Buy American? Shocking, but true

I'm kind of a car guy. Well, not really.

I like cars. I don't love cars, not like my friend Brian who's life centers on cars. Having said that, I really don't like to drive. It's just another chore. If I could teleport myself from place to place, I'd be a most happy camper.

2010 Ford Focus Sedan

But, I've owned a lot of cars. Just ask MFW if you doubt me. And, I could afford to retire today if I wasn't so insistent on trading cars so often over the years. Having said that, I would really be in deep trouble if I'd bought houses like I did cars. And, I'd probably be divorced.

My BMW got in a small fender bender (not my fault). Someone backed out of a driveway and hit my parked car on the street. Oh, well. Not much damage, just inconvenience. So, it's in the shop getting repaired this week.

My "loaner" is a 2010 Ford Focus SES. I've heard a lot about the Focus, but now I'm a believer. This is one nice car. It's got spunk, is fun to drive, has a lot of "luxury" features and best of all is quiet for a car in its price range. I'm really surprised by how quiet it is. Oh, did I mention it gets 35 mpg on the highway and 27 in the city. That's about the same as my smaller turbo Mini Cooper.

And, Holy Martha, the price. I could buy two of these for what I paid for the Bimmer. Now, to be honest, this is no BMW. It doesn't have the fit and finish and the amazing workmanship. But, it's probably good enough.

I'm seriously thinking this will be our next car and probably the one after that, too. Amazingly, this will be the first American-made car I've ever purchase. I had two Ford trucks, but no cars. I like Ford and think they're doing a good job. It has a lot of cool features which was always the reason I bought foreign. Some of the  Ford's implementations -- like Sirius radio -- are superior to the BMW and far, far cheaper. I also think the radio sounds better if you can believe it.

I may have squandered a lot of bucks on cars earlier in my life. Now I see a chance to make amends.

Pork shoulder looking awesome

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I've had better days

Home after yesterday's disappointing trip to LA for Linfield's opener against Cal Lutheran. It was the (frustrating) story of two halves that ended in a rare non-league loss. Looks like the Cats have some lessons to learn and one was taught to them yesterday in Thousand Oaks. We usually make great adjustments in the second half, but this time, it was the Knights who made the adjustments, leaving Linfield wondering what happened. 

What happened was that Linfield just got whipped. Too many mistakes on offense and a way-too-porous defense to win this game. The offense will be fine. The defense needs work. The good news was that Willamette is probably not as good as we may have thought and therefore completely beatable. The whole season comes down to the Oct. 2 matchup with the Bearcats at Maxwell Field. Lick our wounds, regroup after a bye week and get ready for Willamette. 

On a happier note, the Ducks looked amazing albeit against a second division SEC team. I was able to watch most of the game (the best part, at least) form a bar at LAX. When we arrived, the Alabama-Penn State game was on every one of the 10 TV screens, so I asked that some of them be switched to Oregon-Tennessee. That didn't please the jerk sitting in front of me. He practically wanted to fight because they hadn't asked his permission. The customers were clearly into the Oregon game and could care less about Alabama. 

So today, it's BBQ and NFL, my two favorite three-letter acronyms. Now, hopefully NFL Redzone is also working. Had some issues with Frontier over that, but they've assured me that we've got it. The station comes up and now there is music, so I'm hopeful. Gotta run to check on the charcoal. 

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Cal Lutheran takes lead

Breakaway run puts CLU up 40-35 with 5:42 to play

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Cal Lutheran FG

Linfield clings to 35-34 lead with 8:17 left

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Linfield right back

Aaron Williams 75 run to set up Linfield TD. Linfield 35-31. 13:21 4th. Sent from iPhone

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Cal Lutheran takes lead

On 28 yard TD pass 2 PAT. 31-28 Sent from iPhone

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End of 3rd

Linfield 28-23. Sent from iPhone

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Boehme throws 3rd int

CLU runs all way back 39 for TD. 28-23 5.30 3rd. Sent from iPhone

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CLU threatening

CLU long run to Linfield 12. CLU FG. 28-17 7:08 3rd

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Linfield 28-14 at half

Cats dodge bullet at end of half as CLU misses FG. Sent from iPhone

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CLU scores to cut lead to 28-14

Cats put up brave effort but CLU narrows lead with 1:51 left in half. Linfield fumbles kickoff. Sent from iPhone

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Cats extend lea

Linfield mar he's 49 yds. Scores on 25 pass Boehme to Saxon. 28-7 Cats. Sent from iPhone

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Linfield 21-7

Averie takes swing pass for 20 YD TD 12:01 2nd

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Cats lead 14-7

Boehme to Saxon 19 USA. Sent from iPhone

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Linfield picks at clu19

Awesome hit on return Sent from iPhone

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Boehme picked

Ze nod tipped pass int at CLU 6

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Cats come back

March right down field, score. 7-7. Now we play defense. Sent from iPhone

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Argh

Longoria takes opening kickoff, drives to CLU 1. CLU picks Boehme returns 97 to Linf 1. TD CLU. 7-0. Sent from iPhone

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Let's get ready to rumble

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CLU chapel where I said a prayer for A Big Cat Victory!

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Cats getting ready

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Our QB's mom

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Busted at Cal Lutheran

Gig Harbor Cat had to pour out $50 worth of Longies as CLU campus cops bust up our tailgate. Tailgater swarming with security guys. Our answer: Screw you. I'm drinking Coke. Sent from iPhone

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Cop bust up our tailgate. CLU prudes!

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Busted at Cal Lutheran

Gig Harbor Cat had to pour out $50 worth of Longies as CLU campus cops bust up our tailgate. Tailgater swarming with security guys. Our answer: Screw you. I'm drinking Coke. Sent from iPhone

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Tailgating at CLU

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Tailgating at CLU

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Gameday in TO

Took a brief tour of the "facility" for today's game. No wonder teams are in awe whine they come to the Catdome! Tailgating area is paved, but that's about the best I can say. Had dinner with DenSoc last night at Claim Jumper in TO. Fun time. Dennis is very entertaining guy. Very LA, even some Hollywood. Slept OK at Hampton Inn and just finished sumptuous breakfast. My brother is at Rocky Top for Duck-Vol game. Pouring rain right now. But game isn't for seven hours. Plan is to get to CLU about 10:30 for tailgating DenSOC has promised to buy pizzas for all. Sent from my iPad

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Pregame meal at TO Hampton Inns. GAMEDAY!!!!!!!!

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Dinner with DenOS

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Boise State deserves big bowl, not BCS title game

After last night's squeaker against an unimpressive Virginia Tech team, Boise State should now run the table, win the rest of its games and go undefeated. This will set up a huge discussion at the end of the season about whether they deserve to play for the national championship.

Maybe, this is the year to just end the argument and put them in the national championship game, unfair as that may be to all the other teams who play real schedules before big crowds and under a lot more pressure than BSU will experience the rest of the way. Not only are their opponents going to be weak (don't count on Oregon State to give the Broncs much of a game), but they will play in front of an average of 26,000 people when they go on the road. This compares to other teams facing road game crowds of 70,000, 80,000, even 100,000 partisan fans.

Boise, meanwhile, will be skating through the season, pounding on weaker opponents in order to maintain its ranking. The only pressure Boise will face will be to run up the score on every opportunity and pummel as many of its unworthy opponents as possible. Warning, OSU, the Broncs will be out to run up the score on Sept. 25 as this will be their last game against a quality opponent.

So, those of us who don't believe that Boise is worthy of the National Championship Game due to its unrepresentative schedule, it's time to let it go. Even Colin Cowherd, the ESPN host who describes my sentiments pretty accurately, is resigned to the fact that BSU goes unbeaten and then we see where the chips fall.

If there are two other undefeated teams from real conferences, BSU won't get in the title game. But, the Broncs will land a BCS Bowl game. Let's just hope that this year, it's not the "Arranged Marriage Bowl" that they played in last year where they were matched with TCU, another team that plays a chump schedule. If they can beat VaTech on the road then they can play Florida in the Sugar Bowl next January. 

But, let's save the national title game for two teams who have proved themselves against more than one ranked opponent.

Tualatin River Wildlife National Refuge

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I love my Ducks

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Another technology milestone

There have been many since I bought my first PC (an IBM) in 1982. Or, perhaps I should date that to the Bomar digital calculator I bought from Sears a few years prior to that. They all have one common thread -- each has been completely amazingly fascinating in its own way. Yes, even the Bomar calculator with its glowing red LED numbers.

Today, I was at the Apple store and asked about the new Apple TV. This is something I've never been much interested in before. Just don't want more boxes, wires and complexity cluttering up my living room. They didn't have it in stock yet, but it got my curiosity up, so I checked out the "instant play" section of Netflix. My big discovery was that my relatively new Sony Bravia TV has this capability built in. So, I've now added Internet TV to my mix and the only gadget I needed was an inexpensive ethernet cable.

It took me all of about 10 minutes to set it up. First, I had to connect the TV to my router, an Apple Time Capsule. Then I had to register it on Netflix. Within literally seconds, my Instant Play que showed up on my TV screen. And, I was watching a PBS documentary within a few more seconds. 

I had no idea it would be this easy and that's a scary prospect for tradition suppliers of TV content. Even though we get hundreds of channels on our FIOS cable service, we are constantly looking for something interesting to watch. Netflix Instant Play may just have solved our problem. And it also may significantly diminish the number of DVDs we get from Netflix. DVDs are increasingly becoming a pain, mostly due to the poor quality of the disks. 

I can see myself paying a lot more attention to my Instant Play que than my DVD que. And you don't have to be a genius to also see where Netflix real future lies. 

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Great dinner at Pepita's in Beaverton

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