Touching Base

Hey there! I've been too busy to write recently. Sorry. But I promise to be more communicative in this space. Please don't quit visiting.

-The story of my frustrating attempt to purchase a projector lamp on eBay has a happy ending...sort of. After receiving the new lamp...finally...I installed it and re-positioned the projector. Turned it on....and Voila! It worked fine....for about ten minutes. Then the projector turned itself off and displayed a flashing red LED that had been the problem from the beginning. I assumed that it needed a new lamp because the LED was next to the word lamp on the housing. So, not knowing whether I had another bad lamp...or there was some other problem...I took my frustrated self to the internet to see if I could track down what was going on. Lo and behold on the manufacturer's website there was a forum where customers could discuss problems with the maker's equipment. After about an hour of looking through old customer posts to the forum, I found someone with the same problem I was having. Turns out all I needed to do was take the housing apart and blow the dust out of the thing. I did....and it's been working like new ever since. The bad news is I didn't really need the lamp I bought on eBAy...but it doesn't hurt to have a back-up anyway.

-If the Rams lose at Dallas Sunday...which everyone seems to think they will do...we might be able to start concentrating solely on Blues hockey for the Fall and Winter. The problem with that right now is the Blues are sending some pretty bad signals to fans with the way they're getting handled in the pre-season. But, as I've said before, the pre-season in hockey is all about picking your team...not necessarily winning games. I know Andy Murray and John Davidson would rather win pre-season games...but I don't think anybody should panic until we're a couple of months into the season and still struggling. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that it looks like we're setting up to put largely the same bunch of players out there that we had last year. I hope some of our kids...like David Perron, Roman Polak, Martin Kariya... etc., very impressive in training camp...get a chance to show what they can do.

-I, for one, hope that the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa continue their relationship. I have problems with the guy's moves from time to time. But, you can't argue with the kind of success on the field that our Birds have had with TLR calling the shots. If he was working for the Yankees or Red Sox, he would have been considered a god by now. LaRussa gets more out of his roster than just about anybody could expect. Add up the injuries that he's had to endure this year and then tell me that the Birds should have finished anywhere close to the top of the NL Central. Carpenter, Rolen, Edmonds, Eckstein, Encarnacion, Duncan, Molina, Spiezio, Hancock, Mulder...well, you get the idea. This was the year from Hell as far as injuries go...and we still had a pretty interesting season up until the last few weeks.

-Happened to catch ESPN the other day while they were doing the "Town Hall Meeting" show on Michael Vick. The audience appeared to be loaded with Vick supporters...and it appeared most of them were of the minority persuasion...when the question was asked.."Do you think Michael Vick has been unfairly persecuted in this whole dog-fighting case?" It appeared at least two-thirds of the audience applauded..some while standing...to show support for Vick. I have to admit I just don't understand that mindset. Is the minority part of our population so devoid of real heroes that they must support someone who can avoid tackles in football, but is unable to get out of his own way in real life? The day after the show it comes out that he has already broken the pre-trial rules set out for him by testing positive for marijuana use. It appears Mr. Vick is either unable to distinguish right from wrong...or just doesn't care. But, because he is/was a star quarterback of color he is seen in the minority community as some sort of hero. What's wrong with this picture? And haven't we been down that road before with other minority sports heroes? There are plenty of sports heroes of color who are also good solid citizens. Let's recognize them, and let the others deal with their problems unsupported.

-I notice that the Cahokia District 187 school board did what a group of parents asked them to do in settling the teachers' strike there. They went back into a negotiating session and got a deal done. That's all fine. But the school board is charged with running a district and staying within a certain budget. They do so at the behest of the taxpayers of the district. One has to wonder how many of those parents hollering at the school board members to, essentially, give in to the teachers demands A) are taxpayers, and B) will be happy if their tax bills go up significantly. I'll bet the tax bill wasn't foremost on their minds at the meeting. It was getting the offspring out of the house and back to school.

-I've got a son...actually two sons...but the oldest one is looking for work here in the St. Louis area. Rock music stardom is being put on hold for now. He's got an SIU marketing degree in his pocket...and extensive experience as a certified personal trainer. And I happen to think he's a pretty good young guy. Any ideas or leads can be posted in the comments section below.