Jimmy V's 2003 ESPY Speech

Thank you, Thank you very much. Thank you. That's the lowest I've ever seen Dick Vitale since the owner of the Detroit Pistons called him in and told him he should go into broadcasting.
I can't tell you what an honor it is, to even be mentioned in the same breath with Arthur Ashe. This is something I certainly will treasure forever. But, as it was said on the tape, and I also don't have one of those things going with the cue cards, so I'm going to speak longer than anybody else has spoken tonight. That's the way it goes. Time is very precious to me. I don't know how much I have left and I have some things that I would like to say. Hopefully, at the end, I will have said something that will be important to other people too.
But, I can't help it. Now I'm fighting cancer, everybody knows that. People ask me all the time about how you go through your life and how's your day, and nothing is changed for me. As Dick said, I'm a very emotional and passionate man. I can't help it. That's being the son of Rocco and Angelina Valvano. It comes with the territory. We hug, we kiss, we love. When people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it's the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.I rode on the plane up today with Mike Krzyzewski, my good friend and wonderful coach. People don't realize he's ten times a better person than he is a coach, and we know he's a great coach. He's meant a lot to me in these last five or six months with my battle. But when I look at Mike, I think, we competed against each other as players. I coached against him for fifteen years, and I always have to think about what's important in life to me are these three things. Where you started, where you are and where you're going to be. Those are the three things that I try to do every day. When I think about getting up and giving a speech, I can't help it. I have to remember the first speech I ever gave.
I was coaching at Rutgers University, that was my first job, oh that's wonderful (reaction to applause), and I was the freshman coach. That's when freshmen played on freshman teams, and I was so fired up about my first job. I see Lou Holtz here. Coach Holtz, who doesn't like the very first job you had? The very first time you stood in the locker room to give a pep talk. That's a special place, the locker room, for a coach to give a talk. So my idol as a coach was Vince Lombardi, and I read this book called "Commitment To Excellence" by Vince Lombardi. And in the book, Lombardi talked about the fist time he spoke before his Green Bay Packers team in the locker room, and they were perennial losers. I'm reading this and Lombardi said he was thinking should it be a long talk, or a short talk? But he wanted it to be emotional, so it would be brief. So here's what I did. Normally you get in the locker room, I don't know, twenty-five minutes, a half hour before the team takes the field, you do your little x and o's, and then you give the great Knute Rockne talk. We all do. Speech number eight-four. You pull them right out, you get ready. You get your squad ready. Well, this is the first one I ever gave and I read this thing. Lombardi, what he said was he didn't go in, he waited. His team wondering, where is he? Where is this great coach? He's not there. Ten minutes he's still not there. Three minutes before they could take the field Lombardi comes in, bangs the door open, and I think you all remember what great presence he had, great presence. He walked in and he walked back and forth, like this, just walked, staring at the players. He said, "All eyes on me." I'm reading this in this book. I'm getting this picture of Lombardi before his first game and he said "Gentlemen, we will be successful this year, if you can focus on three things, and three things only. Your family, your religion and the Green Bay Packers." They knocked the walls down and the rest was history. I said, that's beautiful. I'm going to do that. Your family, your religion and Rutgers basketball. That's it. I had it. Listen, I'm twenty-one years old. The kids I'm coaching are nineteen, and I'm going to be the greatest coach in the world, the next Lombardi. I'm practicing outside of the locker room and the managers tell me you got to go in. Not yet, not yet, family, religion, Rutgers Basketball. All eyes on me. I got it, I got it. Then finally he said, three minutes, I said fine. True story. I go to knock the doors open just like Lombardi. Boom! They don't open. I almost broke my arm. Now I was down, the players were looking. Help the coach out, help him out. Now I did like Lombardi, I walked back and forth, and I was going like that with my arm getting the feeling back in it. Finally I said, "Gentlemen, all eyes on me." These kids wanted to play, they're nineteen. "Let's go," I said. "Gentlemen, we'll be successful this year if you can focus on three things, and three things only. Your family, your religion and the Green Bay Packers," I told them. I did that. I remember that. I remember where I came from.
It's so important to know where you are. I know where I am right now. How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. You have to be willing to work for it.
I talked about my family, my family's so important. People think I have courage. The courage in my family are my wife Pam, my three daughters, here, Nicole, Jamie, LeeAnn, my mom, who's right here too. That screen is flashing up there thirty seconds like I care about that screen right now, huh? I got tumors all over my body. I'm worried about some guy in the back going thirty seconds? You got a lot, hey va fa napoli, buddy. You got a lot.
I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm," to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.
Now I look at where I am now and I know what I want to do. What I would like to be able to do is spend whatever time I have left and to give, and maybe, some hope to others. Arthur Ashe Foundation is a wonderful thing, and AIDS, the amount of money pouring in for AIDS is not enough, but is significant. But if I told you it's ten times the amount that goes in for cancer research. I also told you that five hundred thousand people will die this year of cancer. I also tell you that one in every four will be afflicted with this disease, and yet somehow, we seem to have put it in a little bit of the background. I want to bring it back on the front table. We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children's lives. It may save someone you love. And ESPN has been so kind to support me in this endeavor and allow me to announce tonight, that with ESPN's support, which means what? Their money and their dollars and they're helping me-we are starting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. And it's motto is "Don't give up, don't ever give up." That's what I'm going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. If you see me, smile and give me a hug. That's important to me too. But try if you can to support, whether it's AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease. I can't thank ESPN enough for allowing this to happen. I'm going to work as hard as I can for cancer research and hopefully, maybe, we'll have some cures and some breakthroughs. I'd like to think, I'm going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year!
I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I want to say it again. Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.
I thank you and God bless you all.

sick, flu bug or something.

I've been sick for about 1 1/2 weeks now and it's terrible.

pistons awful.

Pistons have been pretty awful since the trade. I've seen us lose several games, some through blow outs, some through choking. the other day we played philly without Brand, were up by 15 with 2 1/2 minutes to go, somehow lost. Again tonight against the wizards, were up by 6, now we're down by 4 with nine to go. Iverson clearly can get buckets. But I think all of us in the D clearly underestimated the chemistry that goes with 6 straight eastern conference finals, underestimated billups D, and billups as a player overall. he is everybit succeeding at denver, and has made their team a much better squard, going something ridiculous like 10-2 since the trade. We somehow lost to a 7 man roster of the knicks. the knicks! at least we have mcdyess back, as good as stuckey is, we still are lacking a 3 point shooter like billups, and i dont' count streaky rasheed as a true 3 point shooter. we can't keep losing games, although it's not very hard to make the playoffs in the east.

Call me Ted.

I saw Ted Turner on 60 minutes a couple weeks ago, probably promoting his new book, an autobiography. I am fascinated by the T. Boones, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell's, Mark Cuban's, and Bill Gate's of the world. I bought the book yesterday and finished the 415 pages of it today. For the most part it was a really easy read. I knew he created the first 24 hour news station in CNN. His story is much more fascinating than I could've ever imagined. I highly recommend it.

Thanksgiving...

What can I say about family? thanksgiving was interesting. josh's 3 kids destroyed everything in their path. Josh and Ellen's boyfriend George got into a fight, all we restrained them, josh broke my door handle, and it took several hours before ellen called the cops at 8am to settle george down. that was all Wednesday night, they stayed til saturday oyyyy vaaaa.

watching fight club, it got me thinking about the "id".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego,_and_super-ego

turkey day, and i'm a lion's fan.

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/11/24/popular-thanksgiving-traditions/

The Pursuit of Success & Happiness.

So many of us go through life with our heads in the sand, accepting current circumstances as inevitable, whilst setting implausible, unrealistic and unreasonable agendas for our futures. Through our actions (and often inactions) we demonstrate our lack of faith in our own dreams, visions and abilities and therefore fail to grasp our own destinies and shape our futures.
Success is both immeasurable and intangible. This is great news because in that state, we can shape it as we wish and develop the mindset to invite as much of it as possible into our lives.
There is a glass ceiling on abundance, just waiting to be smashed. It represents the limited thinking of the 95% of the world’s population who believes in the power of limitation in their lives. In fact, the only limits on success and happiness in our lives are those we place there ourselves, through our own inadequate vision of who we are and where we’re going.
Success is a state of being – it’s a place we reside when we have moved from a position of wanting (desire) to a more agreeable state of being (having).
‘The difference between success and failure is not just one’s abilities or dreams, but the courage to follow them and take the steps necessary to embrace success’ (KR)
Achievement can be many things, depending upon your lifestyle, passion and vision of the ideal world in which you would like to reside. These include optimum health and longevity; an abundance of joy, love and happiness; a better job; new car; larger sums of money; a more stable relationship; deeper and longer lasting friendships; inner peace and harmony; a clearer vision of ourselves and our lives and the accumulation of more compassion and gratitude in our lives. The list and scope are literally endless.
‘I autograph each and every day of my life with my personal signature of success. Achievement comes because I commit to ownership of my positive, results-driven actions’ (KR)
In fact, success can be all of these things and still, none at all. If we look at Mother Teresa for instance, who could ever suggest she was not successful. She had only to visit a head of state or a business mogul and she was able to raise enormous funds for a new school or hospital. I never remember her living in a New York penthouse or driving around in a Ferrari. I have no doubt she had no money in the bank, nor did she have a holiday house on the Riviera where she could spend her summer holiday. However, she was one of the most successful luminaries who ever lived.
‘Once you allow yourself to go within, believe in yourself as a wonderful and unique being and listen to your inner voice, your subconscious self will surely lead you to personal greatness in your life’ (KR)
The true essence of success and happiness is the inner calm we have, at the life we lead. It cannot be measured in material wealth, though for most of us, it is a big part of the equation. It is not a ‘sin’ to have financial wealth and material goods in your life: Indeed, these are two things to which many of us aspire and they are core to our existence. It is certainly not a crime to surround yourself with trappings such as the houses, cars, artwork, holiday homes and large sums of money.
However, they are called trappings because if these are the aspects of abundance on which you focus, you will fall into the trap and whilst outwardly you may appear to have an incredible and abundant life, inwardly you run the risk of becoming barren and desolate.
Success is the result of your keen vision of the future you want – for yourself, your family and friends – and therefore any pursuit must encompass the elements which make up the whole person. You cannot hope to be fulfilled if you do not have gratitude for what you possess, who you are and where you are going. Opportunity comes out of vision. You fuel it with determination and wrap it in a parcel which is driven by love, compassion and gratitude.
‘There is a wonderful and unique garden within each of us. Many sow wonderful blossoms – dreams, visions, ideas and notions - and nurture the growth with inspiration, faith, courage, gratitude and determination. Others however, allow the garden to become like a desert, because of their failure to care for and respect the inner spirit’
You can never hope to find true happiness if you are unable to link with the ‘inner self’. The essential elements of focus, determination, drive, commitment, compassion, generosity, gratitude and love, give you the power to form the key which will enable you to open the door to stability and opportunity in your world.
Once you have a plan of action – and this is paramount to your blueprint for a wonderful future – and you adopt the key components as part of your everyday routine, you will begin to see success and abundance. You have to be truly grateful for what occurs in life. You must believe above all else that you are worthy of great things.
‘Once you learn to like, love, respect and believe in yourself, the fear you hold inside (of failure, resentment, greed, desolation and poverty) will begin to disappear and the acid remarks of others will have no impact on your thinking’ (KR)
Never be afraid of what you may achieve: Instead, feel apprehension for what you may not. Each of us has the capacity for greatness. We need only respect ourselves and our abilities - no matter how limiting we believe them to be – and hitch them to the wagon of planning and opportunity.
‘Most people fail not because they simply don’t embrace success, but rather, because they most fear it and the responsibilities it brings’ (KR)
I always encourage my clients to begin each day with a quiet prayer of gratitude for the wonders and opportunities in the day ahead and for the obstacles which might be encountered. They are simply guide posts towards a more colourful, clear and all embracing future. This need have no religious basis at all. It is simply a prayer to the power which exists within each of us and in the universe, to which we are inextricably linked.
‘Once you learn to listen to the voice of reason within, the whispers will soon become shouts and your life will lead you on a wonderful and fulfilling journey’ (KR)
Similarly, finish each evening with the same prayer for what you have achieved – and still, for what you have not. Tomorrow is another day; begin to fill it with sunshine, abundance, opportunities and encouragement. If there were no clouds, we could never be grateful for the sunshine which touches our lives. Likewise, without obstacles, we would not feel the warmth of success through achievement. Gratitude is the expression of our thankfulness for ALL those things which make us whole beings.
‘Destiny – fortune or failure - is primarily determined by the balance of success and disappointment in our lives and the way we subsequently respond to challenges’ (KR)
Never underestimate the power of the self to respond to adversity. Whilst ever you hold inside the power of intention, fuelled with the wonderfully empowering tools we all have for setting the course for our incredible destinies, we have the capacity to rise to incredible heights in our lives.
Allow the transformation to begin today. Understand what it is that holds you back and begin the program which will see success and abundance as keep components of a great life. There are no barriers to achievement: Sex, colour, creed, orientation and physical ability can never hold you back if you believe in the path you’re traveling and have total and unswerving belief in yourself. In fact, when you learn to have faith in and respect for yourself – with pride and passion for all things positive which are core components of your very being – you will truly have the power to fuel your journey and bring you incredible success. There is no room for doubt.
Begin to build meaningful relationships across your life and never be afraid to step out of the shadow of mediocrity. The sunshine of opportunity will be a far greater and more profound beacon, which will add further dimensions to your life.
The pursuit of success and happiness should come from inside. You cannot ever hope to embrace success if you do not hold yourself in high self-esteem. You are a wonderful being, with unfathomable abilities, drive, knowledge and wisdom. Tap into that great source today and take the journey of a lifetime.
‘Never rely on the enlightenment of others, to show you the way. Use your personal light within to shine on the path ahead and forge your own strong and successful future, according to your individual hierarchy of values’ (KR)
The future will continue to unfold no matter what you decide. So make the conscious decision - RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW - to shape your destiny according to your own values, dreams, and visions.
‘Keep hold of your dreams and follow them; they surely won’t follow you’ (KR)
With gratitude,
Kieran

Pandora.

www.pandora.com, by far the best music site in the world.

Your eyes are like my mothers, when we talk you're like my brother.

Where we gonna go from here? -Matt Kearney

Lyrics to Where We Gonna Go From Here :All of your ways and all your thunderGet me in a haze running for coverWhere we gonna go from hereWe we gonna go from hereCar lights in the drivewayI wonder who's going coming my wayTomorrow we're turning down the highwayWith another bright state on a weekdayGreen grass and a radioWatching it fly past and away we goSeven hundred places seven hundred faces more[chorus]All your haze and all your thunderGot me in a haze running for coverWhere we gonna go from hereWhere we gonna go from hereThe back of your eyes look like my mothersWhne we talk your like my brotherWhere we gonna go from hereWhere we gonna go from hereTime is moving on our sideHow could I miss you to another guyPull of the ocean and the roaring tideIs bigger than my eyes or my designFather got a best planSaving his daughter for the best manSeven hundred places seven hundred faces more[chorus]I've waited and I'll wait some moreWon't see me knocking on another doorBut all this is crazy and amazingThere's only one half of us that I'm savingSo I'm praying just to let it goWatch from a distance just to see you glowSeven hundred places seven hundred faces more[chorus]

The Big 3; not as smart or corrupt as Enron but just as idiotic.

Reading more about the Big 3 is frustrating. They were in trouble well before this credit crisis, and this credit crisis is definitely the straw that broke that camels back. But this industry has long been flawed. It's amazing to me the Big 3's CEO's would have the audacity to come before Congress so inept, unprepared, and clueless. Like they had some right to the bailout money. They had no plan in place, no details, or concept of what they would do with it. I'm sure they had some sort of notion, but they failed to show Congress they did. On top of everything, just like Enron's bigwig's they flew in corporate jets to the hearing. You cannot be connected to the outside world if you think you're going to beg for money for the goverment and spend $20,000 just to get to court. Are they lunatics? Have they not learned from Enron? I am appalled how clueless they seem to be about their persona to the rest of the world, to the rest of the nation, to it's very own state. This "right of entitlement" attitude is unbelievable, but that's the same attitude that let the foreign automakers somehow get a competitive advantage. It isn't necessarily okay to bailout wall street and the financials, and then turn a blind eye to the automakers, but it doesn't mean we have an endless well to draw from either. The banks didn't fail because they were behind the eight ball, they didn't fail because they were losing to competitors, they failed because they made stupid gambles, quit acting like banks, and were on the wrong side of credit-default swaps, securitization and leverage brought them down, greed and stupidity. The big 3 are failing because they aren't efficient, they have to many grandfathered debts (healthcare, union, penions, etc), the competitors are simply more profitable. How will a short term bailout change anything in the long term? If the banks act like banks they practically mint money, not anywhere near 20% but a nice slow steady growth, that's if they act like banks. The big 3 however is losing money every quarter, they aren't making money, how is chasing bad money with good money a good idea? They at least need to have a game plan, you can't win the game if you don't know the rules. If you can't sell goverment on a bailout how are you going to sell a car on a lot?

Three Sheets

Three Sheets is a travel show that includes drinking, one of the best shows out there right now.
http://www.zanelamprey.com/fans/top30.php

"The Last Song" -All American Rejects

This may be the last thing that I write for longCan you hear me smiling when I sing this song?For you and only youAs I leave will you be someone to say good-bye?As I leave will you be someone to wipe your eye?My foot is out the door and you can't stop me nowYou wanted the bestIt wasn't meWill you give it back?Now I'll take the leadWhen there's no more room to make it growI'll see you againYou'll pretend you're naiveIs this what you want?Is this what you need?How you end up? Let me knowAs I go remember all the simple things you knowMy mind is just a crutch and I still hopeThat you will miss me when I'm goneThis is the last songThe hearts start breaking as the year is goneThe dream's beginning and the time rolls onIt seems so surreal And now I sing itSomehow I knew that it would be this waySomehow I knew that it would slowly fadeNow I am goneJust try and stop me nowYou wanted the bestIt wasn't meWill you give it back?Now I'll take the leadWhen there's no more room to make it growI'll see you againYou'll pretend you're naiveIs this what you want?Is this what you need?How you end up? Let me knowAs I go remember all the simple things you knowMy mind is just a crutch and I still hopeThat you will miss me when I'm goneThis is the last songWill you need me nowYou'll find a way somehowYou wanted toI want it tooAs I go remember all the simple things you knowMy mind is just a crutch and I still hopeThat you will miss me when I'm goneThis is the last songAs I go remember all the simple things you knowMy mind is just a crutch and I still hopeThat you will miss me when I'm goneThis is the last song

The scary loss of market support (Charley Blaine)

I was fairly sure a couple of weeks ago that the market was putting in a bottom. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index told me so.
I was so confident that a bottom was forming that I even commissioned a graphic showing why. Now, I'm worried about how far much farther the market could fall. The S&P 500 tells me so.
Here's why.
My confidence was built on how the S&P 500 behaved after dropping for no more than a minute on Oct. 10 to 839.80. That was the start of a wild day of trading.
The S&P approached 839.80 one more time on Oct. 10, and, between then and Nov. 12, the market tested that low four times, bouncing up each time.
Technical analysts call repeated bounces off a low level the establishment of a support level, which means that the mere act of approaching that level generates new buying. (There are, of course, millions of ways to identify a market bottom -- which is to say, a market bottom shows up when it shows up. Check this set of criteria.)
I, for one, was hoping that support seemed to be forming between 840 and 850 on the S&P. If it kept holding at roughly those levels, then confidence would start to build among investors and, in time, confidence would beget buying. I wasn't alone in watching the market trend after Oct. 10. Check this post on Seeking Alpha. USA Today noted the chatter as well.
I was under no illusions that the formation of a bottom meant stocks would take off again. If all went well, I thought the market would muddle along for, say, six to nine months. And, once the economy started to show real signs of recovery, then stocks might move slowly higher. That's what happened after bear markets in 1973-74, 1981-82 and 1987. After the dot-com bust and the after-effect of the Sept. 2001 terror attacks, the bottom came in October 2002, followed by a major test in March 2003.
Alas, my hopes were shattered quickly.
On Nov. 13, the S&P dropped to 818.91, which was bad but not horrible.
On Wednesday, the support gave way. The S&P 500 closed at 806.58, just above its low on the day at 806.18.
Thursday, the market just seemed to fall apart. The S&P 500 fell to 752.44, which was below its closing and intraday lows in 2002, in the aftermath of the dot-com bust and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The index is now down 52% from its October 2007 peak -- the largest percentage decline for the index since it fell 82.4% between March 1930 and June 1932.
Wednesday's was so ugly a fall that Barry Ritholtz, who writes the Big Picture blog, suggested the S&P 500 could drop to, say, 681 before new support formed.
That level is basically where the trend line of the S&P since it peaked in October 2007 intersects with the long-term support line since 1984. That would translate into Dow Jones Industrial Average falling to 7,100 or lower.
"There are deeper levels, but it's too ugly to write now," he added.
Thursday, Ritholtz wrote simply "Ouch!"
These are scary times, really scary times.
What happened? Markets don't operate independently of reality.
Here are the problems.
Bank stocks tanked. Here it looks like Treasury boss Hank Paulson created another problem. He said on Tuesday that the Treasury Department had decided that buying up bad assets from financial institutions was a bad idea -- even though he'd gone to Congress and begged for $700 billion to do just that.
"The sense that policymakers are struggling to get ahead of the markets' woes, and have frequently switched course or backtracked on earlier declarations about what needed to be done, has damaged investor confidence and created even more jitters in the markets," Jane Sasseen wrote on BusinessWeek.com.
She's being polite. So far this week, Citigroup has lost 51% of its value. JPMorgan Chase is down 32%.
The decision of Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to let Lehman Bros. fail in September dried up credit sources for everyone and everything: from General Motors to the young couple looking to take out a mortgage.
Tech stocks have slumped. Concerns have deepened in recent weeks as concerns deepened that business spending on technology will slump. Intel has fallen 8.2% this week; Microsoft is down 12.6%.
Oil and commodity prices are a problem. Slowly, the markets have realized that this will be no ordinary recession. So commodity prices -- and related stocks -- are crumbling. Crude oil fell below $50 for the first time since 2005 and is down 66% from its peaks in July.
Commercial real estate is becoming increasingly stressed. Real estate is throwing us another sucker punch. With retail chains like Linens 'N Things going out of business and cuts coming from other retailers, retail real estate is sagging. General Growth Properties, the nation's second-largest mall operator, is in such trouble that it has hired bankruptcy counsel. Just in case.
A ton of office space will come on the market in New York, Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere following the collapse of Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. and huge layoffs coming from Citigroup and others.
So, when will a bottom show up?
I offer up Carter Worth's list to watch. Worth is the chief market technician at Oppenheimer Asset Management. He and others at Oppenheimer were beginning to think after Oct. 10 that a bottom might well be forming. He has enough visibility that a number of people will pay attention to him.
He also wondered which stocks would signal if he was right -- or wrong. He crunched some numbers and, on Nov. 10, came up with a list of 26 stocks that he believed could be used as a "control mechanism" to signal the market's direction. The idea was that it takes a lot of buying pressure to move a stock to a new high and an equal amount of selling pressure to move a stock to a new low.
The group included Citigroup, Bank of America, Internet retailer Amazon.com, search giant Google, chip maker Intel, leather-good producer Coach, and railroad CSX.
Sadly, the list pretty quickly offered a pretty strong signal of what to expect. By Nov. 14, the group was down an average 11.9% from Nov. 7. By Thursday, the declines had widened to an average 29.8%. The best performer of the group, Polycom, was down 13.6%. The worst was Citigroup down nearly 60.2%. One blogger wrote Thursday that Worth's call was "way to soon."
The S&P 500 dropped 6.2% between Nov. 7 and Nov. 14 and finished on Thursday down 19.2% from Nov. 7.
Let's hope the index can find a bottom soon. Or things, which are scary enough, could get really scary.

1-3-1.

UofM upset #4 UCLA today. I'm not suprised UCLA struggled on offense, I'm suprised UofM had enough offense to get the win. UofM runs a 1-3-1 defense, which I really can't comprehend how that works so effective on the college level. I loved when Belein ran it at West Virginia in the tournament, and now he's running it at UofM. We use to run it in high school, i was either the top guy or the bottom guy, meaning I had to run side to side and trap my butt off. You have to have a fast guy with a lot of endurance to run that. The 1-3-1 is really effective against athletes and slashers, it's weakness is outside shooting and rebounding. UCLA couldn't shoot out of it and I'm worried about us. We have ridiculous athletes but not really pure shooters. We also seem to have not been rebounding well as of late. It's looking like UofM might be a good match up for us. But then again, they play methodical and are very patient with the clock. We run the hell out of the ball and force tempo. Who can ever dictate the tempo will win that game. I'm pretty sure we could force the issue.

20 Fun Things You Can Do with Family on Thanksgiving

20 Fun Things You Can Do with Family on Thanksgiving
We all know some of the favorite things people like to do on Thanksgiving: watch football, watch The Macy's Day Parade, and of course taking a nap after gorging on Turkey.Well the purpose of this article is to inspire everyone who reads it to turn off the TV (web, video games) for part of the day and really spend some quality time with your friends and family. You'll have have fun doing it and you'll create fun, fond memories.

1. Take a Walk. Pick an enjoyable destination. All you need to bring are your sneakers and conversation! Or you could join a Thanksgiving road race or road walk.

2. Play Touch Football. Or soccer, tag, hide-n-seek, etc. Just get outside with the gang and do something that involves running around and taking in some nice fresh air.

3. Boardgames! Get out those games you have in the closet since last Christmas and haven't played yet. Scrabble, Life, Yahtzee, Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Trouble, Chutes & Ladders, whatever! Have some silly fun!

4. Play Charades. This doesn't take much. Make your own rules as you go. Have fun!

5. Sing-a-Long. Karaoke. Get out the instruments, guitars, piano. Dust off that accordion. Bring out the tambourines, spoons, etc. Put on a holiday radio station and sing along. Make up a contest. You can really have fun with this.

6. Memory Sharing. Share stories. You can pick a theme such as:
The greatest day of my life.
The best thing that happened in my life this year.
My favorite memory from childhood.
The funniest thing that ever happened to me.Have someone scribe the stories or videotape the event.

7. Share Thanks. At dinner have everyone share what they are thankful for before eating dinner.

8. Silly Dance Contest. Just like it says. Be silly. Dance. Make up your own rules.

9. Kids Talent Show. There's usually one grownup at family gatherings who likes to get the kids doing activities. If you're that person maybe you want to have the kids perform for the whole family after dinner. While everyone is watching football you could throw it together. (Of course adults can join the show too!)

10. I Love My Family because.... Gather round as a family and have each person share what they love about the family.

11. Share the Love. Have the family all in one room and have each person tell why they admire the person next to him/her. And then that person says why they admire the person next to him/her, and so on. "I Admire ___________ because..."

12. Treasure Hunt. Create a simple treasure map and "prizes." There can be one prize or multiple prizes, like an egg-hunt. Ideas for prizes: chocolate turkeys (is there such a thing?) or a packet of coins or a gift certificate wrapped up in a box. Share your ideas in the comments please!

13. Name That Tune. Play the humming game where each teams or individuals have to name the tune.

14. The Questions Game. Here is a link to a family game with very few rules. You get to make up the rules. The idea is to spark conversations, have fun, and get to know each other better.

15. The Craziest Thing .... (that I saw or experienced this year). As a family tell stories that can be true or made up. It can be a little bit like "To Tell the Truth." Everyone tells a crazy story that is either true or made up and everyone has to guess if it is true or not. And the story doesn't have to be something that they actually experienced.

16. Our Family Tree. Have everyone imprint a fingerpaint handprint on a big sheet of paper with their name underneath. You can have it framed or take a picture of it to share with everyone.

17. Start a Thanksgiving Day Banner. Starting this year create a banner that can hang in your living room that will have a picture of the whole family from each year. It can become an heirloom for future generations. You could also create a similar item electronically say with a website.

18. Three Legged Races. Link up kids/grownups. You could also try a sack race or create an obstacle course race too. Have some fun silly prizes or simple privilege prizes like the first place team doesn't have to help with clean up or they get first dibs on the turkey.

19. Family Thanksgiving Journal. Grab a blank notebook. It doesn't have to be fancy. Write down everyone's thanks for this year. And then next year do the same so that over time you build a treasured family book of thanks as well as a sort of family history.

20. Make Me Laugh. Tell jokes. You can make it into a game to see if you can get someone to laugh. Can be done as individuals, round-robin, or as teams.Happy Thanksgiving all! Enjoy!

(from dumblittleman.com)

at the end of the day...

About a week and half ago, I realized that we needed OSU to lose for us to go to the Rose Bowl. Of course we need to beat PSU in Happy Valley as well. I was rooting for PSU against Iowa anyways, but after realizing that them losing would really hurt our chances of the Rose Bowl, I was really pertubed. But, after taking some time to think about it. 1) Being 9-2 is pretty nice. 2) We are either going to the Capital One, Outback, or Rose Bowl. 3) None of this matters, if we don't beat PSU in Happy Valley. And that's when I realized, at the end of the day, we need to beat PSU. We may not go to the Rose Bowl, but to have a chance at the Big Ten Title is leaps and bounds better then we've ever been since I've been a fan of state. To even talk about Big Ten aspirations, or really respected bowls, is almost unbelievable from where we were a year ago. At the end of the day, let's worry about our win against PSU, we're 14 1/2 point underdogs. I was shocked to see that at first, then I realized last time we won in Beaver Stadium was in the 50's, our average loss in that stadium is by 22 points. On the upside Hoyer's first start was 2 years ago on their field and we lost 17-13, last year we actually beat them at home. So our starting quarterback is undefeated against them, that has to say something right? Either way, at the end of the day, we're going bowling....

Proud to be an American (From thee man, Mark Cuban)

voted for President Elect Obama.
The rest of my votes went almost exclusively to Republicans , Libertarians and Independents.
In looking at the Democratic platform, there are a few things I agree with, but on the economic side, other than being ok with him raising my effective tax rate to 40pct, there isn’t a lot of his economic policy that I do agree with him on. So why did I vote for him ?
Its simple. Having an elected black President will do more to energize this country than any economic or social policy ever could. In a single day of voting, our amazing country once again reinvigorated the dream that any child in this country, no matter what circumstances they are born into, can grow up to be anything they want, including President of the United States.
That dream, staying viable, being reinvigorated, will do more for this country than any economic policy or any legislation that could ever be passed.
I have said it before, the power of the American Spirit is what separates our country from every other. We have been able to overcome the stupidity that politicians do every year, and will do for ever more. The election of Barack Obama is a shot of adrenaline for those who felt they could never participate in the American Dream.
How do you stimulate and turn around the economy in this day and age ? Motivate those who in the past couldn’t , wouldn’t or didn’t, into those who can and do. Motivate those who can and do, to continue to innovate and increase productivity.
As any successful CEO will tell you, leadership, vision and motivation has far more impact on results than any tax cut or increase. While I prefer lower taxes, I can tell you that no entrepreneur or CEO worth a damn in this country gives up or works less because of a change in tax policy. In this country you work harder to achieve your dreams and goals.
I can honestly say that I never thought that I would see a black President in my lifetime. I’m incredibly proud and excited to be part of this moment in our history. I believe that the election of President Obama will energize many, many more of our fellow citizens to work harder to achieve our goals.
I’m Bullish on America.

Muskegon vs. Delasalle.

Two years ago Delasalle lost to Muskegon in the H.S. football state championship because they fumbled on the 1/2 yard line with no time on the clock left. This year they are both undefeated and were up 42-7 in the fourth quarters of their respective playoff games. Should they win one more, they will still be undefeated and going against each other for a rematch of the state championship. gotta love it.

Another lions loss.

On a two point conversion to tie the game with a couple minutes left Culpepper got stopped because of a flagrant face mask, it was never called and we lost the game. That basically sums up how our 0-9 season are going.

Hoping MSU can take down Penn State in Happy Valley next week.

Audrey Hepburn & Sophia Loren are two of the sexiest women in history.

Weekends...

The weekends are pretty ridiculous. After my appointment on Friday I roll into my driveway and there's five other cars parked in it. By the time I get out of my car, Matt, his brother, Jordan, and Kelly are all rushing me to get changed to so we can go to the Griffins game an hour early to take advantage of $1 beer, $1 hot dogs. There were about 18 of us sitting together and the boys were getting rowdy, I had to pace myself so M2 wouldn't be pissed when he came into town. M2 ended up picking me up for the game and we went to my house so we could get ready while watching the Pistons, Lakers game. We went out to Mojo's upstairs and Ottawa Tavern. The next day all the guys came over and the girls went shopping. When the girls got back there were seven dudes in the hot tub, it was a pretty entertaining sight. We went to Ottawa Tavern for the UFC fight between Couture and Lesner. We then hit up the B.O.B. and then M2, Biata, C-mack, matt, jordan, Jaimie, J-Lye, his cous, Jt, and I closed down Ghardello's. This morning I cooked everybody breakfast again, went through 30 eggs. Cj is laying next to me now, I have barely seen her the last two days. It's funny how shy this cat is, but when I walk around the house during the day she'll follow me to every room.

The DC adventure (finally)

So last Thursday I decided to go to DC to check out the vibe of the city since the victory of Obama, but more importantly to visit my boy Sorgi. Flew into Baltimore Thursday night, checked out Dupont Circle. Friday while my boy was at work, I went around and took pictures of the DC area. I walked by the first Church of Scientology and a guy asked if I wanted to see a free movie. I had nothing to do for the day and I always was curious about their religion so I checked it out. Basically, they believe really heavy in the power of the mind, a lot of "the secret" ideas and theology. I also believe in the importance of a healthy mental state. I believe in many of their ideas, but think they go a little extreme in their "power of the mind". But for the most part, it is really nice learning about other cultures and religions that are different than one's own. After that I went to a pub and befriended the bartender and his friend after about 6 beers and 8 irish car bombs it was around 5 o'clock and time for me to meet up with my boy. On Saturday, we walked all over DC, the white house, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and watched the state game at Rhino. We won, but Penn State lost later in the day =( It would've been a lot better if Penn State would've been undefeated when we matched up. We went to Virginia to predrink with Nadia and her friend and that ended up being a highlight of the trip. You gotta love "would you rather" "if" and "never have i ever". DC was a great time. I'm not a city boy, but it's nice traveling and hanging with old buddies.

DC.

went to DC this weekend, i'll update this later with how it went.

BIGTEN.COM

this is hilarious, right now i'm watching MSU basketball play LSSU on bigten.com, actually i'm not watching it i'm listening to it. there's something wrong with the video feed, so i'm getting a black screen with just the audio. What's so entertaining is during the commercials, they aren't demic'ing the announcers, or cutting the feed, so you can actually here the commentators talk when they think they're not on tv. So far one of the commentators asked the other he said Suton was hurt, and he said no, but he said Lucas sprained his ankle yesterday, which i'm sure we're not suppose to know any of this info, i'm going to keep listening and hope one of these guys say some insane shit.

Obama is the new ???

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/why-obama-is-the-new-reagan.aspx

"The fundamentals of our country are strong..."

People blame Sara Palin for Mccain losing. I'm flabbergasted by this. Although she may have been a drop in the bucket. Have you ever thought about blaming the incumbent, you know the current cabinet being Republican and all the things that have gone wrong during Bush's two terms as president. Have you thought about the presidential nominee? What is he 71? How likeable is he? How good of a debater was he? Was he a good public speaker, or did he remind you of Bush. On top of that, during the last year, oil prices absolutely killed us. It was until our economy collapsed that we know longer worried about oil, and we worried about the biggest financial companies in the world, and our real estate, and our very own pockets. From the time Sarah Palin was nominated to the Lehman went under, Mccain surged ahead and took the lead in the straw polls. You really think Sarah Palin was the reason Mccain lost? She was indeed a hail mary, but rarely does the most qualified get chosen, rather the most appealing to the general public, than and only then can you get someone in office, and then do your bidding.

This time is different!

It's a beautiful thing watching Obama speak!

One of my favorite political video clips ever...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

another great one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPfZBtxrT5s&feature=related

OBAMA.

His only blunder, “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

It's funny, I went from loving Obama to not being a fan of his experience, to not liking him because he was the "en vogue" candidate, to hating his lack of experience, then started liking his attitude, charisma, and demeanor, especially in the debates, even though i don't like his socialist healthcare plans, and finally if i would've voted today.... i feel like obama would be a better president because his view on the war vs. mccain's, his diplomatic skills, and finally his aura of something great. He is the next Kennedy. I truly believe that, and I have an eerie feeling he will suffer the same fate.

Rock the vote? F*ck the vote.

It cracks me up how "voting" is the rage this year. How's it's the "it" thing to do. Hate to tell anybody who voted, your vote doesn't mean sh*t. It doesn't constitute for anything. Oh you're really into this election, you really want Obama? You care so much, you are going to vote this year! Good for you! hate to tell you that your vote doesn't mean sh*t. Did we all forget the Al Gore won the popular vote and lost the election? If you disagree with that, you're just plain silly. He won the popular vote no matter what the polls say. Moving on, we follow a system known as the electoral college, many societies in history have had these. Although outdated, we still follow this system... I could see having these "people of wisdoms" vote people for offices as representation to a larger group back in the day. Like when many didn't have cars to drive to the polls, or when farmers didn't have the time to go to town to vote, things like that. But in this day in age, how can we still have this system. 1 man 1 vote, not here, that simply means we are not a true democracy. The United State electoral college just shows the lack of confidence our society has in itself. Do we not believe we can represent ourselves to vote for the president? Well, too many people are idiots, or too many people don't follow politics, or too many people dont' care, those are weak arguments. You know what if you didn't educate yourselves on the parties, the politicians, or the bills, don't vote. If you don't care either way don't vote. If you are idiot don't vote, or vote I don't care. If you're passionate about either party, let's get up and banish this stupid electoral college. If you really care about a democracy, about your voice meaning something, let's make a bill saying that the popular vote should elect the president, not some person or system we know nothing of. Don't tell me you believe the electoral college. Don't tell me your vote means something. This system is flawed, and this bothers me greatly. And still as "cool" as it is to vote, I doubt we'll have a 50% participation rate.

I'm a republican... but I don't really like Mccain; case in point.

Best video about this election so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Q_va5rvK8&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/home.php

25 steps to being successful by the blogger Ritu.

Who doesn't want to strive and become successful? Exactly, no one. Deep inside all of us, we have our own personal reasons for striving for success, and really, we all define success in very different ways whether it is for financial freedom or mere sense of accomplishment.When you go to the bookstore, there is a reason that there are six thousand different books proclaiming to know the recipe for success; it's one of the most sought after things on the planet. Ironically, we tend to think that the most complicated solutions are the most effective and we subsequently ignore the simple facts.Simplicity is what makes everything possible and with every great feat, there were hundreds of small, simple decisions that had to take place first. Look at Google and their simplistic homepage; did simple work for them?In this article I am not going to break some earth-shattering news or reveal a 10-step program to success. Instead, I want to refresh your brain a little, tip some simplistic approaches and get you back to basics. The simplest things are easily forgotten, have some of these fallen from your scope?
Let go of the past. Act and apply in the present and shape up the future
Utilize your failures as a guide towards success
Do not try. Just do it.
Make a list of your dreams. No matter how hard they might be to achieve, just sit down and write all your dreams down.
Make a list of your goals and think how you can achieve them
Use negative feedback and criticism to your advantage and better yourself
If you want to be successful in someone else's game (if you have a boss), play by their rules or create your own game.
Make a list of your values. What do you value most and build your success upon them
Keep personal time separate from business time.
Your success depends on your failures as well as your achievements.
If you are in doubt let someone else do it. Doubtfulness is saying I almost believe it. If you don't fully believe it, leave it for someone else who does
Avoid interruptions during your productivity time. Whatever it might be, work or family or some alone time, interruptions can throw you off for whatever it is you are doing.
Determine your peak performance hours. Work at a point in day when you feel like you are most effective.
Breath deeply and let go off any stress.
Rest and relaxation plays as much an important part as exercise itself.
Do not worry. All it does is gets you ready for negative outcomes.
Think happy thoughts and there will be positive outcomes.
Do not step back from the job at hand when fear subsides in you.
Use your brain not only your heart.
Eliminate emotions by letting go off the past and thinking about the present.
What has happened in the past will most probably stay the same; you can't change it. Instead focus on the present and live today instead of yesterday.
Don't let the time control you. You control the time.
Time management is the most effective tool you can utilize and become successful.
Create strategies and build credibility among your peers.
Once again, forget the past and live it up in the present.

Why doesn't Stanton get any love?

I know Stanton might not be the best out there, but how are you going to sign a QB who hasn't even practiced this season to be a starter after signing him about a week ago, that's just pathetic.

-- The Lions' new quarterback, Daunte Culpepper, arrived at the team's practice facility early Monday afternoon -- and not a moment too soon, it appears.
Culpepper, a veteran free agent who was expected to sign a two-year contract with the Lions after completing his physical Monday, likely will be the starting quarterback Sunday against Jacksonville at Ford Field.
Dan Orlovsky, who started the last four games after replacing Jon Kitna, had a removable hard cast on his right (throwing) hand Monday, protecting a sprained thumb that could keep him out indefinitely. Center Dominic Raiola also might be out because of a possible broken hand.
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Orlovsky said X-rays ruled out a fracture in this thumb -- injured on the first play of Sunday's 27-23 loss at Chicago -- but he said he didn't know whether he'd be able to practice this week.
"We'll see on Wednesday," said Orlovsky, who said he took a pain reliever to finish Sunday's game against the Bears.
Healthy or not, though, Orlovsky knew his days as a starter were numbered last week when the Lions -- after weeks of speculation -- finally brought Culpepper in for a workout. Culpepper, a nine-year NFL veteran, wowed the Lions' coaching staff with his arm and dispelled concerns about his mobility. And by Monday, his new locker stall was ready and waiting with a No. 11 nameplate -- the same number he wore as a three-time Pro Bowl selection with the Minnesota Vikings.
"It was a terrific workout -- you could see the explosion in the arm, the movement of the feet, all those things were good," coach Rod Marinelli said. "You look at it and you say it's a great opportunity to add a really good veteran player to your football team."
Culpepper, 31, announced his unofficial retirement from the NFL in early September, unable to find a suitable opportunity after abbreviated stints in Miami and Oakland the past two seasons. But two weeks ago, he changed his mind after talking to the Lions, among other teams.
"As a result of doing some research on different places to play, the Detroit Lions seemed to be the best fit for me," Culpepper wrote in an e-mail to The Detroit News on Monday, "I am encouraged by the commitment of ownership, the vision of management and the great potential of the talent that is on the team. I am grateful to the Lions organization for giving me an opportunity to both continue my NFL career and make a positive impact in the Detroit community. I hope to contribute to the team in whatever role coach (Rod) Marinelli needs for me to play."
The Lions are hoping Culpepper's signing can be more than simply a short-term fix for the NFL's lone remaining winless team. His two-year deal, which will pay him a prorated amount of veteran's minimum salary ($730,000) this season, a league source confirmed, represents a low-risk option for both sides.
But if things work out, the Lions might have found a starter for next season as well -- albeit at a much higher price tag -- and avoided having to wade into the free-agent waters to find another experienced arm.
"He's a veteran, but he's young still," Marinelli said. "So you've got to take a look because you might really find something special.
"I just think, anytime you can add a really good football player, and obviously he has been that ... I don't know how you close your eyes to a player like that."
Culpepper's arrival was met with some optimism by his new teammates.
"It felt like the organization cares about this season," defensive tackle Cory Redding said. "It's not the fact that it's a lack of confidence (in the quarterbacks), it's that we still care about this season. And regardless of what the record shows, we gotta try to make some moves and get something going. We need guys to come in and make plays."
Orlovsky did make some plays Sunday, throwing for a career-high 292 yards and two touchdowns. But he also made some mistakes, throwing a pair of interceptions as the Lions came up short again.
"I think I can be a really consistent, top-notch starter in this league," said Orlovsky, in the final year of his contract. "Watching the film that I watched today compared to the film that I watched four weeks ago, I'm not the same person. And just seeing me make throws and do things as a quarterback is verification in my mind that, 'Yeah, I can do this. I can do it well.'"
Marinelli acknowledged he'd seen improvement from Orlovsky the last few weeks, but clearly it's not enough. And with backup Drew Stanton not yet ready for prime time -- at least in the coaches' eyes -- it's now Culpepper's turn.
"In this league when you can get better," Marinelli said, "you're crazy not to."

Love the trade...

After seeing the logistics, I absolutely love this trade. JOE D IS THE MAN.

This morning’s reported trade has the Nuggets sending Allen Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb. Breaking down the particulars:
Detroit gets: Versatility. Do you start Iverson at point, keep Rip Hamilton at the two and bring Rodney Stuckey off the bench? What about going small with Stuckey at PG, Iverson at SG, Rip at SF and Tayshaun Prince at the four? Or you could have a Stuckey/Iverson backcourt, keep Prince at the three and bring Hamilton off the bench as the second unit’s top scorer while Iverson leads the first unit. However coach Michael Curry wants to play it, Iverson’s ability to play the two or the one at an All-NBA level gives him greater options than he had with Billups, an All-NBA point guard but not so much as a two-guard. With Iverson’s speed, a small lineup featuring Stuckey, Iverson, Rip, Tayshaun and Jason Maxiell could run with the fastest teams in the League, while the Pistons still have the elements to play a slower half-court game as well.
Denver gets: More playoff experience. Billups has 117 postseason games under his belt, including one ring and two trips to the Finals. McDyess has 80 playoff games and one trip to the Finals. Iverson has 71 postseason games on his record, and more importantly, he hasn’t been out of the first round since 2003, whereas Billups and McDyess have grown accustomed to getting past the first round on auto-pilot.
Why Detroit did it: Billups is 32 years old and has $50 million left on a four-year deal, whereas Iverson has one year left at $21 million. Along with Rasheed Wallace’s expiring $13 million contract, that’s a TON of cap space with which to go after ‘09 free agents like Kobe or Carlos Boozer if they want. And in the meantime, Detroit can make one more good run with a veteran group. Also, don’t discount the added sense of urgency Iverson brings (think KG in Boston last year), since he’s the one without a ring and sees this as his last decent shot. The Pistons also REALLY like Stuckey and wanted to open up more minutes for him at point guard. In the season’s first two games he’d averaged 18 minutes, far below the 30 per night Curry promised. They also REALLY like Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell, and were willing to give up McDyess and open up more minutes for them.
Why Denver did it: They didn’t want to lose Iverson for nothing when he’s a free agent this summer. Billups is at least a comparable talent — and more desirable in some cases — so they’re not sending a message to Carmelo Anthony that they’re rebuilding, plus ‘Melo gets handed the mantle as primary scorer and offensive focal point, territory that A.I. had moved in on since the ‘06 trade. The Nuggets also get a true point guard on both ends of the court, which allows J.R. Smith to start at two-guard and defend bigger players at that position, and moves Anthony Carter to his rightful place coming off the bench. At worst, Billups is a hometown guy (and McDyess is a former Nugget) who could temporarily distract from the fact this team might not be very good; at best, Billups is a better leader than Iverson who could direct them to the playoffs and help ‘Melo have a career year. George Karl gets a coach on the floor, McDyess helps shore up one of the weakest frontcourts in the League as a reliable double-double threat who plays D, and Cheikh Samb is a project with potential.

Can You Really Redesign Your Own Life?

Can You Really Redesign Your Own Life?

Written on 10/15/2008 by David Bohl. David shares the viral message Slow Down FAST and helps people raise the roof on all facets of their lives without risking implosion. Get some must-haves here.
Photo Credit: KSquierThere are no guarantees that life will turn out the way you want. However, you have a better chance of it turning out how you want if you know how to design your own life.I like the image of an architect designing a building by first laying out the blueprints or a writer outlining a book by starting with the table of contents. The ability to create from scratch is a powerful feeling; the house emerges from a sheet of drawings, the book takes shape from the imagination of the writer.Can you really design your own life in much the same way? I don't know if we can design every aspect of our lives because we have certain fixed and certain variable aspects.For example, we cannot change our upbringing: the parents, siblings, education, childhood experiences, and all that went on before you came to this awareness of your ability to design your life. All that happened in the past has shaped who you are today, so you will need to start designing your life from this point forward.Since we can't control the past and we can't control the future, what can we control if we want to design our own life? Well, we can make a plan today, we can work our plan each day, we can modify our plan as necessary, and we can make the best of what shows up even when it's not what we want.I've assembled some tools I think every life architect should have in their toolbox as they take on the lifetime project of designing their life. See if these work for you.
BlueprintThe blueprint for your life can be like the architect's house design, the author's table of contents, or a business plan. You set out certain goals and you map out a plan of actions on how you will get to each one of them. Maybe you start with your ideal career and strategize on how you will get from where you are to where you want to be. Then you can design your personal life, intimate relationships, friendships, children, pets, home, hobbies, and whatever else fits in your plan.
FocusAfter you've created your blueprint, but before you've take action, you need to get into the right mindset. The power of your thoughts, your positive mindset, your committed focus on your goals and your plan will improve your chances of success in each area you take action in. You must believe in yourself and your ability to achieve your goals. You must become aware of your thoughts and maintain the ones that will support your getting what you want. You must eliminate distractions and focus on the end result.
ActionWith your plan in place and your mind set on success, you're ready to take the actions necessary to build your life as you desire it. If you want to change careers, your first action may be to set up interviews with people in that career who you can get guidance from. The next action may be to sign up for classes that will provide you with the skill level necessary for the career move, etc. Just keep following the action steps you outlined in your blueprint.
MaintenanceActions need to be monitored regularly to check on your progress. Did the information interviews provide you with all you needed to know or do you need to schedule some more. Are you finding you have enough time to study for the classes you're taking, or is it a challenge while holding a full time job? Have you taken an internship or entry level position in your new field and now it's time to ask for a promotion? Keep monitoring your progress toward your goals so you can stay motivated. Celebrate the small successes on your way toward your bigger goals. Each success is one step closer to your ultimate life design.
RepairsMake corrections, adjust for change, re-examine your actions and your goals. As you hit obstacles, find a way around them. Make sure they're not showing up often to tell you you're on the wrong course. If that is the case, reassess your goal to make sure it's that you really want. Then establish some new actions that will get you back on the path even if it's a different route.
SupportAll builders have a team. The architect designs the house, then the contractor steps in and hires plumbers, electricians, framers, etc. As you design your life, your team may include coaches, mentors, teachers, associates, partners, interns, contractors, and anyone else can help you achieve your goals. As you start working your plan, review it on a regular basis, adjust for changes, and always reward yourself for your progress. With these tools in your toolbox, you're on your way to designing your own life.

bottles in the club... (posted from someone else)

What to Do When You've Outgrown the Club Scene
I was out with friends for dinner and when we decided it was too early to call it quits, we went to a dance club adjacent to the restaurant for a drink. While we walked over, we laughed as we recalled our previous experiences in clubs. When walked in, we were stunned to find that we felt completely and utterly out of place.How had we gotten so old? Why did these 20-somethings look so YOUNG? What was this music? How are these young people dressed? Wow, we quickly realized did we realize that there was a time and place for this and it was about 20-some years ago!As you mature, other things in life take precedence over nursing hangovers and not remembering the end of the night. Spending your entire paycheck on drinks no longer seems fiscally responsible. Yet, it is sometimes so difficult to move away from the party club scene that has been part of your life for so long. How do you meet people? What should you do on a Friday night? How can you persuade your friends to do something else?Believe it or not, there IS life out there beyond the club scene and there are so many other ways to meet people, whether it's at your church, at the gym or at fundraisers and dinners.When I look back at the fun times I had in my youth, I remember booze-induced laughs and outrageousness but I also remember feeling slightly empty, like something was missing. After a while, I realized that my bar-hopping and club-cruising days were over and it was time to get back into things that "the rest of the world" were involved with.Are you at this point and ready for a change? Here are some ways to skip the club scene in favor or something a little more productive.Get back into sportsWhy not spend the afternoon with some of your friends and relatives at a sporting event? Tailgating can add a bit of spice to the pre-game hours -- WITHOUT letting libations get out of control. Spending time with people you enjoy invigorated in the outdoors is surely a wonderful day out. If you're unable to afford an afternoon at an NFL football game, go to a college game as they can be even more exciting. Head over to your local baseball farm team. How about hockey?Dine outInstead of spending your evening dancing and meeting people that you would probably never talk to let alone rub up against, try heading out to dinner with some close friends. You might even set a date with someone you've been interested in. Dinner and drinks is a much more "grown-up" way to enjoy an evening. Great conversation, fantastic food, alluring atmosphere. If you take the time to research a place, you might find exactly what you are looking for. How about a hole in the wall Italian joint with fantastic food, a trendy place to "be seen" or an elegant restaurant with impeccable service?Take time for yourself If you've been working really hard and need a low key break, try staying home for an evening. Got a flair for culinary arts? Make yourself or even a few friends a recipe that you've been waiting to try and enjoy with some wine and conversation (or even skip the wine and just go for conversation!) If you love to read or watch movies, make some time for these things. A great book or a fun movie can be quite revitalizing, and an easy conversation segue for when you're out and socializing.Do what you likeIf your main reason for going out is to meet people or "someone" then give other social places a try. Join a book club, or a gym, or a cigar club or a boat club. It is amazing how many clubs are out there for specific interests. There is something about sharing interests with people that almost automatically draws you together. I've met many who I now consider friends though such venues.If you find that you've been neglecting your hobbies, make sure you recommit. Love the outdoors? Looking to push your body to the limit? Then make an effort to get physical. The adrenaline alone in something like rock climbing or hang gliding would be enough to forget about the clubbing scene. Meet up with your pals to play soccer on a Saturday afternoon. Find intramural sports in your area. There are so many ways to exercise your body and not your wallet.When it becomes more important to preserve your brain cells than kill them, more important to enjoy your weekend than to waste it, more important to live life than to stumble through, it may be time to reevaluate your age and what most people your age are doing!

Sundays, Sundays, Sundays...

Sundays are always a time for reflection. Usually you have more time to just sit down and reflect. Today I took a nap at around 7pm, it had to be my first nap in a couple months. I have too much anxiety to go to bed during the day. It was a pretty hard partying weekend, after all it was Halloween and all. I really didn't want to go out on Friday but I had to accompany my roommate Jamie and J-Lye. Saturday we did some day drinking for the state game. state pulled out a pretty amazing win. we haven't beat wisconsin in awhile. it seems that the rest of the year should be pretty chill, time to go into hibernation. I don't have any real big plans, and the bar scene/partying is getting pretty old to me. I don't mind a couple drinks, but I'd rather work, work out, read, run, and take care of business in general. we dropped back an hour which is real nice, get to go to bed later and wake up earlier. does it work like that? I am not ready winter. I thought about it and i'm not ready to turn 26 either. 26, crazy it's almost 30, it's a lot closer to 30 then 20. at some point you look at your where you are and wonder is it what you envisioned. Better? worse? just different? 26, sometimes you feel like you should be more grown up than you are. Married? with kids? more mature? more settled down? I would say in some ways I have far exceeded where I thought I would be at 26. In other ways, not so much. You look back at your life and start thinking of all the important things... I did a lot before 17, but I really think my life started in college. It was the first time of my life I was exposed to people of all cultures, not just the blue collar low-middle income simple starter home culture of Hazel Park. It's the first time I moved out from my dads. It was the start of my growing up process. The four years of college is where many people "find themselves". You become independent, you realize that no one is in charge of you besides you, you pick your major, you pick your passions, you start working on creating your life, you start growing up. After college, you realize there was nothing actually "grown up" about it. You were placed in this socioeconomic young demographic bubble of ten thousands of people going through the same experience as you. There were thousands of adolescents living with you, next to you, all around you, trying to find out who they were. For the most part, they were broke, they loved happy hours, free food, football games, singing and dancing, socializing, greek events, and having fun all in the namesake of getting a degree towards your stated career choice. Then you hit the real world, if you're lucky enough you graduate with a sweetheart to witness your daily ascension in the real world, you graduate with a job offer, you graduate with a degree of your first choice, you graduate ready to take on all that life has to offer. You graduate knowing you have no regrets, that you couldn't have done it any better, you gave it your best shot, you took the college experience and dominated it, you met as many people as you could, gained a couple of best friends, and most importantly you graduated ready and prepared for the next phase of your life. 3 1/2 years later, at 25 years old, I find myself working in the corporate world, at the largest brokerage, which just got bought out by one of the largest banks. I'm a house owner, a car owner, a land owner, and a cat owner. Am I grown up? Am I considered an adult? Who knows? My biggest fear in life is one day looking back and realizing I just settled, I was just going through the emotions, and at the end I was unhappy. As I reflect on my life now, I realize I can do more, I will do more. The time is now.

Happy Birthday Rivva!

Here's a tribute to my boy Rivva...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OR_ftytUEs

Happy Birthday Rivva!

Here's a tribute to my boy Rivva...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OR_ftytUEs

i always wondered the largest tv markets in the us...

Ranking Designated Market Area (DMA)
2007 / 2008 / CHANGE + or -1 1 New York, NY2 2 Los Angeles, CA3 3 Chicago, IL4 4 Philadelphia, PA6 5 +1 Dallas - Ft. Worth, TX5 6 -1 San Francisco - Oakland - San Jose, CA7 7 Boston, MA9 8 +1 Atlanta, GA8 9 -1 Washington, DC10 10 Houston, TX11 11 Detroit, MI13 12 +1 Phoenix, AZ12 13 -1 Tampa - St. Petersburg - Sarasota, FL14 14 Seattle - Tacoma, WA15 15 Minneapolis, MN16 16 Miami - Ft. Lauderdale, FL17 17 Cleveland - Akron, OH18 18 Denver, CO19 19 Orlando - Daytona Beach - Melbourne, FL20 20 Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto, CA21 21 St. Louis, MO22 22 Pittsburgh, PA23 23 Portland, OR24 24 Baltimore, MD26 25 +1 Charlotte, NC25 26 -1 Indianapolis, IN27 27 San Diego, CA29 28 +1 Raleigh - Durham, NC28 29 -1 Hartford - New Haven, CT30 30 Nashville, TN31 31 Kansas City, MO32 32 Columbus, OH33 33 Cincinnati, OH34 34 Milwaukee, WI35 35 Salt Lake City, UT36 36 Greenville - Spartanburg, SC / Asheville, NC / Anderson, SC37 37 San Antonio, TX38 38 West Palm Beach - Fort Pierce, FL39 39 Grand Rapids - Kalamazoo - Battle Creek, MI40 40 Birmingham, AL41 41 Harrisburg - Lancaster - Lebanon - York, PA42 42 Norfolk - Portsmouth - Newport News, VA43 43 Las Vegas, NV46 44 +2 Albuquerque - Santa Fe, NM45 45 Oklahoma City, OK47 46 +1 Greensboro - High Point - Winston Salem, NC44 47 -3 Memphis, TN48 48 Louisville, KY50 49 +1 Jacksonville, FL / Brunswick, GA

The age of prosperity is over.

About a year ago Stephen Moore, Peter Tanous and I set about writing a book about our vision for the future entitled "The End of Prosperity." Little did we know then how appropriate its release would be earlier this month.
Financial panics, if left alone, rarely cause much damage to the real economy, output, employment or production. Asset values fall sharply and wipe out those who borrowed and lent too much, thereby redistributing wealth from the foolish to the prudent. This process is the topic of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book "Fooled by Randomness."
David Gothard
When markets are free, asset values are supposed to go up and down, and competition opens up opportunities for profits and losses. Profits and stock appreciation are not rights, but rewards for insight mixed with a willingness to take risk. People who buy homes and the banks who give them mortgages are no different, in principle, than investors in the stock market, commodity speculators or shop owners. Good decisions should be rewarded and bad decisions should be punished. The market does just that with its profits and losses.
No one likes to see people lose their homes when housing prices fall and they can't afford to pay their mortgages; nor does any one of us enjoy watching banks go belly-up for making subprime loans without enough equity. But the taxpayers had nothing to do with either side of the mortgage transaction. If the house's value had appreciated, believe you me the overleveraged homeowner and the overly aggressive bank would never have shared their gain with taxpayers. Housing price declines and their consequences are signals to the market to stop building so many houses, pure and simple.
But here's the rub. Now enter the government and the prospects of a kinder and gentler economy. To alleviate the obvious hardships to both homeowners and banks, the government commits to buy mortgages and inject capital into banks, which on the face of it seems like a very nice thing to do. But unfortunately in this world there is no tooth fairy. And the government doesn't create anything; it just redistributes. Whenever the government bails someone out of trouble, they always put someone into trouble, plus of course a toll for the troll. Every $100 billion in bailout requires at least $130 billion in taxes, where the $30 billion extra is the cost of getting government involved.
If you don't believe me, just watch how Congress and Barney Frank run the banks. If you thought they did a bad job running the post office, Amtrak, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the military, just wait till you see what they'll do with Wall Street.
Some 14 months ago, the projected deficit for the 2008 fiscal year was about 0.6% of GDP. With the $170 billion stimulus package last March, the add-ons to housing and agriculture bills, and the slowdown in tax receipts, the deficit for 2008 actually came in at 3.2% of GDP, with the 2009 deficit projected at 3.8% of GDP. And this is just the beginning.
The net national debt in 2001 was at a 20-year low of about 35% of GDP, and today it stands at 50% of GDP. But this 50% number makes no allowance for anything resulting from the over $5.2 trillion guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac assets, or the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Nor does the 50% number include any of the asset swaps done by the Federal Reserve when they bailed out Bear Stearns, AIG and others.
But the government isn't finished. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- and yes, even Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke -- are preparing for a new $300 billion stimulus package in the next Congress. Each of these actions separately increases the tax burden on the economy and does nothing to encourage economic growth. Giving more money to people when they fail and taking more money away from people when they work doesn't increase work. And the stock market knows it.
The stock market is forward looking, reflecting the current value of future expected after-tax profits. An improving economy carries with it the prospects of enhanced profitability as well as higher employment, higher wages, more productivity and more output. Just look at the era beginning with President Reagan's tax cuts, Paul Volcker's sound money, and all the other pro-growth, supply-side policies.
Bill Clinton and Alan Greenspan added their efforts to strengthen what had begun under President Reagan. President Clinton signed into law welfare reform, so people actually have to look for a job before being eligible for welfare. He ended the "retirement test" for Social Security benefits (a huge tax cut for elderly workers), pushed the North American Free Trade Agreement through Congress against his union supporters and many of his own party members, signed the largest capital gains tax cut ever (which exempted owner-occupied homes from capital gains taxes), and finally reduced government spending as a share of GDP by an amazing three percentage points (more than the next four best presidents combined). The stock market loved Mr. Clinton as it had loved Reagan, and for good reasons.
The stock market is obviously no fan of second-term George W. Bush, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ben Bernanke, Barack Obama or John McCain, and again for good reasons.
These issues aren't Republican or Democrat, left or right, liberal or conservative. They are simply economics, and wish as you might, bad economics will sink any economy no matter how much they believe this time things are different. They aren't.
I was on the White House staff as George Shultz's economist in the Office of Management and Budget when Richard Nixon imposed wage and price controls, the dollar was taken off gold, import surcharges were implemented, and other similar measures were enacted from a panicked decision made in August of 1971 at Camp David.
I witnessed, like everyone else, the consequences of another panicked decision to cover up the Watergate break-in. I saw up close and personal Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush succumb to panicked decisions to raise taxes, as well as Jimmy Carter's emergency energy plan, which included wellhead price controls, excess profits taxes on oil companies, and gasoline price controls at the pump.
The consequences of these actions were disastrous. Just look at the stock market from the post-Kennedy high in early 1966 to the pre-Reagan low in August of 1982. The average annual real return for U.S. assets compounded annually was -6% per year for 16 years. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a bear market. And it is something that you may well experience again. Yikes!
Then we have this administration's panicked Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, and of course the deer-in-the-headlights Mr. Bernanke in his bungling of monetary policy.
There are many more examples, but none hold a candle to what's happening right now. Twenty-five years down the line, what this administration and Congress have done will be viewed in much the same light as what Herbert Hoover did in the years 1929 through 1932. Whenever people make decisions when they are panicked, the consequences are rarely pretty. We are now witnessing the end of prosperity.

MSU.

if state won out Wisco, Purdue, Penn State, would we be big ten champs? we'd be tied with Penn State but have the tie breaker? or does OSU win out as well and there's a three way tie?

great piece on the cause of the current financial crisis.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/26/60minutes/main4546199.shtml

Feel like a Million $$$

As I walk up the stairs of the parking garage up to ground level the sun is just beginning to descend below it's highest point. It's around 50 degrees, slightly cool, just a beautiful fall day in the state of Michigan. I'm on my way to the 6th floor of the Miller Johnson building. I'm attending my last Income Tax Planning Class. It's the first of four classes I have to enroll in to sit for my CFP. I feel pretty good about this class because as bad as it is (every Monday 4-8pm), I didn't skip one session. Back at State, I hated accounting so much I almost didn't major in finance because I had to take a 400 level accounting class. I'm suprised I feel so good after such a crazy weekend. Let's back it up to last Sunday. On Sunday, I woke up at 9am and did 9 holes of golf with Eastman and his buddy. I than met up with Jt at Golf Galaxy where he bought $500 worth of irons, I let the boys know about this. After 18 with JT, we visited a couple Halloween stores in search of costume ideas. On Monday before class, i went to a couple more halloween stores, some good ideas bumble bee's, bananas in pajamas, polar bears, pirates, batman & robin. Tuesday after work Jt, Jack, and I went back to a couple stores and narrowed it down to teletubbies & sesame street. We decided on Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, & Cookie monster. After that we hit up meijer for my first of several shopping spree's for the party decorations. We then met up with Jamieson, Ally, and a couple of her friends at the Main Street Pub on GVSU's campus. Apparently tuesday night is karaoke night. Ally along with several other 21 year olds proceeded to get wasted, and we suffered through some awful awful singing. It was an eventful Tuesday to say the least. On Wednesday the "crazies" (Brooke, Mel, Jenny, Ashley) came over. For whatever reason they love to party on Wednesdays, I once asked Mel why they prefer to come over and rock out on Wednesdays, and she just yelled back "We're partying Wednesday!" I left it at that. I like Friday & Saturday drinking as much as anybody, just ask my friends. Even Thursday is ok, Wednesday is a stretch like me trying to fit in my high school marching band suit. Well cue the music, cuz sure enough the doorbell has been rang and its the "crazies." Jamieson was having no part of it, so he went downstairs, sure enough our sub pump wasn't pumping and our basement was becoming flooded. Of course, Jamieson had a shop vac and went to work. Meanwhile, I had a chill night in mind, a couple of drinks, some conversation, and maybe a night cap dip in the hot tub. The "crazies" led by Captain Mel went on a "fifth" campaign (drink til the fifth is gone). They wanted to black out and go to the bar. In that order exactly. I volunteered to drop them off, but said I would accompany them to the bar if they wanted to go to Ottawa Tavern. The "OT' is basically my backyard. All the CC (Catholic Central) kids I hoop with frequent it. I know all the bartenders, bouncers, and servers. It's a sports bar/pub and the World Series was on, plus I knew we'd stay an hour max before someone passed out or threw up. Turns out, neither one of those things happened. Captain Mel proceeded to get into a fight with the bartender, who was my boy. The fact that only about three other people in the entire bar, she was on her first beer, and the bartender is my boy, made it all the more ridiculous. Thursday I spent another four hours halloween party shopping and another $150 as well. The party tab was getting steep, hopefully the gathering would live up to it's billing (it did!). On Friday, innocent old me, wanted another chill night. J-Lye, J-Dub, Jayce, Jt, and I went to Lincoln Lanes for the Friday night poker tourney. Jayce and I were the first ones out so we went bowling. Jack joined us in the third game and J-Lye join in the fourth. I bowled a 127, 108, 147, and after a couple pichers I couldn't recall the last score. J-Lye was on a mission to go out and drag me with him and my boy Dave K us to join the boys at the OT. Rumplemints and Jack & Diets were the drinks of choice. We then hit up Montie's, I'm over that scene. I started my Saturday at 9am. After re-energizing my bastteries with a BK breakfast, a large cup of joe (coffee), and an hour of college gameday, I proceeded to decorate the house. From 11am-2:30pm I hung about $200 worth of decor around the house. I then ran out for a hair cut and some Dunkin Doughnuts coffee. Reese, Emily, Brandon, Jen, Chris, Dena, Amanda, Caleb, and Jenn D. were the first guests to arrive for the State game. The coffee was a huge success, I'm pretty sure Chris and I had 3 pots just between us. The annual UofM/State game was absolutely nerve racking. Funny things always happen during rivalries and this game was no exception. UofM scored on a very controversial pylon call, they blocked one of our chip shot field goals, we missed another chip shot field goal, and on top of that we missed yet another field goal. Even our last INT was funky somehow our safety ran into a linemen and we fumbled it back to UofM. 4 quarters and 5 pots of coffee later us Spartans for the first time since my freshmen year in college (7 years ago) reign victorious! Is 6pm too early to start planning? Perhaps, but we were all feeling way too good to wait. Pretty soon Joe, Heidi, Geck, Whitney, Kyle, Megan, Ashley, Mel, Jenny, Jack, Jt, Will, Kelly, and the rest of the mob started stacking it in. By 8:30pm I had about 15 "victory green" shots. Before I know it, it's 4am... It went by way too fast but it was one of the best parties I've ever been at. The first party co-hosted by Jamieson and me was a hugely wild success. Next bash will be my birthday, it will be the 2nd annual Ugly Sweater Sexy Socks party. I still can't believe so many people would drive 2-3 hours just for one of my parties, but Caleb, Geck, Whitney, Joe, Heidi, Mario, Betty, Brandon, Jen and couple others do it consistently. I'm a pretty lucky guy and Halloween continues to be my favorite holiday. For more Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2580686&id=23126450686&id=2312645