It’s hard to pick against your favorite team, but it just looked like the Saints were good and the Bucs were bad. I guess I was wrong!

The keys to the Bucs win, however, were the very things that have plagued them for the past few years: turnovers and penalties. Regarding this “hidden indicator”, the Bucs had no turnovers, and only two penalties for ten yards.

When you can play like that, you’re going to win the proverbial “game within the game” of field position. By only giving away 10 yards on penalties, and allowing no turnovers, they didn’t hand away field position to their opponents on a platter. Likewise, by forcing the Saints to commit two turnovers, on which they scored, the Bucs took advantage of their field position.

I don’t know if it’s better coaching, or different players, or if it’s just Garcia’s presence behind center, but it’s nice to not see my team giving away 70-100 yards in offsides penalty yards.

“Ships in harbor are safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” -John Shedd

One afternoon as I was flipping through the channels — you know the routine, hundreds of channels and nothing is on — I landed on the Food Network. They were showing a program called Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, but the only reason I turned it on was because this episode would be featuring a place in Kenosha, WI.

Kenosha is the farthest you can travel north on Chicago’s commuter train system. Always interested in getting out and exploring the world around me, I wondered what there might be to see in Kenosha. I still didn’t know much, but at the very least, I now knew where in Kenosha to get a good breakfast: Frank’s Diner.

A little research online, and I discovered that Kenosha has a streetcar system running in a loop between the train station and Laka Michigan, with service to downtown stores as well as Kenosha’s free public museum along the way. Their five PCC streetcars are painted to represent the historic streetcars of Toronto, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Johnstown. And it only costs a quarter to ride.

The train ride is about two hours each way between Kenosha and Chicago, which for me is apparently just about enough time to read a 170-page book. And since I didn’t eat before I left, there was no doubt that I was ready to find Frank’s Diner. And that’s the first thing I did.

It didn’t take much work to find it. Text “franks diner kenosha wi” to Google SMS (466453) and moments later you get a text message back telling you it’s at 508 58th street. The streetcar runs along 56th street, so a cord pull at 6th avenue put me two blocks away — where, apparently, there was a classic car show going on.

I was really hungry, so I went straight to Frank’s without dilly-dallying, and I’m glad I did because they locked the door while I was eating, so they’re apparently not open very late.

Well, either way, it didn’t bother me because I was in hog heaven with my “garbage plate”. Even the bread is made from scratch. Everything on the plate was delicious.

And so, belly full and face smiling, my mission was accomplished. Ways I found to spend an afternoon in Kenosha included: walking along the lake front, visiting the free museum, riding the streetcar, browsing in some really neat stores downtown, looking at the classic car show. And, of course, you can’t leave Wisconsin without getting a bratwurst.

“Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.” -Gilbert K. Chesterton

Holy crap! If you’re in need of an abdominal workout, don’t go to the gym, go to the movie theater and watch Shoot ‘Em Up, starring Clive Owen.

When the opening scene involves delivering a baby in the middle of a shoot-out, and then shooting off the umbilical cord, you know exactly what you’re in for.

This movie makes no pretenses about what it is: an over-the-top action film with non-stop shooting and almost no discernible plot whatsoever. Just like snakes on a plane, the filmmakers didn’t waste any time or money trying to justify the movie… they simply made it and said “there it is, in your face.”

The stunts are impossible, the body count is immeasurable, the dialog is terrible, and the laughs are a mile a minute.

“Curve: The loveliest distance between two points.” -Mae West

For every obsessed, psychopathic girl who can’t let him go, and for every insecure guy who has ever asked “what was his car doing at your house last night?”, I’m starting a new web site.

StalkerTools.com will be the place to go for all the information you need to scare the living crap out of that person you love just a little too much.

Enjoy.

Okay, so it took me a little while to come around to Google Reader, and I think they’ve changed some stuff since the first time I tried it, but I’m now convinced.

Keeping up with a large number of web sites became easy to do with the introduction of RSS… and now, thanks to Google Reader, it’s easy to do from anywhere, rather than being stuck with the settings only on your home computer, or work computer.

I became a GMail believer immediately after trying it, and while I don’t think the documents are a replacement for MS Office just yet, I like the ability to share them. Now, with Reader, Google is easily becoming the home of my online experience.

If you haven’t tried it yet, or don’t understand RSS, it’s simple. You find the little “feed” icon () on the page you are looking for, right-click on it and copy the link, and then paste that into Google reader.

Firefox users have it even easier, because any page with an RSS feed will also have that icon in the address bar at the top. The first time you click that icon, you will be asked to choose your RSS tool. Pick Google. From then on, every time you click that icon, you will be prompted to add the feed to Google Reader.

It works for blogs, news sites, sports sites, and even Flickr photostreams. Finally, you can keep up with all your friends without having to go visit every web site every time.

It’s also a good way for obsessed stalkers to get back some of their valuable time, so they can keep an eye on their ex while still managing to get some work done at the office. ;-)

“Absence may or may not make the heart grow fonder, but it certainly freshens the eye.” -Stephen King

This is a photo I shot last week. It was one of those days when I was just leaving work and heading for the train station. It was just starting to rain a little bit, so I wasn’t trying to dilly-dally, or lolligag, or any other nonsensical word for taking your sweet-ass time.

City in the Sky

As I was walking, however, I happened to look up and catch the sun reflecting off of the buildings to the west. I ended up crossing the street and doubling back for an unobstructed view. It only looked right from one specific position, so I had to move around a bit to find it.

For me, this just underscores the importance of always keeping a camera with you. Great photographic moments happen with or without you. You may have to stand in the rain, and you may have to catch a later train, but do what you must to get the shot.