A mid-twenties white collar dude’s take on everything
Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it back safely from Honduras very early Tuesday morning. As you can imagine, I am now swamped trying to catch up at work and also begin studying for the CFA exam in June.
I took a crapload of pictures while in Honduras, mainly of the little kids we gave medical aid to. If you care to check them out, check out my Flickr set.
Hope everyone survived w/o me!
Hello everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that Butter’s Podcast (or “Take a Doodoo Pie”) will be out of commission for about a week. CMB and I will be heading to Honduras on a service trip on Sunday and returning the following Monday (the 29th). Your prayers and well-wishes are much appreciated. I plan to take lots of pictures, so be ready come February 1st.
Have a good week without me, and try to survive.
P.S. Corwin Brown was hired today, officially!! WOOHOO!
This afternoon Notre Dame will be hosting a press conference to officially announce the hiring of Corwin Brown as DC and Ron Powlus as QB coach. In case you didn’t know, you can watch all of the press conferences for free at www.und.com.
At least once a day I get a visitor to this site that arrived by searching for “make a doodoo pie” on Google. Go ahead and Google it to see for yourself! This site is #1 in something at least! Well, I’ve looked long and hard for the “doodoo pie” sketch, but a lot of places have removed it because NBC forces them to (Youtube). Well, at long last, I found it buried within Google Video. Some idiot named it, “Brittney Spears - Sewer”, making it tough to find.
Turns out Woodrow’s song actually goes, “take a doodoo pie”, not “make a doodoo pie”. Oh well.
If you don’t laugh at the 3:31 mark, there’s something wrong with you. I love you. Enjoy!
“It’s no ‘Oops…I did it again!’…” HA!
Technorati Tags: take a doodoo pie, tracy morgan, SNL, brittney spears
Colbert is funny
As I speculated earlier, there are more and more rumors floating around that ND will be moving to a 3-4 defense next year. This, of course, begs the question: did Weis hire Corwin Brown because he wants us to run a 3-4, or are we (possibly) going to run a 3-4 because Weis hired Corwin Brown. It’s an interesting question.
I’m certainly no defense expert, but there are some out there who believe that a college kid would have difficulties grasping the intricacies of a 3-4 in only four years. To that I say give me a break! After all, isn’t this supposed to be Notre Dame, the home of superb athletes who can also “read and write”? We’ve seen teams like LSU and USC run 3-4’s at levels that won them national championships. Who’s to say we can’t do that?
In any event, I think the guys that Weis has recruited in the past couple of years could be molded into 3-4 type players. We still don’t seem to have that huge, 310 lb. nose tackle that clogs the middle, but I think we could run it with some success. Anything has to be better than the crap we’ve been putting on the field the last 3 or 4 years, right? We do have some undersized DE’s like Kerry Neal and Mo Richardson that could be fast, outside guys providing the fourth rusher. It’s an interesting idea.
What do you think?
Technorati Tags: notre dame football, corwin brown, 3-4 defense, weis, nd, irish
Ok, if you want some real coverage of Corwin Brown and not my lousy attempt at ND football illumination, head over to BGS, the best ND football blog on the net.
Here’s the latest scoop:
- The South Bend Tribune and Chicago Sun Times are both reporting that Corwin Brown has been hired as defensive coordinator for the Irish. Word is he was on campus on Friday. Look for an official announcement early next week.
- The Tribune is also reporting that both Minter and Peter Vaas have been “terminated”. We all expected this for Minter, but the rumors that Vaas was leaving said that he had just decided to move on to something else. While there has been no official word from the university yet, it seems a bit strange that Vaas would be canned. I’m guessing that would have to be due to some sort of difference in philosophy between he and Weis.
- No word yet on what’s going to happen with Jappy Oliver. Some believe that Weis will leave any other defensive coaching changes up to the discretion of Brown. Should be interesting to see how that all shakes out.
The majority of people seem pretty psyched about the hire. Here’s what I like:
- Brown is 36 and an up and comer. We’ve seen other teams (e.g., Michigan) have success with this formula. The fact that he’s fiery and energetic helps as well. Defense is all about attitude. There are some out there who think that Minter’s schemes were a bit complex in an attempt to make up for a lack of talent and the guys couldn’t keep up with them.
- Minter and Oliver haven’t exactly set the world on fire with recruiting. For the Irish, it’s harder on the defensive side of the ball because our D has been terrible for the past several years. The offensive guys are coming in droves because they want to play under Yoda and make it in the NFL. Once the D starts playing a bit better, the top defensive recruits will come, Ray.
- Brown has a good NFL pedigree. I like the idea of getting another NFL guy in here to impress recruits and tinker with the system. Brown is another Parcells/Belichek disciple, so I’m definitely down with that.
In any event, this is a huge hire for Weis. It’s one that is going to change the direction of the program (at least on D), hopefully in the right way. If you remember, when Weis was hired he basically had about three weeks to assemble his staff, all while he was helping lead that Patriots to another Super Bowl title. A big reason he went with Minter was because of his ND ties and previous head coaching experience. Well, that didn’t pan out too well. If Weis didn’t get it right this time, he’s going to have some serious problems on his hands.
Let’s hope he did.
Technorati Tags: weis, nd, college football, corwin brown, peter vaas, rick minter, jappy oliver
- Reliable sources are now saying that New York Jets secondary coach Corwin Brown is the leading contender to replace Rick Minter as defensive coordinator (again, Minter has not yet been officially canned). Brown is a young, energetic guy that grew up in Chicago, played at Michigan and for Charlie Weis in New England in 1996. According to one news story, Brown is “head coaching material”. I like the sound of that.
- Brown helps run a 3-4 defense in New York, which already has people speculating about the future of the ND defense (assuming Brown is even hired in the first place). Unfortunately, we don’t have the linebackers or defensive line in place to run such a scheme right now. The lack of a big, run-stopping MLB kind of nips that theory in the bud, but who knows what the future holds.
- Brown also coached at UVA in the late 90’s and is said to be an excellent recruiter. That, my friend, we could use.
- No word yet on when any sort of official word will come from the university, but I did see a rumor this morning that there might be a press conference at 3 PM today.
When I know more, you’ll know.
Technorati Tags: nd, football, coaching change, defense, corwin brown
Ok, here’s what we know after today’s press conference:
- There are 9 players that are coming back for a 5th year, although they weren’t named. If you follow the team, you can pretty much guess who they are.
- Darius is indeed leaving for the draft. Makes sense. His stock wouldn’t have improved next year probably.
- There were no official mentions of coaching changes. Weis wasn’t even at the PC. However, reliable word says that Vaas is leaving the team, although he wasn’t fired. He’s just moving on to something else. No word on Minter or other defensive coaches.
Now, unrelated to the press conference, we have the following:
- Chris Little did in fact commit to the Irish. Evidently he wanted to go to ND all along, but the morning of the AA game, he got a vibe that his mom wanted him to stay close to home and chose FSU at the last second. Per his high school coach, FSU did not pull his offer for any reason. Little soon came to regret his decision and called Irish coaches on Monday or Tuesday to commit to the Irish.
- It seems that both Ben Martin and Chris Donald were set on coming to ND before the Sugar Bowl, but both decided to head to Tennessee after we got creamed by LSU. That’s a kick in the nuts.
This has been one crazy recruiting year, that’s for sure!
Another quick rundown of what’s going on with ND football:
- The South Bend Tribune is officially reporting a rumor that broke a few days ago about Darius Walker. Today at 1 PM (right now) Walker will announce his entrance into the NFL draft. Not totally unsurprising giving the offense’s prospects for next season, but still a bit of a shock. That being said, it will be good to see Aldridge, Prince, Schmidt, and Allen get some meaningful PT next year to prepare for our championship run in 2009.
- Chris Little, a giant offensive lineman that committed to FSU at the AA Bowl game on Saturday, has decommited from the Noles. FSU has a new offensive coordinator this season. According to one rumor, the OC rescinded the offer after Little had committed. Another says Little doesn’t like the new OC and decided to cut loose. In either case, it looks like the Irish may very well land him. He’s 6′5″ 340, and is ranked as the #6 OG in the country on Scout.com. Nice.
- Saw another rumor about coaching changes that says QB coach Peter Vaas will be canned and replaced by Ron Powlus. I think that’s probably garbage, but who knows.
I’ll keep everyone posted when more concrete info surfaces.
Recently I had a problem with my Verizon FiOS internet bill. Since my dad works over there, I decided to take it up with him. Naturally I’m sharing the email I sent him with all of you:
Dad,
Below you will find a copy of the recent email I received from Verizon billing services. Here’s a rundown of what happened:
- Had my credit card # stolen in early December. Cancelled the card and received new one. Decided to boycott Circuit City for the rest of my life since my number was stolen on their site and they later tried to sell me a two year protection plan on a $15 DVD I purchased in the store two days later.
- As I had used my AMEX to pay my Verizon bill automatically every month, I went into my account on Verizon.net to update my card info as any upstanding customer would.
- I completed the form online, pressed submit, and got a message saying, “Thank you. You have successfully updated your card information”. I smiled in the false belief that everything was well in the world. This was back in December.
- I received the threatening email you see below a couple days ago saying that Verizon had tried to charge my card as normal, but that the info was not valid. If I don’t pay my bill within 10 days, my service will be shut down.
- I went back into my account on Verizon.net and discovered that my new AMEX card info had not been saved successfully when I changed it the first time. Verizon lied to me.
- I tried multiple times to update my card info on the web. Each time it said it had been done successfully, but when I exited and returned, my old number was still in there. Verizon lied to me several more times.
- I tried to make a one time payment in lieu of setting up auto-payment again. This too said my card info was invalid and/or could not be processed.
- I tried to call the 1-800 number (after spending 15 minutes trying to find a 1-800 number), but it said all agents were busy and to leave a message. I’m not leaving a message on a machine for some poor 18 year old Indian guy that has to return calls to disgruntled, American customers at 4 AM in New Delhi when a person in the know at Verizon headquarters in New Jersey is number 5 on my speed dial.
I know I didn’t punch in my card info incorrectly as I repeated this process at least 5 times over the course of 45 aggravating minutes. I know the card is good because I’ve been using it to pay for other stuff (including other online bill payments and your Christmas present) for over a month. I would not like to have my internet service shut down on me because I enjoy using the internet and need it to do work. I’m trying really hard to pay you guys, but you don’t seem to want my money. I know you’ve spent billions of dollars on the FiOS rollout and would like to start generating a reliable revenue stream, and by taking my money we both win. I get screaming fast internet, and you get money. Your stock had a good year in 2006, but imagine how much better it could have been if you accepted money from your customers!
I was thinking about threatening to switch to Comcast, but unfortunately I think I’ve already tipped my hand when I told you how much I hate them. I will say one thing for Comcast, though: they take my money all the time.
Any help or advice you can lend would be much appreciated.
Sincerely yours,
“Valued Verizon Online Customer” Name Redacted
Dear Valued Verizon Online Customer,
Thank you for choosing Verizon Online. Unfortunately, we are unable to bill your Verizon Online service charges to the credit card you provided. To avoid disruption of your broadband service, full payment is required immediately.
Important! Please update your credit card payment information now for your Verizon Online Internet access service charges. Here’s how to make changes to your current credit card:
Log in to the Verizon secure Web site using your Verizon user name and password at www.verizon.net/myaccount. From the choices on the left, under the Billing heading, click on “Change Payment Method.” This is the correct choice whether you are changing to a different credit card on merely updating the expiration date on the credit card you are currently using.
Also, you may elect to make a one-time payment online by credit card, debit card, or direct debit from your bank account to pay the balance on your account. If you select this option, you must pay your balance in full in order to avoid disruption of your broadband service
Log in to the Verizon secure Web site using your Verizon user name and password at www.verizon.net/myaccount. From the choices on the left, under the Billing heading, click on “Make One-time Payment.
NOTE: Making a one-time payment will not change your billing method or any credit card information currently on file. You MUST select the “Change Payment Method” choice to make changes to your current credit card on file for your Verizon Online monthly recurring charges.
You may also make a one-time payment by calling us at 1-888-338-9333 between the hours of are 8-6 EST Monday through Friday.
We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter. If we do not receive updated credit card information or another form of payment within 10 days of the date of this notification, we will suspend your account and refer any outstanding debt to collections. If you have an annual service contract and your service is terminated before the end of your annual commitment, an early termination fee may apply.
Verizon Online is committed to delivering high quality service and world-class technical support to you and all of our customers. Please know that while you’re enjoying your Verizon Online Internet service, we’ll be working hard to keep your business.
Sincerely,
Verizon Online
Billing Services——————-
View your bill, understand the details of your bill, update your credit card information, make a one-time payment, and more online at http://www.verizon.net/myaccount.This message was sent from a notification-only e-mail address that cannot accept incoming e-mail messages. Please do not reply. Copyright 2006 Verizon. All Rights Reserve
Technorati Tags: verizon, fios, bill, circuit city, comcast, complaint
A quick rundown of some points in the college football world:
- Count me among the people that didn’t give Florida a chance in the NC game and ended up looking foolish. Ohio State looked completely disinterested in that game and wound up looking like ND against LSU (same exact score, actually). Congrats to the Gators, even though I despise Urban Meyer.
- Rumors are flying like crazy at USC regarding Pete Carroll going to the Dolphins. Word on LA radio is that Petey laid out his demands to big boss Wayne during a four hour meeting and, “the ball is now in his court”. This contradicts a story on ESPN that says Carroll is definitely staying at SC. Part of me wants to see Pete go the NFL and fail again, but part of me wants him to stick around so I can watch Charlie Weis beat him in a couple years.
- If Carroll does leave, will there be some recruiting fallout? One can sure hope so. USC is stacked again this year, and it would be nice to see some of those guys (Chris Gallippo) go somewhere else.
- Rumors are still running rampant at ND as well with respect to the defensive coaching staff. One rumor on the boards is that Rick Minter (DC) and Jappy Oliver (DL coach) were told they wouldn’t be back at ND prior to the Sugar Bowl. All sorts of names have popped up as potential DC’s, none more sexy than current USC linebacker coach Ken Norton, Jr. He’s a great recruiter (which Minter is not) and works with one of the best defenses in the country (which Rick Minter definitely does not). The potential departure of Pete Carroll only fuels these flames. In any event, Weis has scheduled a press conference for Thursday, and while he will likely detail the players being granted a 5th year of eligibility, most ND nuts also think that he’ll announce some coaching changes. Don’t miss it!
- As a follow up to my post on the Army All American Bowl, I wanted to let everyone know that we did pick up a commit from Matt Romine, but struck out on Donald (Tenn), Ben Martin (Tenn), and Lorenzo Edwards (UF). Most ND fans were pretty upset after that performance despite have about 9 other players in the game.
- Speaking of the game, Jimmy Clausen is definitely as good as everyone has been saying. If he can get to campus and put on 10-15 pounds before the season starts, I will be a happy camper. I think that if he can pick up the offense, he has a legitimate shot of winning the starting job, even though I think Evan Sharply is the frontrunner right now. Justin Trattou showed nice quicks and power off the edge (don’t believe what Lemming was saying about moving him to DT), and Gary Gray has definite cover skills (just needs to bulk up a bit). Greg Little caught the only TD pass for the East squad, who had just terrible quarterbacks. He proved that he will definitely see the field as a receiver.
- Chris Gallippo (LB - USC) won the MVP of the game, and was pretty much everywhere. The guy is a freak. He’s going to kill us for the next four years, or until he sexually assaults someone and is arrested, whichever comes first.
Technorati Tags: college football, florida, osu, usc, pete carroll, charlie weis, jimmy clausen, chris gallippo, recruiting
Hmm…that score looks familiar. How’s it feel, Buckeyes?
Technorati Tags: college football, osu, uf, gators, buckeyes
Today is an important day for any serious college football fan. No, there aren’t any bowl games on today, but there are a bunch of high school kids playing at the U.S. Army All-American game in San Antonio. Generally what happens is the top players in the country announce where they’ll be going to school next year so the whole country can see them.
General feeling for most of the week heading into the game was very positive for ND. But after the drubbing they took the other night, things have been sounding a little more melancholy around ND nation. I don’t know how much of that is people just depressed from the game the other night or how much is genuine morose. In any event, the game is on at 1 PM on NBC. Some players to look for:
Potential Commits:
Chris Donald - LB - TN: This guy is generally regarded as one of the top two or three linebackers in the country. Word has it he’s down to ND and Tennessee
Ben Martin - DE - OH: A guy that ND has been in on since April, but who hasn’t said very much. He’ll decide between ND, Florida, and Ohio State.
Matt Romine - OL - OK: With the haul we brought in at OL last year, it’s been tough going in this department this year with only three commits so far. Another one or two OL would really help our depth issues there. Matt will decide between Oklahoma and ND.
Lorenzo Edwards - LB - FL: Another one of the premier linebackers in the country (along with Donald and Chris Gallippo, a USC commit), ND has come on strong lately with him, but since the Sugar Bowl rumors have been flying that he may be Florida’s to lose.
Robert Hughes - RB - IL: Robert Hughes is a big, bruising type back that would compliment current ND commit and incredible speedster Armando Allen very well. ND was thought to be in the lead for Hughes for awhile, but lately the Zooker has offered him free Escalades and high class hookers come on strong and he may end up at IL with former Irish silent commit and #1 receiver Arrelious Benn.
Current Commits:
Jimmy Clausen - QB - CA: If you haven’t heard of Jimmy Clausen at this point, you’re probably not much of a fan. The most heralded high school quarterback in years and the heir apparent to Brady Quinn will get the start for the west team. Check him out, yo.
Justin Trattou - DE - NJ: Reports all week from practice say that Justin Trattou is an absolute animal. Look for him to bite off someone’s head and ask for seconds. If he does get to Clausen, I just hope he doesn’t tackle him too hard.
Technorati Tags: nd, football, army all american game, recruiting, college football
If you’ve watched any of the BCS bowl games this year, you’ve probably noticed an abundance of ads for Blockbuster Total Access. Coincidentally, I had just signed up for this service about two weeks ago, so I thought I’d write a little bit about it here because it’s freakin’ sweet.
I’m kind of a movie nut. I love watching movies. But for whatever reason, I’ve never really been in to renting movies. I always tend to buy them instead. I figured, why would I go to a movie store, stand in line, pay $4 to rent something I’ll watch once, and then have to drive back to the movie store to return it when I could just buy the stupid thing for $12 at Best Buy.
Well, there is definitely some truth to that. For movies you’ve seen and know are worth buying, or ones you are almost certain you’ll like, I think that’s the way to go. But for me, there’s a lot of movies I hear about, but I’m not sure I want to take the plunge and buy them. Oftentimes some of the flicks I want to see aren’t available in Best Buy (a lot of foreign movies, for example). So when I saw a Techcrunch post about Blockbuster Total Access, I thought I’d take the plunge. Here’s how it works:
1) Sign up at blockbuster.com and create your movie queue. A queue is basically of list of movies you want to see arranged in order of importance to you (a top 10 or 40 or 100 list, if you will). Once you sign up and create your queue, your first movie will be shipped to you within a day or so.
2) Get excited when you see the movie has been delivered to your mailbox. Since I live in a major metropolitan area (Philadelphia), the movies get to my door relatively quickly. They come in a simple paper envelope with a paper CD sleeve inside, and also a return envelope.
3) Burn a copy of the movie for later use Enjoy the movie within the clearly defined parameters of the MPAA.
4) Return your movie. Here’s where Blockbuster is differentiating itself from Netflix because you have two options:
a) Return the movie by mail in the prepaid postage envelope and have your next queued movie shipped to you, or
b) Return the movie to a participating Blockbuster location
Now, if you choose option b), you get to do the following:
5) GET FREE MOVIES. When returning a Blockbuster Total Access movie to a bricks & mortar location, you get one free movie rental (subject to the normal return policy). Essentially, this allows you to double your movies! When you return the movie you got mailed to you, Blockbuster automatically checks it into the system and mails the next movie on your online queue. But while you’re waiting for that one to show up at your house, you can enjoy the free one you just picked up at the store. The free rental is also now good for video games (which normally rent for $8 a pop and of which a burned copy can be played on a hacked Xbox and are fun for the whole family). Now you can do this:
6) Get more free movies! Every month, every Blockbuster Total Access customer gets an e-coupon good for one free movie rental. You can use that any time you want before it expires.
Now as far as plans and pricing goes, there are all sorts of options. I went with the cheapest one, which allows you to have one movie out at a time and limits you to two movies per month. This plan costs just $5.99 per month. However, when you think about it, I’m really getting five rentals per month for $6 (my two online ones, plus my two free ones when I return an online one, plus my e-coupon movie). That works out to $1.20 per rental. Now, if you were to go to Blockbuster and rent those movies in the traditional way, it would cost you $20 (movie rentals are now $4 each). I’m saving $16 by participating in Blockbuster Total Access, and it’s a crapload more convenient (especially since I have a store within 4 minutes of my house to get my free movies).
If you rent movies at all, I highly suggest you check this out. So far, I’m a huge fan.
Technorati Tags: blockbustertotalaccess, movies, netflix
Despite what some may tell you, Charlie Weis is NOT the fattest coach in Division I-A college football. That title is held by Kansas coach Mark Mangino.
See the comment thread from an earlier post here and help me PROTECT THIS HOUSE!
1. If you’re going to get blown out by 27 points, don’t give your fans hope in the first half that it’s going to be a game. Don’t rack up 250 yards of offense. Don’t possess the ball for 19 minutes. Don’t rush for 125 yards. Just let us know from the get go that the night is going to suck so we can be better mentally prepared.
2. Despite the fact that Les Miles didn’t come off as particularly intelligent during his in-game interviews, unfortunately for us he was smart enough to figure out that Chinendum Ndukwe is not a good safety.
3. The team does realize that there are, in fact, 60 minutes in a game, right?
4. Our women’s soccer team is one of the finest in the country. I guarantee you there’s some chick on the team that can kick 34 yard field goals consistently. I guarantee it.
5. We’ve been saying for years now that we want to “eliminate the big play”. How’s that coming along, guys?
6. David Bruton is an animal on special teams. How he hasn’t pushed to start at safety is beyond me. Same goes for Ray Herring. Are they that bad in coverage, or is Minter just stubborn?
7. Note for next year: try and find linebackers who have played linebacker before.
8. Remember that scene in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when the hobbits ride around on that big tree that could walk and talk? That’s pretty much what our linebackers looked like trying to tackle Jamarcus Russell last night.
9. Don’t be surprised to see Minter get canned. His defense has given up about 1,200 yards in two BCS games. I don’t care how bad the players are, if you can’t hold a team to 400 yards, you stink. LSU’s offense isn’t that good.
10. All this being said, I’m really looking forward to next year. No expectations. New blood. Young, talented guys that will be fun to watch. We’ll be lucky to win 8 games, but it will be fun.
Technorati Tags: sugar bowl, postgame, notre dame, lsu
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