First Day of Winter

It's the first day of winter. Somehow it looks a lot like the last four weeks of fall. Here are some pics from the neighborhood:

First Snow

Friday morning, November 21st I woke up to our first real big snow of the season. We'd already had several smaller snows. Nothing compares to the first really good snowfall though.





Of course, now that it's been a couple of weeks of repeated dumpings like this, the novelty is wearing thin. By the time Christmas is past us, I'll be ready for the snow to go away altogether. But, like an unwelcome guest the snow will hang around until early April.

I voted!

I voted for my picks for the 2009 NHL All Star Game. Have you? Go here to vote: http://fanballoting.nhl.com/vote.

Grand Rapids high school students cannot get failing grade under new policy - Grand Rapids News - The Grand Rapids Press Online - Michigan Newspaper - MLive.com

Grand Rapids high school students cannot get failing grade under new policy - Grand Rapids News - The Grand Rapids Press Online - Michigan Newspaper - MLive.com

What? I thought this was a joke at first. What happened to failure being the best teacher? We are becoming a nation of lazy, do-nothings that expect to be bailed out at the first hint of trouble. Sheesh.

Ex-Tiger Mason named pitching coach for Beach Bums | The Detroit News | detnews.com

Ex-Tiger Mason named pitching coach for Beach Bums | The Detroit News | detnews.com

This is kind of neat to have a Tiger connection with the Beach Bums. Not that I didn't already enjoy a nice summer evening lounging on the outfield berm at Wuerfel Park.

So true...

There is some truth to this:

Florida Trip Journal

The following is a journal of our recent trip to Florida.

Friday, October 17, 2008
Pack the car and drive to Romulus, MI to spend the night. Romulus is about a 3-1/2 hour drive from Cadillac where we live. We parked at an off-airport facility and our hotel stay gave us 8 days of free parking at the lot. Since we would be gone for 10 days, only paying for 2 days was a good trade off. We live in Cadillac, so why didn't we fly from Traverse City or Grand Rapids? Because tickets from Detroit (DTW) were $125 each and tickets from Traverse City or Grand Rapids were ~$350 each. We ended up saving about $800 by driving a little farther.

Saturday, October 18, 2008
Up and at 'em! Well, actually we all slept in a bit. Our flight wasn't until 12:30 p.m. and the shuttle ride to the airport was only about 10 minutes long. The flight from Detroit to Atlanta was uneventful but a bit bumpy. We had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta. Never again. In the future I will strive to schedule any Atlanta layovers to be about 90 minutes. Keeping 2 little kids occupied in that chaos was not fun. The flight from Atlanta to Orlando was delayed about 20 minutes as a couple of irate passengers had to be removed from the plane for a talk with the sheriff. Once they were off, the crew could shut the door and we were off. The crew apologized profusely for the delay and the rest of the flight was uneventful. We arrived in Orlando around 8:30-ish in the evening, grabbed our bags (they all made it- yay!), grabbed our rental car and headed off into the Orlando night. Wow was it muggy compared to Michigan. LOL. We got checked in at our hotel in Kissimmee and everyone went to bed. About 2 or 3 the next morning the air conditioning in our room went out and was making a loud screeching noise. Ick. Good thing it had cooled off some outside. We shut off the a/c and went back to sleep.

Sunday, October 19, 2008
First thing in the morning my wife heads to the hotel office lets them know the a/c broke and gets us a new room. The staff was apologetic and very nice about the whole thing. No problem at all. Once we get everything moved to the new room, we head off for breakfast at Bob Evans and a day at Animal Kingdom. Our intention was not to spend the entire day at Animal Kingdom. We wanted to get our girls (ages 6 and 2) back to the hotel by around 4 p.m. for naps and swimming. We still needed to do some grocery shopping too. We arrived at Animal Kingdom at about 9:30 a.m. and stayed until about 3:30 p.m. We spent most of our time in the Africa section and wrapped up our day with Finding Nemo - the Musical. We loved the musical. I can't wait to see it again someday. Sunday evening we went to Target on US 192 in Kissimmee to grab some supplies for the week. We needed to stock up on breakfast cereal, snacks, lunch stuff, bottled water, etc.



Greetings from Animal Kingdom!

Monday, October 20, 2008
We were up early, wolfed down our bowls of cereal and headed to Magic Kingdom. We got there just as the gates were opening. We spent almost the entire morning and early afternoon in Fantasy Land. Our little girls wanted to do everything: Small World, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, etc. We gave it our best shot. Went back to our hotel in the mid-afternoon for a nap and snacks. We returned around 5-ish and made a bee-line for Pirates of the Caribbean and then my wife and 6 year old hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Meanwhile the 2 year old and I killed some time in the playground under the Frontierland train station. I swear that was her favorite place in the whole park. We stayed for the Spectromagic parade and the fireworks over the castle. It took us about 2 hours to get out of the park and back to our car after the fireworks.



The castle at night while we were killing time to let the crowd dissipate.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
This was a day to sleep in. We got up late, packed up the car and headed over to Melbourne. It was about a 45 minute drive from our hotel. We found a nice spot on the beach to have a picnic and let the kids play in the surf a little. The waves were running about 10-15 feet, so we kept them away from the breaking waves and just had them play in the foamy bits. Later in the afternoon we drove up A1A through Cocoa Beach and hopped on the Beeline (528) to head back to Orlando. We had a most relaxing day just listening to the waves, watching surfers and looking for shells. The weather couldn't have been better. Sunshine, blue sky and mid-80's.



Mmmm, the beach was nice.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
After devouring our bowls of cereal we jumped in the car and headed up I-drive for a day at Sea World. At the time (and I think they still are) they were running a promotion where if we bought our tickets online we could purchase adult tickets for the child price and get 2 days for the price of 1. Pretty cool. We went to the dolphin show first. Very cool and highly recommended. We also went to the "Believe" killer whale show later in the day. That was pretty good as well. I think I enjoyed the dolphin show more though. Late in the day we stopped off to watch the pearl divers at work. My daughter ended up getting a pearl with her souvenir money. That will be way more meaningful to her than another stuffed animal. For her birthday, her grandma is going to mount the pearl in a necklace.



The dolphin show was awesome!

Thursday, October 23, 2008
Back to the Magic Kingdom today. I'll admit we were dragging a little this morning. We didn't get in the park until about 10:00 a.m. It didn't matter as we found the lines for the things we wanted to do were still pretty short until afternoon. The kids got to meet Mickey and Minnie in Mickey's Toontown Fair. That alone made it a successful day. Since we were shopping on Main Street at 3:00-ish, we ended up with a nice view of the parade. For dinner we headed over to Ft. Wilderness for the buffet at the Trails End restaurant. Yum! They had fantastic spareribs. The weather was cloudy and threatening to rain all day, but the rain held off until after we left in the evening.



Friday, October 24, 2008
It rained on and off all day. This was the day we were supposed to go to the Shamu Rocks dinner. My wife gave Sea World a call right away in the morning and got it rescheduled to Saturday. So, we were left with what to do? We decided to hit Epcot. It wasn't in our original plan but it seemed that Epcot had the best chance of doing things mainly inside all day. It turned out to be a good decision as the kids had fun doing the Kidcot activities. My 6 year old daughter got to meet Mulan in the China pavillion and both girls met Tigger and Eyore in the UK pavillion. We did get rained on a few times, but the rain was gentle and warm. After afternoon naps back at the hotel we returned for dinner and the fireworks show. Dinner was in The Land attraction. For walk-up service, it was pretty good. I think the highlight of the girls' day was the Talking with Crush attraction.



Our 6 year old with Nemo and friends.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
The rain went away, the sky cleared and we had a marvelous day at Sea World. The girls got to go trick or treating and meet all sorts of interesting characters. In the afternoon we went to the seal and otter show. The mime before the show was pretty entertaining. The show itself was good and ended up with some improv humor as the seals were not cooperating. The highlight of the day was the Shamu Rocks dinner buffet and then the Shamu Rocks show that evening. We got reserved seating for the show with the dinner. During the dinner the staff let the killer whales come into the pool next to the dining area. It was pretty neat to just watch the killer whales hang out and relax. We went through the Wild Arctic attraction in the afternoon. Wow! That was probably one of the neatest things we did at Sea World.



The Shamu Rocks show really rocked!

Sunday, October 26, 2008
One of the things we wanted to do was take our 2 year old to feed the Giraffes at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. We have a membership at the Toledo Zoo and one of the benefits is admission to zoos that are members of the same association. Well, we went, she fed the giraffes and I'm glad we didn't have to pay full price for admission. The zoo in Toledo is much nicer. At Lowry Park a person feels like they are being nickel and dimed to death. Sheesh. Pay admission and then pay for everything else too. We had a nice time, but upon reflection I would have chosen to do something different. Like go to the beach again. A nice bonus was that on the way back to Orlando we stopped in Lakeland to take some pictures of the Detroit Tigers (my favorite baseball team) spring training facility. Nothing was happening, but it was fun just to see it.



Those giraffes were hungry!



This was a nice bonus! Being a Tiger fan I was pretty excited to just see the stadium.

Monday, October 27, 2008
The goal for this day was to go back to Magic Kingdom and let the kids pick their favorites to repeat as well as hit a few new things. Surprisingly, both girls voted to repeat the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger spin thing. We thought it might be a little scary for them. They loved it. My 6 year old chose to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for the 3rd time! She's not real daring, but she loved it. Both girls also voted for Pirates of the Caribbean to make it 3 times in one trip. They just laughed and laughed all the way through it. They thought the lady chasing the pirate with a broom was hilarious. In the morning my 6 year old daughter became a pin trader. She bought a set of Tinkerbell pins with a lanyard, asked about the trading and she was off. By the end of the day she had one Tinkerbell pin left and all sorts of really cool other ones. She is a natural pin trader.

Late in the afternoon we went over to Downtown Disney. One of our goals was to visit the Lego store and boy did we. I swear we spent at least 3 hours there. Dinner would turn out to be at the T-Rex Cafe. We had read that it just opened in October so we were eager to check it out. We went at 5:15 p.m. and walked right in. No waiting. By the time we left at about 7:00 p.m. the wait was well over an hour. Very cool atmosphere. Kids that are into dinosaurs will love the place. Something to not miss is letting the kids dig for fossils in the sand by the gift store. Food was ok. The decor was definitely the star of the show, not the menu.



Dinner at the T-Rex Cafe is somewhat interactive.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
What's to say? We packed up, checked out and left. All the flights were uneventful. The drive back to Cadillac was a little long and we were all pretty tired. Back to reality. Dang it. The good thing is we started planning next year's adventure on the drive back (Smokey Mountains Nat'l Park) and we started talking about our next Disney adventure (in 2011). For our next Disney adventure we are thinking of driving down, taking our camper and staying at Ft. Wilderness for at least part of the time. When we reflected on parking in a remote lot at the aiport, we came to the conclusion that it worked out really well because 1) We got 8 days free with our hotel stay and 2) The shuttles were quick and convenient. We grabbed our luggage, jumped on a shuttle and 10 minutes later we were in our car.


Just to sum the whole thing up, these were some of the highlights and reflections from the trip:

1. We will avoid having to fly through Atlanta in the future. If we have to, we'll try to keep the time between flights to something reasonable while still allowing for delays. Next time we fly to Orlando, we will most likely take a direct flight. Delta, Northwest, Southwest and ATA all have direct flights to Orlando from Detroit. Even if we end up paying a little more for the direct flight it will be worth it to not have to navigate Atlanta with kids.
2. For us, being able to devote 10 days to our trip was a plus. It gave us flexibility in case we had a washout day. Next time we'll devote 10-14 days as well. We realize this isn't possible or practical for everyone. It's just what works best for us.
3. Water. Drink lots of water. Doing all that walking in the Florida sun I was drinking 1.5 - 2 liters of water per day. Getting dehydrated would be no fun at all.
4. Sunscreen. Use lots. The Florida sun is strong. Bullfrog SPF 36+ was great. We used the gel which dries almost instantly and leaves no greasy residue. No one got a sunburn. In fact, we hardly even tanned.
5. For us, building days into our schedule where we planned relaxing activities worked great. It allowed everyone to recharge and process what we'd done so far.
6. We loved the Shamu Rocks dinner and show afterward. We'll probably do it again someday.
7. The buffet at the Trails End restaurant was wonderful. It's perfect for families with kids. Especially kids that don't like to order and then wait for their dinner.
8. Getting a nap in the afternoon some days was awesome. I felt so refreshed even after just a 20-30 minute snooze out of the sun in the air conditioning.

No Soda Pop Experiment - Day 1

Just finished day 1 of my no soda pop experiment. So far, so good. It's easier than I imagined it would be. Probably the toughest time is right around 5-ish in the afternoon. Why am I doing this? Because I feel I am getting far too much sugar in my diet right now. Cutting out the Dr Pepper and the Coke was an easy way to start cutting down.

The Official site for International Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19

The Official site for International Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19

Avast ye scurvy dogs! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Have some fun with family, friends and co-workers by using some pirate vernacular today. You're sure to get some funny looks at lunch or dinner when you break out with "Well, me hearties, let’s see what crawled out of the bung hole." See the link for what that really means. LOL. Well me hearties, it's time for me to get back to work. Arrr!

Five New Favorable Developments in Housing Taxation

Five New Favorable Developments in Housing Taxation

Wow, there's some good stuff in here to be aware of for home owners for the coming tax season.

Petoskey News-Review - Sports - Stanley Cup coming to Traverse City

Petoskey News-Review - Sports - Stanley Cup coming to Traverse City

Just in case you don't have plans on Labor Day. The Cup will be in Traverse City September 1 with Dallas Drake. Cool!

Bowman leaves Wings for Blackhawks

Bowman leaves Wings for Blackhawks

It's been a quiet summer around here. This caught my eye today though. So long Scotty, we'll miss you. I can understand Scotty Bowman going to the Blackhawks. He'll get to work closely with his son. By now Scotty Bowman has probably taught Mike Babcock everything he possbily can anyway. Hopefully Scotty Bowman can make a positive impact on the Blackhawks organization, but not too positive ;) We wouldn't want the Blackhawks pushing the Red Wings too hard in the regular season now would we?

Red Wings win the Stanley Cup!

Highlights from game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. The Red Wings win the Stanley Cup. Woot! I hope the Penguins fans enjoyed watching the Red Wings hoist the cup. I'm sure they will enjoy it even more in a year or two when the Penguins are hoisting the cup. The Red Wings were better this time. The Penguins have a great, young core moving forward and will challenge for the cup again.

This is it. No more hockey until next fall.


The Red Wings celebrating:

Red Wings/Penguins Game 5

Oh my. Who would've thought the Red Wings would come out flatter than yesterday's Vernors? For the first and second periods the Red Wings didn't look very good. Give the Penguins some credit, they came out flying and kept up the pace all night long. Under the new rules, speed is everything. Here's hoping the Red Wings can find their legs in time for game 6 Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.

Red Wings/Penguins Game 4 Highlights

Woot! The Red Wings lead the best of seven series 3-1 now. Monday night the Red Wings will have a chance to win the Stanley Cup on home ice. Game 4 was a close game but the Red Wings looked like they were in charge the whole time. Pittsburgh looked like they were having a tough time finding open space on the ice to work with. Go Wings!

Hannah's Dance Recital

My 6 year old daughter had her dance recital today. Of course, proud parents that we are, we recorded some of it. It was rather informal as dance recitals go. The kids really seemed to have a good time though.



Some pics from the recital:

Red Wings/Penguins Game 3

Highlights (lowlights?) from Red Wings and Penguins in game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. I never expected the Wings to sweep, so I'm not ready to hit the panic button yet. The Penguins should have (and did) come out strong in their first game at home in the series. Game 4 is Saturday night in Pittsburgh. Go Red Wings!

Red Wings/Penguins Games 1 & 2 Highlights

Wow, I never would have predicted the Penguins getting shut out two games in a row. Sidney who? The Penguins are really on their heels right now. I'm hoping the Red Wings can keep them there and win the Stanley Cup. And next time Gary Roberts wants to pick a fight, he should pick on someone besides Pavel Datsyuk. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Pittsburgh. It should be a tough contest. I can't wait.

Game 1:


Game 2:

Red Wings/Stars Game 6 Highlights

Just in time to get us fired up for the Stanley Cup finals: Highlights from the Red Wings Vs. Dallas Stars Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. Kris Draper scoring on a bank shot off of his face was awesome. Way to give it up for the team!



Stanley Cup Finals start Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Versus. Bring on the Pittsburgh Penguins. It should be a great series. The best young offensive talent in the against the best, most experienced, defense in the NHL. I'm really looking forward to watching.

Red Wings/Stars Game 5 Highlights

The Red Wings had a 2nd chance to eliminate the Dallas Stars on Saturday and failed. Here's hoping that the third time is the charm.

Red Wings/Stars Games 3 & 4 Highlights

I was out of town for a few days, so got behind on the highlights. I'll keep posting them until the Red Wings are out of the playoffs or they win the Stanley Cup. Go Wings!

Game 3:


Game 4:

Red Wings/Stars Game 2 Highlights

Highlights from Game 2 of the Western Conference finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars. The game was not as close as the score would indicate. Good thing Marty Turco was fabulous in net for the Stars or the score would have been far worse.

Wings/Stars Highlights from Game 1, 5/8/08

Highlights from the Dallas Stars vs. Detroit Red Wings in game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Stars came out flat and the Red Wings looked like they didn't miss a beat since sweeping the Avalanche last week.

Red Wings @ Avalanche, Game 4

Highlights from the Game 4 dismantling of the Colorado Avalanche by the Detroit Red Wings. The Avalanche were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Detroit Red Wings advance to the Western Conference finals. Enjoy!

Oh, and just in case you missed the incredible goal by Henrik Zetterberg, here it is again:

Fantasy Baseball

My fantasy baseball team is mired in third place in a ten team league. Not that I am complaining too much. Last year I had a hard time getting and staying above 7th. I must've learned a little bit. My goal for this year was to not finish last. So far so good. I try not to look at my team's performance too often. Things have a way of evening out as the season progresses.

Why do I enjoy fantasy baseball so much? Not sure. I've tried other fantasy sports and just don't enjoy them as much. Maybe it's because of the natural statistical order of baseball. Once the sample sizes are large enough, the stats become meaningful and performance can be predicted with some degree of accuracy. Other sports aren't like that. In baseball if a career .250 hitter suddenly starts mashing at .450 for a few weeks I know not to get too excited because there is a cold period coming up where that player will regress back to their mean. Similarly if a career .300 hitter starts scuffling at .175 I know to just let it ride and he'll come back. It might also be the individual nature of the battle between the hitter and the pitcher. Other sports depend far more on team effort for individual success. In baseball, no one is going to help Miguel Cabrera hit home runs other than Miguel himself. In hockey the most skilled player in the world will not shine without a good supporting cast around them.

I guess in the end I enjoy crunching the numbers of all of those baseball players and seeing if I can dig up a sleeper that will launch my team to the top.

Go Wings!

It's late April in Michigan so that means the Red Wings are rolling along in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Just started the Western Conference semi-final round against the Colorado Avalanche with a win. Woot! There were a few flashes of the new rivalry that is shaping up shown in the game last night. A few little scrums, some pushing and shoving, and some big open ice hits. I can't wait for game 2. These two teams were making the NHL must-see television in the US before the lockout. They could easily reach that level of intensity again. Go Red Wings!

Get cookin' -- it's tax time

Get cookin' -- it's tax time

Tax day in the United States is coming up on April 15th. Hooray! Since I am a CPA, that means the end is in sight for me. I've almost survived another tax season. If you haven't thought about filing your tax returns for 2007 yet, now is the time to jump on that. Have a great day!

Scotty Bowman Answers Your Questions - Slap Shot - Hockey - Sports - New York Times Blog

Scotty Bowman Answers Your Questions - Slap Shot - Hockey - Sports - New York Times Blog

A great read for any hockey fan. Scotty Bowman is a living legend. Enjoy!

Scotty Bowman Answers Your Questions - Slap Shot - Hockey - Sports - New York Times Blog

Scotty Bowman Answers Your Questions - Slap Shot - Hockey - Sports - New York Times Blog

Get your questions in ASAP. I can't wait to see what Scotty has to say.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Who remembers the TV show Cheers? Lots of us do. I'm old enough to have watched it when it was in production, but it's still in syndication all over the world. I'd like to draw your attention to the lyrics of the theme song.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name
By: Gary Portnoy & Judy Hart Angelo

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows your name.

Quite profound really. The song captures what everybody feels. The lyrics are just as true today as they were 20+ years ago. People want to go somewhere where when they walk in the door everyone says "Norm!" (or whatever their name is). The song is a challenge to me to be more friendly to everyone I meet. Maybe I can provide that Cheers experience for them. Just a random thought. Hope you found it useful.

Stuff that Makes My Life Easier

There are several web based tools that make my life immensely easier. These are things I use to stay (somewhat) organized, informed and save time.

del.icio.us - When I first saw this I never thought I would find it useful. Since I started using it I wonder how I ever got along without it. Del.icio.us allows me to store all my bookmarks on the web, accessible from anywhere. I can tag my bookmarks with keywords to organize them and then I can search and browse the bookmarks by keyword. Very handy when I know what I want, but can't remember the name of the web site. Also, I can view the keywords as a "cloud". The keywords in the cloud become bigger as more items are tagged with that keyword. That helps me see what tag I am using the most.

Google Reader - I use this as my news aggregator and to subscribe to the rss feeds of all my favorite blogs. Instead of jumping from site to site to read all the updates, any new updates are delivered to Google Reader where I can browse them in one, central place. A person needs to have a Google ID use this service.

Google Docs - This is a web based spreadsheet and word processor. It's very handy to be able to create and edit documents anywhere there's a web connection and not have to depend on the presence of a specific office suite. Again a Google ID is required to use this service.

Twitter - Answers the question 'What am I doing?". If anyone wants to know what I'm up to, it's posted at Twitter. Also, I've linked it to my Facebook status so that any Twitter updates also update my Facebook status. This is another tool I never thought I would find useful. However, I've found "micro-blogging" to be an effective way to let people know what I'm doing.

Babel Fish - I have some Italian, Dutch and French speaking friends. I can impress them with my language skills by translating what I want to say with Babel Fish. They know I don't speak their language, and their english is better than mine, but they appreciate the effort and it's fun to learn something new.

Spring Training Impressions

My impressions of the Tigers so far: Wow, they are going to mash this year. They have a lineup where Gary Sheffield is just an ordinary, average guy. It's going to be fun watching these guys.

The big concern is the bullpen. With Zumaya hurt, Rodney hurt and Todd Jones still looking for the strike zone, holding a lead could be interesting. It won't be a big deal for this lineup to score early and often. What could prove to be the Tiger's glaring weakness is the 7th-9th innings. If I'm the opposition I'm thinking all I need to do is stay within a few runs of the Tigers until we can get into the Tigers bullpen. I'm no Todd Jones hater. Most of the time he does a great job. I just hope Mr. Jones finds whatever he needs to fix real soon.

Nice Start

My favorite Detroit Tigers got off to a nice start with a 4-2 win over the New York Mets. It's absolutely meaningless, but it was nice anyway. Jeremy Bonderman gave up a couple of runs early. I suspect that had more to do with holding a little back to test his elbow rather than a continuation of last year's first inning woes. He said later the team didn't allow him to throw any sliders.

Today I'll be listening to my second favorite Twins take on the Reds. I love the Twins broadcast crew. I loved watching Dan Gladden play and I really like his analysis now.

Play Ball!

Today the Grapefruit league begins for Major League Baseball. I couldn't be happier for two reasons: 1) I like baseball; and 2) It's a sure sign spring is just around the corner in the frozen north.

Today the Tigers take on the Mets. The game won't really tell us very much about how good either team is. It will still be fun though. I'll be listening on MLB's Gameday Audio service. It'll be great just to hear a baseball game being called after a long winter break.

My intention is not to make this a baseball blog. I will be making comments about the Tigers as the season progresses. Hopefully the comments will be constrained to things like "I can't believe they lost to the Royals" or similar.

New and Improved

Now those with an OpenID identity may leave comments. Previously only those with a Google ID were allowed to leave comments.

The Official Site of The Detroit Tigers: News: For Tigers, the playoff chase begins now

The Official Site of The Detroit Tigers: News: For Tigers, the playoff chase begins now

This morning its -16F outside. Spring is the farthest thing from most of our minds. However, baseball season is about to get started. I am so geeked! That's a sure sign spring is on the way. After all the hot stove action it's finally time to see what the 2008 Tigers can really do.

Christian/Christ Follower #4

This is the last in the series. Hopefully the series has spoken to you. Do we need external stimulus to charge up our worship? I hope I don't. The Spirit is within and I shouldn't have to depend on emotion to worship. Like the guy said, the Spirit is built-in, integrated for someone who has accepted Christ.

Vintage21 Jesus Video #2

I really hope you see the humor in this as I did. Our conceptions of Jesus can be so out of whack that they become humorous. I know this video series has challenged me to think about my conceptions of Jesus to make sure I'm basing them on what's in the Bible and not what's in popular culture.

Enjoy!

Zeitgeist, clip and full length film

Normally I don't use this for political related commentary. However, this video bears watching. If it's all true, it's scary. I haven't personally verified all the claims made in the video yet. Watch it yourself and then start checking into it. The time for some critical thinking is upon us.

See the whole movie here:



Link to the movie: www.zeitgeistmovie.com

I don't necessarily agree with what the movie's producer's are trying to say, but it is worth watching to see their viewpoint.

Christian/Christ Follower #3

Enjoy!

Do we have to restrict ourselves to listening to Christian music to be a Christian/Christ follower? No, I don't think so. I listen to and really enjoy a lot of Christian music, but I also enjoy jazz, blues, bluegrass, newgrass and some good old fashioned rock and roll. We must be wise about what we listen to, but it doesn't seem that restricting ourselves strictly to contemporary christian music makes us a better Christian.

Vintage21 Jesus Video #1

This is the first in a series of videos made by Vintage21 to take a look at popular misconceptions about Jesus. Here is how they describe the series on their web site:

"In the Spring of 2003, Vintage21 had a four week series on Jesus Christ, taking a deep look at what He said and did. It was difficult at times to get past our preconceived notions that had been developed by staunch, starched Sunday School classes of old. This is a satirical look at what some people think Jesus is like. Thank goodness He's not."

While I hope you enjoy the humor as much as I did, I hope these also cause some critical thinking about what our perceptions of Jesus are.

That's a scoop -- Guinness is good for you - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie

That's a scoop -- Guinness is good for you - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie

Well, who knew? It turns out there might be a grain of truth to Vitamin G :) Slainte!