can offer Beltran is money. That's apparently all that ever mattered.

Lets look at the Mets right now, last year they were 71-91, 4 games out of last place. In 2003 they were 66-95, last place. In 2002 they were 75-86, last place. In 2001 they were 82-80, 3rd place. Sounds like a winning organization to me. They did win the NL in 2000 and were the wild card in 1999. Before that you go back to 1988 before they were in the playoffs. The Mets aren't improving either, they've overpaid Pedro this off season, freeing the Boston Red Sox of that bad contract.

Meanwhile the Astros were in the playoffs 5 times the last 8 years, with divisional championships in 97, 98, 99, 01. They finished 2nd in 2002 and 2003. The only losing season since 1991 was in 2000 when they went 72-90. The Astros were one game from the World Series last year, and if Beltran came back they would be well on their way to make another run.

Lets look at the money. He took a deal that was 11 million more, or 9% more. New York City has a state and city income tax unlike Houston, TX. I've read he would have to make 4% more in New York just to off set the tax increase. The cost of living multiplier between NY and Houston is 2.5 as well. So, more money, but he won't see it. In fact he will net less money with his NY deal, but his agent still gets his cut. As far as the argument that we would all take the money, that is not true, I didn't take the money when I was coming out of school, I chose the job that I thought would make me the most happy. I don't think everyone just goes for the money, but athletes do.

O.K. the other argument is that Beltran will be in NY, the media capital of the world, so he will have more endorsement opportunities and make more money that way. But the Yankees run this town. When is the last time you saw a Met in a national ad campaign? I know that Tom Glavine was a bigger name with the Braves than with the Mets. Beltran is supposedly a laid back guy, playing in no pressure zones in KC and Houston. He was happy in Houston. Well, he is in the pressure cooker now. The Met fans will boo him on Opening Day if he doesn't perform. But he has his money, and that was all he cares about. Sports sucks now, why watch?

It is all about the Benjamin's.

Athletes Out of Control

I guess everyone has heard about Randy Moss walking off the field before the end of the game last week.

With his helmet in hand and head down, Moss slowly walked off the field Sunday while his teammates were lining up to try an onside kick with 2 seconds left.

His quote:

Moss claimed he left to avoid doing "something stupid" in frustration -- like tossing his helmet or launching a stream of obscenities.

These guys are humorous now. They obviously don't have a grasp of reality. I just laugh at it now. This is little league behavior, except in little league he would actually get in trouble and people would not be defending him. Nice Randy.

This was my response on another blog, about cutting taxes and government "charity" aid and allow US citzens to take the tax cuts and give it to charity themselves.

In theory your idea is right on, but in practice I'm afraid it fails. The bottom line in my opinion is as a soceity we have to determine if taking care of the poor / less fortunate is important. As a democracy what the public wants in theory the public will get. There are two ways to support the poor as a soceity, we could leave it up to ourselves to contribute to charities, or we could establish government programs to perform the roll of the charities and have everyone contribute in the form of taxes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but before The New Deal, the majority of aid to the poor was through private donations, but now the government has established several programs to help the poor.

Another problem is deciding which programs the government should support and which should not. This is always a huge problem when cuts must be made and those making the cuts are always cast as evil doers who only care for their own kind. My opinion is that you can do alot to help by yourself. If the only charity you give is through your tax dollar, than you have no right in my mind to call someone greedy or non-caring when they want to cut a government program.

My point during the election was you don't have to wait for the government to develop a program to help the poor, you can do it yourself. There are plenty of charities that will take your money. More valuable than money often times is your time. If everyone cared about the poor and helped out, we wouldn't need medicare or welfare, but that is not the case.

As far as the rich go, they often times are the greedy ones. Ready Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, where they say if you need help the poor are the ones that will share what they have with you long before the wealthy. Also, in New York City when the cab fares went up a few months ago they interviewed cabbies, who make nothing by the way, and they say the worst tippers are the ones on the Upper East Side who make the most money.

I like to give to Christian organizations that are not eligible for federal funds because they present the Gospel. One great one when we live in Dallas was an organization that helped women who were escaping abusive relationships. It gave them a place to stay, trained them how to find and peform a job, and helped them get on their feet. They had a nightly worship service as well and present Jesus Christ as hope for a better future. If you look in your community there are probably multiple charities that would love your money and your time!

Still Want to Move to Canada?

Saw this at Instapundit. Canada is limited in their response to the Tsunami, read Flightless DART.

There's little to say about the tragedy of Canada's response to the tsunami tragedy that hasn't already been said. A lot of excuses have been bandied about for why Canadian soldiers weren't sent, when Australia, Taiwan, Israel, and other countries despatched forces early, and the American military launched its largest operation in the area since Vietnam to try to save lives.

In the end, though, the answer's pretty simple: 600 tonnes.

That's the amount of airlift required to move the DART(Disaster Assistance Response Team). Since Canada only has the 4 CC-150 Polaris (modified Airbuses) for strategic airlift, with a cargo capacity of 13 tonnes each, rapid deployment of DART anywhere outside the effective ferry range of our 30-odd additional short-range Herc transports (ie, off this continent) was a mathematical impossibility, without civilian airlift... and civilian airlift is in pretty short supply at the moment.

I find it humorous that all the anti-war folks want to move to Canada because Bush won, and Canada does not have the means to help the world in a natural disastor like the US can. It is probably still uncool to be an American though, so don't worry.

Goodbye 2004, Hello 2005

O.K. my wife has done it, my friend Wes has done it, I guess I'll do it. Review the year, look forward to the next year, enjoy.

2004, what went right, what went wrong, what turned up ugly...

• In January we moved to New York City, something we had really wanted to do for over a year. It is great when God puts things together the way you want them to go together. Several things on this list will be a direct result of "the move."
• Learned to live with less. This is a good thing. It is akin to simplifying your life. It is also tied into charity in our minds. Manhattan is full of the very rich and the very poor at the same time. We try to realize that we have so much, and give what we don't need away. The best example is our pastor at Fifth Ave. Presbyterian gave a sermon on stuff, so we came home and cleaned out our closets.
• Learned to live in small spaces, again another good thing. We have recently heard of a friend that bought a big house back in Texas and our reaction was, "What a waste." I don't think we will ever want the giant house now, we just don't need it.
• We have been to fabulous museums, performances, restaurants, etc. It is sometimes like we have been on vacation for a year now.
• Learned that some people strongely disagree with us politically and think we are stupid because of it. I know that I don't like that feeling, so will try not to express that when / if we move back to an area that we are again in the majority politically.
• Learned that sometimes dream jobs are not what you think they are going to be.
• Made some new friends that we both love and would do anything for. We had trouble making friends in Dallas. Funny, had to move to cold, rude New York to make friends we will always have.
• Kept in touch with old friends as well, some of which have undergone major changes in their lives this year that we have been fortunate to hear about and encourage.
• Learned that sometimes you don't miss a place until you go back to it.
• Learned to step out and take on the leadership role, i.e. taking on leading the Couples Class at Church. God works through you, if you let him.

Goals for 2005:

• Stay attuned to what the people around me need, and try to fill that need. I believe that Christ has called us to serve, as he served.
• Understand that you can't solve huge problems by yourself, but you can help individual people. I don't have the solution to the homeless problem, but I can give someone a warm dinner and a smile.
• We want to go to Europe again in the fall.
• I want to take charge of my career and be more agressive at work. This starts with getting my PE, which I will sit for the test in April.
• Learn more about my wife and try to keep her laughing.
• Be more generous.
• Run in a timed race. I used to do the "fun" runs in college, but haven't in some since. I need to get back into it, it is fun!
• Build a real snowman. When you grow up on the Texas Gulf Coast, you don't see snow, so I have alot of catching up to do. I also want to sled.
• Grow a beard. My dad has one, so genetically I should be able to right? I always chicken out because I don't want to look like a dope while I'm trying.

I guess that is it!