Chaswick.net

So my job hunt ended successfully, for which I am very thankful. I am working for Catalina Marketing in St. Petersburg, Florida. Why should you care? Because I am sure it is the answer to an obscure question you probably asked yourself in the past. You know all those cards on your keyring that stores scan and that give you discounts? They do that kind of stuff. I am working in IT and I guess you could say that so far I am happy with the company and position. So, if you are in the market for a job, have heart, and keep trying. Branch out, take a chance on a job that may not be exactly what you are looking for, you might be surprised what you find. Remember, its kind of like looking for that person to spend your life with, it’s not always about how good you are, its about whether you and the company fit together. I am hoping you all find something that makes you happy!

So next year’s NFL schedule has been released.  Below you can find the information on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2009 NFL schedule.  I’ll update this post as I have time to analyze it, but it looks like a very tough road to hoe this year, competition-wise.   The NFC East and AFC east, combined with the NFC south represent the most competitive three divisions in football, hands down.  Coach Morris has his work cut out for him.  Also apparent is that almost all games are 1:00 pm starts, and our division play is densely packed at the end of the season.  And, we once again have a favorable bye week.  Week 1 is September 13th, 2009.

Week 1  Dallas at Tampa
Week 2  Tampa at Buffalo
Week 3  NY Giants at Tampa
Week 4  Tampa at Washington
Week 5  Tampa at Philadelphia
Week 6  Carolina at Tampa
Week 7  New England at Tampa
Week 8  Bye
Week 9  Green Bay at Tampa
Week 10  Tampa at Miami
Week 11  New Orleans at Tampa
Week 12  Tampa at Atlanta
Week 13  Tampa at Carolina
Week 14  NY Jets at Tampa
Week 15  Tampa at Seattle
Week 16  Tampa at New Orleans
Week 17  Atlanta at Tampa

So, I saw this article at Yahoo! news and I couldn’t resist doing some quick gimping.  For those who don’t know what an Apple storefront looks like:

And Microsoft’s version (It’s subtle):

I watched the Olympics, and I watched his one-one hundreth of a second victory, and I watched him make history shortly afterward.  He made news again recently, but this time for alleged pot use, backed up by from what I understand some incriminating photos.  First, some disclosure:  I am twenty eight, a sometimes drinker, may or may not have ever used pot, college graduate who thinks this entire thing is just ridiculous.  How ridiculous do I consider this?  About on the same level of allowing people to ingest a substance known to impair decision making (without consequence), and then putting penalties in place for when bad decisions happen shortly afterwards.

What is the difference between inhaling one substance and ingesting another?  In this case, it is that one is legal and one is not.  For some, this may be sufficient support to rule Micheal Phelps a fallen hero.  Fortunately, our justice system is sane and is built upon challenging unjust laws.  So, to me, a generally law abiding american citizen, the Micheal Phelps story simply demonstrates that the law he broke is on the face of it unjust.  He has not done anything to tarnish his image in my eyes.  Show me proof of him doping, and then I will cry and scream with you and lament the falling down of yet another american sports icon.

If its not on the menu the next (first) time I go to Pittsburgh, I’m gonna move there and open a restaurant.  What would it be?  Meat, cheese, a bun, and hurtling through the air.  Catch it on your toes and I’ll give it to you free.  Congratulations to the Steelers and the great city of Pittsburgh for winning another Super Bowl title.  And congratulations to the Cardinals, for making it an interesting contest.  I happen to be a pretty big sports nut, so I will respectfully decline to say the game was played well (18 penalties?  How many personal fouls?) but it took a cue from recent Super Bowls and kept from being a stinker of a game.

And now for my rant.  This may, deep down, be the single most important rant I will ever put on my blog.  Why do we have instant replay? Of course, I know why.  I could tell you, but you wouldn’t believe me,  so I will let a professor I had in Grad school do it;  “Follow the money”.  Or listen to Cuba.   Translated?  More commercial spots.  Its not to get it right, because if it were there would at least have been a cursory review of the last play of the Super Bowl.  We would be able to challenge more plays.  And outright blown calls that result in wins or losses would be reversed after the game.

I could go on and on with examples from previous games and previous years about the ludicrous nature of grown men discussing the intricacies of “Control” and “Feet touching” and “was his arm moving forward?”,  but I already get more of that than I need to from Al, John, Chris, and the rest.  If you need a second reason; the nerds are to blame.  “We can cover the field from how many angles?  We can locate the first down line to within how many millimeters?  How can we not see everything clearly?  Put more cameras out there!”

If I thought anyone would care or agree with me, I would make a plea to the NFL, “Please get rid of instant replay, I have learned my lesson!”  What is the lesson, you ask?  Human beings are and always will be fallible, so get used to it, suck it up, stop whining, and accept that as long as football is played by humans, watched by humans, and policed by humans, there will be errors, mistakes, and disagreements.  Ignore the gamblers who are predisposed to being whiny, sniveling and angry anyway.  You want money?  Go out and earn it.  Please, NFL, don’t drive me back to watching 3 hour baseball games because you got greedy and tried to draw out your already long games to lengths that make me unable to watch even a single one.

For the record I am a Bucs fan.  When not rooting for them, I usually root for the underdog, but have always had a soft spot in my heart for the black and gold.

A belated “Happy New Year”, my silent internet friend.  You are as quiet and contemplative as you ever were, even in the midst of the frenzied festivities of the last few weeks.  In celebration of the upcoming personal bailout package, you and all the avid readers I do not know should celebrate by buying a walbro fuel pump (they are cheap).  No, I swear I don’t work for that website.  Really, I don’t.  Stop staring at me, I said I don’t work there.  Fine!  But its still a great deal.