Author: Tom Kern

There are no answers here…

Not that anyone expects great things out of a Cardinals fan but I just thought I would clarify what kind of answers could be found here.

The total number is Zero.

What you will get is a crap load of observations just like the one I’m about to drop on you right about…. NOW!

In 2005 I was aware of football… I understood there were 7 points for a touchdown and 3 points for a field goal. I could tell you who the West coast teams were… I knew that the Raiders were to be hated the Bronco’s loathed the Cardinals couldn’t win and that was about it. I could identify the major positions of the game but couldn’t tell you what any of them other then quarterback did. I could name the one year up to that point the Cardinals had done something in the playoffs only because I was living at NAU in the same dorm as the team the following summer and my brother was very jealous.

In 2009 I scream at the TV on a regular basis for teams I have no vested interest in other then one particular player because of a purely stats based pursuit I’ve taken up. I can tell when the Cardinals are going to run the ball vs throw the ball based on how they are lined up on the line of scrimmage. I can tell you what teams are in what divison and what their chances are of going to the playoffs. I can identify a team that is good and and team is just pretending to be good (for the most part).

Honestly it’s a little weird to basically going from knowing nothing about football to actually understanding 95% of what goes on at any given time. And I wonder why my brother calls me the rain-man of football….

I know that having a team is not a marriage I can walk away at any time and choose to follow another. But everyday Sunday in the fall and first week or two of winter there I am either cheering or screaming at tv or in the stands while watching my team The Arizona Cardinals…. whether they be up by 20 or down by 40 I’m there supporting them.

It’s always a ride… maybe not the most fun, but it’s always a ride.

Cold Cats and Hamsters on Wheels…

So as is becoming tradition a new update OS X has come out and I have upgraded at the absolute earliest moment possible. And as is tradition I am having one problem that no one else on the internet seems to be having… My DivX movies have no sound! It’s only in QuickTimeX but it’s still damn annoying. Other then that the hype is true… I got space back on my hard drive (and not just because of how the OS reports the space the install footprint is smaller), things do move faster (not much but enough to be noticeable), and it’s totally worth the $30.

Biggest difference… when I’m running VMware my MAC does not instantly kick into overdrive with the fans.

The gym continues… and I seem to be making incremental progress. Treadmill time at 15 minutes is officially “No Problem” at what for me is almost a full run. That is the biggest difference I have noticed, other little things like increasing weight and reps on machines and free weights so that provides a increased amount of motivation to keep with it. That and I bought a new toy that really makes life nice. I picked up a Moto S9 Stereo Bluetooth headset. Which in combination with the Budda Phone makes for a good combination of running, lifting, and biking. And the S9 works on any phone that has A2DP capabilities so pretty much anything that has any sort media capabilities that has come out in the last two years that isn’t named “iPhone” toss in Pandora and damn this is better then a iPod. Hell it’s better the the mythical iShit!

Pandora however is a whole other ball of wax. It seems that my favorite Pandora station seems to really like David Gilmour which is ok by me since it meets all of my requirements for “good music” but every 5th song is a bit much.

While walking down the hall….

While walking down the hall to my desk this morning…

T – Are we having fun yet? (To a manager who is a Steelers fan)
DSF – Starting September 13th I will, how about you?
T – Three days after that.
DSF – Really? I figured would start having fun next July

It’s nice to see the football love has started at the office…

Bigger faster stronger?

I don’t know if I would use those words to describe me as of late… for sure faster and somewhat stronger pretty much the same size though.

A while back I wrote about turning 30 and my new found motivation for running… Well the running went the way of the dodo about a week after that post thanks to a couple of long weeks at work and the arrival of some oppressive heat (that and a what can be described as mental block of time vs distance vs what I believe my own capabilities were). That was all at the start of July. Somewhere toward the middle of July Two unnamed individuals convinced me to come to the gym with them one Saturday morning. At worst I would lose a Saturday… That was just over a month ago and so far I’ve lost 18 mornings/evenings to that place.

So what was different then the failed attempt two years ago? First thing I did was I found a somewhat willing victim friend to go with once a week and break up the routine. Second I put down the cash for some personal training time. While I do chalk up a fair bit of this new found gym fleetingness to certain people I find the personal motivator is my own self. Though knowing if I flake out I’m down a bit of cash is surprisingly motivating as well.

It’s interesting seeing the differences between gyms this is my third one in 5 years. The Wellness center in Kingman was by far the nicest but it was also the most expensive, and they weren’t big on changing what you were doing (which changed right towards the end with one fitness trainer but I left before she could do alot for me) 24 Hour was the cheapest but also the pushiest and I just couldn’t get into it which I chalk up to a distinct lack of motivation and a case of the “fuck it’s”. The current one is probably the most frugal but it’s seems to work well with my demeanor I guess the real trick will be will I keep it up after the personal trainer and my elk hunt or is this just another flash in the pan?

Also certain other individuals need to stop enjoying Rocky Mountain air and write something anything!

The more things change….

So I was digging around the old website that was the historic beginings of the this wordpress type blog looking for a picture of my brother with either Chip or Dale to post on facebook and just to generally be not nice…

I found the picture but I kept scrolling through and I found this little gem from December 8, 2002…

The Lions played the Cardinals this week… the Cardinals won in Overtime… the fact the Cardinals won is a miracle… but it is only a minor miracle since they beat the Lions… The only team worse then the Cardinals.

It’s nice to see that at least one of those things hasn’t changed… the other one well we are still waiting to see if the change is permanent…

And I guess if you really want to see the photo of my brother with either Chip or Dale…

Little brother be happy I had a change of heart on the whole facebook thing…

Mom always said…

If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all….

I don’t have anything nice, I don’t have anything mean, I don’t have anything to say at all other then.

Yes I will post again… no I don’t know when.

In the mean time, I suggest you read a book.

2000 some odd pictures later…

Once upon a time Cody said… the key to taking a good picture is to take lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures and you will get lucky….

Well I followed this advice… upgraded camera’s and took yet more pictures.   This week I received validation in two places.

#1 An email from these nice people….

Schmap Phoenix Eighth Edition: Photo Inclusion

Hi Catalexiis,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released eighth edition of our Schmap Phoenix Guide:

Downtown Phoenix
www.schmap.com/phoenix/sights_attractions/p=385394/i=385394_9.jpg
Thanks so much for letting us include your photo – please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/emma.williams

And #2  This picture… which just happens to be in a collection of 300+ taken over the 4th of July weekend.

You have no idea how much this will only encourage me now.