Random Thoughts 10/31/14

• My older two boys are going to a church lock-in tonight.  That seems so weird that they're old enough for that kind of thing.
• Kansas sophomore, Conner Francamp, is transferring from KU to seek more playing time elsewhere.  It's a shame to lose him but this is part of the embarrassment of riches from which Kansas suffers.  The Wichita native will probably be a major contributor elsewhere.
• My silence on my blog lately can once again be blamed on the "if-you-don't-have-anything-nice-to-say" principle.  Especially in regard to politics and current events.  It's all soooo frustrating.
• Virgin Galactic's SpaceshipTwo exploded in flight today, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other during a test flight.  This is the first of five spacecraft that is supposed to carry paying space-tourists in a year or two.
• Don't forget to vote next Tuesday.
• Today is Halloween and I think I am settling into a calm but cautious position with the whole thing.  I'm not too bothered by the abundant offensive aspects of the holiday, i.e. reveling in wickedness and devilry and such.  I know most of it is meaningless even if it offends my sensibilities and, though I'm not a fan, I don't let it get my blood pressure boiling anymore.  At the same time, I have no interest in participating in much of it either.  I'll hand out candy and try to be friendly, of course.  I'll even let my little kids dress up (I prefer "nice" costumes but I know my boys have always liked the scary stuff).  But I'm still a long way from endorsing or encouraging Halloween celebrations as they exist today.  As a father, I'm a hundred times more concerned about the sexually provocative costumes of young ladies than I am about psuedo-Satanic paraphernalia.  It seems that Halloween in recent years is prompting far more lust and gluttony than ritual sacrifices of the neighbor's cat.

Random Thoughts 8/30/14

• It's football season again!  Finally.  As I get older I seem to enjoy college basketball more and more but there's nothing quite like NFL football.  I get warm cozy feelings just from thinking about taking a nap with the game on in the background.
• Fantasy Football is back too.  Our church fantasy league is in it's 13th year, not counting four or five years at Rushville before that.  This year I have a decently strong pair of QBs in Andrew Luck and Matt Ryan and for the first time ever, I have the #1 overall WR, Calvin Johnson.  I feel like I got good value at most of my picks but that may be because I kept drafting players that other people were avoiding (I'm looking at you Reggie Bush and Arian Foster). 
• This is Brennan's first year playing fantasy football.  He comes in knowing almost nothing but he's a quick study.
• I'm typing this in my new home office.  We moved Anneliese downstairs and renovated her room into an office space.  It's perfect for when I have meetings and counseling at home, when Shannon has cake customers, and as additional space for homeschooling.
• I'm not normally one to share a video parody of a pop song… but this one is both cute and actually a bit educational at the same time.  And it showcases Kansas farmers.
• And then I discovered why farming is one of the most dangerous occupations.  Because tractors.
• The first openly gay football player drafted into the NFL got cut from his team today before the season even started.  Yawn.
• What happened to 3D TV? 
• A&E cancelled their best-rated scripted show, "Longmire."  Really?!  Hopefully another network picks up the show.
• Oh, I guess Al Gore was wrong.  Seven years ago he said the summer polar ice cap would melt in seven years.  Not only has it not melted away, it has actually has grown two summers in row and this year it gained almost 2 million square kilometers (about the size of Alaska).  Oh, yeah, and polar bear numbers are higher now than 40 years ago.  Guess what, folks, the Earth will heat and the Earth will cool but we're not causing it (and neo-communism won't fix it).

Random Thoughts 8/8/14

• How many super-hero movies does it take before the genre wears out its welcome?  We're gonna find out.  In the next six years, comic book publishers Marvel and DC have 33 films slated to be released.  This will include both well-known franchises like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men and Avengers, as well as lesser known or seldom seen characters like Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Wonder Woman, Sinister Six, and more that I had to look up on Wikipedia.
• As a nerd, I'm for more comic-book based movies.  But I can't help but think that the majority of people are just going to get worn out on it.  There's also a plethora of comic-based TV shows such as current shows "Agents of SHIELD" and "Arrow," and upcoming shows like "Gotham," "Agent Carter," "Daredevil," and "The Flash," among others.  Too much?
• So former KU one-and-done player Andrew Wiggins finally got traded from Cleveland to Minnesota, as most people expected.  He'll now be in a better position to be the star but that comes with greater expectations and risk of failure.  It's a shame, too, Cleveland is fairly close to Wiggins' hometown, Toronto.
• So I listened to a sermon today online.  The preacher repeatedly cursed from the pulpit, using the f-word and "a**h***" mostly to be edgy, express anger, or to get a cheap laugh.  So disappointing.  It's ironic though, his sermon hinged on using "judge a tree by its fruit" to condemn homophobia, while his own language was dripping in worldliness and profanity.  I think the sermon made a good attempt to express Christian love but it failed miserably at demonstrating Christian holiness.
• I think what surprised me most, besides the cussing, was how the sermon wasn't completely wrong.  I knew it would be from a liberal theological bent, which would dismiss traditional Biblical interpretations with smugness and arrogance to find room to criticize the church and affirm societal norms.  And I figured the tone would be permissive and emotional, self-deprecating and apologetic.  But because of that, I assumed everything the preacher would say would be wrong.  It kept throwing me off balance that he said a lot of truth between the cuss words.  It's a good reminder that the most dangerous lies are the ones wrapped in truth.  You keep nodding your head in agreement and then little compromises that are almost correct are thrown in while your guard is down.  How dangerous.

Random Thoughts 7/16/14

• Does anyone still play poker?  I haven't played in a couple years, but only because other things crowded in and took over.  We had a weekly poker night at my house, never gambling any money but keeping track of everyone's performance on a spreadsheet.  We had over a hundred different people come to our house to play from about 2006 to 2010-ish before the regular game died out.  I know that the No-Limit Hold-em game is past its heyday but I'd like to get that home game going again.
• Speaking of poker, this year's World Series of Poker has concluded.  The professionals proved yet again that poker isn't a game of mere luck.  Phil Ivey won his 10th bracelet, Ted Forrest won his 6th, and 2009 champion Joe Cada won his second bracelet.  Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Layne Flack, Jeff Lisandro, and Todd Brunson all made (multiple) final tables.
• I meant to post the devotions I wrote for church camp this summer.  In fact, I thought that I already did.  I'll post both of them later today or maybe tomorrow.
• The MacBook Pro which I use at work and home is easily the best computer I've ever owned.  I've had it for about three and half years and it's still going strong, no problems, no issues.  I still expect that someday, I'll transition from a laptop to a tablet, but that day hasn't come yet.
• This is me not talking about politics.  If you don't have anything nice to say…

Random Thoughts 6/5/14

• Sorry for the lack of blogging.  I've been ridiculously busy; I think I had two full days off in the month of May.  Busy, busy.
• KU added another recruit a couple of weeks ago, and follow this closely now…  he's a 6-8 guard from the Ukraine named Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, who is only 16 years old (he'll turn 17 this summer before he gets to campus).  His name is pronounced Sviat-is-slov Meh-kai-luke, but everyone calls him "Svee."  He speaks English, can play all three positions on the perimeter and is probably the best recruit out of Europe this year.  Because of his age, he'll have to stay at KU at least two seasons before going pro.
• Our 18th wedding anniversary was last Sunday.  This year will be Shannon's and my "tipping point," our 19th year.  We were 19 when we were married and this year will match our years married to years unmarried.  We've been together since 16, so we passed the tipping point of years together a few years back.
• KU is now in possession of the original rules of basketball.  As such they are building an $18 million, 32,000 sq-ft temple student activity center to house the documents adjacent to Allen Field House.  You can see the architectural renderings here.
• So we traded five terrorist leaders for one possible deserter/turn-coat.  Apparently we DO negotiate with terrorists.  I feel like our President has just needlessly endangered the lives of all westerners traveling abroad.  How is that not common sense?!

Random Thoughts 5/10/14

• The Chiefs surprised just about everybody and drafted the one position they really didn't need, defensive end/outside linebacker.  Auburn's Dee Ford will probably be a great player and it'll be nice to have depth at something as important as pass rusher, but all the experts (and most fans) were shocked the Chiefs didn't try to address any of their many areas of need.  That said, I agree with the assessment that they drafted Tamba Hali's replacement.
• The Chiefs didn't have a second round pick and took a cornerback in the third round.  They have four more picks on Saturday, hopefully to use on offensive linemen and wide receivers.
• Five players from the Big12 were drafted in the first three rounds, including two from West Virginia.  That's compared to twenty-three players from the SEC.  Missouri's Michael Sam was still undrafted going into day 3.
• Comic book nerds rejoice!  ABC has renewed "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD" for a second season and has greenlit to series the Captain America spinoff "Marvel's Agent Carter" (which will be run by the people who wrote Joss Whedon's show "Dollhouse").  All of this is due to the success of Whedon's Avengers movie.  In the next year we'll be flooded with various comic book-based television shows, which may or may not be a great thing.
• Other television show renewal or cancellation news…  Cancelled: "The Neighbors," "Community," "Enlisted," "Growing up Fisher," and a ton of other (mostly new) shows which centered around being a young hedonist in New York City.  Renewed: "Castle," "Arrow," "The Goldbergs," "Elementary," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Grimm," "The Blacklist," and lots of other shows, many which centered around being a young hedonist in New York City.
• For those of you scoring at home, the Kansas Jayhawks have lost two basketball players who will transfer from the school: Senior point guard Naadir Tharpe and Junior shooting guard Andrew White III.  This opens up two additional scholarships if Bill Self wants to pick up any transfers or late commitments.  With Tharpe's absence, the Jayhawks will have no seniors on the roster… which begs the question of what they'll do for senior night.
• NBC has locked down the official broadcast rights to the Olympics through 2032.  Bob Costas, the Dick Clark of NBC sports, is under contract through about 2075.

Random Thoughts 5/1/14

• We're in the planning stages for a family vacation at the end of June.  We are heading to Colorado and possibly other mountain states.  Any suggestions for a non-camping young family on a budget?
• Happy Communism Day (May Day).  It's also the National Day of Prayer, which might be more helpful in addressing the world's problems.
• KU announced today that PG Naadir Tharpe is going to transfer.  Considering the number of poor choices he's made on and off the court, often keeping him in Bill Self's doghouse, many KU fans are welcoming the news.  Normally, however, you don't celebrate the loss of a senior point guard who can shoot, regardless of his issues.
• KU also missed out on the recruitment of 5-star high school center Myles Turner.  Yesterday Turner chose home-team Texas for the 2014-15 season.   It is looking likely that KU may still land the top-remaining point guard, Devonte Graham, who could possibly start next year in Tharpe's absence.  The 6'2" Graham is a top-40 player in this class.
• This comedy video, "A Tour of Kansas City," is kind of funny.  It's also a bit crude at times, so be warned.  But it's hard not to appreciate a few inside jokes about your home town.
• I've been enjoying a church history podcast called "Communio Sanctorum."  It's usually about 15-20 minutes and very well done.  I like anything that makes history more interesting and easy to listen to.

Random Thoughts 4/10/14

• Jayhawk Draft Watch Day 18:  Joel Embiid, as most expected, declared for the NBA Draft yesterday.  Now both Embiid and Andrew Wiggins are going to the NBA, hoping to be drafted in the top-5 on June 26th.  Wayne Selden Jr. has already announced he is staying for a second year and no other underclassmen are expected to leave early.
• 6-11 center Myles Turner was the only unsigned player at the McDonald's All American game.  The rumors were that he was waiting to see what Joel Imbiid was doing before he made his decision, implying that if Imbiid left, Turner would go to Lawrence.  That's yet to be seen, but Turner's decision is expected next week.
• Danny Manning, 47, is now the new head coach at Wake Forest, after two years and a tournament appearance at Tulsa.  Jeff Boschee, 34, is now the head coach at Missouri Southern in Joplin.  He's been with the program for four years as an assistant. 
• So David Letterman is out and Stephen Colbert is in as the next host of CBS's "The Late Show."  Hmmm…  Colbert's character on "The Colbert Report" is really funny but he's playing a caricature of a pompous conservative.  The unfiltered, liberal Stephen Colbert might not go over as well.  That said, whatever audience Letterman still has is probably conditioned to accept unfiltered liberalism.
• After 14 years with DirecTV, we've switched over to Google Fiber's TV package.  For a guy like me who hates change, it was like pulling teeth.  A different remote, a different on-screen guide, different channel numbers!  Argh!!!  But in the end, DirecTV was too expensive by itself.  Google Fiber has been the best internet provider we've ever had and bundling the television package with it was going to save $30-50 per month, depending on what the fees and taxes end up being.  Throw in the free Nexus tablet and a few other perks and it began to make too much sense.

Sweet 16 (2014) Final

Oops.  I almost forgot to post this.

Our collective inability to pick the upsets in this year's NCAA tourney resulted in low scores and a rare tie for first place.  Jared and Kristi stalled out at 304 points, but congratulations nonetheless.

Probably the most notable pick was Dustin taking Tennessee, a play-in team, and putting them in the correct range, 5th-9th.  Another solid pick was Jared taking Kentucky over Wichita State but placing them 16th almost completely negated the potential 80 points this pick could have garnered.  In the end, it was our complete blind spot for UConn that hurt the most, leaving almost 100 points unclaimed by anyone.

Honestly with a UConn and Kentucky final, none of us had a chance.  If, however, we had Biff's Sports Almanac we would have come up with this lineup:

Instead, we did this:

Sweet 16 (2014) Round 5

Well, I'm pretty sure this has never happened to us before.  We're down to the championship game and virtually everybody is out.  Nobody had UConn at all.  Only Jared had Kentucky but as his 16th team, a sign that he didn't trust them to actually beat Wichita State.  7-seed UConn and 8-seed Kentucky are the worst championship game pairing in NCAA history.  Typically, a Sweet Sixteen list wouldn't include anything below a 4-seed.

We are obviously nowhere near the 461 points we could potentially have at this point.  A perfect score after six rounds would be 477.

Most years, everyone still has at least one team, and often both teams, still alive going into the final game.  This isn't most years.

Now UConn and Kentucky will square off and Jared and Kristi are tied 304 to 304.  If Kentucky and their slime-ball head coach wins *spit*, Jared will win 305-304.  If UConn wins *eye-roll*, Jared and Kristi stay tied.

What on earth happened, Kansas?!

Random Thoughts 4/3/14

• So the television show "How I Met Your Mother" ended on Monday.  Personally, it was a huge letdown.  Barney's reprobate-redemption was almost on the mark but fell short in my opinion.  And the whole final twist about the mother and kids' interaction made the entire show's concept seem cheapened to me.  Some of the disconnect may be attributed to the show staying around too long past its peak.
• Speaking of shows, this is the time of year television shows get cancelled.  I was going to try watching "Enlisted" or Michael J. Fox's new show but I just heard they both got cancelled.   Shannon and I watch the very silly "Neighbors" (think "Third Rock From the Sun" but with kids) but it's one of the shows that's on the bubble and may not survive to see a renewal.  I haven't seen "The Crazy Ones" but I've heard it's dangling by a thread as well.  The same goes for "Revolution".
• Nothing apparently can kill "Community," the share that dares you to cancel it.  Obviously, show-runner Dan Harmon knows where the bodies are buried.
• Do you remember when "American Idol" was a thing?
• Some shows have had more success and I might consider binge-watching to catch up, if the show is worth it.  I haven't ever tried "Mike & Molly", "The Goldbergs", or "Sleepy Hollow"; does anybody have any recommendations?
• Here's a fascinating but brief survey of British accents.  The speaker is a dialect coach and it's impressive how easily he slips out of one accent and into another.
• The McDonald's All-American game was last night.  Kansas had a player on each team, power forward Cliff Alexander and shooting guard/small forward Kelly Oubre.  Both played fairly well and had their share of highlights though it's hard to say an all-star game like this really shows you anything.  Hopefully both players will make significant contributions next season.

Random Thoughts 4/1/14

• No April Fool's Day pranks here today.  It's almost impossible to get on the internet and read anything on April 1, with everybody tripping over themselves to show how clever they are.  Snore.  I'm not believing anything I read or hear until April 2.
• KU Draft Watch Day 9:  Andrew Wiggins had a press conference yesterday and declared his well-known intentions to go pro after just one year.  Supposedly Joel Embiid is still undecided.  Wayne Selden, Jr. has announced he is staying for another year.  Is it just me, but I haven't heard anything about second-year forward Perry Ellis leaving early.  It seems like he'd have at least a little interest from NBA scouts.  Perhaps not.
• The best review of that Noah movie I've read yet… of course, it's from Matt Walsh's blog.
• Naadir Tharpe, you're on thin ice already, buddy.
• 5-star future Jayhawk power forward Cliff Alexander claims he's considering staying at KU for two years instead of just one.  This in an article with an April 1 dateline.  We'll see.
• President Obama claims 7 million people signed up for Obamacare, just in time to meet that 7 million person goal.  Again, on April 1st he says this. 

Sweet 16 (2014) Round 4

Things have swung Kristi's way.  If either Florida or Wisconsin win another game, Kristi will take the contest.  If both Florida and Wisconsin lose, Jared will gain a point with each of Kentucky's wins.  One Kentucky win will tie him with Kristi.  A Kentucky championship (blech!) will put him up one point for the win.

Again, nobody had UConn.  Oops.

Jared is the only contestant to pick Kentucky at all, and thus is the only one with three remaining teams.

Mike will gain three points with each Wisconsin win, but is too far back to catch Kristi.  He was the only one to have his top two picks make the Final Four.

Sweet 16 (2014) Round 3

And… the wheels are coming off.  At this point, after the Sweet Sixteen round, we are about one hundred points off the mark (a perfect score would be 372 at this point).  The main culprits are Duke, Kansas, and Wichita State, which we put way too much hope in this year.

Nobody had Dayton and UConn getting to the Sweet Sixteen, let alone the Elite Eight.

In theory your top-8 teams should still be active.  All six contestants have between four and six teams still alive, scattered across their lists.  Jared is the only one with six teams remaining but Bryan has his top four still alive, which no one else can say.

Jared has surged into the lead with 281 points and five of his top-8 teams still active.  But Kristi is only five points down and gains four points with every Florida win and two points with every Wisconsin win.  So a Florida-Wisconsin-UConn-Kentucky Final Four would be ideal for Mrs. Champ.  An all-Michigan final would hand it all Jared.

Here's the spreadsheet with way too much red all over it:

Random Thoughts 3/27/14

• I guess that college basketball continues tonight.  But without the Jayhawks, does it really?
• My brother, Dustin, made a brief appearance in a recent KCK Chamber video.  Catch him at the 12-second mark.
• Dick Morris has a short video here explaining the problems with Common Core curriculum in schools, with mention of Indiana's recent rejection of it.
• KU Draft Watch: Day 4.  Wayne Selden has announced two days ago that he is staying at KU for another year.  This in spite of the fact that Selden was seen as a potential first round draft pick this year.  It was reported that Joel Embiid had decided to declare for the draft.  That has since been corrected, as the official position now is that he has not yet made a decision.  Andrew Wiggins hasn't made an announcement yet but he was never expected to come back for a second year.
• I had someone tell me today that "each person needs to find the religion that's right for them."  Um… no.  If all religions were equally valid, then fine, pick whichever one suits you.  But world religions can't even agree on what's "real" or "good" so if some are true and some are false then you have a problem because it might suit you to believe one that has lied to you.  That lie might be, at best, useless and, at worst, destructive.  Now Jesus says that he is exclusively the only way to get to God (John 14:6).  So unless Jesus is lying, which makes his religion a bad one, then Jesus' way is the only way.  Other ways are false ways.  If you say other religions might be good for some people then you are saying that Jesus is a liar (and by extension that those who follow Jesus are bad people).  Jesus does NOT allow for other religions to also be true.  So, is Jesus a liar and is Christianity a bad religion?  I challenge you to see who Jesus is by reading the book of John in the Bible.

Sweet 16 (2014) Round 2

We are obviously not very good at this.  All we had to do was pick sixteen teams and the best any of could do was pick ten; most of us could hardly pick half of the actual Sweet 16.

Dustin and Kristi are leading the way with a modest 222 points each.  That said, Kristi has a distinct advantage with her top-5 teams still active.  Mike also has his top-5 active and can catch up to Kristi with Wisconsin and Virginia success.

Dustin's secret weapon, Tennessee, is still going strong.  Unfortunately Dustin is the only one who has lost all three of his top-3.

Here's the spreadsheet:

Random Thoughts 3/24/13

• Well, my wife has me back until August/September (when football starts again).  Five months.  That's all she gets.
• Roy Williams got old-looking!  For the record he's only 63.
• Wichita State could have won that game but they didn't.  That said, no matter how great they are, they were disadvantaged by not having played against top competition all year.  The Shockers prove that a team like this really can compete and even win it all potentially but I'm convinced that they would be better off to have lost a few games but gained the experience by playing a few more Kentucky-like teams during the season.
• It's too bad about Kansas falling apart at the end of the season.  It's worse that these young one-and-done players are going to leave the college game after less than six months.  
• I obviously know less about brackets than I do fantasy football.  But…
• Jimmy Fallon makes me smile:

Sweet 16 (2014) Round 1

Yes, yes, I know.  The NCAA is calling this "round 2."  Whatever.  "Round 1" was play-in games.  This was the real round 1.

We got off to a great start, with most of our scores in the 120's (out of 136).  The key exception was Dustin, who had a 140.  How did he get 140 points?  He picked Tennessee, which already won a play-in game.  It's risky but, so far, the strategy has paid off in giving him an extra nine points on top of a near-perfect list of sixteen.  It's funny, too: I saw his lineup and thought it was more of a from-the-gut, sentimental list.  Shows what I know.

Duke was the biggest goat so far.  The idea is that every team on your list will win at least two games.  To have a team like Duke go out win-less is a tough blow.  Five of us had Duke and the Blue Devils were ranked as high as fourth (13 points per) on Matt's list.

Here are the numbers:

Note:  We've been counting play-in games since the NCAA started scheduling higher seeds in those games.  This year included a pair of 11's and a pair of 12's, as well as four 16's. 

Sweet 16 (2014) Prelim

We have six participants in this year's contest.

It took me awhile to put the spreadsheet together, but here you go.  The top team will get 16 points with each win, the second team will get 15 points, and so on…


Please double-check to make sure your teams are listed correctly.

I'll update after each round (sometimes the next morning).

Good luck!

[click to embiggen]

Sweet 16 Contest (2014)

The NCAA tourney starts Thursday (play-in games won't count for this contest) and we're all looking at our brackets trying to determine how much we actually trust Wichita State and whether Kansas might find a path to go all the way.

But in addition to filling out a bracket, try my "Sweet 16" contest we've been playing the last few years. Instead of predicting almost 70 games, we pick the best sixteen teams in the tournament and rank them best to worst. The best team will get 16 points for each win, the second team will get 15 points and so on until you get to the 16th team which gets one point per win. If you put them in the correct order, your maximum score would be 477 points.

Last year was a rough year for most of us, but Chris Coker jumped out to an early lead and dominated us through the end.

If you want to play along, just post your list of of sixteen, in order, in the comments section (or email me) and I'll keep a running tally as we go along. The cutoff is Thursday morning.

Oh, and what does the winner get? As always, the satisfaction of a job well done.