Jim's Guts

We have a “Bill of Rights”?

Hurray Judge Aiken!

Money quote - "For over 200 years, this nation has adhered to the rule of law — with unparalleled success…A shift to a nation based on extra-constitutional authority is prohibited, as well as ill-advised."

Dain Bramage…

In late August of 1982 Mr. Stout and I met at what is officially known as the United States Navy Training A-School, but to those of us in it, it was Corps School, they place where Navy Hospital Corpsman are born. Because we were in the same class (214 I think) we must have been at Basic Training during the same time, but we didn't meet till "A-School". Life is a funny thing, and as it is with most life changing events, you don't know how it happens, but you eventually figure out why. Both of us did well in class (though he better than I) and started to study together, which led to us hanging out together, which led to getting to really know each other. Like me, he was the only son of a "blue collar" family and had grown up in Merced, about 2 hours south of where did.

The more we hung out, the closer friends we became. We both loved movies, video games, food, and had a ton of other commonalities. Because our folks lived fairly close we'd "carpool" home, eventually becoming more like brothers, just with two sets of parents. Though our Naval paths split within a year of graduation, we continued to stay in touch, and visited each other as often as time and money would allow.

Over the past 25 years we've covered a lot of ground, losing my dad, his dad, his mom, and my mom, the buying of houses, his graduation from college and commissioning as an officer in the US Navy, my moving to Washington and getting married, his moving to Washington and getting married. Through all of it we've hung together. Though there might be times when we'd go a month or so without speaking, we'd always pick back up right where we left off.

Earlier this week our journey together took a very unexpected turn as Mr. Stout discovered that he had two tumors on his brain. Surgery was performed Monday night, but due to the location and size they were not able to remove the tumors. They did however get a sample to examine, and as I type this, we're still awaiting the pathology results.

They say that blogs are pretty much a vanity thing, typed mostly for the author, and I can't really argue that point. That said, I know that there are folks who stop by occasionally, and to you all I would ask this – If you're someone who prays, please keep Mr. Stout in your thoughts. Regardless of exact type, this is liable to be a little aggressive for both the disease and treatment, so he'll need all the karma he can get.

In addition to updates on his condition, I'm probably going to be doing a bit of reminiscing via posts when I can, just to sort of "get it out there". Thanks for your indulgence, thoughts, and prayers.

Something doesn’t add up…

Like a lot of football fans, I've been thinking about the New England Patriots "cheating" thing (like many, I hate all the "-Gate" versions so I'm going with "Snaps, Lies, and Videotape or SLV for short) a fair amount and a couple of things bother me.

First off is the reaction of current and former players to SLV – I've heard guys like Bettis (drugs on team) Emmitt Smith (more drugs), Terrell Davis (drugs, Mike Shanahan admitted to stealing signals himself, and worst of all salary cap manipulation) all talk about how they feel cheated. As the old saying goes, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

But here's the thing that really gets me – I think the Patriots (and let's not kid ourselves here, this wasn't something that Belichick did alone, the organization had to have known about this, it's Belichick's team so it's ultimately his responsibility, but the organization helped) did it on purpose. Seriously, I can't come up with any other explanation because nothing else makes sense. Think about it, the team had been warned that they were going to be watched based on prior suspicions. They were playing a Jets team that, while plucky, weren't exactly the Colts. They knew that the Jets were going to watch them like hawks for any competitive advantage. Last, but certainly not least, is the fact that Belichick is a master tactician and one of the smartest guys in football, after the warning he had to know they'd get caught. In other words, the Patriots had everything to lose and very little to gain. And yet they did it anyway.

The piece I'm missing is the why? Why would they do something that they knew would lead to trouble? Was it to try and give the team a "circle the wagons" mentality? They didn't really need that. Or was it to create a diversion for something else?

I've got no idea the real answer, but you have to admit that the Patriots getting caught at videotaping their opponents defensive signals during the first week of the season, doesn't make sense either…

Random access…

Wow, it's been a while since I had a random access column, so here's my quota for this month;

The glamorous life of an IT professional…
While cleaning out the IT storage room I had a lot of debris to take to the dumpster so I grabbed one of the gray carts and headed down. It wasn't until the return trip that I notice the cup holder. That says to me that there are folks who push these around enough that the need to carry their beverages with them. Maybe Information Technology ain't so bad…

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics…
I watched the President's speech last Thursday and I was struck by the fact that he never used numbers when talking about the military currently stationed in Iraq. Instead he used the military term divisions. Now I grew up a military kid, and have studied a far amount of military history, so I know how many individuals make up a division (usually around 10,000 give or take a few hundred), so when Mr. Bush said that we'll leave 15 divisions still in Iraq I have to wonder how many people went to "the Google" to see that it was basically back to pre-escalation levels?

This is just wrong…
The Boca Java "coffee" company, some flavors and money quotes;
- Maple Bacon Flavor – "Embark on a smooth sail each morning with this breakfast flavored coffee. The taste of sweet maple and smoky bacon blend perfectly to create a hearty start to your day."
- Hound Dog Heaven – This one scared me, I was trying to figure what dog flavored coffee might taste like, but believe it or not the real description is actually worse, "Enjoy that ol' time rock and roll feeling with this rich peanut butter and creamy banana coffee that rocks your socks off!"
- Bananas Foster Float – "Float on top of the world with the international favorite and original New Orleans creation of flamed bananas with cinnamon, brandy, and brown sugar! The luscious taste of our Bananas Foster coffee is true paradise in a cup."
Really, it's worth a stop by their site just to look at the pictures that go along with the coffees. Wow…

Still no phone call…
As the L&T occasionally reminds me, my phone isn't exactly ringing off the hook with college and NFL teams offering me a coaching position. And yet… I can't help but wonder just wait the heck was going through the minds of a few coaches the last two weekends. Yesterday it was coach Holmgren – Fumbles happen, as do weird plays, it's just part of football. What I don't understand is why the Seahawks just let the clock run instead of taking their two remaining time outs. Unless he was saving them for next week…Oh yeah, you can't do that! Sorry, yesterday's loss made my head explode several times (3^rd place in the NFC West behind a SF and Arizona. The NFC sucks)

The second head scratcher actually came from Navy's game with Rutgers last week. We're an option offense, have been for years, and while I understand the need to change it up so that defenses don't get into too much of a groove, passing shouldn't be your first option. Or at least after 3 interceptions by your QB you might change it up, but nope, the Mids continued to pass their way to defeat.

That'll do it for now, I'm sure more ranting will come up soon…

80’s music

As George Bernard Shaw famously said "Youth is wasted on the young…" I was thinking about that recently as I looked back over the concerts I've seen these last few of years. I came of age in the 80's and listened to what is generally referred to as "New Wave" (with some Ska, Reggae, Pop, Rock, early Rap, and about every other class of music, thrown in occasionally). During that time I was in High School ('82), Navy ('82 – '86), and just starting out ('86 on) which is a way of saying that I didn't have the biggest entertainment budget, so I wasn't doing a lot of concerts.

During the 80s I saw:
- The Cars (while in high school)
- REM and The Thompson Twins at the San Diego County fair (different shows, same fair)
- Oingo Boingo in small SoCal clubs
I also attended one super concert on Labor Day 1983 – Madness, Oingo Boingo, and The Police. The whole thing was hosted by Martha Quinn (yep, that Martha Quinn, I had such a crush on her)

As I've gotten older my musical tastes have grown up with me (yet as the L&T would attest they continue to be very diverse), but you never forget the music of your youth. In fact the only real difference is that now I can afford to go to the concerts! In the last few years I've seen;
- Oingo Boingo – The band I've seen most, this was their farewell tour, and probably the 13^th or 14^th time I had seen them (dating all the way back to "The Royal Knights of The Oingo Boingo")
- The Psychedelic Furs
- Echo & The Bunnymen – Very dark concert, with the band all lit from behind, I'm scared to think what they looked like
- The Bangles – Best venue ever. We saw them on the Beach Stage at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. You can sit on the sandy beach, or you can go stand in the 2' – 3' water. It was great
- The Fixx
- Midnight Oil (on two separate occasions)
- Joe Jackson
- General Public, A Flock of Seagulls, and Devo – At Nike's "Run Hit Wonder" in Portland
- The B-52s
- Tears For Fears
- The English Beat
- Neil Finn (solo)
- Duran Duran – I can't believe I forgot this one in the original, it was a fantastic concert
And just this year:
- Crowded House (as noted in my Bumbershoot post)
- Eurasure
- The Police

Now that my friends is some music! But it does raise the question – Regardless of when you saw it (back in the day or as they've toured again) what's your favorite 80's concert?

“Something So Strong”

I've lived in Seattle for 17 years now, and each Labor Day I think to myself "I should really try to get to Bumbershoot this year…" And for the past 16 Labor Days I've been busy, or noncommittal, or just missed it. For those of you not familiar with Bumbershoot it's a three day music festival with acts from across the spectrum of music. Seriously this year acts ranged from the Pacific Northwest Ballet to the Wu Tang Clan, and pretty much everything in between. It's a great bargain with tickets $30/day and once you're in, you're free to see anyone you'd like (and don't mind queuing up for).

This year was a little different however because a perennial "Gang" favorite, Crowded House, had reunited with founding members Neil Finn and Nick Seymour, one time band mate Mark Hart , and new drummer Matt Sherrod and opening this year's festival, so there was finally impetus to get off our duffs and go.

Deciding we had best be well fueled for the day ahead; I, the L&T, Kris & Sandi, Fina, and Timmy met at The Blue Star Café for some breakfast (Laguna scramble [eggs, spinach, mushrooms, onions], potatoes, and sourdough toast, or as the L&T refers to it, my "freezer jam delivery vehicle") then made our way down to the Seattle Center.

None of us had been to Bumbershoot before, so we weren't really sure what to expect, but it was actually smoother than I expected. The queue was pretty long to get into the grounds, but when the gates opened the line moved very quickly and soon we were in the queue (notice a pattern?) to get into the show site, a large outdoor venue. The weather was fantastic, warm and sunny, so we found a spot about 50 feet from the stage in the center and chatted about everything and anything while waiting for the show to begin.

When the band came on they didn't disappoint! Huge energy, great mix of old and new music, fun with each other and the crowd, it was a great show. In fact my only complaint was that because it was a festival they were on a very tight schedule and could only perform for an hour. I understood it, but was bummed out none the less. If you get the chance, go see them…

Fina & I decided to stick around for the next act, The Shins and said goodbye to everyone else. We certainly listened to the music, but spent most of the show in the back catching up. But we had darn good atmosphere…

I said goodbye to Fina, got a little something to eat, and closed out the my day with Head Automatica where I was easily the oldest guy in the room.

So, would I do it again? Probably, if the right band was coming, it was a lot of waiting around and you couldn't band hop as much as I had hoped for, but I did have a great time. Thanks to the Gang and the L&T for a wonderful end of summer bash!

GYGIG Day 3

My hip still hurt a bit when I got up on Sunday morning so I figured I needed to get underway as quickly as possible to allow myself as much time as possible (because of Closing Ceremonies the schedule, by necessity, is pretty tight and doesn't allow for much fudge factor). So after a quick pastry and some coffee it was time to hit the road. I was a little bummed about leaving so early because I had hoped to ride a bit with the Elan crew, but I didn't want to take any chance of being too slow so I kissed the L&T au revoir and hit the road.

Speaking of roads, Washington state uses an interesting technique to update their "surface roads" (meaning routes other than highway or freeway), via a process known as "chip-seal". You can read the full Wiki description here, but the easiest way to explain it is this – Take a bunch of small rocks and spread them all over the road. Then take a hot oil / sealant and spray it over the top. Don't worry about making it even, or rolling it, or compacting it, just drop and spray. The effect on cars and trucks is that it's a little louder than regular asphalt. Ah, but what about the effect on bikes? Well imaging riding the wrong way over a grater, nothing but bumps and vibrations on a very small and not very well padded seat for 13 miles. Or to put it another way, one of the riders had a bright green sticker on which she had written "Chip seal SUCKS" and then affixed it to her helmet. I should note that I love the route and there are really no other options, but it's still not the most pleasant way to start the day. Anyway…

The first leg is flat (bumpy, but flat) and I got in with a couple of folks and we made good time to rest stop 1 at the NOAH Center, a very cool animal shelter that lets GYGIG use part of their parking lot. The Northwest Organization for Animal Help works with local shelters to give animals another shot at finding a home. Many thanks to NOAH's Board and staff for helping us out…

The second and third leg were mostly uneventful and I got a chance to ride with someone I had met briefly on Friday. "J" is a Crohn's patient (I'm never sure what the right word is here? I mean I usually refer to myself as a "UC guy", I don't like using the word "sufferer" but "patient" sounds so clinical, and as usual, I digress…) around my age and up from the Bay area in California for the ride. I grew up in Sacramento so we knew a lot of the same places, and I had a good time just chatting and riding along… Until the "incident"… We were on the bike path and had to go through a constriction, "J" went first but because of traffic had to stop, I checked up, almost did a track stand, and then fell. It's at this point where my narrative and J's differ somewhat; "J" insists that she did not laugh, but I was there and I'm here to tell you that she did. Honestly, I can't blame her, it was pretty funny and I would have laughed too (I think I did actually). It always amusing to see a guy who should know better not unclip and fall over and the bike was fine. The only problem with the whole thing was that I fell on the right side. And landed on my hip. Ouch – J, who is now known as "The Laughing Girl" (a title she bestowed on herself), helped get me to lunch (for which I'm very grateful), where I did some ice and got some food.

For the purposes of time I'll shorten the rest of the ride portion – Sagged to rest stop 4, hammered to 5 stopping only long enough to say "I'm here" then out again, finished.

Because I got the sag support I actually finished ahead of a few people and got to see them come in. In particular I got to see Katie & Paul finish and am so glad I did. Katie, in her 20s, has IBD and was there with her wonderful mother who was working on the crew (her mom is super nice and as soon as you started talking with her about Katie, she got a little faklempt, it was very sweet). Katie really struggled on day one, and she was concerned about the last two days, but with the help of Paul (great guy from Michigan) they concurred day three finished together. After they crossed the line it "got a little dusty" for a lot of us and was a fantastic way to finish the ride portion.

By tradition there is a holding area at the end of the route, but the "finish" is where the closing ceremony is held. This is done so that we all finish together with no one being first or last and is a really nice way to acknowledge all the riders. Because of various logistical issues, holding and closing were actually about 1.5 miles away, and few wanted to get back on the bike for another mile, until… The 1^st thing was that we'd have a police escort, then we found out that the 1.5 miles was downhill, then people saw the view on the decent, and suddenly the mood changed and folks loved it. I know that the Seattle logistical coordinator wanted us to go at a leisurely pace, but we had a police escort and were waved through traffic stops, so those of us in the front flew down, it was fantastic!

The closing was wonderful and Kirsten and I made our way around saying goodbye to everyone. As has become our custom, we didn't stay around for the BBQ (though I understand it was delicious), instead we went home, played with the dogs a bit, got cleaned up and then went out to dinner so I could have "Red Meat & a Martini" ™ (NY strip steak, medium rare and a very dry Hendricks' Martini, up with olives).

All in all, even with the challenges, it was another wonderful experience. I met and was inspired by so many people, I said in one of the interviews I did before the ride that this "was one of the most important things I did all year" and it's true.

Hopefully next year I'll get to ride the whole thing ;-)

Football Season is here!

I love this time of year. The college football season kicked off last weekend (with big wins by Navy and Washington) and it's the first week of the 2007 NFL campaign! As we head into kickoff Sunday everyone has so much hope (unless you're Oakland)! Everyone is undefeated! Everyone has a chance to go to the Super Bowl (again, unless you're Oakland)!

The Seahawks start the season at home for the first time in many years, so I'll be in the stadium this afternoon. Yelling, joking , making fun of, and basically enjoy the hell of the day and my 4 other season ticket holder mates!

Football season is here…

Where the heck have I been...

...Let's see - Get Your Guts In Gear, followed by a weekend at the Coupeville Arts & Crafts Festival (as guests of the Compass Rose), "Young Frankenstein" at the Paramount (fantastic by the way), The L&T went to Boise, and then I went on Golfapalooza 8. Today is Bumbershoot to see Crowded House and Head Automatica (who's lead singer has Crohn's), then tomorrow is the MFL draft. Suffice it to say, we've been busy!

I'm still stoked about blogging, and I'm thrilled that people actually read this thing. I have several posts started, the issue has been finishing them. Hopefully, now that the summer is winding down I can get some of these finished...
GYGIG Day 3
G8
80's bands I've seen recently...And many more...

Till that time I'm going to barrow an idea from a guy I read frequently, Tbogg. Here's a couple of palate cleansers (and my first attempt to embed You Tube!)

 

Terminally cute!

My favorite Crowded House song

Head Automatica