Scattered Thoughts

I had a 9:30 meeting with a client that's been put off until Monday (same time). Since that leaves me with nothing on my plate until noon (I have a break-fix coming in), I figured I'd give y'all a collection of things I'm currently thinking:

- Wrestling news: WWE's only "national" competition is NWA-TNA wrestling, run by the Jarretts down in Nashville. Their show is a weekly $10 pay-per-view every Wednesday night. Well, they cut a deal with Fox Sports Net for a cable slot to do a new, 1-hour show called "TNA Impact!", and it debuts this afternoon at 3PM on most regional FSN stations. I'll TiVo the debut, but I'm not that encouraged by a few details. First off, it's only an hour. Secondly, for some reason they decided to tinker with the classic ring - it's a 6-sided beast they're using. Thirdly, they tape at Universal down in Orlando, and not only is the crowd restricted to under 600 (eliminating most of the crowd noise you get at a WWE event), but they actually have to explain to who the heels and faces are. Not promising. But I'll try it, because Vince needs competition.

- David's been doing the Big Boy Bed for almost two weeks, and except for the one morning where we put him in his crib at 6 AM or so, he's been there ever since. He doesn't fight going to bed at all, because he knows he can get out if he wants to (unlike the crib).

- In a related note, the other afternoon he went down for a nap and Jane heard him rattling on the door a little while later. He stopped, and she then told me what had happened on the phone. I suggested she go look in on him to see if he'd gone back to bed - he hadn't. He was passed out on the floor wrapped around his teddy bear. She put them back to bed and he woke up just enough to say "night night". I love my kid.

- One other wrestling note before turning to real sports: I was a skeptic when they recently introduced Eugene, Eric Bischoff's "special" nephew whose dream was to wrestle (Eugene is actually Nick Dinsmore, a very talented fellow who has been working in WWE's minor league promotion for years). I was convinced that they'd do something horrid and tasteless with the idea of a mentally handicapped wrestler. But so far, they've been tasteful and downright inspirational (words you do not normally associate with WWE, except with the qualifier "not"). Eugene has gotten over in a huge way, William Regal has been wonderful as his "manager", and they've been using their biggest stars to help give Eugene the rub. The Rock even showed up in San Diego a week ago to help out. This is WWE, so there's always time to mess it up, but so far Eugene's story has made Raw more watchable than it's been in ages.

- I've created a flyer for the new tenant package that Cummings gives out to the new arrivals here at the Cummings Center. We get about 15 or so new firms per month. That's pretty good, given the massive size of the complex.

- I solved the AD problem with my Mac. Turned out to be a conflict between Rendezvous and a Microsoft convention that deviates from standards somewhat. When setting up a AD forest, they suggest the ".local" tld be used. But that conflicts with Rendezvous, which uses the .local TLD for devices discovered by zeroconf (which is an IETF standard). The fix is creating a shell script that modifies the MacOS X resolver to allow .local to be valid for non-Rendezvous uses. Only 4 lines, in fact. You also have to create a computer account for the Mac as well ahead of time, but it all works good. I can now browse and use devices in the Active Directory, like shares and printers. This is a useful skill, since Mac/PC integration is one of my target markets.

- That old PowerBook battery I wrote about a while back is still holding up OK, though 2.5 hours is about the best-case scenario I can get with it, followed by the voltage plunge. I'm going to stick it out, though, because my ultimate goal is to do well enough here that I can afford to take advantage of the great ACN discounts and the extra coupons I've been sent to get myself a PowerBook 15" down the road. Maybe this fall, if I've thrived by then. Maybe later (or maybe not at all!). If and when I have a need to outfit my training room with a few Macs, I will definitely save good money that way.

- We still are hoping to find out what's up with the Rockmore this year. To have to get through a season without it would be a Bad Thing.

- After a week or so of feeling like I'd plateaued, my workouts have suddenly started to get easier again. I may boot the weight on the stack one more time if I still feel that way in another week or so. In two months, I've lost about 5 or so pounds, dropped a pants size, and added about 3/4 of an inch to my chest and arms. I don't want to add much more in the size area, but if you're going to weigh over 220, better it be muscle than fat.

- I'm going to re-institute a Holyoke tradition that's been squished by the new regime - summer hours. On Fridays if I'm not busy I shall begin leaving at lunchtime. Of course, since I forward my office calls to my cell whenever I'm not here and have both webmail and a VPN back in I'm never actually off from work, but it's nice to be able to go home early sometimes. Especially in the nice weather (like today!).

- I heard a rumor that both the NBA and NHL are down to their final two teams. Can someone confirm this for me? I'm more interested in who got cut in the NFL on June 1st and how Nomar did in his latest rehab start than I am in either of those two sports. Heck, I may even be more interested in pro soccer. Which is not very much.

- In a related note, I am not panicing yet. Nomar should be back next week if all goes OK, and should immediately give the Sox a lift. Hopefully, Trot comes back soon thereafter and helps stabilize the outfield - we need to see Millar back at first regularly, Ortiz as full-time DH, and both Kapler and Daubach (though I like them), back as an extra outfielders. Pedro's track record indicates he'll probably fix his breaking stuff pretty quickly, and his velocity is starting to come back now so that helps, too. Arroyo is OK as a 4/5 starter, and I could care less what happens to Kim, except for his impact on the payroll ($5 million????). Lowe is my only worry, but I'm pretty happy right now that he didn't take the Sox offer (supposedly 3 years, $9 million per) during the offseason. Use that money to sign Varitek first, Garciaparra second, and then Pedro third if need be. Lowe could make decent trade bait to a National League team perhaps at the deadline - he's got a good track record and really just needs to get his head on straight. A change of scenery could help that out, and maybe we can fill another hole for him. I'm happy with the first three slots in the rotation, so whether Lowe or some other guy is the 4 starter doesn't matter that much.

- And yes, the Yankees are on a tear. But they're old, and they're relying on a bunch of guys with injury histories. That rotation could fall apart at any moment, and history indicates at least one of them is headed to the DL soon. Plus, A-Rod's teams never win, and always do better after he leaves (see Seattle and Texas for proof).