Monday, December 29, 2008

On To Something Better

First off, congratulations to Allen for winning our fantasy football league! He wheeled and dealed all season, making some great trades and picking up key free agents at the right time. It was quite a different experience for me than fantasy baseball, and hopefully I'll do better next time around. (For the record, my team won as many games as the Chiefs did, but with two fewer losses!)

In a few short hours I'll be headed to the airport, where it'll be a 90 minute flight to Chicago, followed by a 9 hour jaunt to Munich before a final 3 hour leg to Ankara. If I'm reading the itinerary correctly, it looks like we should land in Ankara on Tuesday around 3pm local time, 7am Maryville time.

I intend to blog as much as possible while I'm gone, we'll see how that goes!

That Took Forever

Wow. Just ... wow. All I can say is that the Chiefs season is finally over. 2008 ended up to be much messier than I (or anyone else) imagined. Today there are all kinds of interesting stories in the Star of what different players are saying, as well as a great season summary by Poz:

Before I say anything else, I want to share my respect for Herm one last time. He said, "You anticipate the best, but it didn’t turn out like we’d like for a lot of different reasons. I’m not going to state the reasons. I don’t need to do that." It's pretty clear to me that Herm will be gone, and I expect he's inclined to think the same. How can you not when you've lost 23 of the past 25 games?

So if there ever was a time to throw someone under the bus - this is it. A single poor play by a DB has twice cost us a game this year. Another was lost because Bowe couldn't hang on to an on-side kick - and the Chargers should send him something nice today. I know Herm is the coach, but it's still settled on the field. Good for him to take the high road when a lot of people wouldn't.

That being said, I will finally relent and say he's got to go. For me it's not just about Herm, it's about Gunther as well. They are both defensive guys and yet they just finished putting the worst defense on the field in team history. Are you kidding me?? Worse than what we watched in the Chiefs/Colts playoff game that featured zero punts? Yep. You've given them time to draft and develop some defensive talent and they finish the season by laying an egg against the Bengals. On top of that, they still don't have a clue how to use Derrick Johnson. Will he ever be a play maker?

The season was going to be judged on how well the young guys developed, and it just doesn't seem to be enough. If you haven't read Posnanski's article, you really should. When Herm challenged that play of Bowe's - I felt the same way. It was as if Herm knew we couldn't score with 1st and Goal from the 1. And he was right. We stink at short yardage, and that's got to be fixed. I imagine the spread experiment is over.

Herm has helped out the future of the team by giving playing time to a lot of young guys, especially in the secondary. Flowers, Carr, Leggett, Pollard and Page could be good for quite a while. But the defensive line is suspect and the linebackers stink. Herm also tied his future to a quarterback who has been injury-prone his entire football career and will likely never take another snap for the Chiefs. That blew up in his face big time.

I am thankful to be much less of a fanatic than I used to be, the losing doesn't bother me nearly as much as it used to. I feel bad for the people who post at the end of the Star's articles - there are some really unhappy folks in this world. It will be an interesting off season for the Chiefs, hopefully the franchise can only go up from here.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Good read

Just a quick link:

Broncos offensive tackle left lifestyle to follow God.

Fast Forward

Time to get caught up again, so this morning it's a bullet list:

  • Daily Proverb - I'm still spending my morning quiet time in Proverbs, today was chapter 26. I really love this chapter, it's one of my favorites and has challenged me a lot in the past. I'll throw out verse 10 for now: "Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any passer-by." Sometimes we so want to fill a position or vacancy that we'll lower our standards in order to find someone to take the job. That can definitely be true in church circles, where almost everyone is a volunteer.

    I've run across this at BSU in seeking future leaders, and once while considering a candidate the Lord brought this verse to my attention. It might give us a warm feeling to have all of the blank lines filled in with names, but in the end the results will prove our decision was foolish. It's probably better not to have a position than to have one that's filled with the wrong person. I don't know who all this applies to out there, but I encourage you to keep it in mind.

  • Merry Christmas! - I didn't get an official Christmas post in (although obviously updates have been lacking a bit recently). So here's a little something to pass along to you all. How many of you are familiar with Tim Hawkins? He's a comedian who was an all Big 8 baseball player at MU and is also a Christian. I borrowed a DVD of him from Tate several months ago and just got around to watching it this week. He's got lots of stuff on YouTube. This one looks to be straight from the DVD, I don't know how long it will be active, but go ahead and watch, it's short:


  • New Chief at the Top? - Apparently Carl Peterson is resigning. I think that's a good thing, although I'm not jumping up and down for joy and didn't honk my car horn in excitement like some did when they heard the news. I was at the game against the Chargers, the day before his resignation was announced. That was downright cold, but I still had lots of fun! I hadn't been to a game in several years, I still can't pinpoint how long it's been. I was joined by Allen, Gary and Bob:





    There were some irritating clock management problems at the end of that game, and it was even more apparent to those of us sitting there freezing in the stands. This past Sunday against the Dolphins was more of the same - playing well enough to just lose a close game. Unfortunately I had a bit of a DVR mishap and missed the last five minutes or so. Oh well, maybe it was for the best.

    I'll watch with interest to see how the off-season unfolds. A case can be made for bringing Thigpen back as the starter next year, although that's still probably tied to keeping the spread offense around. If we get a new coach then I don't think that will happen. I'm expecting to see Herm stay another year, that's just my gut feeling right now. Blah blah blah, this is the part where Karin checks out... probably the other three of you that read this as well. :)

  • Divorce Averted - It seemed to be a case of irreconcilable differences. My lawyer had the papers all written up. But in the end, I just can't bring myself to get rid of Pippin. It's mainly just a matter of annoying things that he does, and that seems like a pretty lame and selfish reason to get rid of a dog. It probably also has to do with Cooper - before we got him I didn't know just how cool a dog could be. Either way, he's going to live with us until the end of his days. (Hey now, don't read into that!)

  • Turkey Approaches! - Next Monday I'm heading to Turkey, with an expected return of January 9. I think I've got my laptop and home computer all set to video chat and my outlet adapters should arrive tomorrow. I've needed some better snow shoes for a while, and a few days ago picked up a pair of waterproof/steel toed shoes. I fully intend to tromp around Turkey in those and my big brown coveralls. I won't stick out at all :)

    Assuming I can secure some Internet abilities, I'll try to add plenty of updates here while I'm overseas. I would certainly appreciate prayer for myself and my family during this time. Thanks!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Watch That First Step...

Here it is, Friday night, just about time to go to bed. Tomorrow we're going down to my parents' house to have Christmas with my family, I'm sure it will be a great time. I just finished watching Groundhog Day (have it on DVR) and it sparked some thoughts.

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were in that situation? If you were able to live one day over and over again? I've thought about that many times. In fact, there are some days where I've thought, "I would HATE for this to be that day!" (I have often had this thought while spending all day driving somewhere for a mission trip. Imagine weeks of non-stop driving. Ug.) Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I ever ponder this question on a really good day... I wonder what that means...

Anyway, I think the movie does a great job exploring what an average person might do. We'd probably start off taking advantage of a life without consequences and would fulfill our every desire. Phil (Bill Murray) eats every dessert he can order, finds a woman he can seduce, and robs an armored truck to give himself a large bankroll. But the movie cleverly reveals that this is a very unfulfilling life. I know this to be true, and as a Christian I believe I know what (or should I say, "Who") life is really all about. While the movie falls a bit short of my answer, Phil does eventually find that it's much more rewarding to spend your life on others rather than yourself.

So why is it so easy to lose sight of that? Nothing drastic has happened recently... I don't have some horrible unconfessed sin to reveal. It's more a matter of simply letting days go by here in December without really doing anything with them. After all, it's Christmas "break." A week or two ago I added a verse to my desktop background, because it's something I constantly need to be reminded of: "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you." (Proverbs 4:25) In today's vernacular it might say, "Keep your eyes on the prize." Apparently putting it on my computer wasn't enough, as I'm still so easily distracted.

Unlike Phil, I don't get to do any one of these days over again. Each one is precious and should be treasured. Paul gets it, and writes these words in Ephesians 5:15-16: "Be very careful, then, how you live— not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." It's been a period of about two weeks, but since classes ended at Northwest, I've really been on cruise control. Nothing embarrassing to report, just floating along instead. I've prayed that the rest of break will be different.

If nothing else, this blog post will at least bump the dancing Spidey down the page a bit :)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Time Warp

I blinked, and it appears that I haven't blogged in over a week! The last week of classes was fairly hectic, but finals week (which was last week) was actually nuts for me. Normally it's a very relaxing time, but instead I was finishing up a research paper for a grad class. I've been working on my master's degree (MA in Religion) from Liberty University, and I just finished History of Christianity I. Good stuff! I think I can begin resuming normal activities again.

But before I do, let me simply start out with this ridiculously cool animated GIF of Spider-Man. I found it today on the WoW Mini's forum, and I have no idea what dance Spidey is doing. At first I thought it was from Napoleon Dynamite, but it doesn't seem to match up. Does anyone recognize the moves, or is it a Spidey original?



Sunday, December 07, 2008

Don't Phish in Colden Pond!

A little while back I shared a phishing scam that had come through our Hotmail account. This morning I just checked the BSU's school email account with Northwest and got my first ever scam email there. The only bonus is that it came from "info@nwmissouri.edu" ... other than that it is ridiculously lame. I'll copy and paste it below and will put my own comments in italics.

**************************************

--

Really, the message begins with "--" ... like the HELP TEAM sat around for hours trying to decide what to write here and when they couldn't agree they gave up and went with the mysterious dashes.

ATTN USER,

Does "ATTN" make it more official, or less? And someone might feel like the school just views them as a USER, but I think "STUDENTS/FACULTY/STAFF" might have worked a bit better.

This message is from the mail server center to all users and
account owners.

For the record, I don't think we have any account "owners." The majority are simply renting the account - and the rent goes up every year.

We are currently upgrading our data base and account
center. We are deleting all email account to create morespace for new accounts.

This one definitely gets them in trouble. If only they knew that the University deletes a student's account not long after they graduate or leave school. Not sure how long it takes, but I'm guessing not more than six to twelve months. Of course, there's also the obligatory misspellings and bad grammar - "account" and "morespace."

To prevent your account from been inactive you will have to update it below
so that we will know that it's a presently used account

Lazy school. If they just talked to the Registrar's office, they would know which students still go to school here!

CONFIRM DETAILS
USERNAME :
PASSWORD;

At least they're not shy about what they're trying to get. I want to know why PASSWORD gets a semicolon. Clearly the HELP TEAM wasn't comprised of English majors.

Thank you for using nwmissouri.edu !

No, thank YOU for the diploma eight years ago!

Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ

Wait a minute... I still have my old student handbook lying around here. VX2G99AAJ? It says here that it's a phishing scam designed to test if students are smart enough to be a Bearcat!

Thanks,
HELP TEAM nwmissouri.edu
LIVE INTERNET SERVICE

Again, let me thank you instead. I appreciate the hard work of the HELP TEAM and the LIVE INTERNET SERVICE I'm able to get with my laptop every time I'm on campus. And thanks for giving me an easy way to extend the streak to five days.

**************************************

Saturday, December 06, 2008

The Exorcist

I've got a little bit of a daily streak going here, so I think I'll go ahead and make a quick Saturday morning post. Today I'm going to see my parents to try and rescue my mom's computer. It seems to have a host of viruses, which suddenly makes me wish I had come up with a cool tie in to Legion :)

Anyway, last night my resident computer expert, Tim Dreyer, gave me a list of programs that any computer doctor would want in his handbag when making a house call. I can't give a great description of what they all do just yet (hopefully I'll be able to later today!) but I thought I could list them here in case anyone needs the help. All of these are free but some also have pay versions, so be sure to look for the right download link. A big shout-out to Tim for all the help!

  • AVG Anti Virus - a completely free anti virus software. It's what all the kids are using these days, and it's supposed to be just as good as the ones you pay big $$ for.

  • Spybot Search & Destroy - I think it removes spy bots, but maybe it gives stock quotes or sports scores...

  • Avast Anti Spyware - heard what Spybot was doing and wanted to join the crowd.

  • Hitman Pro 3 - a good diagnostic tool with an even better name. Malware runs in fear.

  • Autoruns - lets you see every single program that automatically runs on your computer.

  • Ad-Aware - another good program, this one detects all kinds of bad stuff on your computer. But I'm sure it doesn't critique any of your term papers.

  • a-squared Anti-Malware - every college student knows the only thing better than one A's is two A's!

  • RootKit Revealer - a tool that (as far as I can tell) helps clean up your Windows registry against those hard-to-reach problems.

  • CCleaner - comes in to optimize and clean up your computer after all those other guys have finished doing their jobs - and tracked mud all over the house.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Video Fee(d)

It's time for another video post, this one is of Steve Fee playing "All Because of Jesus" which is a song that he wrote. I don't know how many of you have heard it, but it's one of my absolute favorite worship songs.




(For those seeing this as an imported note on Facebook, you can see the original post on my blog at http://yaggleberryfinn.blogspot.com)

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Being a Wise Guy

Continuing with the Proverbs theme, two of my favorites are a pair of proverbs found back-to-back in chapter 26. At first glance they can be a bit confusing.

Proverbs 26:4

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

Proverbs 26:5

Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.

Hmmm ... is this a contradiction in the Bible? Did the compiler of Proverbs begin to jot down verse five, immediately forgetting what verse four said? How do we handle these two competing pieces of advice?

The key is in the understanding of wisdom itself. The person who has wisdom is not simply one that has knowledge. Wisdom means someone who is skilled at life. It is one who recognizes the proper application of the knowledge that they have.

So here we see that sometimes the wise thing to do is to ignore the fool and say nothing. Other times it is wise to address the fool directly. The key of wisdom is knowing which time is which! It's kind of like being an offensive coordinator. There are many plays in the playbook, but a skilled coach knows which play is best to call in a given situation.

This requires thinking and insight, which is where I think we get in trouble. It would be much easier to just have a list of rules to follow that covers any and every situation. But life is not a simple mathematical formula. If it's a formula at all, it's one with a large number of variables!

Proverbs tells us that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." While this phrase is worthy of several blog posts on its own, I will say here that it is pretty much always tied to submission and obedience to God. Only as we lay aside our best thoughts and learn to see things the way God does and follow His ways will we understand true wisdom and begin to live a skilled life.

And as that happens, we will certainly know better than to call a fake field goal and expect to gain ten yards with our 250 pound kicker.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

First Things First

As I've probably mentioned before, Proverbs is usually what I consider to be my favorite book of the Bible. That is certainly subject to change, and has often taken a back seat to other books at times, but I always find myself drawn back to the simple yet profound wisdom of Proverbs.

A proverb that has really been challenging me recently is 24:27, which says, "Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house." I've read that the "build your house" phrase may be an implication of marriage and building a family. If that's the case, then my initial application may be a bit out of context, but it still lines up well with overall biblical truth.

It's hitting me in this way: take care of what's important before you spend time on what is non-essential. You can live without a house, but you can't live without food. If you start working on what will make you comfortable instead of planting and tending to your crops, you're going to be in trouble. That's probably a pretty obvious truth, but I'm certain it causes problems for people every single day. Here's how it's been playing out for me recently.

The first area has been financial. I was blessed with some extra income for a time, and during that period it seemed that all kinds of needs came up. The washer had to be replaced and the dryer repaired. The van suddenly needed four new tires. We still needed money for Christmas presents and property taxes. (Those last two obviously come every year, but this was a convenient way to cover them.) Almost all of the extra income was exhausted, and yet here I am both surprised and pleased to see that there is some left over for me to "build my house"! And it comes with the peace of knowing that the "fields" were taken care of first.

The second area has been in regard to leisure time. I often find myself at home in the evenings wishing I could just have some "me time." And I've come to realize that I feel that way quite often (I am often surprised at my selfishness!) and can easily rationalize how I deserve a break. But the Lord has been challenging me and helping me to see that my wife and kids are more important than anyone else - including me, and I need to tend to their needs first. Of course the Bible confirms this repeatedly, such as in Philippians 2:1-4 or Ephesians 5:22-33. And again, I'm amazed at how He then provides me the opportunity to "build my house" and do some of those things I want to do.

The whole thing makes me think of Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Monday, December 01, 2008

Winning is Overrated

For the frangible faithful out there, blogging will resume this week. I was living in the land of slow dial-up (not a redundant statement, by the way. There are varying degrees of dial-up, and this was very slow) and was unable to post for the past week or so. Naturally, the first thing to discuss is the Chiefs end to a seven game losing streak.

I find it quite amusing that now that the Chiefs finally won a game, some people are saying we only won because the Raiders gave the game to us. Are you kidding me? A win is a win, right? How many games have the Chiefs given away this year? The other team didn't get an asterisk next to those games, why should we? So quit the whining about getting a tainted win. Now, on to the bulleted game items:

  • Thigpen Gets a Win! So What? Several of the stories in today's KC Star point out that Thigpen finally got his first win as a starter. Good for him. However, it came in possibly his worst performance of the last five games. So what does that stat really mean? Could it be that he's lost several of those past games, not because of his performance, but because the defense and special teams have been terrible? Why does the QB have to get all the credit for a win or all the blame for a loss? Is Larry Johnson ever judged by a win/loss record? How about Derrick Johnson, or even Derrick Thomas for that matter?

    Folks will rave about Ben Roethlisberger's rookie season or even how Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan are doing this year. True, they're making plays and avoiding mistakes, but aren't they surrounded by quality players? They have good running games (ATL - 2nd, BAL - 3rd), or pretty good defenses (PIT - 1st, BAL - 2nd). The Chiefs are actually 12th in rushing (no doubt helped by Thigpen himself), but are dead last in defense.

    To me it's a bit like the win/loss stat for starting pitchers. They have no control over what kind of run support they get, which goes a long way in determining whether or not they win, not to mention the bullpen's ability to hold a lead. ERA is a much better stat for a pitcher, although it sounds like advanced stats like ERA+ are even better. Yesterday's win was nice, but it had more to do with the defense avoiding big plays and JaMarcus Russell playing horrendous.

  • Thanks, Russell! It's an obvious point, but wow did JaMarcus Russell look bad. He had all day to throw (again, little pressure on the QB!) and looked like the early season version of Tyler Thigpen, badly overthrowing wide open receivers. I haven't watched any other Raiders games, but I would question whether he's made any progress. Again the Chiefs failed to notch a single sack, but Russell managed to fall down all by himself. I'm guessing he'll get another year to prove himself, since the Raiders have so much invested in him. One more season for the Chiefs to reap the rewards!

  • Missing the Mark Am I the only one that thought the passing game really suffered without Mark Bradley in the lineup? Or did he actually step on the field? Maybe he was there and just never got any looks ... but his presence definitely stretches the field and opens things up for Bowe and Gonzalez. Gonzo certainly had a monster day, but Bowe was MIA and had another ball bounce off of his hands. I imagine it's the sophomore slump striking again, and still expect Bowe to be a quality number one for years to come.

  • The Most Irritating Offensive Play Back in the days of good defense, I always hated it when the Chiefs would have everyone covered and get some pressure on the quarterback only to watch him take off and run for a first down. It sure is nice to have a guy who can do that for us instead. For the game, Thigpen had 11 carries for 48 yards, some of which were short gains that prevented sacks. There was a nice QB keeper in the red zone where Charles ran as a lead blocker - I think Thigpen would've scored if he had followed him to the end zone rather than cutting off to the left.

  • Field Goals Make Me Want to Barth Do we finally have a kicker we can rely on? Is this what the Chiefs expected from their last rookie, Justin Medlock? (And did I just curse Barth by bringing up that name in the first place? Nah, a curse would involve mentioning Lin Elliot. Ooops...) So far he's 8/8 on the season. That's enough to cause me to overlook the fact that he's a Tarheel.

  • Say What? Just something I read multiple times today in the Star: the Chiefs have 17 rookies on their roster. Wow. Nothing to add... just... wow.

  • Injury to Insult Did anyone else see the hit Bernard Pollard laid on Justin Fargas just after Rocky Boiman had caused him to fumble? I'm glad I have DVR - I watched that play four or five times in a row. O U C H. Unfortunately it does seem like Pollard often goes for the big hit rather than wrapping up. It's hurt us before, but this time it was highlight material.

  • Still Not Pro-Bowl Material Earlier in his career, Donnie Edwards wondered aloud what he needed to do to get to the Pro Bowl. The response was that it wasn't enough to post 100 tackle seasons and play every game, he also needed to make game-changing plays. For at least the second time this season, Derrick Johnson had a potential pick-six bounce off of his hands. Until he starts making plays like that, he'll continue to be a guy playing way below his potential and the expectations that come with being a first-round drafted linebacker.

  • Marty Said There'd Be Days Like This Of course we save the best for last. Marty Schottenheimer had a theory that if you just wait long enough, eventually the Raiders will do something stupid to lose the game. The Chiefs didn't actually have to wait that long, as the Raiders ran the craziest fake FG attempt in the second quarter.

    It was 4th and ten, and it appeared that C-Bass was supposed to run for the first down. Are you kidding me? He might have the best leg in the history of the NFL but he certainly doesn't have two of them. The Chiefs may have the worse record, but that play right there defines the Raiders. Of course the "pitch" was bad and Maurice Leggett picked it up and returned it for a TD.

    That play was unbelievably dumb, and it turned out to be the difference in the game. Maybe the Raiders should've been watching the Nebraska-Colorado game on Friday to see how a fake field goal could blow up in your face?