Moving a superstar

Vince Carter of the Toronto Raptors wants to be traded. No one seems to want him. At least no one that he returns the want. Toronto wants him. He's their guy. But he doesn't want Toronto. He wants Orlando. But Orlando doesn't want him. He wants Miami. But Miami doesn't want him. He wants New York. New York might want him but they can't afford him. So what is a superstar to do?

Hopefully he acts as a professional and plays. Hopefully, he plays so well that everyone wants him. Let's face it. Despite scoring something like 24 points a game, he has been injured throughout his career. You can't score from the injured reserve list. If Carter wants to be moved he is going to have to tough it out and make it through a full season. Otherwise, there is a good chance he will be unloaded to a bad team just to get him out of town.

I still say Carter is one of the best all-round players at his position. Now we shall see if he is one of the most professional.

It happened last night

Anyone watch The Apprentice? I might have watched a couple of last season's shows so it isn't a complete mystery to me but last night's episode was just strange.
This episode showed the two teams selling ice cream on the streets of New York.

The team that lost would lose a member as The Donald gets to say his "You're fired" bit and the winners get a reward; in this case a dinner of champagne and caviar. One of the members of the losing team was exempt from being fired because he had been the project leader the last time the team had won. In a moment of bravado, Bradford (the exempt one) decided to stand in the trenches with his troops and say he felt that he should wave his immunity from being fired. Kind of a cocky move. But based on his performance of the task he was a major contributor to the success the team did have. But his ego and cockiness bit him in the ass. The Donald said it was a stupid move to open himself up as a target. Ivana, the project manager obliged the gesture and brought him to the chopping block with her.

But the show lost a ton of credibility in my eyes. For The Donald to fire a guy he admits was the best candidate in the room means that he looks at it more as a game than a real business decision. Bradford's only flaw was having a big ego and cockiness that rivaled The Donald's. If Trump was a real leader and smart businessman, he should have found a way to harness that quality and make it work for him. Ego and cockiness breeds confidence. Confidence that can be backed up is so important to success and Bradford had so far demonstrated that he could back up his cockiness. Trump pulled the rug out from under him. I think Trump did it more so to humble him than to make the best business decision. I mean, c'mon, the project manager, Ivana, clearly was the weak link in the task and the main reason the team failed. Kicking Bradford out seriously handicaps the whole team especially in light that Ivana is a weak leader (although she probably won't be a leader again) and the other candidate on the block, Stacie J. does not seem to get along with anybody else on the team. They are now a very disfunctional group.

It did make for some pretty jaw-dropping TV though. Everyone was so stunned and Ivana will clearly have a big target on her if their team loses again.

..and now for something completely different...

Bed time at our house and the kids run upstairs. They call down to us and say, "Come find us...we're hiding."
So we go upstairs and notice that there are several things normally in the linen closet that are no longer in the closet. Now, I think early Alzheimer's is setting in because I don't think either my wife or me actually remembered that the kids had informed us they were hiding. So my wife starts into a rant about "Why are the towels and the blankets in the hallway?" in a tone the kids know as the voice of the mother who knows you did wrong and you better come fix the wrong right now!
Suddenly out of the linen closet comes my daughter's angelic voice kind of singing, "We are upstair-airs...hi-iding."
I thought it was pretty funny. It kind of reminded me of the "How not to be seen" skit by Monty Python where people are hiding behind bushes and such and the narrator asks them to show where they are and when they do they promptly get shot.

Nights of playing Knights

As part of a bonus promotion for purchasing Doom 3 when it came out I received an older game called Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR). It is a role playing game (RPG) based on the Star Wars license.

RPG games are not usually my cup-o'-tea. I usually don't have the desire to stick with it long enough to play them all the way through. But this game was different. You play the part of a Republic soldier (or explorer or scoundrel) and play your way through a story to try to save the Republic from the Sith. If you are unfamiliar with the Star Wars universe the Republic is good and the Sith are bad.

Throughout the game you must make choices. Your choices will influence you to the light side or dark side of the force. As you defeat various enemies and complete missions your character is given experience points and this allows you to "level up". As you gain levels your abilities improve and things get increasingly more difficult. Your character eventually becomes a Jedi and you get to create your own light saber.

Along the way you meet other characters that will join you in your quests. Each character brings a unique set of skills and can help you complete you missions. The combat interface is excellent and allows you to pause the action to size up the opponent(s) and plot a strategy. In fact, in the later missions, if you don't pause and think you will be easily overwhelmed and die.

The story is very good and a good story is really what will make or break most games of this nature. The voice acting is excellent and the majority of the dialogue is exactly what you would expect to hear in the Star Wars universe. Most of the main races are here including Wookies, Twi'leks, Hutts and Jawas. Many of these characters speak in their native tongues which really adds to the atmosphere. Of course your character is an expert in languages so you are able to see the translations on the screen.

I played the game through as a "Light" Jedi. I am now playing it through to see how it is different if you make "Dark" choices. So far there aren't any major changes but I haven't even become a Jedi yet. I think the main twists in the story will likely occur after that point. Overall, the game delivers a Star Wars experience you will be eager to get back to each time you fire up the game.

Glad I'm not a lawyer

Stories like this about a 40-year old guy and child sex in a foreign country makes me glad I'm not a lawyer. I can't imagine being his lawyer and needing to try to argue that his client somehow isn't a cockroach because he was a cockroach in another country that doesn't define cockroaches in the same way this country does.

Apparently, his lawyer has decided to not try to deny the charges. I guess the video evidence is just too conclusive. No, his lawyer feels it makes more sense to challenge whether Canada has a right to charge a citizen of this country for sexually exploiting children in another country.

Bakker's lawyer, Kevin McCullough, said while Canadians would agree sex with children is abhorrent, Canada has no right to impose its laws on people while they are in another country.

I kind of agree with that. Except for one small detail. The sick son-of-a-bitch came home. Tough break, Donny. You're going to jail.