Bruisin' Bruins

As I daftly predicted (or is that deftly?) the Bruins secure a F4 slot. And look rather balanced against Xavier the Deposed.

In other really important updates I picked 10 of the S16 and 5 of the E8. My F4 picks are all still viable and favored. And the #1 seeds (I know, not very creative). And short of Davidson making things exciting the #1 seeds appear entirely worthy of the F4.

Being a guessing man, I'll sugguesst that Memphis is the 1-seed most vulnerable. Sharpen them 'horns, Texas.

Money or Quicken? cuz I want money quick.

Owing to the millions of expert readers who peruse this space I hereby offer a query: Which is better Microsoft Money or Intuit Quicken?

I'm considering an upgrade to current banking software, and my version of MS Money is so old I don't mind starting over.

I've spent the afternoon perusing the respective products on Amazon and all I can really tell is that all reviewers of Money are upset about Money just like all reviewers of Quicken are upset about Quicken. Both products appear overzealous about trying to do too many foofy things that I don't care about.

Here is what I care about:

1. I want to aggregate and manage at a glance multiple accounts.
2. I want to keep tabs on very small scale investment accounts.
3. I want to budget and generate reports suitable for general and tax purposes.
4. I want something relatively intuitive to use.
5. I DO NOT want software that installs irritating tray icons that slow down my system and offers me services I cannot turn off. I'm typically looking at YOU Microsoft.
6. I DO NOT want to be overanalyzed by a fancy program and told every 3 seconds a bill is due, a budget is compromised, a star is born.
7. I don't want freeware, a spreadsheet, or the kind of program that I have to constantly tinker with. All the Linux types I know swear this is never an issue for anything they run, which doesn't quite explain why they keep a special computer just for their Linux stuff (usually at a wife's insistence) which never seems to be working right.
8. Ideally said software would accurately predict stocks and the end times, but I'll settle for 1-7.

Both products seem to meet my desires. They both do online banking and blah blah blah. I'm slightly intimidated to unleash either beast on my computer and finances though. Surely someone out there has the answer?

Meanwhile, back at the Easter Ranch...

The Good News of Easter is that we eat too much hamburger and are drowning the impoverished of the South Pacific.


No, really.

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ through his incarnation, death, and resurrection is such a gas. Apparently.

NCAA eh? The Bruins Year

One of the things I have acquired in seminary is an interest in the NCAA Basketball tournament. I attribute this to a variety of factors: Bruins as F4 staple, strong WI representation, classmates who are nutty fans of Duke, Florida, Aggies, etc.

I don't know much about basketball. Me filling out a bracket is tantamount to gambling if there's money involved, which there isn't. I have no clue how bracket points work. But the bracket is a lot of fun and my being relatively neutral makes it pretty straightforward.

My prediction: Bruins take it all this year. Over UNC. No, I can't make any kind of reasonable guess at the final score. And maybe another championship will somehow convince UCLA that the pasty blue color should be replaced with something more noble.

I missed 5 picks in the 1st round, only 2 of which effect my S16. Thanks for nothing IU, Clemson, Vandy, Drake, and U-Conn.

Don't expect my lack of knowledge or pecuniary commitment to keep me from crowing and whining at every round. Since there's nothing riding on my predictions look for this to be a year when I could have made millions on my bracket (and promptly given it all to starving 3rd world seminarians).

Chuck Norris is religious

Here is a curious vid:



I was somewhat unsure how to think about this promotion but came to realize it was not Chuck Norris' first action on behalf of Christendom:


and

In case you're wondering, let me be the first to assure you that a spinning hook in-cassock is about as hard as you'd think.

Clips are from Firewalker, which you should endure to support treasure hunters who smoke, drink, impersonate priests, and stick it to guerillas - occasionally all at the same time.

Microsoft, please update your pseudepigraphal vocabulary

***Updated at the end***

I'm writing on 1 Enoch at the moment and Word is not being helpful.

Maccabean: suggest replacing with Macarena
Pseudepigrapha: no suggestions
pseudepigraphal: no suggestions
pseudepigraphon: no suggestions
intertestamental: no suggestions
Intertestamental: no suggestions
rabbinics: suggest replacing with rabbinic
pericope: suggest replacing with periscope
unfallen: suggest replacing with ungallant

Enochic: (the clear winner despite Macarena for Maccabean) suggest replacing with gnocchi, anarchic, or erotic.

If you like Dante and you like Tolkien you should read 1 Enoch. I suspect that maybe Tolkien did.


***Update***
Hasmoneans: suggest replacing with Tasmanians, Houstonians, Harmoniums. Really, what good is a spell checker that can't keep Hasmonians straight from Harmoniums?

Foot Karma

I prefer not to wear shoes. This is realistic less often than I like. Consequently when my feet must be oppressed I prefer their comfort, which results in the paradox that someone who dislikes shoes probably spends more on them.

Merrells have been good to my feet in years past. I just found the Merrell Karma, which is about ideal for regular semi-dress use.

The irony is equally appealing. Here is a pig skin shoe named Karma. Not only did the pig warrant death, he warrants being tread underfoot in death. Or, what if you are reincarnate from the pig whose skin became the shoes you now wear? Wouldn't that be ironic? Stomping your ancestor must merit returning as something else terrible.

Bottom line: Don't get these shoes or don't believe in reincarnation. And pass the bacon.

Achilles sets his armor down.

I am officially the first person (on this blog) to break the story that Brett Favre is retiring.

Raised a Cowboys fan, Green Bay wasn't a team to root for so much as a team to contend against. But, and this makes me the worst sports fan in existence, I'm a sucker for a juggernaut.

It's proven impossible to live in Wisconsin and resent the Packers. They haven't exactly been a juggernaut in seasons past but Brett Achilles Gunslinger The Man Favre is irresistably likeable.

If you listen to Wisconsin sports radio you can bet quarters to nickels that any given show will have a Brett Favre update. One might get tired of hearing about Favre. One might wonder how so much of Wisconsin life/economy/religion can revolve around Favre.

But then again, my uncle and cousins made a special trip from CA to see Greenbay play at Lambeau last season. They shut the Vikings out at Lambeau. The trip was worth every penny to them, and that's no few pennies any more.

I have missed the opportunity to see the closest thing we might have to Achilles on the plain of Troy. Really, no matter who you root for, if you're going to see one pro football game before you die, wouldn't it have to be Favre and the Packers at Lambeau? Maybe your team against Favre and the Packers at Lambeau?

And it has become in the last decades playing Favre and the Packers, not the Packers and Favre. He is the face of immortality for this generation of the team and perhaps the league.

He wasn't perfect. Now the endless arguments will commence about just how great he was/wasn't. But it's no small thing to go public with your triumphs (all the records, Super Bowl MVP) and tragedies (painkillers). And fans don't want perfection (which is why Tom Brady will never sell more jerseys than Favre), they want a hero. They want to cheer for the guy who starts every game so excited he usually needs to get sacked once or twice in order to settle down and throw for immortality.

Well done Mr. Favre. Thanks for giving people a reason to love big sports.

***

Great article online here.

Wheatstone Academy: Separating Chaff since 2000

Here's a shameless plug for Wheatstone Academy, a program I have been privileged to work for several times since the inaugural conference.

Wheatstone does the kind of education that excites me: it doesn't get much better than touring art museums, reading Plato, dangling off cliffs, etc. With high school students. In FabuLos Angeles.

If you or your bright and motivated adolescents are looking for an opportunity to blow the circuits on your Christianity I can't think of a better opportunity. Tell them I sent you.

To learn more check out the web site. Pay especial attention to the new promo video that features my friends and students. Oh, and my still photography.