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November 29, 2004

THE PINK LADY... SHE IS BACK!

There are many reasons why I love the months of September thru December more than any others. Aside from my birthday, cooler weather, falling leaves, hot chocolate, first snow, and Thanksgiving and Christmas, autumn also signifies the arrival of the Pink Lady apple.

I first stumbled upon the Pink Lady late last fall at a supermarket here in Indianapolis. Never before had I bitten into a tastier apple. A variation of the Golden Delicious, the Pink Lady is visually characterized as having a pink blush over yellow background. From a taste perspective, what makes the Pink Lady superior to all other apples is the first bite, which is pleasantly tart, and is then followed by tremendous sweetness. And to top off the whole taste sensation thing... the Pink Lady doesn't brown as easily as most other apples after its been munched on.

If you like apples or if you think most of them taste like crap, then try the Pink Lady. You won't be disappointed. As for me, I plan on eating one a day until they're no longer available at the supermarket.

Posted by Mikal at 6:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 26, 2004

FOUR FOR FRIDAY

Q1: Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Would you say you over did it or kept it in check when it came to stuffing yourself with food?

Q2: Earlier this week, Columbia Tri-Star Pictures released the first three seasons of Seinfeld on DVD. Have you ever purchased a season's worth of a particular television show on DVD for yourself? If not, which television show would you most likely buy if it were released on DVD?

Q3: If you could wake up tomorrow morning speaking any one language fluently--in addition to English--which language would you choose and why?

Q4: Do you feel there are any circumstances under which it's okay for a professional athlete to enter the stands, other than to celebrate a victory with loved ones or fans?

Posted by Mikal at 6:10 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

November 25, 2004

Earlier today I ran in my first Drumstick Dash, a road race thru the heart of the Broad Ripple district of Indianapolis. My goal for the 4.5-mile (7.25K) run was to finish somewhere between 55 and 57 minutes. I'm stoked to be able to share that according to the clock posted at the finish line, I completed the course in 53:50.

Here's a picture from after the race:

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2004

Running Thanksgiving: Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and in preparation of the damage I'll undoubtedly self-inflict on my stomach and digestive track, I'll be running in the Drumstick Dash--a morning road race benefiting one of my favorite charities, the Wheeler Mission. I hope to complete the 4.5-mile race somewhere between 55 and 57 minutes.

Shooting Santa: The day after Thanksgiving marks the start of the 'photos with Santa' season, which means that once again this year I'll be working in Santa's Workshop & Photo Booth at The Fashion Mall at Keystone at The Crossing (in front of Brooks Brothers and J. Crew). If you're out-and-about on the north side of town after 6:00 p.m. weeknights or on Sundays, feel free to stop by the mall for a quick snapshot with Santa. For more info on what it's like to work as one of Santa's helpers in a retail mall setting, see two of my posts from last year: From December 12, 2003, "Observations From The Mall"; and from December 29, 2003, "Perspective and Appreciation = Great Gift".

First Snow?: Finally, weather forcasters are predicting the first snow of the season for here in Indianapolis just after midnight tonight (WOO-HOO!). The complete forecast for today: Rain and isolated thunderstorms in the morning then showers and chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some storms may be severe in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 40s. Northeast winds 10 to 20 mph. Tonight, a chance of showers and thunderstorms 100 percent. Much colder. Rain and snow likely in the evening with a strong chance of snow after midnight. Lows around 30. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain and snow 70 percent.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

November 23, 2004

When an ethics rule poses a problem for politicians, what do they do? Republicans in the United States House of Representativesófresh off of an election in which their party sold itself to the electorate as a guardian of moral clarity and high principleóhave delivered the ideal solution:

Faced with the possibility that a grand jury might indict one of their own for alleged campaign-finance abuses, House Republicans recently voted to repeal a rule barring any member of the United States Congress from holding a leadership position while under indictment. The rule change was designed to protect the Republicanís majority leader, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, who was cited three times this year by the House Ethics Committee for assorted violations.

In a show of moral superiority, Republicans established the ethics rule in 1993 when Democrats were tainted by high-profile scandals. Now that one of their own is threatened, the GOP has suddenly deemed its own rule disposable; and their rhetoric to justify it... well, it seems awful Clinton-like. Now it's Tom DeLay who laments "Öthe politics of personal destruction, with me as a target."

Once again, our political leaders are oblivious to the message they send with their actions. Where once the Republicans stood for a principle when they adopted the ethics rule in 1993, today they stand only for themselves. What a joke!

November 21, 2004

There's a new play out there that's nearly foolproof (unless of course your name is Ron Artest; but hey, that's a topic for another post at another time). It's a perfectly designed play, and it can make nearly anyone happy... and best of all... it works in any sport. What's this play called, you may be wondering? Why of course, it's "The Apology". "The Apology" can turn a Super Bowl halftime show into broadcasting history. It can turn an assault on one's coach into a year's vacation followed by years of enough big-time money to feed a small country, but not enough to feed one man's family. (I apologize, Latrell Sprewell, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Do you forgive me?)

You know "The Apology", don't you? It made Marv Albert an announcer again, Ray Lewis a "good guy" again, and some day if it might even squeak Pete Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The only problem is that now, the general public has heard ësorryí so many times that no matter what happens, right or wrong, athletes and networks turn to "The Apology", because it is easier than standing up for oneself.

So, after last week's Monday Night Football introduction featuring naked "Desperate Housewife," Nicollette Sheridan jumping into the arms of the Philadelphia Eaglesí Terrell Owens, the NFL called a time out of its own and said that what ABC did was too risquÈ for prime time television. The immediate response: an apology in the form of a statement from the network:

"We have heard from many of our viewers about last night's 'MNF' opening segment, and we agree that the placement was inappropriate."

What ABC should have said, though, was something like this...

"We've heard from conservative America, whose shallow take on our country lends more importance to lost family values and media images rather than the real issues of the world. We realize how the bare back of an attractive woman might upset them. But we don't apologize; we aren't sorry, and no matter what the media says, we know there are plenty of people out there who agree that this whole thing is ridiculous. (And oh, by the way, we'd like to thank Ron Artest and the Indiana Pacers for taking the focus off of this issue. We'll be showing that footage over and over again on all of our stations, including ESPN, which our parent company, Disney, just so happens to own.)"

But ABC didn't say that. Instead, the Disney-owned network buckled under the pressure, and just like that (with the exception of the possibility of meaningless fine) the problem is solved ... for them.

For everyone else, however, the USA takes another step backward as the First Amendment right to freedom of expression becomes less and less a right to speech and more of a figure of speech. It forces guys like Howard Stern, only the most popular voice on radio today, to move to satellite radio so his shtick can be heard uncensored. It moves television back a few decades toward the days when Lucy and Desi slept in separate beds or when Mike and Carol Brady met only after they were both widowed because divorce was not something ready for prime time. (For those of you who are wondering, those weren't the good old days; those were the days of naivetÈ.)

The truth is, "Desperate Housewives," however exaggerated for dramatic effect, is closer to reality and, uh, last time I checked, it was a huge fricken hit. There are no apologies from ABC for the show, which runs on Sundays on the same network, but when mixed for 30 seconds with football and it becomes national news, all of the sudden an apology is in order.

You know who should have apologized after last Monday night's game? The Dallas Cowboys should have been made to apologize, because they really stunk it up at home against the Eagles. And if you don't agree, I apologize.

November 19, 2004

Q1: Yesterday, 30,000 people gathered in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the opening of the $165,000,000 William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park. Have you ever been to a presidential library? If not, which presidential library would you be most inclined to go out of your way to visit?

Q2: If you had your own radio show, what format would it be? Would you go it alone or have sidekicks? Would you just spin records, or would you host a talk show? If music, what kind would you play? If talk radio, what topics would you focus on?

Q3: Next Thursday is Thanksgiving, which has traditionally been the start of the holiday shopping season. How much of your 2004 holiday shopping have you already completed?

Q4: If you arrived in the same amount of time, would you rather take the short way slow or the long way fast?

November 12, 2004

Q1: If you were given the opportunity to perform in the circus, and you knew ahead of time that you would not fail, what would you do?

Q2: You've just been hired to a promotions position at a major breakfast cereal company. What would you put in a new cereal box as a gimmick?

Q3: Who is the most famous or well known person you've had a face-to-face encounter with?

Q4: Can you comfortably eat alone in a restaurant with nothing to do at the table but eat, i.e., nothing to read, no earphones to hear music thru, no one to talk with, etc.? What about going to the movies alone?

November 11, 2004

Iíll tell you what happenedÖ Television Got Better, is what happened, and itís a double-edged sword that Iím none too happy about.

For years now Iíve been able to depend on Sunday evening as being hands-down the worst night of television, which made it easy to turn the TV off early and get a good nightís sleep in preparation of the work week ahead. That all changed a few weeks ago when ABC unveiled its fall Sunday night line-up.

It all starts at 8:00 p.m. with ëExtreme Makeover: Home Editioní, which delivers a compelling episode week after week. Unlike the home and room makeover shows on Discovery or TLC, ABCís show is devoid of any how-to substance whatsoever, and instead pulls at our heartstrings by offering up a truely desperate household in need of physical, environmental, and lifestyle transformation. By the end of most episodes, Iím crying right alongside the homeowners who are seeing their renovated homes for the first time.

Speaking of ëdesperateí, the suburban black comedy, ëDesperate Housewivesí, is up next at 9:00 p.m. Everyoneís calling this show the new ëSex and the Cityí, which doesnít even begin to do it justice. ëDesperate Housewivesí is so clever, so witty, so savvy, and so popular that ABC has already doubled the price it charges advertisers for a 30-second spot (from $315,000 to $630,000). Think about it... whatís not to like about a show that has one of its main characters taking her twin boysí Ritalin; anotheróa divorced childrenís book illustratoróburning down her rivalís house; another sleeping with her gardener (oh, sheís married and the gardener's a senior in high school); and a Martha-Stewart-like control freak who has a bigger stick up her you-know-what than you shake a fist at. By the end of most 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. shows Iím ready to hit the hay, but ëDesperate Housewivesí leaves me hanging so hard that itís impossible to go to sleep. So, what do I do?Ö

I watch ëBoston Legalí, of course, which airs in the 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. slot. 'Boston Legal' picks up where ëThe Practiceí left off, only with humor and irreverence. Staring James Spader and William Shatner, 'Boston Legal' has already been nominated for two People's Choice Awards for Favorite New Drama and Actor, and shines an entirely new light on Shatnerís comedic/dramatic range.

Shame on ABC for slotting Must See TV on Sunday nights... itís really ruining my Monday mornings! (And donít even get me started about how Fox is messing things up even more by airing ëArrested Developmentí in one-half of the ëExtreme Makeover: Home Editioní slot. What, I have to choose? No Fair!)

November 9, 2004

From Santa Anna, California, courtesy of the Associated Press:

Steve Rocco didn't file a candidate statement or mount a campaign for the school board. He's unknown to teachers and the district and only barely known to his neighbors. Nonetheless, the man being called a "mystery candidate" easily beat an opponent who is active, and relatively well known, in the Orange Unified School District. Now all that's left is to find him.

"Absolutely nobody, but nobody has seen this guy," said Paul Pruss, a middle school teacher and the president of the union. "The whole thing is just bizarre."

When I was in college I was fortunate enough to be elected by my peers to the post of student body president. Towards the end of my year-long stint, when it became apparent that I wouldn't being seeking a second term, my friends and I surmised that we get one of our dorm mates--an unassuming engineering student named Christopher Ian Allen, whom nobody knew--elected to succeed me.

Rocco provided little information about himself in his candidate filings. He ignored mail from district officials and the teachers' union during the campaign. When the PTA sent him an invitation to a candidate forum, the letter came back unopened.

Rocco ran for mayor of Santa Ana in 2000 and raised eyebrows then as well. He declined to provide personal information or to discuss the campaign, and showed up at a candidate forum dressed in camouflage and sunglasses. He came in last place, with 12 percent of the vote.

While our plan never fully materialized, we fully believed that we could get Christopher elected without anyone knowing who he was. He would grant no interviews, nor would he show up for any of the debates sponsored by the Campus Election Commission; all the while, we--his behind the scenes campaign manipulators--would write all of his newspaper editorials and statements, as well as recruit and manage a team of volunteers to campaign on his behalf in the days leading up to the election. Our hook for getting this guy elected?... that he was a National Merit Honors student / engineering major who just wanted to make things better!

What might have helped him this time around was that he identified himself as a writer/educator on the ballot, though he offered no proof of those occupations.

"Not knowing anything more, most people voted for the educator/writer over the park ranger," said John Hanna, an attorney who ran successfully against an equally elusive Rocco two years ago for a seat on a local community college district.

No one came to the door Friday at Rocco's home southeast of Los Angeles, where he lives with his bedridden parents. The front gate of the house is adorned with a fading Johnny Cash record album cover and 10 small American flags hang in the yard. Neighbors said they see him occasionally, usually on a bicycle.

I'm now absolutely convinced that we could have gotten Christopher elected!

He is 53 and was born in Italy, according to his voter registration, where he declined to state his party affiliation. The candidate did not respond to media requests for interviews during the campaign and didn't bother with a ballot statement outlining his platform.

Had we succeeded, Christopher would have headed a student government that controlled a multi-million dollar student service fee budget, and that was regularly called upon to appoint student representatives to policy setting committees and commissions across the university's academic and student life landscape, all while earning an annual salary in the neighborhood of $14,000.

If he shows up to the monthly meetings of the district, Rocco will receive $750 per month. But officials are wondering what they will do if he is as scarce in office as he was during the campaign.

He will be one of seven board members in charge of setting policy for a district that has a budget of $230 million and serves nearly 32,000 students at 42 schools in Orange and surrounding cities. The union endorsed Rocco's opponent, Phil Martinez, a park ranger who has three children in the district, is president of the PTA at his kids' school and is active with the Boy Scouts.

Still, Rocco, who has no children and whose job is uncertain, won with nearly 54 percent of the vote.

November 8, 2004

This past weekend was a beautiful one here in Indianapolis. After a leisurely Saturday morning around the apartment, I headed over to my property management company's office to sign a 6-month extension on my lease. While walking thru the lobby of the Harness Factory (that's where my leasing office is located) I ran across this guy. For the uninitiated, he's standing on a Segway Human Transporter--a self-balancing, electric-powered, personal transportation device that moves forwards and backwards with the aid of gyroscopes and tilt sensors that monitor its rider's center of gravity at about 100 times a second.

Much has been written about the Segway since it was first unveiled on Good Morning America back in December of 2001. I remember watching Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson tooling around on these far-out toys, and I thought to myself, "Mikal, you've 'got' to get yourself one of these things, big time!" (that was, until I saw the astronomical price tag). Today, the Segway HT retails for between $3,995.00 and $4,500.00, depending on which model you choose to buy.

Despite the fact that this is the first Segway I've ever seen in person, more than 35 states have passed laws allowing these 'human transporters' to operate on sidewalks, and over 3,400 users have affiliated with a SEG America--a membership-based club created as a way for Segway owners to share ideas and experiences. Heck, even as I post this message, Segway fever is moving across the country, literally. That's right... sooner or later you knew someone would do this sort of thing... five people riding Segway HTs are currently making their way from Seattle to Boston, 10 miles per hour, 80 miles per day. The group was somewhere outside of Philadelphia this past weekend, and is hoping to make it to Boston in time for Thanksgiving. For information on their progress and experiences, visit the 10mph Blog by clicking here.

So, what do you think... if you had the money (meaning, all your debts were paid and you had ample savings in the bank) would you buy a Segway Human Transporter? I would, in a jiffy.

November 5, 2004

FUN WITH HYPOTHETICALS

Consider the historic charts below:

2000 Election
271 Electoral College votes - 50.46 million - Bush - WIN
266 Electoral College votes - 51.00 million - Gore

2004 Election
286 Electoral College votes - 59.40 million popular votes - Bush - WIN
252 Electoral College votes - 55.90 million popular votes - Kerry

In Ohio, Bush won by just 136,483 votes. Now, suppose that Kerry tallied just 150,000 more swing votes in Ohio winning all 20 of Ohio's Electoral College votes. This, of course, would render the following chart:

2004 Election Hypothetical
266 Electoral College votes - 59.05 million popular votes - Bush
272 Electoral College votes - 55.75 million popular votes - Kerry - WIN

In 2000, Gore won the popular vote by 540,000 votes but lost the election, which caused Democrats to question the legitimacy of President Bush's administration, notwithstanding Florida's ballot problems.

Consider the aforementioned hypothetical yet plausible outcome of Kerry winning Ohio and therefore the presidency but losing the popular vote handily by a margin of 3.3 million votes, more than 6 times the amount Bush lost to Gore in 2000.

My questions are for Democrats but that shouldn't stop Republicans or Independents from making comments:

Q1: Would you honestly question the legitimacy of a Kerry Administration in 2004 with the same vigor you questioned the legitimacy of the Bush Administration in 2000?

Q2: Would your feelings about the legitimacy of the Electoral College change?

Q3: Along with the presidency, the GOP picked up 4 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate including Tom Daschle's, the Senate Minority Leader. Additionally, 11 Same-Sex Marriage Amendments were defeated. In your opinion, has the country embraced Republican values or rejected Democrat values?

Q4: How should the Democrats change in 2008 in order to regain control of the House, Senate, or White House?

November 4, 2004

Now that the election is over, there's little doubt that you know exactly where Ohio sits geographically. But what about Alabama and Iowa? Try your hand at this interactive geography quiz. I did... my results were:

Score: 90%
Average Error: 16 miles
Time: 420 Seconds

November 2, 2004

The candidates are posers. In good conscience, I can't vote for any one of them.

It's more of a civic responsibility to be kind to my fellow humans than it is to vote. I choose kindness over validating distortion.

I'll defend my choice to anyone who wants to go to the canvas on this one.