How Old Are You?

So I got one of these forwarded emails from a family member of mine. You know the ones. This particular one kinda set me off a bit, here is what it said and then I'll comment after it -

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Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general. The Grandfather replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before: television
penicillin
polio shots
frozen foods
Xerox
contact lenses
Frisbees
andthe pill

There were no:
credit cards
laser beams
orball-point pens

Man had not invented:
pantyhose
air conditioners
dishwashers
clothes dryers
and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air
andman hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandmother and I got married first, . . . and then lived together.
Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir".
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir.
"We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings. We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.
Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . . . but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day:"grass" was mowed,
"coke" was a cold drink,
"pot" was something your mother cooked in
and"rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
" chip" meant a piece of wood,
"hardware" was found in a hardware store and
"software" wasn't even a word.
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap...
and how old do you think I am?
I bet you have this very old man in mind...you are in for a shock!Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.

Are you ready ?????
This man would be only 60 years old
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So I kindly responded to my family member with "that's not all they had". They also had this little thing called apartheid. And that man that is 60 years old today, probably wouldn't have lived to see 60 back then, you know, without polio shots, penicillin and all that nonsense. I'm sure they also thought it was ok to beat their wives when they "got out of line a little" or even "take the kid out behind the shed to give him an attitude adjustment". yea...they had it so great back then compared to today. If anything, it was scarier to live back then.

Blast from the Past #1

I am so conceeded that I tend to google myself and see what I come up with. Well, there are a lot of interesting links out there so I thought I would link some of them from my past.

Here is the one - Link

This is a tournament report from a Star Wars CCG touranment that took place in Tucson on October 2, 2000. Almost 7 years ago, I sat down across from Kiki and engaged him in a fight that would have determined the winner of the tournament. It was a hard fought match but it was Enrique's day to shine. He played well and deserved the victory. That deck that Kitani had was a great build too.

Fantasy Football 08 Team #3

This is the last team that I have for this season and arguable, the most important. It is in my dad's Beeline Fantasy Football League. There is a lot on the line in this league. Outside of the money, there is, more importantly...respect.

Team Name - The Sushi Machine

I mean, have you tried a ZigZag roll?

QB - Tony Romo
RB - Shaun Alexander
RB - Travis Henry
WR - Roy Williams
WR - TJ Hoosyermamma
TE - Kellen Winslow
K - Nate Kaeding
DEF - San Diego

Bench
JP Losman
Michael Turner
Eric Moulds
Jason Witten
Josh Scobee
Raiders

I think that this is my strongest team. This is a big league as well, so the teams aren't as stacked and we have to carry 2x kicker, 2x defense on the roster. I'm pretty happy with the QB situation here. I have two guys who have huge potential upsides. They won't be as solid as a Peyton, but both have a higher chance to just go off on any given sunday. My RB are solid. My bench is on the weak side, but it's a big league. I think this team will perform the best out of my three teams. I will probably snap up a breakout WR in week 1/2 to replace old man moulds.

Fantasy Football 08 Team #2

Team Name - Playtester Rage

The team name came from my days of experience when communicating with Playtesters and being a playtester myself. It always felt like there was no grey area, it was just always black or white, broken or sucks. This is for Trevor's league and I did this draft live...except for the part where I took Chester Taylor.

QB - Peyton Manning
WR - Roy Williams
WR - Hines Ward
WR - Vincent Jackson
RB - Travis Henry
RB - Marshawn Lynch
TE - Kellen Winslow
W/R - Marion Barber III
K - Robbie Gould
DEF - Dallas

Bench
Devery Henderson
Chester Taylor
Rex Grossman
Mushin Muhammad
Michael Turner
Ted Ginn Jr.

Meh...i'm pretty weak in the RB department overall, but Petyon slipped to like the 9th pick or so and I thought he was better than the RB that were available and I knew I could float Travis Henry around the wheel. I think that Lions WR (Williams/Johnson) are fine picks. I think with Mike Martz there, an improved pass blocking line, and a decently armed QB, the Lions will put up numbers on the scoreboard.

Fantasy Football 08 Team #1

I stole this idea from Trevor, so here are my Fantasy Football teams.

Team Name - Chastrength

Team named after a typo in one of the Lord of the Rings TCG sets. Who knows how it got in there. This team is for Brian Fred's yahoo league. I got this team completely on auto draft.

QB - Jon Kitna
WR - Lee Evans
WR - Calvin Johnson
RB - Shaun Alexander
RB - Travis Henry
TE - Antonio Gates
W/R - Brandon Jacobs
K - Nate Kaeding
DEF - New England

Bench
Brett Favre
Joey Galloway
Kellen Winslow
Kevin Jones
Isaac Bruce
Jason Hanson

It's not bad. I seem to have a thing for Travis Henry this season. A good RB a couple years ago in a system that rewards RBs seems like a good matchup. Who knows...it could be a trap.

GenCon wind down

Well, i'm sitting here in the lobby of the Marriot waiting for the taxi to come. It has been a great show. We got a great turnout for both WoW Nationals and the Vs. Pro Circuit.

I was able to see a lot of my friends at this convention. Chuck, Evan (I couldn't stop by and say hi, but I did see you), Kyle, Mark, Trevor, Mr. Beal, Matt Kirk, Charlie, and a couple blast from the pasts in Jon Vandermeer (yes, that Jon Vandermeer and yes, that infinite loop deck at Worlds '98) and the Terwilligers (they have all growed up). I also saw both Hunter brothers towering over everyone else. I was half expecting Jeremy Lamere to come strolling in. It was good to see some people back playing. I know that they will do well.

I did coverage over the weekend, you can find my handiwork here. It was fun doing coverage again, but man am I rusty.

Can you guess which Orc Shaman I am from the Dark Portal set in that picture? I'll give you a hint, he might double as a rogue borg.

I'm happy to be going back to sunny southern california (nice stench and humidity Indy...you cesspool). I have to nurse this cold back to health or Ant is going to kill me if I miss a day of work.

Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain - I Am Murloc - WoW

Rock Out

Phew

Ok...so I'm back, it's been a rough couple of weeks.

Right from ComicCon, I went to Arizona to move Marnie and the girls out to California. Got everything set up, ready to go, and confirmed. The movers got there on time and we were off to California by Tuesday afternoon.

On the road to California, the A/C in the jeep goes out. This sucked bad because it's super hot in the desert between Phoenix and San Diego. We move both dogs to the Uhaul and Marnie suffers in the Jeep. The Uhaul cab was pretty cramped with 2 dogs and me in it, but at least we had the air conditioning.

About half way to San Diego, I get a call on my cell phone. It's the apartment complex, our new apartment is flooded (water main broke) so we can't move into that one. They have another one set up for us. In the meantime, while we are on the road to San Diego, Marnie has to call SanDiego Gas/Electric, Cox Cable, etc. to get all of our information changed to the new apartment.

We make it to San Diego finally, the traffic is a bit ridiculous, but Marnie does a good job of keeping up (she doesn't like big city freeway traffic). We check into the hotel and get cleaned up. There is no A/C in the hotel and it's kind of humid out, but whatever.

The next morning, we drop off the Uhaul at the apt complex before heading to PetSmart for the girls grooming appt (babysitting while the movers get the stuff in the house). This is about 2 hours before we are scheduled to move in. We go into the office to let them know we arrived and we'll be back in 2 hours to move in. They say that our apt isn't ready and that we can stay in a model apt for the night. We say this is totally unacceptable. We have movers coming, cox cable coming, etc. They say that they'll reimburse for any problems, but we continue to push this as being unacceptable because we can't reschedule either because it's a ridiculous lead time. They pull some strings and get the carpet cleaners in there asap.

We get the paperwork signed and get into the apt. There is zero cell phone reception. We weren't given a chance to check out the apt before we signed and this was all they had so we were stuck. No phone sucked bad, the movers got a little lost so they were delayed. The Cox guy shows up and tells us that it's going to cost extra to get cable into the 2 bedrooms. We tell him that's not what the Cox operator said. He said he's sorry they are mistaken and that we can call them but we'll still have to pay etc. Ridiculous! The movers show and unload everything. We have a garage, but can't park either vehicle in there without significant manuevering that neither of us want to do on a regular basis. It's a small garage and the street is narrow and it's on the side of the street, yea...a pain in our ass.

There is no A/C in the apt and despite having 4 fans going and opening up all the windows, it's still pretty hot.

Went to Blizzcon last weekend, which was fun. Saw the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and played a bit and played a bit of Starcraft 2, but demoing for 12+ hours and gunslinging for 4+ hours over 2 days was a bit hellish.

On top of all this, I had a severe outbreak of the gout. So I have been in pain for the past 5-7 days or so.

It's been a week of hell, etc, but we are finally moved in.