Soooo I heard ... I was spouting nonsense on my old blog, then Twitter and, lately, Facebook.
Time to bring things full circle?
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Justice
I just finished reading Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? a book by Harvard professor Michael Sandel. If you're interested in brushing up on your political philosophy, and learning about a number of frameworks for confronting tough moral questions, you'll love this book. Sandel uses real-world stories and examples to tease out where we stand on many present day hot-button topics.
For a teaser on the book see http://www.justiceharvard.org/
For a teaser on the book see http://www.justiceharvard.org/
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Be careful what you wish for....
In my previous post (my very first on HCQ), I expressed my jealousy of Walt's snow situation. Since then, we have received 4" of snow Tuesday night and it began to snow again this morning as I left for work. When I got home at 6:00 this evening we received so much snow that I was unable to park in my driveway, even with 4 wheel drive. It's looking very likely that I will have a snowday tomorrow. For some viewing enjoyment, I've taken a few photos tonight.
For reference, here's a bird's eye view of the house (sans snow):
Photo 1:
I know it's a little dark, but that's the minivan under all that snow.
Photo 2
Snow on the lower roof, seen from Thomas and Alexis' room.
Photo 3
Snow on the front porch.
As always, there are more photos in my Flickr album here.
and it's still snowing....
For reference, here's a bird's eye view of the house (sans snow):
Photo 1:
I know it's a little dark, but that's the minivan under all that snow.
Photo 2
Snow on the lower roof, seen from Thomas and Alexis' room.
Photo 3
Snow on the front porch.
As always, there are more photos in my Flickr album here.
and it's still snowing....
***UPDATE***
It's 8:00am Friday and it's still snowing.
Better picture of location #1:
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Tyson Zone
There's crazy. There's "out of his mind". There's "he's just fucking nuts". And then there's Mike Tyson.
A funny and scary walk down Memory Lane.
A funny and scary walk down Memory Lane.
Jealousy amongst the blog contributors
(first post for me on this blog also - two in a row!)
I have to admit I am very jealous of Walt's recent snow accumulation (as described in this recent post) I too, recently moved into a new house. It's a much larger piece of property than the one I owned in NJ (2.5 acres vs less than .25 acres). My very generous parents bought us a riding lawnmower when we moved in, otherwise your standard walk behind mower would take days to mow the entire lawn. In addition to the large lawn, I also have a large driveway which requires snow removal. With my walk-behind snow thrower it took nearly two hours to clear some of the driveway. So for christmas/chanukah I bought my self the snowthrower attachment for the riding mower.
I picked it up from Sears in early January and spent a saturday afternoon removing the mower blades from that tractor and assembling the snowthrower. And there it sat, in my barn, for weeks. Untouched. Getting no loving. Then came a news report of an impending snowstorm! But that was just a big tease. While Walt was getting bombarded with over two feet of snow, not one single flake touched ground at my house! A week later when Walt got hit again with nearly two feet, I finally was able to fire it up and utilize my newest toy and clear the 8" of snow I received. In what took my nearly two hours to do walking behind the old snow thrower, I was able to clear the entire driveway in about 35 minutes!
In perhaps, a view of the future lawnmower and snow clearer, my eldest offspring bugged me all afternoon when I was disassembling the mower to try to ride it. Here was the result:
Also, view from my bedroom this morning:
I have to admit I am very jealous of Walt's recent snow accumulation (as described in this recent post) I too, recently moved into a new house. It's a much larger piece of property than the one I owned in NJ (2.5 acres vs less than .25 acres). My very generous parents bought us a riding lawnmower when we moved in, otherwise your standard walk behind mower would take days to mow the entire lawn. In addition to the large lawn, I also have a large driveway which requires snow removal. With my walk-behind snow thrower it took nearly two hours to clear some of the driveway. So for christmas/chanukah I bought my self the snowthrower attachment for the riding mower.
I picked it up from Sears in early January and spent a saturday afternoon removing the mower blades from that tractor and assembling the snowthrower. And there it sat, in my barn, for weeks. Untouched. Getting no loving. Then came a news report of an impending snowstorm! But that was just a big tease. While Walt was getting bombarded with over two feet of snow, not one single flake touched ground at my house! A week later when Walt got hit again with nearly two feet, I finally was able to fire it up and utilize my newest toy and clear the 8" of snow I received. In what took my nearly two hours to do walking behind the old snow thrower, I was able to clear the entire driveway in about 35 minutes!
In perhaps, a view of the future lawnmower and snow clearer, my eldest offspring bugged me all afternoon when I was disassembling the mower to try to ride it. Here was the result:
Also, view from my bedroom this morning:
Perhaps this spectacular view will generate a little jealousy as well?
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday Thoughts
(My first post here...enjoy)
1) Assume for a moment that the pilot who deliberately crashed his airplane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas yesterday was named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. What would the media and political (right wing) response have been?
2) What does the so-called "Tea Party" think of the crash?
3) Dolphins and a mob-shooting in Teaneck in the same week? Wow.
4) The LeBron Thing:
a) I put NBA hoops on par with billiards or bowling on my list at this point...it's nearly unwatchable in my mind. There's virtually no variety in each game and a decided lack of intensity compared with college hoops. (See Hoyas v. 'Cuse last night...awesome and exciting).
b) I think LeBron coming to the Knicks hurts him a bit. Think of all of the greatest stars and most loved stars -- Kobe, Jeter, Jordan -- these are gies (hy!) who came up with one team and stayed there for their golden years. The idea of LeBron leaving his hometown and selling out just to make a few extra million rubs me the wrong way. To me, there's something extra special about a great player playing for one team for an entire career. (Note that I'm just looking at this from a global perspective. I understand that Knick fans want him). Just my 2 cents.
1) Assume for a moment that the pilot who deliberately crashed his airplane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas yesterday was named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. What would the media and political (right wing) response have been?
2) What does the so-called "Tea Party" think of the crash?
3) Dolphins and a mob-shooting in Teaneck in the same week? Wow.
4) The LeBron Thing:
a) I put NBA hoops on par with billiards or bowling on my list at this point...it's nearly unwatchable in my mind. There's virtually no variety in each game and a decided lack of intensity compared with college hoops. (See Hoyas v. 'Cuse last night...awesome and exciting).
b) I think LeBron coming to the Knicks hurts him a bit. Think of all of the greatest stars and most loved stars -- Kobe, Jeter, Jordan -- these are gies (hy!) who came up with one team and stayed there for their golden years. The idea of LeBron leaving his hometown and selling out just to make a few extra million rubs me the wrong way. To me, there's something extra special about a great player playing for one team for an entire career. (Note that I'm just looking at this from a global perspective. I understand that Knick fans want him). Just my 2 cents.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
Even if the Knicks don't sign Lebron, I'm happy with the deals that Donnie Walsh just made to get rid of salary. This positions them to get the man that will ultimately be the greatest to ever play the game: LBJ. Let's face it, there was no way Lebron was gonna come here if we didn't have a chance to buy him a #2 running mate (Wade, Bosh, Joe Johnson, Dirk, etc.). If you're NY, how can you not position yourself to get the greatest player ever?
And if LBJ doesn't sign here, so be it. We still have mad flexibility to sign others (see above + Rudy Gay, Boozer, etc.) or make trades. AND, don't forget that Eddy Curry's salary will expire after next year (if the Knicks don't buy his lazy ass out first). That means, they'll be in the running for another big piece (like Chris Paul) next summer. Hmmmm.....
Say what you want, but if I'm Lebron, and I have the chance to come to NYC, roll with Jay Z, and essentially be an assistant GM (you know they're gonna tell him he can choose his running mate), I have to think seriously about that. It's a once in a lifetime oppoortunity for Lebron and the Knicks.
All of that said, I hope they don't get seduced by the show McGrady's about to put on in the last 30 games. He's Vince Carter's cousin, but they have WAY more in common than blood. If they do resign him, it better not be for more than 4-5 million. Just sayin'
And if LBJ doesn't sign here, so be it. We still have mad flexibility to sign others (see above + Rudy Gay, Boozer, etc.) or make trades. AND, don't forget that Eddy Curry's salary will expire after next year (if the Knicks don't buy his lazy ass out first). That means, they'll be in the running for another big piece (like Chris Paul) next summer. Hmmmm.....
Say what you want, but if I'm Lebron, and I have the chance to come to NYC, roll with Jay Z, and essentially be an assistant GM (you know they're gonna tell him he can choose his running mate), I have to think seriously about that. It's a once in a lifetime oppoortunity for Lebron and the Knicks.
All of that said, I hope they don't get seduced by the show McGrady's about to put on in the last 30 games. He's Vince Carter's cousin, but they have WAY more in common than blood. If they do resign him, it better not be for more than 4-5 million. Just sayin'
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Book of Basketball - Me Too!
After reading Moon's recent comments on Bill Simmons' Book of Basketball, I finally started reading it.
I haven't anticipated a book's release as much as I did this one. This book was a perfect storm for me. The NBA is by far and away my favorite sport, truly the only sport I've ever been a "fan" of, where the etymology of the word "fan" is "fanatic" AFAIK. I just "watch" other sports. I don't absorb them like I do pro basketball. Some basketball purists feel that good college basketball is somehow "purer" or "better basketball" or more "real basketball" than the NBA these days, and perhaps they're right. Still, for people like Simmons and me, it's too late. We're hopelessly hooked on the NBA. And, Simmons is the only Internet writer that I read on a regular basis. Everytime ESPN.com features a new Simmons column, I immediately click there and worry about catching up on sports news until I'm done with whatever random topic Bill is pontificating on. He's not much older than me and drops more funny, age-appropriate pop culture references for somebody my age than a VH1 "I Love The ..." show.
Needless to say, I bought it as soon as it was released, and for some inexplicable reason, I hadn't started reading it until this weekend.
Background to this weekend: Around Friday, I started feeling sick. Saturday, I felt legitimately sick. Not sure if it was just a cold, I realized by Sunday that it was more than that. Chills, headaches, etc... I called out of work today (Tuesday) and saw the doctor. I have bronchitis (not a big deal - I've had it before. If you've had it, you know it's worse than a cold and not as bad as a flu. Needless to say, it crippled my fun 3-day weekend. Ah well.)
This is important, because while I was coughing up a lung and living in a half-conscious daze for a couple of days, I started to read this book. Two remarkable things happened:
1) The book lived up to the hype for me. How do I know? I compulsively read it till all hours despite my body wanting more than anything to sleep. I had the "I-couldn't-put-it-down" thing where I literally could not put it down, despite everything else in my head and my heart telling me not to. I was compelled to keep reading, and I was hopeless to fight it.
(Can I judge how great it is based on this fact alone? Probably not. I'd like to think I'm fairly intelligent and intellectually well-rounded, but when it comes to reading, I'm ashamed to admit I'm very academically immature. I'm the Vince Carter of reading academically rich books. The only two other books I remember couldn't-put-it-down reading, until late hours of the night, in the past 5 years or so? The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter 7. I'm only mildly embarrassed by HP7 - I'm very embarrased by Da Vinci Code. By the way, that Vince Carter reference was weak. What can I say, I'm no Bill Simmons.)
This book is, more than anything I've encountered in my life, right in my wheelhouse. Well, with the possible exception of the "Cookie-Doughn't-You-Want-Some" creation from Cold Stone Creamery - find it and read the description - and yes, yes I do want some, always. The book is even written with coherent themes, topics, and storylines - but with a slight ADD element of tangents and anecdotes sprinkled in appropriately and a million footnotes, which serve the same function as my too-frequent parenthetical comments I always include in my blogs. Just like me! (the ADD part) The book is informative and thorough. It educates everybody from a casual fan to a serious fan about the history of the league and ties it in perfectly to where we are today.
I could go on and on about it. Just read it. Don't want to spoil it.
2) I won't spoil the details of the book or its structure, because everybody should read it fresh, but... There is a page and a half of the book (p. 520 - halfway through p. 521) where he analyzes the movie Teen Wolf.
I haven't laughed out loud while sober that loudly or for as long in... shit, in forever, as I self-effacingly laughed at the fact that I've seen Teen Wolf at least 20 times (and I'm sure Bill has too) and that Bill connects Michael J. Fox's character's personal development to a certain current NBA star that's just funny and kind of deep at the same time.
Read the book.
P.S. Argh... got to do it - slight spoiler. The guy who is compared to Michael J. Fox's character from Teen Wolf is Kobe. Read it. Then, after you chuckle and read about Kobe's place in NBA history, anytime you read anything remotely complementary or neutral about Kobe, read the details of this. I mistakenly did this today and I wish I didn't. I can't objectively look at his smug fucking face anymore. I literally felt nauseous that somehow the world forgets that he did this a few years ago. He should be villified as much as Vick. He personifies the "he thinks he's above the law because he's famous" hubris that so many celebrities seem to have, except he raped a 19-year-old girl and got away with it. I don't think the girl was lying. He did it. Read the page. He did it exactly how the Wikipedia page says so. It just makes too much (common) sense. Kobe basically admitted it after the whole ordeal was over.
At your own peril, and at the risk of feeling nauseous yourself, and at the peril of being able to objectively watch Lakers games again, read the Wikipedia article I linked to. Tell me if the account of it on Wikipedia doesn't resonate as being 100% plausible. Here was part of his statement after:
"I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman. No money has been paid to this woman. She has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."
Umm... what?!? How could you possibly say "she has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case" and "I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year"? IF SOMEBODY BLATANTLY LIED TO THE POLICE THAT YOU RAPED THEM, why would you make statements like this? Think about the O.J. case and imagine if he said things remotely like this when the trial was over and he was going to inevitably go to civil court. Kobe is fucking lucky he wasn't treated and viewed like Tyson after his rape.
Anyway, sorry, got distracted. Bottom line, if you've ever remotely enjoyed anything in your life about the NBA, and ESPECIALLY if you used to enjoy the NBA and don't anymore, read the book.
I haven't anticipated a book's release as much as I did this one. This book was a perfect storm for me. The NBA is by far and away my favorite sport, truly the only sport I've ever been a "fan" of, where the etymology of the word "fan" is "fanatic" AFAIK. I just "watch" other sports. I don't absorb them like I do pro basketball. Some basketball purists feel that good college basketball is somehow "purer" or "better basketball" or more "real basketball" than the NBA these days, and perhaps they're right. Still, for people like Simmons and me, it's too late. We're hopelessly hooked on the NBA. And, Simmons is the only Internet writer that I read on a regular basis. Everytime ESPN.com features a new Simmons column, I immediately click there and worry about catching up on sports news until I'm done with whatever random topic Bill is pontificating on. He's not much older than me and drops more funny, age-appropriate pop culture references for somebody my age than a VH1 "I Love The ..." show.
Needless to say, I bought it as soon as it was released, and for some inexplicable reason, I hadn't started reading it until this weekend.
Background to this weekend: Around Friday, I started feeling sick. Saturday, I felt legitimately sick. Not sure if it was just a cold, I realized by Sunday that it was more than that. Chills, headaches, etc... I called out of work today (Tuesday) and saw the doctor. I have bronchitis (not a big deal - I've had it before. If you've had it, you know it's worse than a cold and not as bad as a flu. Needless to say, it crippled my fun 3-day weekend. Ah well.)
This is important, because while I was coughing up a lung and living in a half-conscious daze for a couple of days, I started to read this book. Two remarkable things happened:
1) The book lived up to the hype for me. How do I know? I compulsively read it till all hours despite my body wanting more than anything to sleep. I had the "I-couldn't-put-it-down" thing where I literally could not put it down, despite everything else in my head and my heart telling me not to. I was compelled to keep reading, and I was hopeless to fight it.
(Can I judge how great it is based on this fact alone? Probably not. I'd like to think I'm fairly intelligent and intellectually well-rounded, but when it comes to reading, I'm ashamed to admit I'm very academically immature. I'm the Vince Carter of reading academically rich books. The only two other books I remember couldn't-put-it-down reading, until late hours of the night, in the past 5 years or so? The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter 7. I'm only mildly embarrassed by HP7 - I'm very embarrased by Da Vinci Code. By the way, that Vince Carter reference was weak. What can I say, I'm no Bill Simmons.)
This book is, more than anything I've encountered in my life, right in my wheelhouse. Well, with the possible exception of the "Cookie-Doughn't-You-Want-Some" creation from Cold Stone Creamery - find it and read the description - and yes, yes I do want some, always. The book is even written with coherent themes, topics, and storylines - but with a slight ADD element of tangents and anecdotes sprinkled in appropriately and a million footnotes, which serve the same function as my too-frequent parenthetical comments I always include in my blogs. Just like me! (the ADD part) The book is informative and thorough. It educates everybody from a casual fan to a serious fan about the history of the league and ties it in perfectly to where we are today.
I could go on and on about it. Just read it. Don't want to spoil it.
2) I won't spoil the details of the book or its structure, because everybody should read it fresh, but... There is a page and a half of the book (p. 520 - halfway through p. 521) where he analyzes the movie Teen Wolf.
I haven't laughed out loud while sober that loudly or for as long in... shit, in forever, as I self-effacingly laughed at the fact that I've seen Teen Wolf at least 20 times (and I'm sure Bill has too) and that Bill connects Michael J. Fox's character's personal development to a certain current NBA star that's just funny and kind of deep at the same time.
Read the book.
P.S. Argh... got to do it - slight spoiler. The guy who is compared to Michael J. Fox's character from Teen Wolf is Kobe. Read it. Then, after you chuckle and read about Kobe's place in NBA history, anytime you read anything remotely complementary or neutral about Kobe, read the details of this. I mistakenly did this today and I wish I didn't. I can't objectively look at his smug fucking face anymore. I literally felt nauseous that somehow the world forgets that he did this a few years ago. He should be villified as much as Vick. He personifies the "he thinks he's above the law because he's famous" hubris that so many celebrities seem to have, except he raped a 19-year-old girl and got away with it. I don't think the girl was lying. He did it. Read the page. He did it exactly how the Wikipedia page says so. It just makes too much (common) sense. Kobe basically admitted it after the whole ordeal was over.
At your own peril, and at the risk of feeling nauseous yourself, and at the peril of being able to objectively watch Lakers games again, read the Wikipedia article I linked to. Tell me if the account of it on Wikipedia doesn't resonate as being 100% plausible. Here was part of his statement after:
"I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman. No money has been paid to this woman. She has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."
Umm... what?!? How could you possibly say "she has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case" and "I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year"? IF SOMEBODY BLATANTLY LIED TO THE POLICE THAT YOU RAPED THEM, why would you make statements like this? Think about the O.J. case and imagine if he said things remotely like this when the trial was over and he was going to inevitably go to civil court. Kobe is fucking lucky he wasn't treated and viewed like Tyson after his rape.
Anyway, sorry, got distracted. Bottom line, if you've ever remotely enjoyed anything in your life about the NBA, and ESPECIALLY if you used to enjoy the NBA and don't anymore, read the book.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
It's been a busy two months for the Frazier family.
First, in December, Mrs. Frazier and I became homeowners. This made us happy. Even the snowiest winter in Philadelphia-area history could not cool off our spirits.
Moving... a huge hassle, but allows you to "streamline" your life and throw out a bunch of useless shit... in theory.
Home ownership isn't all rosy. Apparently, it's not always sunny in Philadelphia. Sweet hat, Walt.
The two-foot snow was followed 4 days later by a foot of heavy snow that closed school for two days and even broke branches off of some of the pine trees in our lot.
Anyway, so as all of this was going on in South Jersey, Beer-on-the-Girl, my brother, accepted a federal job in Boston and had to figure out how to sell his condo and not take a huge hit on it with the state of the real-estate market.
(By the way, all you clowns better give him as much shit when he comes home for Toilet Bowl 2010 in a Tom Brady jersey as you give me for professing to like the Eagles.)
Our mother, Fubby, was looking for a good reason to go through the hassle and life-change of downsizing now that the two of us are grown and she had a 3-bedroom house to herself. And, amazingly, she found a buyer very quickly for her house on Margaret Street in Teaneck. So, it was done. BotG has an apartment set up in Boston and is starting his new job tomorrow, Fubby will be settled in Hackensack in BotG's condo very soon.
I suppose this is the end of an era - the Margaret Street era. Officially saying goodbye to one's childhood is bittersweet. No more juvenile debauchery like this. Maybe it's for the best.
First, in December, Mrs. Frazier and I became homeowners. This made us happy. Even the snowiest winter in Philadelphia-area history could not cool off our spirits.
Moving... a huge hassle, but allows you to "streamline" your life and throw out a bunch of useless shit... in theory.
Home ownership isn't all rosy. Apparently, it's not always sunny in Philadelphia. Sweet hat, Walt.
The two-foot snow was followed 4 days later by a foot of heavy snow that closed school for two days and even broke branches off of some of the pine trees in our lot.
Anyway, so as all of this was going on in South Jersey, Beer-on-the-Girl, my brother, accepted a federal job in Boston and had to figure out how to sell his condo and not take a huge hit on it with the state of the real-estate market.
(By the way, all you clowns better give him as much shit when he comes home for Toilet Bowl 2010 in a Tom Brady jersey as you give me for professing to like the Eagles.)
Our mother, Fubby, was looking for a good reason to go through the hassle and life-change of downsizing now that the two of us are grown and she had a 3-bedroom house to herself. And, amazingly, she found a buyer very quickly for her house on Margaret Street in Teaneck. So, it was done. BotG has an apartment set up in Boston and is starting his new job tomorrow, Fubby will be settled in Hackensack in BotG's condo very soon.
I suppose this is the end of an era - the Margaret Street era. Officially saying goodbye to one's childhood is bittersweet. No more juvenile debauchery like this. Maybe it's for the best.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Book of Basketball
Just started reading Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball.
Great read so far. Simmons provides hilarious and pointed insight as both an educated fan/sportswriter. His ideas provoke lots of thought on a number of fronts. Right now, based on his discussion of Wilt Chamberlain vs. Bill Russell, I'm revisiting my analysis of Tim Duncan as a player. More later...
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