Heroes Are Hard To Find

I’ve been seeing a lot of complaints about the Pittsburgh Steelers today. Comments like “Horrible dude. Absolutely horrible. They should be embarrassed to wear an NFL uniform.”, “they are just stinkin' up the joint”. After all they've dropped 4 in a row, including OT losses to KC and Baltimore and a last-second loss to Oakland.

Now, I’ve been a huge Steeler fan for 30+ years, and I hate to see them struggle. This has certainly been a disappointing year, and they seem to be fading as the season goes forward. But I have 3 words for you: St. Louis Rams. As in: how about a little perspective? I currently live in the St. Louis area, and am subjected to the St. Louis Rams every Sunday. We’re talking 6-34 over the past 3 years, and trending down. Down as in 3 wins in ’07, 2 wins in ’08, 1 win (so far) in ’09. Heck, the next worst teams (Detroit and KC) have won 9 games over that span. Yes, the Steelers have been pretty frustrating the past few weeks, but they are still 6-6 this year. They are 28-12 over the past 3 years (regular season) and are still the defending Super Bowl Champs. And while this season appears to be shot for the Steelers, there’s a good chance they’ll be contending again next year. Unlike the St. Louis Rams. Or quite a few other teams for that matter. Imagine how lucky Steeler fans are to be so upset over 6-6?? It could be worse, remember the Mark Malone years?

On the other hand, if they lose to Cleveland this week.......

Desktop Update

I like to rotate my desktop image occasionally, and almost always use one of my own images. The one below is one my work computer, just put up today. Nothing too dramatic, but matching my mood as we move into colder weather. This is the Channeled Scablands area of SE Washington State, something I shot during late Jan. / Early Feb. 2008, when I was working out that way. I don’t remember the exact location, but it is along Rt. 26, pretty sure just a bit west of Washtucna, WA. Just a pull-off spot along the road.

Tree Berries

I took this over a month ago, just before Halloween. Late afternoon, these berries were in bright sunlight, with deep sahde behind them... There's actually very little digital darkroom. Pretty cool, huh?

Hoops!

My son played his first (ever) basketball game this week. Over the years, he has played organized soccer and baseball, and is active in Tae Kwon Do. But he just started basketball this year, after enjoying it on the playground. As a typical parent, I’m enjoying watching him… and shooting around with him using our (recently acquired) backyard hoop. Who knows? Maybe he can get a scholarship to Duke in 2018!

Bare trees, Blue Sky, Cloud

Just a view from my office window, earlier in the week. I liked the way the sun was backlighting the clouds……

A Wordle for a Wednesday

I've been playing around a little bit with "word clouds", have a couple of interesting concepts in mind.... Anyway, I decided to do one based on President Obama's speech last night on Afgahnistan... Not related to my "concepts", but it's kind of interesting. Click on the image to jump to a bigger version:

I generally try and keep politics out of this forum, and in that spirit, so I'll leave my personal political positions out of this post. But if you know me, you know where I stand.

J-Bass Relic!

Nowadays in the music world, you can buy your guitar (or bass) relic-ed or "road worn". This means they beat it up for you, so it looks like you've had it for years. Well... we don't need to pay no stinkin' fee to make our stuff look like it has been mistreated!! Above is a brand new photo of the first bass I bought. Obtained way back in 1978 from a Pittsburgh Pawnshop. I sold it to a freind after a year or so, and after he played a few years it went into storage. He gave it back to me last weekend!

Now this baby has personality!! Not sure who did what mods when, and (what damage) when... but this one has seen some action. And too many years in a basement!

It seems to wook fairly well. The bridge pickup isn't working. That may just be a loose wire, or bad switch, though

I love the replacemnt knob....

The big decision is what to do with it.... Fix it up nicely?? Or just get the first layer of grunge off, and fix the wiring.... I'm leaning the latter.

Sad Pirates...

As the Pittsburgh Pirates close the books on their 5th straight last-place finish, saved byfrom 100 losses by an un-played rainout, I’m left to ponder. How did this franchise get so incredibly bad?? And is there any hope of them recovering?

How bad is it? 2009 is the 17th straight season that the Pirates have had a losing record. An amazing feat of futility, a record for any North American sports franchise. They’ve finished in last place 4 of the last 5 years, and it’s been a decade since they managed as high as 3rd…

But it wasn’t always that way. I lived in Pittsburgh every summer from 1971 through 1980. During those 10 years, the Pirates won the World Series twice, won their division 5 times, and never finished below 3rd place.

I grew up watching those great Pirate teams of the 70’s, and I will always be a Pirate fan at heart. A high point of my life was attending a World Series game in 1971, with my dad (when I was 11). And I still have the Pirates cap I wore as a back then. But the reality is the current Pirates stink, and they have stunk for a long time. And there is little hope that they won’t stink down the road. And while I’ll always hope that the Pirates come back, I see no reason to expect it.

Nowadays, I live in the St. Louis area. Not a bad town for baseball, and the Cardinals are usually pretty good. And I follow them, and root for them, and hope to watch them in the World Series with my son (who is almost 10). Maybe we could manage a game, like my dad and I did 38 years ago…..

Has the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame “Jumped The Shark”?

Has the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame “Jumped The Shark”
So….. today (9/23/2009) the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees for the 2010 class… Criteria include "the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll. "

On the list this year:

KISS

They’re kidding, right?? KISS?? The cartoon band, big on flash and showmanship, but oh so little when it actually comes to music? What a joke. On the other hand, at least Kiss isn’t as boring as every inductee from last year

OK, Time to voice opinions, if there’s anybody out there… In you opinions:

1) Who, among the current inductees, is least deserving?
2) Who. Among those not inducted, is most deserving?

Voice your opinions!

It's a strange strange world we live in.....

I have no idea why this song popped into my head this evening... but it did. And easy to find on youtube! Meanwhile, 4 Jacks and A Jill has to be on e of the worst group names in history.

Thistle

An oldie, but I don't think its been posted before.

Darkness, Darkness, No Color, No Contrast...

Ok, so I don't know exactly where that line came from (the one in the title). I'd expect a song, that's where most of what pops into head comes from.... A quick google says it's lyrics from Joni Mitchell's "Hissing Of Summer Lawns". Possible, but odd, since that's not among the Joni Mitchell stuff in my collection.... I was thinking something from the narration of Rick Wakeman's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth". Whatever.

Before I got sidetracked, the point of this post was SUPPOSED to be that the days are getting shorter, and the mornings are getting darker. Sunrise this morning was 30 miniutes after my alarm. Makes me want to sleep in.

Guild Jetstar - Refininshing Project

Regular readers may recall that my 1967 Guild Jetstar is being refinished. Here's the latest photo, as it is almost finished!! I'm pretty eager to get it back!

Never Forget

And stay vigilant

Ohio River, from Leavenworth, IN

We took a short vacation to southern Indiana back in June. I'm still WAY behind processing photos, but here's one. This was from the Overlook Restaurant, when they have one really cool overlook!! We had a great lunch before heading off to do some more sightseeing.