A few reasons you should get married

Before anyone gets offended this is an excerpt from a funny conversation on the drive home from a Vegas Trip.

A few reasons a guy should get married

You need someone to talk to your mom when she calls
Someone has to cook and clean
Ironing is just not your thing
You need a tax write-off
All those +1 invitations are starting to kill you
You are tired of having sex

A female friend came up with these for why a girl should get married

You need someone to hold the bags while you shop
You could use some extra closet space and a roommate that doesn't need it
Someone has to mow the lawn
Who is going to help me buy the TV for my place
My car is out of warranty and needs some repair work
The damn faucet keeps making a weird noise
You need a tax write off
All those +1 invitations are starting to kill you


Anyone got things to add to the list?

What stands before you

Words do not define my purpose
Struggle doesn't define the way
Prose cannot capture the journey
of what stands before you

the destination is the present
the gift is the future
the past illuminates the reality
of what stands before you
The path has been hard some say
others that it is beautiful
The struggle is the fun part
of what stands before you

My ambition is a gift of the past
My purpose a facet of the present
Glory is a mere moment, a mere part
of what stands before you
I like my car, I want a house
but neither is the pulse of my being
These things are the mere possesions
of what stands before you

Words do not define my purpose
Struggle doesn't define the way
Prose cannot capture the journey
of what stands before you

What i find disturbing

Picture of the Bomber on the cover of Rolling Stone

Boston bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on April 19 as he emerged from a boat stored in a Watertown, Mass., backyard. The red dot of a police sharpshooter's laser sight can be seen on his forehead.

There has been a lot of backlash to the image of Dzokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of Rolling Stone. I am not sure that the backlash is not deserved, I am not sure what reaction is right or wrong. What occurred was horrific and a whole hosts of different reactions to the image are/should be expected. The image above was released by Sergeant Sean Murphy of the Boston police department in response to the image on the cover of Rolling Stone. He wanted people to know what Dzokhar really looked like, not the images of someone "fluffed and bluffed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine." 

Both images are disturbing in their own rights and both need to be out in the public hemisphere or at least that is my opinion. What I find more disturbing than either image alone is the juxtaposition of them against each other. How did this happen how did the kid/guy in the first image become the guy in the second. Who failed? if that is even the right question. His parents? Other family? School? Society at large? None of us are happy about what happened, and we don't want it to happen again. Understanding the answers to those questions may help us prevent it from happening again... What disturbed him so much that he threw all he had away...

Really???

*Let me preface this by saying I am not a scholar nor is it my intent to offend anyone. I just find the irony of this whole situation to be perplexing and yet somewhat comedic* 

A friend posted this and of course I had the need to respond. 

Just follow whatever your mosque is doing people. ‎#notthatdifficult

1400+ years of the Islamic Calendar and we still can't agree on moon sighting methodology? Anyone else curious why this only seems to be an issue at the beginning and end of Ramadan. You figure a day here a day there on an annual basis for 1400+ years (354 or 355 days every year) we should have multiple versions of what the Islamic date is today. Yet we seem to have one version with only one standing dispute when Ramadan starts and when Eid is celebrated every year. Otherwise... no one seems to bother... interesting... 

Congress should be fired... period. ALL OF THEM

If Congress approves an increase on Student Loan rates this session, they should all be fired.... period. ALL OF THEM. It makes no sense, there is no rhyme or reason to it. The banks were all lent money by the government at little or no interest. The current fed rate is between 0.0 and .25%. I won't get into the specifics of the fed funds rate. A simple explanation is that it is the rate at which banks borrow from each other. The prime rate is 3.25% and Congress is proposing raising student loan interest rates to 7.6%. At a time when many young people have astronomical student loan debt, bleak job prospects, it seems wise to these guys to raise the student loan interest rate? Yes student's took these loans knowing they would have to pay them back. But you have to be kidding me if you think Major banks are cleaner actors in our economy than students taking loans to get an education... Just my rant for the day. Obviously I am personally effected by student loans and this whole fiasco is frightening, disheartening, and pathetic.

Oh and another side note while we are at it. Did you know that any of you single individuals that make over 80K are more than likely, not going to be able to get any tax deduction for your student loan interest payments.

GOAT - Greatest of all time.

With the NBA Finals on tv this week a lot of discussions have taken place between a number of my guy friends about Jordan, Kobe, Lebron ... you get the point. One of these guys said it just seems unfair to compare players from different eras. His point was that we all do make these comparison but the game changes, rules change, etc... Which makes it hard to compare one era to the next. To a large degree I agree so I thought why not compare  the players to their own era to see where they stand. I figured a simple analysis of one factor although flawed in its own rights might shed some light on the discussion. What the team's performance was the year after the star player left, or how much did a team's performance improve once the player joined. I figure recapping the world champions starting from the 90's would be a good idea to refresh our memories.

1991 - Chicago Bulls
1992 - Chicago Bulls
1993 - Chicago Bulls
1994 - Houston Rockets
1995 - Houston Rockets
1996 - Chicago Bulls
1997 - Chicago Bulls
1998 - Chicago Bulls
1999 - San Antonio Spurs
2000 - Los Angeles Lakers
2001 - Los Angeles Lakers
2002 - Los Angeles Lakers
2003 - San Antonio Spurs
2004 - Detroit Pistons
2005 - San Antonio Spurs
2006 - Miami Heat
2007 - San Antonio Spurs
2008 - Boston Celtics
2009 - Los Angeles Lakers
2010 - Los Angeles Lakers
2011 - Dallas Mavericks
2012 - Miami Heat

Based on the list I think a few players should be looked at, of course Jordan, and Lebron. Beyond that Shaq is a player that is easy to analyze. Kobe is hard to analyze based on the provided parameters, since he has been on the same team the whole time. Shaq is one way to look at the impact of Kobe since he left the Lakers while Kobe was still there.

Jordan 
Jordan left the Chicago Bulls twice first in 1993 and then again in 1998. The 1993 squad had a record of 55-27. In 1994 the record was 47-35 and in 1995 it was 47-35. In 1994 and 1995 the Bulls made the second round of the playoffs. In contrast, in 1996 when Jordan came back their record was 72-10.  In 1998 the record was 62-20, in 1999 ... it was 13-37.(It was a shortened season) Coach Phil Jackson, Jordan, Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr all left the team in 1999.

Lebron
Lebron won with Miami but obviously took his talents there after jumping ship from Cleveland. Cleveland's record in 2010 was 61-21. Without Lebron the record the next year was 19-63. Miami's record 2010 was 47-35 and with the addition of both Lebron and Bosh the record the next year was 58-24

Shaq
Shaq played for the Magic, the Lakers and the Heat during his career. In 1996 the Magic had a record of 60-22 and the next year after Shaq's departure the record was 45-37. The Lakers record in 1996 was 53-29 and the next year it was 56-26. The 2004 Lakers had a record of 56-26, the next year the record was 34-48. In 2004 the Miami Heat had a record of 42-40 and the next year the record was 59-23.

So what does all this mean. My take away is that all these great players including Kobe won when they had great supporting casts and didn't fare so well otherwise. The Jordan less Bulls made the 2nd round of the playoffs, and his return meant championships. The Shaq less Lakers didn't make the playoffs. The Lebron less Cavaliers didn't seem like an NBA team. Shaq won titles with two different teams and was a part of three teams going to the NBA Finals. In the one year Kobe didn't have a Shaq, or a Gasol on his squad his team won 34 games and Jordan on the Wizards... well we all know that story.

At this point I want to mention two players mostly because they exemplify great play and great character.  Duncan has only played for the Spurs and through his career he has never asked for a trade, asked for more pay, argued the team doesn't have enough talent, etc... If they win the current NBA finals Duncan will have five titles in three decades. Another note, is that Duncan has made the playoffs every year he has been in the league.

The other is Olajuwon who is a favorite of mine to shed some light on his career I have included below the career stats of Shaq, Duncan and Olajuwon, just keep in mind these are career averages. The stats speak for themselves but here are a few simple thoughts. Olajuwon is ninth all time in points, twelfth all time in rebounds, first all time in blocks(he has six hundred more career blocks then number two Dikembe) and eight all time on the steal list. Like Duncan Olajuwon never asked for trades, created strife in the locker rooms... He simply just played. I hope you guys enjoyed the information. Looking forward to your comments.

The Party of Family Values...

I needed a break from finals studying so here goes. This is comic relief for me and I hope it gives at least a few of you a laugh as well.

Party of Family Values

When you think family values, how many of you think Republican? Yeah, me too. I don't think they have better family value policies but that is certainly their brand. Let's explore this a little bit.

Mitt Romney - member of a religion that promotes polygamy... hmmm
Arnold Schwarzenegger - love child...
Newt Gingrich - Two divorces, three wives... sanctity of marriage everyone...
Pete Dominici - Some of you may not have heard of him. Former Senator who led the charge against Bill Clinton oh and guess what just recently admitted that he had a love child with the daughter of another Senator.

The icing on top - Mark Sanford - Remember hiking the Appalachian Trail... well he just won the Republican primary for a South Carolina House seat.

You got to give it to them. Politicians in general on both sides provide plenty of fodder, Spitzer, Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, but for a party that prides itself on "family values" it just makes you chuckle a little louder.

Back to Finals studying... but before I go just another unrelated note. The state of North Carolina is looking to pass legislation to declare a state religion. These guys love their 2nd Amendment but somehow the 1st Amendment is just lost on them...