Ramblings of a Technology Addict

Thursday, March 20, 2003

Tejada.

I realize I haven't weighed in on the recent news that the A's would likely not resign Miguel Tejada this fall. As an A's fan for all of my fan career, I am most certainly hurt. Steve Schott, I appreciate that you are a struggling small market owner, but I think you are making a huge underestimation. People watch the A's because the love the way they play baseball. Just ask Catherine Howard, whose journals on Spring Training for the Chron have been nothing short of spectacular.
Since I've been home I've read all the columns about how this could be a good move by the A's because they have averted speculation, and how it doesn't matter who they let go because Billly Beane will always find someone to fill a position, and how, geez, look, the A's have lost people before and they still keep winning. I can understand all that intellectually, but that doesn't mean a damn thing when all I can think about is that once again, I have to get the letters and numbers removed from one of my jerseys.
For me, it's not just about winning. If I wanted to like a team just because it wins, well then damn it, I'd be a Yankees fan.
Being a fan -- for me -- is about knowing and loving my team, what it's stood for in the past, and who it is in the present. Now maybe it's just me who thinks this way. Maybe I'm some hokey old-fashioned fan who's lost touch with the financial reality of the game, someone who expects too much from owners who have, after all, put out a remarkably successful product on a remarkably small budget.
No, Catherine, it's not just you. It's me too. Losing Miggy will break my heart. He's been in the organization his whole career. I remember going to games in the summer between years of college and seeing this new shortstop...one we yelled Modesto! to, and one who was seemingly invincible during the 20 game streak last summer.
But I'm not sure what the solution is? Miguel is worth a lot of money, he's one of the best men in uniform on any team in any league right now, and I'm just not sure we can pay him what he's "worth" according to baseball. Salaries in baseball are a whole other rant, but for now, we can just hope that the A's find a way to keep Miguel without bankrupting the A's.
11:27:48 AM  comment []

Cisco Buys Linksys

Cisco Buys Linksys
Whoa. Didn't see THAT coming.
My Boss wants to know if that means Linksys will stop being cheap, or will it mean that Cisco will stop being expensive?
10:47:41 AM  comment []

Hug Britain

So, a few of us are a little irked by all the anti-French sentiment in the country, but we realize that free speech being what it is, they have every right to their opinions and their freedom of expression is, after all, what makes this federal republic a wonderful place.
So we figured, let's instead of hating those who disagree with us, support those that do. Specifically, the British. So, check out Hug The British.
9:32:26 AM  comment []

Worth Reading.

Lt. Col. Tim Collins speaks to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish.
"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country," he said.
"We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.
"There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.
"As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.
"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.
"You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.
Why do we only hear this stuff from the British? Oh wait. That's right. It's because they've been doing this for over a thousand years. Tiff, I think it's time we started that Hug the British site.
9:06:22 AM  comment []

Bizarrity.

So, as I arrived home from work yesterday, there were two major changes on our street. First, they razed the house across the straight. Yes, razed. Not a typo. Razed. As in, pile of rubble now where brick house used to sit. Now, if that in and of itself wasn't bizarre enough, the house next door to ours went on the market yesterday. So I'm feeling rather out of sorts today, as I have a feeling that St. Agnes will have bought the land for use as either a new rectory, though they have a perfectly good one, or more parking. In the meantime, however, the Vatican Assures His Invisible Sky Fairy Would Bitch-Slap Wimpy Earth-Goddess. Yes, that's a real headline at Plastic. That alone made it worth posting.
And yes, Al Gore did indeed get named to Apple's Board yesterday afternoon. I have a feeling that this is yet another big to do about nothing. As an employee at a company with a board, the board mostly shows up for a few days of the year, listen to budget reports, eat incredibly expensive good food, talk a bit amongst themselves, and then go home. It's not like Al Gore is going to be rubbing elbows with the line engineers or the testing folks or Dave Hyatt. Much ado about nothing, really.
8:50:25 AM  comment []