Election day is tomorrow

mbshaner — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:09:24 +0000

Who are you voting for and why? Once the results are in, I’ll weigh in with who I voted for and why.

A burger made of meat

mbshaner — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:04:03 +0000

Apologies to those who’ve missed my blog posts. I started graduate school (MBA) this semester and just haven’t found the time or energy to blog. Last week, I took a much needed vacation to play disc golf with some buddies (hereafter known as the DGRT – disc golf road trip). Since I’m horribly inept at throwing a disc (I got a little better toward the end), the highlight of the DGRT for me was our evening ventures out in search of excellent local food.

Thanks to Chris F., we scored some seriously awesome grub on the DGRT including this little beauty from the Burger Barge right on the river. I highly recommend the Burger Barge to all you carnivores out there who might ever pass through Peoria.

Just in case you’re having a hard time determining what exactly is on this burger, it’s a nine-ounce beef patty, a boneless pork chop and a chicken breast. I must say, eating this was one of the greatest American (I lived in Italy for two years so nothing stateside even comes close) culinary experiences of my life.

Here are what some of my fellow DGRTers ate:

Justin R. rocked the double pork chop burger

Evan R. had the beef, egg, bacon and ham breakfast burger

BTW, don’t waste your time going to see Max Payne. It kinda sucked.

Sarah Palin: What do you think of me now?

mbshaner — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:45:48 +0000

I was at the same time excited and disappointed in Sarah Palin’s speech last night. She certainly showed she had the confidence and poise to be a vice-presidential candidate, but I could have done without the attack dog routine.

The normally silent janitor in my building was talking up a storm this morning about Sarah Palin, so my sense is that she’s rallying the base and perhaps getting a second look from conservative democrats in small-town America.

What do you think? Was this all rhetoric and no substance or is she the real deal? Will the GOP get a bigger bounce from this convention than the Democrats got from theirs?

As a side-note, my wife and I were very amused with shots of Piper Palin licking her hand and smoothing down her baby brother’s hair and her performance on stage after the speech (I think she waved more than her mom). You can’t script those moments.

Sarah Palin

mbshaner — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:25:31 +0000

Does this negate the “Obama isn’t experienced” argument? Are we comparing apples to apples when we compare time served as governor and time served as U.S. Senator?

What do you think?

Strange bedfellows

mbshaner — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:26:00 +0000

Betcha didn’t know this about me — the running for Congress part, I mean.

That dang Derek Walker! I would have gotten away with it. Muh-ha-ha-ha!

Sport or no sport – Part III: People play this?

mbshaner — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:17:18 +0000

There’s an interesting story behind the photo in this post. Yesterday, I interviewed a student for a part-time job with my department. I work in communication and relationship managment for an IT department and one of the primary things I look for when I hire someone is his or her ability to take highly technical and complicated concepts and synthesize them down in a way that your grandma would understand. Some people’s grandmas are rocket scientists, I know, but most people’s grandmas aren’t very tech-savvy. Mine has never turned on a computer or used the Internet.

So on this person’s resume, cricket was listed as a hobby. I had the bright idea to hand the interviewee a dry erase marker, slide my whiteboard over and ask for an explanation of cricket. I figured this was a technical subject that I knew nothing about and thus, would make a good exercise in determining whether or not this individual could communicate. The results are as follows:

I still have no idea how the game of cricket is played. I know Kevin Peterson is a English-born cricket player on the South African team, but otherwise I couldn’t tell you much about the game. This wasn’t necessarily the fault of the student I interviewed. I pretty sure I understood the words being spoken to me, they just didn’t all fit together to describe a game that made sense

I’m going to add a somewhat subjective criteria for what is or isn’t a sport. If a moderately intelligent person can’t undertsand the rules explained in their native language, then it’s not a sport.

Sport or no sport – Part II

mbshaner — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:25:29 +0000

It’s nice being validated by writers in the mainstream media. Check out article on sports that should be kicked out of the Olympics by Time Magazine’s Hannah Beech. I’ve sort of had this lingering misgiving about some of the more girly sports that I couldn’t quite articulate. It’s not that they don’t require athletic ability, it’s just that they’re so, well, girly. The writer of this article sums it up nicely (referring to rhythimic gymnastics and synchronized swimming):

The problem with both events, in my mind, is that the girly bits overshadow the athletic parts. Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics involve such copious amounts of cosmetics that they make a Texas beauty pageant look sedate. Yes, thighs strain with effort, but I’m distracted by the twirling toes and the bleached teeth framed by rictus smiles. And the accoutrements of rhythmic gymnastics — the hoop, the swirling ribbon — divert from the balletic grace of the athletes.

This ain’t your momma’s East German swim team.

Esurance dethroned

mbshaner — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:03:51 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a new least-favorite commercial. Old Spice (Proctor & Gamble) is the offender this time.

Does beastiality really sell soap? I hope not.

The Purpose-Driven Political Forum

mbshaner — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:43:48 +0000

Did anyone else watch Rick Warren interview Barack Obama and John McCain?

I’m no huge Obamaniac, but I came a away with a bad feeling about John McCain. His answers seemed contrived and it sounded several times like he threw out some Christian catch phrases a bit disingenuously. But then again, it’s not about me.

What were your impressions?

Sport or no sport?

mbshaner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:51:25 +0000

Ah, the Olympics are upon us and the world turns its gaze towards China and the awesome athletic prowess of Michael Phelps and Glen Eller. Never heard of Glen Eller, you say? Well, let me tell you about Glen “The Glide” Eller (nickname mine, but I think it will catch on).

Mr. Eller is one bad-a with a shotgun, as he brought home the gold this year in shooting, winning the gold in double trap, a non-sport, which is the point of my post. There are several so-called “sports” in the Olympics that have no business being there because they aren’t a sport, they’re just hobbies. Do they take a lot of skill? Absolutely. Hand-eye coordination? You bet. But those things don’t make an activity a sport. If all you need to qualify your hobby as a sport is skill, technical know-how and hand-eye coordination, then quiting, knitting and cross-stich need to be added to the list of events for London 2012. I wonder if they would do one of those annoying biomentary pieces for Olympic quilters? Fighting back from multiple index finger injuries and the loss of her cat, Horace, Gretchen Fincklemeyer comes into these games as a force to be reckoned with…back to you, Bob Costas.

Take my quick quiz to see if you can correctly distinguish sports from non-sports:

Which of the following Olympic events is a sport, and thus deserves to remain a part of the Olympic games?
a. Shooting
b. Sailing
c. NASCAR
d. Equestrian
e. None of the Above

If you answered a,b,c or d, you’re wrong. These are hobbies that rely on the power or strength of a machine or animal to accomplish the intended results. Not right. Not wrong. Just different (and not sports).

If you answered None of the Above, you are correct. Happy hobbying.