Jared W. Smith

As you’ve probably seen in the news, Southern California is being ravaged by wildfires. It’s a frightening situation, to be sure, and it’s hitting quite close to home: a good chunk of my extended family in San Diego has had to evacuate their homes. They’re going to a safe place closer to the coast, which is the important thing, but I can’t begin to imagine what they’re going through right now. Please keep everyone who’s affected in your thoughts — let’s hope that those terrible Santa Ana winds back off so the firefighters out there can gain some ground and save what they can.

UPDATE: Meryl Corant of WCBD interviewed me about the fires. It should be on at 6:00 tonight.

UPDATE 2: You can read and watch the story, which aired on the 6:00 news, on WCBD’s website. It’s well done, I think. Thanks for your support — I just got another update and indications are that things continue to be OK, so that’s a good sign. Here’s hoping for a change in the pattern soon…

Three weeks ago, I had nothing but venom and anger for the Rockies, as they slid right past home plate (and my Padres) into the National League playoffs. Now, though, as the Indians have fully collapsed and the Red Sox are going to the World Series (much to the relief of the FOX Sports rating counters, I’m sure), I’m fully backing the Rocktober Movement to sweep the World Series as they’ve done their last two series enroute to an unprecedented first world title.

My, how the postseason changes things so quickly.

There’s only one October.

Thoughts while watching Josh Beckett surgically dismantle the Indians’ lineup:

• Birth control for 11-year-olds. Say that out loud. If it looks absurd, and sounds absurd, it’s probably…well, absurd. Maine is out of its mind.
• Good for Joe Torre, telling the Yankees “no thanks” to their one-year-deal that screams that they have more faith in a snail, or in this case, Don Mattingly, to manage the Bombers. He knew when he wasn’t wanted.
• Memo to Rafael Perez from an armchair baseball manager who has never played a day of organized baseball in his life: Always go for the sure out. Don’t try to be a hero.
• These late postseason games are really beginning to wear on me. They are just way too late in the day for most reasonable people to enjoy.
• I’m really glad tomorrow is Friday.

I find it hilarious that David Carr still thinks he should start for the Panthers at quarterback when Vinny Testaverde, who studied the Panther offense for a grand total of four days after getting off his couch, ran it much better than Carr ever has during the duration of this season. Carr looked lost in his starts, he held the ball way too long (his offensive line is no longer an excuse), and he paid a physical penalty. He’s clearly still rattled in the pocket, and should not be starting.

Yes, I realize Vinny’s won one game, and was against the Cardinals — not exactly a defensive juggernaut. But I would much rather have the veteran Testaverde starting against the Colts in two weeks versus Carr, who claims that he should start because he saw the Colts twice a year in the AFC South. (He didn’t mention that he only won one of the games on a last second field goal.) Even a broken clock is right twice a day, after all.

The media is going to frame this as a quarterback controversy, but there’s no controversy — Testaverde needs to be the starter.

October’s been a lousy month for the ol’ bod. In the first week I came down with a really awful cold that has recently decided to attempt to make a long-term stay as bronchitis — though the antibiotics I’ve been prescribed should vanquish the bug in a week or so. It’s been awful, with random coughing attacks that have just left me miserable. I find it tough to talk for more than a minute without hacking, which is quite problematic to say the least.

More crazily, though, is that my knees just hate me. My left knee has been acting up a bit — I probably tweaked it a bit walking fast through traffic on campus. More freaky is the fact that sometime while I was sleeping Friday I must have screwed up my right knee pretty badly, because Saturday walking on it was painful. (No, I don’t sleepwalk.) Sunday was close to impossible, as putting any weight on the knee just flared it up beyond belief. So, I stayed off the knee as much as possible for a couple days. It’s doing better now, but it’s definitely a little unnerving feeling pain and popping in the ACL region of the knee.

Finally, my hair has gotten much thinner. Perhaps it’s the stress of three classes and a full-time job. It may be my shampoo frying my hair, causing it to fall out. Perhaps genetics — yes, baldness runs on my mother’s side — are gaining the upper hand. I think others are noticing, too — I’ve been carded once in three weeks, mostly at places I never go to, so it’s not like they just knew I was over 21. I wasn’t carded at all during the Cleveland trip, for example.

I really hope November’s better.

The 2008 run to the presidency is notable for just how much the candidates on both sides of the aisle really seem to be purveyors of mediocrity (possibly excepting Ron Paul) and aren’t really doing a great job of catching my attention, at least. Well, at least, until now.

Stephen Colbert has declared his candidacy in South Carolina. If he manages to get on the ballot, I’ll actually throw a vote his way — it’d be a great protest of the utter lack of choice that our system provides. Is it bad that there is no candidate on either side that can really get me engaged in the process this time around? This year’s elections, more than ever, scream why we need more than two viable parties in this country, because it’s clear that candidates of both parties do an excellent job of pandering to their base and not much else, leaving us moderate voters in the dust, as usual. I am just getting extremely frustrated with voting against a candidate rather than voting for one.

My road trip to the ALDS Game 2 between the Yankees and Indians this past weekend was a blast, despite this absolutely horrible cold that I was (and still am) fighting tooth and nail for the duration. Continue reading Cleveland »

My buddy list is almost empty — it is quite clear that Fall Break has arrived at the College. I wonder how decimated my class’s attendance will be tomorrow. I’ll be working through Fall Break doing some training on a new content management system we’ll be bringing online, but I’ll still enjoy a couple days away from class. I’ll probably use the break time, during which nobody will likely be home, to get a few things done that I’ve desperately needed to do. I’ll try to get a few things implemented on this here site as well. Oh, and I need to figure out what I’m bringing to the LCB blognic Sunday.

October has finally arrived, 11 days into the calendar month. It actually feels like October now. Apparently it’s going to feel even cooler than that, with temperatures expected to plunge into the lower to mid 50s. That’s quite a downshift from the mid-70s lows we had just a few days ago. The first part of October was definitely insane, temperature-wise. I don’t know how anybody took it.

With the cooler weather settling in, I’ve noticed my fall/winter playlist is starting to emerge. Heavy doses of 2000-2001 era Ryan Farish and a sizable helping of Trammell Starks are becoming the order of the day. BTW, The Weather Channel released a compilation of smooth jazz tunes used over the years during the Local Forecasts. I don’t know how I feel about the song selection. I sure can’t remember “Holding Hands” by Ryan Farish ever being used on the channel (then again, I barely watch it anymore). Kudos to them for including some 3rd Force from 1994, but I would have liked to see a few more oldschool classics. What about Carmel by Joe Sample? Valley in the Clouds by David Arkenstone? Those tunes helped define TWC in “the good ol’ days.”

While I’m on this bizarre Weather Channel tangent, expect a new look for the Local Forecast next Tuesday. TWC is beta-testing a new look for the IntelliStar local forecast insertion machines in about three locations this week, with nationwide release slated for next week. Beyond the look, which does a respectable job of finally putting to bed the six-year-old design for the titlebars, little has changed to the system itself, aside from one thing. Somehow, they’ve found a way to make the IntelliStar even more annoying — in the text forecast area, where the robot voice (Allan Jackson, NOT the country artist) narrates the forecast, they now have sound effects to indicate rainy weather if that’s what’s forecasted. While the graphic that comes with the text forecast is useful for illustration purposes, the sound effect is completely distracting and has to go. Everyone I’ve shown it to seems to hate it. Let’s hope they eliminate it and don’t add more sound where is necessary.

I’m currently in Wytheville, Virginia, enroute to Cleveland, Ohio, where tomorrow Tom from work and I will see the second game of the Indians’ playoff series against the New York Yankees. I was able to hook up my Mac to my Blackjack and take advantage of the 3G speed in Charlotte, where we watched the Indians absolutely whip the Yankees in the Chili’s by Lake Norman.

We’ve driven over some pretty beautiful parts of the country. I’m sure tomorrow will bring quite a few sights from the higher elevations of West Virginia as we get into Ohio. It should be quite a ride, and quite a great game. I’ll have more in the next day or so as the trip continues.