The Wonderful Modern Miracle that is Craigs List

I remember 10 years ago when making a sizable purchase required extensive research, references, and many aggressive face to face meetings with oily haired sales reps. But the Internet has ushered in a new era of happy halcyon days and at the forefront of that bliss is Craig's List.

We recently decided that it was time to retire the old Accord. She had faithfully caddied me around for 8 years without problem or complaint. Seeking to take advantage of the gas madness I decided that now was the best time to sell this moderately fuel efficient car. I posted an ad on Craig's List and waited.....

Within 2 hours I got a call from someone interested in making a quick decision. An hour later he was at my house test driving it. Twenty minutes later our hands met in a handshake of mutual agreement. Fifteen minutes afterwards I had a certified check in my hand and he had the title to his new car. It was more quick and seamless then if I had gone to the grocery store for a gallon of 2%.

It is incredible how well the Internet lubes the engine of commerce. I got a quick sale of my car at my KBB asking price and $3k over what the dealer would give as a trade in. Now I can use this same world wide web to research our next car purchase and use this information as leverage against the greasiest of salesmen. The internet: The Great Information Equalizer.

Redemption at 3am

Like many Olympic enthusiasts I have been annoyed at the NBC coverage of the games. Instead of treating us like the ‘net’ savvy, real time, smart people that we are they continue to suspend the time difference between here and Beijing and attempt to convince us that everything is taking place live during our prime time. Since we are not stupid we catch the stuff online as it happens and usually pass on the event when it is played six hours later.

I understand the logistical issues. But I have a couple of recommendations for the next go round. 1) If it is 8am in the US and a game is being played live in China, play it live here. Don’t wait for two hours and play it on tape delay when we already know the outcome. This happened with the US-Argentina game. I followed it live online at 8am. It then came on at 10am….what the point? 2) Don’t try and fool us with your faux “live coverage” angle. We know it’s not live. We will choose to watch the event if it is still compelling.

Anyways….this post was to be about the big US-Spain gold medal game. I needed to blow off some steam first.

Wanting to watch the game live- thanks to NBC for finally broadcasting something meaningful live- I opted to stay up for the 12:30am start time. I was expecting to watch a few minutes and retire once the US pulled away with the game, most likely during the 2nd Quarter. The US blew those racist and hairy Spaniards out by 37 points the previous week so I was expecting them to pull a French rollover and be content with the silver.

Surprise….surprise…

My late night lethargy was soon jolted to a full and alert semi-panic with Spain pulling up by 5 in the early going. The US couldn’t stop the precision offense of the lanky representatives of the Iberian Peninsula. They were shooting very well but I was concerned that their fortunes would quickly change once things cooled off. The game was physical and intense and I was greatly rewarded for catching this.

As the game progressed the US would lull me to a false sense of security by building up a 9 or 11 point lead. But every time that it appeared that they would break the game open the Spanish would quash the run with a well timed three pointer. They kept the game in reach prevented the US from getting easy transition points.

The game came down to the wire. It wasn’t until the last couple of minutes and a clutch Kobe four point play that I could finally sit back and relish in the reclamation of our rightful place on top of the awards podium. It was great to see these padded NBA players express the same unbridled and exuberant joy and passion that their almost anonymous counterparts and showed throughout the game. During these games the players weren’t the NBA brats that we’ve grown accustomed to. During these games the players were a cohesive team, determined to fit in, respect the Olympics, and claim gold.

It was now 3am. I made it this far and I was determined to see it through. Upon ending the awards ceremony I was almost immediately greeted with a feeling of exhaustion. There would be no rest for this tired kid as church was scheduled to begin at 8am. I had the gnarliest migraine and could barely make it through the services. But I was filled with a feeling of solidarity and patriotism as I scanned the foyer to find other husbands slumped over in similar exhaustion. We did our small part to support our nation and our nation rewarded us in kind.

How China Shanghaied the Olympics and other 5 ringed thoughts

I’ve been mildly interested in the Olympics this year. I’ll be the first to admit that they don’t quite have the cachet that they did during my “cold war” youth. Even though the Medal Tracker is still closely followed as a proxy war between fiercely nationalistic countries it still isn’t as compelling as when we actually had miles of missiles pointed at each other. Some thoughts….

• As expected China’s efforts to anoint itself as the world’s leader have been met with justified skepticism. Despite a security force the size of Bangladesh there are still stories of protests being quashed and insanely basic liberties being curtailed. China wants to appear open only as long as it doesn’t interfere with its government’s carefully crafted agenda.


• Evidently China has sort of cheated in making its Olympic presentation. The stories of lip synching and fake fireworks during the opening ceremonies are already old news. China has also done a number of other things to gloss its issues. This hilarious take from Rick Reilly dives deeper into this matter. Don’t get me wrong, China has done a great job of effectively hosting the Olympics. Just a word of advice, however. Don’t try too hard to be something that you're not (A country with acceptable human rights) and don’t overly embellish an already impressive city. (Creating fake facades to cover up blighted parts of town or displacing citizens.


• The fact that baseball and softball are being dropped from the Olympics leaves one with a puzzled stare. It’s darn right baffling when you consider all of the other stupid events that they are feverishly adding such as trampoline jumping, badminton, or competitive walking. The games are already full of enough stupid events, why pull out a couple of legitimate ones? The response for their departure was that they were too U.S. dominated. What the….? Baseball has a very global following and if they were following that same stupid logic then why not get rid of table tennis or badminton. Those are both sports that no one other then China gives a damn about.


• Here’s an interesting observation. If you subtract all of the events that are dependent on subjective judging then the medal count gap between the U.S. and China becomes three times wider then it currently is. Does anyone smell any hometown cooking? Keep in mind that it is the year of the rat.


• I sure hope that there is a team of scientists down in Jamaica trying to figure out what they are putting in their Kool-Aid. This is insane. How can one small nation full of ganja and dreadlocks be this fast? Is it the training program? I don’t know. I heard something about Jamaican people having extra fast twitch muscles or something. I don’t know what that means and I don’t know how that could be isolated to just that little island. Regardless I’ll be the first to admit that they’ve got the best celebrations of any victors. It’s good to see them so happy. They haven’t had much to cheer about ever since they lost Bob Marley.


• The whole Spanish/Argentina team photos smacks of hypocrisy. They received virtually no condemnation for their racist poses. The hyper sensitive U.S. press would have demanded that the U.S. team withdraw from the tournament should they have done anything remotely similar. It’s weird how quick our media is to condemn actions within our own country and how easy they justify the boneheaded decisions of people in other places.


• So how long does Michaels Phelps mania last? A year? A month? I give him a Wheaties Box cover, a visit to the White House, and two months before the nation moves on and he is forgotten only to be remembered again years from now when his name pops up as a Trivia Pursuit question. Don't get me wrong. What he accomplished was down right incredible. Its just that our collective attention span is measured in miliseconds and swimming is a sport that will only draw our attention once every four years.
  
  

Utah and then some

Went up to Utah for some fun with Jodi's family. Throw in some Jensens and a few Skutch and call it memorable.

Highlights included:

• An afternoon on Utah Lake. No carp or bloated cows spotted in water.



• Mountain biking up American Fork canyon with the brother-in-laws. The trail was exceptionally scenic but somewhat brutal. I am blaming my performance on the altitude. It's incredible to think that Megan will be climbing this road during the Tour of Utah.



• A visit to 'the BYU'. That place is under perpetual construction. Still was nice to visit a few areas that furnished some great memories.


• Every day filled with great meals. The culinary feast culminated with our gourmet foil dinners that were enjoyed in the 'forest'.



• Midway with the family. Always a great destination....a shame that we missed Swiss Days.



• Lunch with the friends.

Mixing some science in with my daily fiction

Lately I've been really getting into works of science fiction. There is something about the genre that suspends mundane reality and opens up an endless world of intergalatic possibility. I quickly worked my way through the traditional authors and was satisfied. And then I struck gold with the works of Ronald Chevalier. There is something about his seminal work "Cyborg Harpies" that speaks to the inner fears and aspirations of the human race. He truly is the voice of those who dare to believe beyond this galaxy.

I've also become quite taken with Ronald's overall life experience. His philosophies and techniques rival anything coming from India or even L. Ron Hubbard. Enjoy this piece on "relaxating" and you'll understand.

www.ronaldchevalier.com

Randomizer Volume IV: Series II

• Best year in sports?- I'm going out on a limb and saying that this has been one of the best years ever for sports. Here we go: Giants-Pats in Superbowl, NCAA Tournament and first time ever that all #1 seeds made the final four, Celtics-Lakers, Tiger being monumental, relevant baseball and great All-Star game, Man Utd in European championship going to shoot out. Nadals grueling and epic defeat of the once titan Federer at Wimbledon. Am I missing anything? The only thing that would have made it absolutely, positively stellar would have been a Cowboys upset of the Pats and the Jazz in the finals.
• History's coolest dump- I recently read about some digs taking place outside of Rome at Monte Testaccio. The place was a huge Roman landfill and is a giant mountain of pottery, amphorae, and other historically cool garbage. And the place was very well organized, another testament to superior Roman engineering. You know what they say- "One nations really old crap is another archaeologist's treasure."
• Tribute to Los Mochis- I received a quick email from a Mexican friend from Los Mochis, Mexico. It made me realize what a great place that is and how bad a job I've done keeping up with friends. He sent me this link- http://www.mochisonline.com/- and I think I might use it to track down some old friends. That place had some of the freshest and best food I've ever consumed. Rob, didn't you spend some time down there?
• 1491- I'm reading this book to get a better appreciation for the history of my own continent. Quite frankly our Euro-centric approach to education is pretty myopic. This was also one of the selected books from the ill-fated Skutch Book Club I believe. Anyways, it has been a great read and it has really supplemented what I learned in my early studies of Mesoamerican history. It is absolutely incredible how advanced some of these nations were and how little we know about them. The scientific community can't even agree on when the first people inhabited the Americas. It is astounding how much mystery is still shrouded in the mountains above Cuzco or in the Jungles of Copan. Hats off to the damn Spaniards for destroying a good portion of these people's cultural legacy.

Golfing Amongst Legends

You ever want to spend an afternoon with John Elway? Discuss approach shots with Mike Schmidt? Stand in awe of Michael Jordan?

Well my bro-in-law has been spending the last couple of years putting together the Legends Cup Challenge. Check out the link and peruse the people who have committed to partcipate. You see these world class atheletes have a competitive drive that needs an outlet. Evidently golf is one of the few activities that can satiate this demand. Perhaps they haven't heard of backgammon. This isn't your average celebrity event. These guys have signed on to win. There are 4 teams, each comprised of retired atheletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL.

It should be quite an experience and hopefullly it will become an annual event. The vision is for this to be something that is covered by ESPN. I'll plan on being there....will MJ?

Humanizing Our Heroes

It seems like one generation’s hero is another’s sullied, historical villain. I just got done reading a Wall Street Journal article discussing the sudden surge in popularity of Joseph Stalin in Russia as its people are beginning to reclaim more of its nationalistic past. Wasn’t it just a decade ago that they were finally dealing with the reality of his cold and barbaric figure? On a smaller scale it seems like our own US heroes like Jefferson, Washington, or even Lincoln see their popularity and venerability ebb and flow according to public opinion and thought.

I suppose a sign of societal maturity is when we are able to appreciate the historical myths of certain figures but also study and evaluate their complete histories, foibles and all. We can appreciate Jefferson’s contributions to early America in spite of his personal peccadillo’s. We even see these oscillations in the way that our favorite characters our portrayed on the Silver Screen.

Right now we are seeing a large increase in movie characters that are flawed, mistake prone, or even misguided. Gone are the images from yesterday of Errol Flynn who was above reproach and always acted selflessly and with the public’s best interest in mind. The world isn’t as black and white and movies reflect characters that have to deal with vague morals and complex problems. Movies as varied as X-Men and X-Files demonstrate that we like our protagonists to have faults and to actually deal with life’s rich and complex realities. But nowhere do we see this shift in preference more evident than in the latest installments of two venerable classics- Batman and James Bond.

Batman- The Dark Knight has never been well….as dark then as in the latest movie. The campy images of tights and Robin have been replaced by a man who is wrestling with the questions like “how far should civil liberties be jeopardized in order to combat evil and keep the peace.” Not that Batman has ever had the squeaky clean image that his pal up in Metropolis has, but at least he managed to consistently put the bad guys behind bars. Now his Gotham is more complex and the lines aren’t as clear as they once were. The questions and doubts that he has reveal a truly tormented character. This kind of complexity paid off and the reviews and box office receipts validate the brave change in the way that the series has been portrayed.

James Bond- The differences between the Pearce Brosnan and Daniel Craig depictions of 007 are stark and noted. Gone is the perfectly groomed, hardly a hair out of place, and pithy comment available at a moments notice Bond that we got in the 1990’s. It has been replaced by a character that shows weakness, gets dirty, and has serious character flaws. He still manages to get Her Majesty’s work done but it isn’t as seamless as the work of his predecessors. While there are still exotic women, fast cars, strange villains, and elaborate stunts they are much more grounded in reality.

I see these two characters as a microcosm of a bigger trend. Right now we don’t want our heroes to be perfect. We prefer real people who have problems dealing with the same difficult realities that we do. We still like the action but we prefer it to be more grounded in our reality.