Law Firm To Purchase One Of Those Big Leather Chairs

Celtics prove doubters wrong; capitalize on off-season trades

The Boston Celtics have started this season by sending a message to the its fans, its doubters, and to the rest of the league: They're for real. By starting off undefeated (sporting a 5-0 record), the Celtics are off to their best start in 20 years. Even Bob Cousy is recognizing the greatness that we have witnessed these first 5 games. Kevin Garnett is unstoppable. Pierce looks as good as he's always been, but now people are starting to recognize him again as a premier player in this league. Ray Allen is so smooth he should be called Jesus Butterworth. Eddie House is a solid bench player with pinpoint accuracy from 3-point range. Our rookies are settling in, and Big Baby has had some big moments.

All in all, I've been very satisfied in how the Celtics have managed to formulate their chemistry in such a short period of time. Perhaps most impressive, however, is the fact that the Celtics are leading the league in points allowed by their opponents. Their defense has been phenomenal, to be quite honest. They've been holding their opponents to low FG%'s. Yet, they're also 2nd in the league (behind Dallas) in points scored per game. For the most part, they've been blowing out their opponents. The only exception was the game vs. Toronto where Ray Ray hit the game-winning 3.

The Celtics have also been playing team ball unlike any C's team has played since the 1980's. The passing and ball distribution has been incredible -- they have been dishing out like 30 assists each night. They've also been outrebounding their opponents night after night.

If I sound like a homer... well, that's because I am. I've really never had the excitement and anticipation that I have for this Celtics team. People like my dad, however, have been through the championship era(s) of the Celtics, and so this long drought of very little postseason action has been painful to watch. However, the Celtics are now the lone undefeated team in the league. They're #1 in the latest NBA.com power rankings. A lot of people said Sunday's game at NJ would mark their first loss of the season, but they won it pretty convincingly. If feels ridiculous asking "when will they lose their first game?" just a season after they lost 18 in a row, but seriously, when will they lose their first game?

SBFYN will be on hiatus until 11/12

To all readers: hello! I appreciate your continued interest in reading my blog, despite the fact that I haven't been updating it nearly as much as I'd like to. As you may have noticed, SBFYN has become almost exclusively a blog concerned with sports (and, specifically, New England sports). I want to continue this, yet at the same time, I want to improve my blog. I'd like to incorporate more into my blog so that more readers will take an interest. Hence, beginning next week, I will begin to make more frequent updates, with more up-to-date information on a wider scope of sports topics. Of course, I will also include other relevant news topics and anything else on my mind, but I really think that I can attract more people if I focus largely on one topic (in this case, sports).

Anyway, my extremely busy schedule over the past week and continuing over the next week have made it very difficult for me to find time to write on my blog. Thank you for understanding, and check in next week when I will be revamping SBFYN with all kinds of goodies.

B

Maybe there is a God... Red Sox sweep Rockies to win World Series

For the 2nd time in 4 years, the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series. In similar fashion to 2004, the Sox came back from a major deficit in the ALCS, and went on to sweep the final round. Watching the Red Sox tear up the Rockies in the World Series was, to an extent, a surreal experience. The phenomenal regular season for them was no fluke -- the Red Sox players, management, and even fanbase (ok, so there's the fair share of Sox bandwaggoners, who must immediately be deemed as 'fake') all presented themselves as legitimate baseball yardsticks for the rest of the league to compare themselves against. Typically, the Yankees would normally assume this role, but since their team is literally dismantling itself, it is only reasonable to consider the Red Sox as THE current yardstick in the MLB.

Anyway, back to the good stuff. Jon Lester, cancer survivor, pitched 6 unbelievable innings, giving up no runs. This marked his first 2007 postseason game, but his time away from the game did not manifest itself whatsoever. The rest of our pitching was pretty solid, and it was Papelbon who once again slammed the door shut on the Rockies hopes.

At one point, we were up 3-0. However, things quickly got interesting when the Rockies came within one run, with the score eventually reaching 4-3. However, the Rockies would score no more after that, and the Sox took home the trophy.

Mike Lowell (my favorite Sox player), won the World Series MVP award. I was ecstatic to see him win it, because not only did he have a fantastic World Series + the homerun in game 4, he is also a consummate professional, both on and off the field. A cancer surviror in his own right, Lowell is more humble and down to earth than most people, but for a professional athlete to hold this demeanor is something special. I was happy to see him win another ring (he won a ring back with the Marlins in 2003), but unfortunately, Lowell may re-sign with another team as he is now a free agent. Hopefully, the Red Sox will be able to pull off a deal for Lowell, since having him on our team is great in many ways.

In other sports news, the New England Patriots beat the Washington Redskins (slightly pejorative, don't you think?) yesterday. The final score? 52-7. The Pats are now 8-0 on the season and look to continue their unbelievable run next weekend against the also-unbeaten Indianapolis Colts.

The Boston Celtics kick off their season this Friday night against the Washington Wizards. You better believe I'll be watching the game.

One final thing: Internet Explorer sucks. I can't believe they won't let me download Firefox at my job. IE has been so glitchy today... not to mention the computer at my desk froze, but thankfully, my original post was not deleted, but rather, it was saved as a draft. But yeah, it's all about firefox.

Red Sox demonstrate full arsenal of capabilities in Game 1 of World Series

Same story, different day. Josh Beckett gave up 1 run in 7 innings and struck out 9 in a 13-1 rout over the Colorado Rockies. Beckett was just incredible from the moment he stepped into the game until the moment he walked out of it. Timlin provided excellent relief pitching, and even Gagne (gasp!!!) came in and closed things out.

Our offense was unbelievably hot. We scored 7 runs in the 5th inning. Youkilis and Pedroia continued their miraculous postseasons, and some big hitting by several other members of the club helped to cement this win for us.

On to game 2!

Red Sox are going to the World Series!

For the 2nd time in four years, the Boston Red Sox will be playing in the World Series. After going down 3 games to 1 against the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS, the Sox stormed to a triumphant comeback not unlike that in the 2004 ALCS vs. the Yankees, and will be playing against the "rags-to-riches" Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series!

Game 7 of the ALCS was simply phenomenal for the Red Sox. Any concerns about Dice-K's pitching were quickly alleviated as he pitched 5 solid innings, giving up 6 hits and just 2 runs. Excellent pitching by both Okajima and Papelbon allowed the Sox to hold down the fort before the Sox took what was a close (3-2) game, and turned it into an 11-2 massacre. Dustin Pedroia had arguably the best game of his life tonight -- a 2-shot homer, a double, 5 RBIs, and 3 runs -- showing why he may be a possible MVP candidate for the Sox in the postseason. Speaking of MVP candidates, Youkilis continued his hitting streak to 8 games, and hit another homer (his 3rd of the series), as well as a double.

Our defense tonight was also very good. We made crisp (no pun intended) plays (Coco's catch at the end), and played the infield very well with some extraordinary double plays. Overall, I'm very satisfied with what I'm seeing with this team, and cannot wait to see them play the Rockies in the World Series! GO SOX!

Water Can Burn?

Whaaaaattttt.... I gotta try this sometime...

Torre: Thanks, But No Thanks.

Joe Torre, manager of the New York Yankees for 12 years, has turned down a lucrative offer from George Steinbrenner -- a 1 year, $5m offer which would include three $1m bonuses: one if the Yankees were to reach the Playoffs, one if the Yankees were to be AL champs, and/or one if the Yankees won the World Series. If Torre had accepted the offer, and had led the Yankees to an '08 World Series championship, Torre would have also picked up an option for the 2009 season. However, the Yankees legend turned down the offer, and an era has come to an end. One has to wonder what Torre, age 67, plans to do next: retire or sign as a manager elsewhere?

Patriots beat Cowboys, 48-27

The New England Patriots beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. It was basically the first "heat check" game for both teams -- both NE and Dallas had played only non-contenders up to Sunday, and both teams entered into yesterday's match with a 5-0 record. The Patriots were up 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, but a solid 2nd quarter for the Cowboys brought Dallas right back into the game. At halftime, the score was 21-17, Patriots. A touchdown early in the 3rd quarter brought Dallas ahead, 24-21. This actually marked the first time all season that the Patriots had been down at some point in a game. However, this feat for Dallas was pitifully brief, and the Patriots stormed back in epic proportions. After the Dallas touchdown in the 3rd quarter, the Pats shut down their cruise control and pushed up the gears. They scored 27 points in a span of less than 2 quarters to close out the game with a final score of 48-27.

Tom Brady was nothing but perfect, finishing with 388 yards passing on 31/46 with 5 touchdowns. Stallworth had what was arguably his breakout game, although we saw glimpses of his capabilities last weekend against Cleveland. He finished with 136 yards receiving and 1 touchdown. Wes Welker had a ridiculous game, finishing with 124 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns. Randy Moss put in a respectable 59 yards and also finished with 1 touchdown.

For Dallas, Romo had a nice game, finishing with 199 yards on 18/29, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. TO was held to 66 yards, but he did have a touchdown.

This win, in my admittedly Patriots-biased opinion, absolutely seals the deal on the Patriots place in the league right now: Number 1. Not because of their league-leading record, but because they've just dominated EVERY team they've played. They haven't scored less than 34 points. They've only given up more than 17 points once. Every player on the team, both on offense and defense, is getting acclamated with Belichick's system. The Patriots have also withstood numerous key injuries this season, yet they still look unstoppable. And right now, which team would have the audacity to say the Patriots aren't unstoppable?

"The Kingdom" provides fair share of thrills

I went with a friend the other night to see "The Kingdom," starring Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper. Also in the film were Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman (from "Arrested Development"), and Jeremy Piven (from "Entourage"), who unfortunately played a very small role. The movie provided just the perfect amount of action, violence, and gore -- but it was the theme of the movie and the poignancy of this theme which really made this a great movie. I won't go into too many details, because I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone thinking about seeing it, but here's the basic gist of it: An American compound in Saudi Arabia is bombed, killing hundreds of innocent people. A team of FBI agents is sent on a mission to find the man behind the bombing. Their journey along the way to finding him is not easy, as the hostility of Saudi Arabia weighs itself on the team. They eventually find the person they're looking for, but not everything is positive, as the team's amiable Saudi partner, Al-Ghazi, is shot to death.


I'd give "The Kingdom" 4 out of 5 stars. Go see it!

Sox take Game 1 of the ALCS

Josh Beckett struck out 7 in 6 innings and gave up only 2 runs in an impressive victory over the visiting Cleveland Indians. Beckett, who went 20-7 during the regular season, continued his flawless journey towards the Cy Young award with his 2nd win of the 2007 postseason. With a collective effort on offense, sparked largely by Manny and Papi, the Sox put on an unrelenting onslaught of hits, walks, and sacrifice bunts/flies. All-in-all, the Red Sox loaded up the bases 5 times, though unfortunately, there were no grand slams to be had.

After 6 innings, Beckett sat out having only pitched 80 times -- which is excellent, seeing as we may need him later in this series. Javier Lopez and Mike Timlin both came in and did a solid job in keeping the Indians out of this game. For the Indians, C.C. Sabathia played about as streaky a game as I've ever seen. At times, he was pitching nothing but strikes. Other times, he looked absolutely horrible, giving up hit after hit, walk after walk, and run after run. The Indians went through several pitchers who, to the Indians despair, did not exactly improve their outlook for the game.

The 9th inning rolled around, and... yikes... Eric Gagne comes in as our closer. Previously a phenom for the Texas Rangers, Gagne's been a true disappointment for the Sox this season. He's blown leads on quite a few occasions, and has not been the same pitcher for Boston as he was for Texas. Anyway, he comes in tonight, and immediately makes things interesting by loading up the bases. With fans booing and confidence undoubtedly falling precipitously, Gagne followed a 4-0 walk with 3 more balls for a 3-0 count, before making a solid comeback and striking out the final Indians hitter for the win.

The Red Sox will face the Indians in Boston tomorrow night at 8:00 PM.

It's a Great Time to be a New England Sports Fan

Though I was unable to watch the game, I was pleased to hear that the Celtics beat the Raptors in their pre-season battle royale in Rome. The game really means nothing, but apparently, KG was beastin' it. He finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds, behind Pierce's 21 points. KG had a pretty nasty reverse throw-down early in the game, and Paul is indeed still the Truth. Ray Allen was apparently pretty shaky, but he should be fine by the beginning of the regular season. The supporting cast was decent, but Eddie House had a great game -- he could be our 6th man, if need be.

Sox swept the Angels. Pitching is superb. Offense is heating up. Everything is working right now -- now, we just need to see who wins the Yankees-Indians series... I expect the Yankees to at least win game 4, if not game 5 too.

Patriots are 5-0, crushing their (albeit weak) opponents to a pulp week-after-week. Their latest victim was the Cleveland Browns, losing 34-17 in a game that the Patriots had complete control of. The Patriots have not scored under 34 points this season. They have not given up more than 17 points this season. So, things are working on all cylinders right now for the Pats. In their game yesterday, Benjamin Watson was awesome, Sammy Morris continued to shine, and Stallworth finally appeared to have somewhat of a break out game.

The Bruins are- hold on, nobody really cares.

So yeah, I'm happy to be a New England sports fan right now!

We're essentially 40% done with this semester.

I dunno if the title sends a shiver down your spine, but when I read that, I kind of freak out a bit. It feels like I just got here, and we're quickly approaching the halfway point of the semester. September was kind of a weird month for me. Not only did it go by quickly, but it was an exciting, and often scary, journey of emotions. College really defines what type of person you are. Your childhood shapes you, but it is in college where you begin to observe your own creation, and you begin to question why things are and how things should be. You may even find that you are questioning previous opinions that you had held for so long, and how ridiculous they may seem now that you've been entrenched with new ideas. I find that I am always questioning what the most important thing to get out of life is. I am still yet to find an answer. As an economics major, I could possibly consider the utilitarianism approach to life, in that we should all strive to maximize private and social utility, or satisfaction. In other words, that we all strive to lead lives which satisfy us both personally, and as a community of varying levels. Even simpler, that we are all happy in life. Perhaps a different stage of my life will provide the answers to these questions.

Sorry for getting a bit philosophical. I realize how it's quite a change from my previous posts, but I feel that my blog is an excellent medium for spreading out thoughts and emotions.

"It's Just Manny being Manny"

First, let me start off by saying what an incredible game that was! It was so perfect, it looked like it was scripted. Sox go up 2-0 in the first inning, but Dice-K gives up 3 runs a couple innings later. We tie up the game later on... stuck at 3-3 for a good while, and then bottom of the 9th, Manny slams it out of Fenway. This just moments after Rodriguez intentionally walked Papi, leaving Papi on first and Julio Lugo on second... or maybe third. Anyway, Manny brings both of them home, and the Red Sox take a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS! I must also mention some fantastic closing pitching by both Okajima and Papelbon -- they were both smoking opponents off the field with their incredible pitching.

McCain backs Bush on Health Bill Veto

Surprise, surprise! John McCain rears his ugly Bush-lovin' side again!

"Right call by the president," the Republican White House hopeful told CNN's John King... "The American people have rebelled against out-of-control spending. If they can find a legitimate way to pay for it, I would consider it," he said.

Oh, ok. So paying billions of dollars for some chicken shit war in Iraq is ok, but a new health insurance bill which would provide health insurance for 10 million children over the next 5 years is somehow unsatisfactory? Clearly, this would have at least been a decent step towards a new and improved American healthcare system, but Bush has used his veto power for the second time of his Presidency (his first was for a stem cell research bill).

The American political system is pretty much fucked until 2008, and perhaps beyond if we get another republican in office. The now majority-democrat congress has the ability to check-and-balance the president, but it's visa versa for the president -- so in other words, basically any bill that the democrats propose and sign off on will likely be vetoed by the president (actually, the healthcare bill was really a bi-partisan bill).

The stubbornness of George W. Bush is almost unparalleled. This is the same man who said he wanted to work together with Republicans, Democrats, the congress, and the American people to make things happen. Well, it's been 7 years into his presidency, and he's yet to do any of those things. How is it possible that he can propose and sign off a bill for "No Child Left Behind," which everybody with half a brain knows is a sham, but won't sign off on a bill to support the health of America's impoverished youth? I mean, I'm not saying I expect much from the president, but come on!

John McCain has also recently come under fire for some pretty controversial comments concerning faith. Apparently, McCain stated on a website that America is a "Christian nation" and that he would "prefer a Christian president." Fan-fuckin-tastic. Yeah, there aren't any Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or any other religion here. None at all. And isn't it amazing how the "separation" in 'Separation of Church and State' just seems to keep diminishing? It's a part of the constitution for a reason! McCain, right now, stands at about a 9.8 on the doucheometer, and will probably be at a 10 by 2008.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad visits Columbia University Amongst a Wave of Controversy

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the raving lunatic who believes that Israel "should be wiped off the map," and that the Holocaust was a "myth," visited Columbia University in New York City this morning to give a speech. Obviously, this resulted in a torrent of controversy all across the United States -- hundreds near Columbia marched in protest to the Iranian leader's visit. Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, publicly denounced Ahmadinejad immediately prior to the Iranian leader's speech. I found this bizarre in that it was Bollinger who allowed Ahmadinejad's entrance onto his campus. Apparently, Bollinger's rant against the Iranian president resulted in a massive applause, likely augmenting tensions between both parties (U.S. and Iran, or Columbia vs. Ahmadinejad). When asked about homosexuals and women living in Iran, Ahmadinejad insolently replied "we don't have homesexuals."

And yet, there are some people in this world who absolutely admire the guy. Entire factions of people worship him. He's gained respect worldwide as a key Islamic leader. It's disturbing, but at the same time, it makes sense in this day and age that there would be pockets of support for a radical and pugnacious leader such as Ahmadinejad.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/24/us.iran/index.html

Yankees continue sizzling surge; Red Sox continue pitiful plummet

The Red Sox have been just atrocious as of late, losing 6 of their last 10 games. The offense continues to play in a passionless pursuit of imperfection (the anti-lexus?) Scoring runs has literally been a painstaking task for this team, and their main goal as of now is to keep the Yankees from overtaking them in their division, whereas a few weeks ago, this wasn't even a concern. In addition, our pitching as been surprisingly mediocre. Dice-K is having an "ok" season at best, Papelbon isn't playing with the intensity he usually has in those super-clutch situations, Wakefield has been sucking, and Eric Gagne continues to make Theo Epstein look like a complete jackass. Despite these recent pitching malfunctions, Beckett continues to shine and deserves all the praise in the world for his Cy Young-award-worthy year on the mound.

The Yankees, on the other hand, have been playing mercilessly well in the past few weeks -- when they're not pounding their opponents, they're toughing it out into extra innings. This team just won't give up, and you have to admire them for their valiant efforts considering their position in the division standings just a few weeks back. Their pitching has turned out to be solid, their offense has been torrid, and they've managed to overcome any previous injuries to their lineup.

The Red Sox have 6 games left in the regular season. They will be in the playoffs, as it is a statistical impossibility for them to be anything less than the AL wild card leader. But that would be a supreme disappointment considering their otherwise phenomenal season.

The Yankees have 7 games left in the regular season. Though they have not clinched even the wild card yet, it's almost inevitable that they will. They are 5.5 games ahead of the Detroit Tigers... so basically, the Yankees would have to have some kind of a trainwreck, while the tigers would have to simultaneously have a miracle finish. Not gonna happen, folks.

Funny advertisement...

Apologies for the blurriness... you can click on the image to see it clearer. Anyway, isn't this kind of a weird advertisement? I was reading an article on CNN.com, and I saw this at the top of my screen and was just like "uhh... what?" These random advertisements show up all the time on the internet, but this one has to be one of the weirdest (and funniest) I've seen in awhile.

"Scandalous" Patriots look to go 2-0 tonight against San Diego

My New England Patriots, aptly re-named "The Cheaters" by some discouraged football fans, will be taking on the San Diego Chargers in about 5 minutes from now. If you haven't heard, someone in the Patriots organization was caught spying on the Jets a couple weeks ago. The league slammed The Pats organization as well as NE Coach Bill Belichick with hefty fines, and apparently, the league has also taken away a future 1st-round pick for the Pats. I was disappointed to hear about the Pats recent troubles, since they have always come across as a completely professional organization. I feel that the penalties were not overly severe, but at the same time, I really hope that the Patriots learn from this and proceed to tear up the season without any more distractions.
I will be willing to completely forgive them if they can come up with a convincing win tonight against the Chargers.

O.J. Simpson under arrest in bizarre robbery probe

You'd think after barely escaping a double homicide conviction, OJ Simpson would've gained a little more respect for the American judicial system. Well, guess who's headed back to the courtroom?? OJ was arrested today with, get this... 6 counts of burglary, robbery, assault, and conspiracy. Apparently, he broke into some guy's room with his posse (who happened to be carrying armed weapons), in an attempt to locate some old memorabilia which he would then, presumably, sell on Ebay for cash. This story is pretty much too weird to be true. Simpson, a former NFL star and occasional actor, has also been in the news lately for his uber-controversial book entitled, "If I Did It." The book takes on a "hypothetical" depiction of the Nicole Simpson/Ronald Goldman murders from OJ's perspective. Yeah, right. That's like Barry Bonds writing a book titled "If I Juiced Up." We know OJ did it, the courts know OJ did it, and obviously, OJ knows he did it. It pisses me off when these washed-up celebs from the past try to make a few bucks off of a book. But this really takes it too far. If I were OJ, I'd be thanking some higher authority every day for not convicting me back in '94, and I would stay away from the media like it was the plague. I mean, is he really that stupid?

OJ under arrest

$5 Meatballs and some fuckin' expensive soda

I thought this was a pretty interesting article.. we all know that our $ is covering a bunch of government rubbish, but wow.. $5 meatballs? Guess it's more important to feed our corrupt govt.'s members some gourmet meat spheres than fix up our inner cities, improve our country's globally-lagging education, reform our health care system, or revamp our environmental position in the world.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hungry attendees at Justice Department conferences have been enjoying millions of dollars in meatballs and other goodies courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, according to an inspector general's report released Friday.

The Justice Department paid more than $13,000 for cookies at conferences, says a report released Friday.

The report cited $5 meatballs and cans of soft drinks each costing $4.55 among reasons 10 conferences during 2005 and 2006 cost nearly $7 million.

One four-day conference of 1,500 people in Los Angeles cost the Justice Department $394,000 in August 2005.

"Overall this conference's daily food expense averaged $64 per registrant, which exceeded the approved federal per diem rate of $51 for meals," the report said.

The 128-page report does not suggest laws were broken, although it questions the Justice Department's judgment when it comes to the cost of its events.

In addition to the platters of Swedish meatballs and soda pop, the Justice Department paid more than $13,000 for cookies, according to the inspector general's office.

A Senate committee requested the report on Justice Department conferences, which, in fiscal year 2006, cost taxpayers nearly $46 million, including travel, programming, food and associated costs. Year to year costs show such meetings have totaled from $33.8 million in 2001 to a high of $58 million in 2004.

Don't Miss

• Report on conferences (PDF)
• Gonzales' term at Justice coming to a close

The report reviewed the nine most expensive U.S. conferences between October 2004 and September 2006 and the most expensive international conference during that same time.

The 2005 Los Angeles event -- which was called the "Weed and Seed" national conference -- attracted particular attention from the audit's authors.

It "included a $53 per person two-entree and dessert lunch for 120 attendees, a one-hour $64,000 'Stars and Stripes' themed networking reception and a post-conference meeting for 30 DOJ employees who were provided a sandwich buffet lunch at a cost of $44 per person and an 'At the Movies' theme snack (candy, popcorn, and soft drinks) for an additional $25 per person," the report said.

The report, from the Office of Inspector General, Glenn Fine, expressed concern that most of the conference attendees failed to deduct their allowable per diem meal costs because they received free meals.

"When component managers do not systematically review vouchers to ensure that such deductions are made, the government effectively pays for the meals twice," the report said.

Another meeting detailed in the report was a 2006 COPS National Conference in Washington. Some 1,100 attendees were offered daily breakfast buffets, two lunches, a networking reception, and two "themed breaks."

"The networking reception itself cost more than $60,000 and included a chef-carved roast beef and turkey, a penne pasta station, and platters of Swedish meatballs at a cost of nearly $5 per meatball," the report said. "The average food and beverage cost per day for the COPS conference was $83 per attendee -- $19 dollars over the $64 federal per diem meal rate for Washington."

Among the report's recommendations: Planners should compare costs in multiple sites in multiple cities unless there is a special reason a meeting needs to be held in a particular city.

The report also called for developing conference food and beverage policies "to ensure adequate justification of significant food and beverage costs."

The Justice Department said it agreed with the recommendations.

9/11 Mystery Plane

Watch this video.

Honda redesigns Accord for 2008

Honda has redesigned their flagship sedan and coupe for 2008. Looking much different (and larger) than the previous Accord, I am having a difficult time deciding whether or not I like what Honda has done with what is essentially their 'pride and joy.' I find the Sedan to be a rather ugly mix between a Toyota Camry and a Dodge Charger. My mom has an '03 Accord sedan, and it took me awhile to get used to the "new looks," as the 03 was the first year for the 7th generation, so we'll see. Anyway, the V6 model has a 268 HP V6 which gets up to 29 mpg... not bad, but I'll have my eye open for the new Accord Hybrid, which is bound to come out shortly after the release of the new '08's, and will compete well with the Camry Hybrid.




The Coupe, from some angles, is somewhat sexy.
Not as sexy as the 99 Toyota Solara (my babes), but sexy nonetheless. It's kind of like a mix between a Saturn and a Hyundai Tiburon... not exactly a "sexy" image by some people, but it's definitely sportier looking than the previous Accord coupe.

Red Sox beat Orioles 3-2; Beckett wins # 18

Went to the Orioles game today with my buddy Colin. I got 2 tickets to the game from a friend of mine who couldn't go. It was pretty much a guarantee from the start that the Red Sox would pull away with the W. A) Beckett pitched. This guy's money in the bank - he is now 18 and 6 on the season with an incredibly low 3.27 ERA. B.) We're the Red Sox. Self-explanatory. C.) They're the Orioles. Also self-explanatory.

So Colin and I drove down to the game, and got there a bit early to get some free food, which happened to be a part of the ticket plan. The food was pretty good, though we were still left with about an hour of time after we finished eating. We walked around for a bit and found our seats, which, though only a few rows away from the last possible row, gave us a fantastic vantage point for the game. After about a half an hour after sitting down, some familiar college faces showed up to the game, which was cool.

Beckett pitched a pretty phenomenal game, but oddly gave up 2 home runs, the only 2 runs the O's scored in the game. He had only given up somewhere in the vicinity of 15 homers all season, so to give up 2 in one game was kind of bizarre. But whatever, we won!

Yet another tough day on Wall St.

If you've been following business news for the past, oh... couple months, you'd know that the stock market has been dipping faster than Lindsay Lohan's future acting career (ok, sorry, no more cheap-shot analogies... I promise). Sparked largely by America's current and quite possibly worst-ever housing credit crunch, the market's sheer volatility has been illustrated over the past couple months in a very unsettling display of falling stock prices. In the past couple weeks, however, the market has returned (slightly), yet it is still as volatile as ever, and today's rough day on Wall St. manifests this trend:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Wednesday, as investors eyed reports showing slumping pending home sales, anemic private sector employment and the latest woes for the financial sector.

Also dragging on stocks: the afternoon release of the Federal Reserve's 'beige book' report on the economy, which added to confusion about whether the central bank will cut short-term interest rates anytime soon.

Video More video Money Magazine's Walter Updegrave gives advice on the steps you should take right now, to ensure a secure retirement down the road. Play video Mattel announced a recall of 844,000 toys that contain excessive levels of lead paint. CNN's Allan Chernoff reports. Play video

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 143.39 to 13,305.47, Charts) lost 143 points, or almost 1.1 percent. The broader S&P 500 (down 17.13 to 1,472.29, Charts) index fell 1.2 percent. The Nasdaq Composite (down 24.29 to 2,605.95, Charts) lost 0.9 percent.

Treasury bond prices jumped, lowering the corresponding yields, as investors sought the relatively-safer-haven investments. Oil prices rose.

Thursday brings the weekly jobless claims report, the revised reading on second-quarter productivity, the weekly oil inventories report and the Institute for Supply Management's report on the services sector of the economy.

The housing gloom grows

Stocks rose Tuesday as investors welcomed upbeat economic news and continued to bet that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates if necessary when it meets later this month. Such bets fueled a big rally at the end of last week.

But the advance petered out Wednesday following a weak July pending home sales report, a surprisingly tepid employment reading and signs of more problems for the credit and mortgage markets.

The afternoon release of the Fed's periodic 'beige book' report on the economy added to the day's weakness, said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Legg Mason.

Released at around 2:00 p.m. ET, the 'beige book' showed that the economy continued to grow throughout August, although tighter credit requirements hurt the housing market.

Wall Streeters didn't like the report, Schrader said, because they are interpreting it as implying that the central bank may not see a need for an interest rate cut at the Sept. 18 policy meeting, since growth seems to be holding up.

"I think we're probably in for another few weeks of choppy market action," Schrader said. "We've got to get through the September Fed meeting first before stocks can really make an attempt to move higher."

The pending home sales index, a measure of contracts to buy existing homes, fell to its lowest level since the month that included the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a trade group reported Wednesday.

Also weighing on stocks: the ADP employment report, which showed surprisingly weak growth in private sector jobs in August. The report could be a negative indication for the broader August employment report, expected Friday morning.

I think I have the best on-campus job...

Ok, so I'm currently sitting at my desk in a lobby at one of the main buildings on my campus. My job title is "Switchboard Operator," but it mine as well be "Person who gets paid to sit at a desk, go on the internet, and do homework." Seriously, the only actual duty I have to fulfill is answering phone calls, which occurs at the nice, leisurely pace of about one per 15-minute time frame. Not to mention, the phone calls are ridiculously easy to handle -- the typical caller might ask to be put in touch with Financial Aid, which for me, involves about a 5 second gander at a sheet of telephone extension listings. A simple press of the telephone buttons matching up to the extension finishes the deal. I mean, this job is too cushy to be true. Plus, since I offered to work today (Labor Day), they are paying me for 2.5 hours worked instead of the 2 hours that I'm scheduled to work. This totally kicks the crap out of my last campus job, which entailed me being the campus post office's bitch for several hours a week... though I did get to drive a golf cart around campus as part of that job, so it wasn't all bad! Anyway, I've been sitting here now for about an hour and 40 minutes, and I've gotten 3 calls. That's less than one per half-hour worked! The rest of the time has been heartily fulfilled with reading, listening to streaming online radio, reading baseball scores, and writing on my blog. Not too shabby, eh?

Artificial Life: A Possibility?

Recently read this article on CNN.com, and found it to be quite interesting. This is why we need a president who is more concerned with science, the environment, and the American health care system -- more funding is needed in these sectors so we can advance further in the areas where we are currently lagging behind!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer.

Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years from someone in the now little-known field of "wet artificial life."

"It's going to be a big deal and everybody's going to know about it," said Mark Bedau, chief operating officer of ProtoLife of Venice, Italy, one of those in the race. "We're talking about a technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental ways -- in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict."

That first cell of synthetic life -- made from the basic chemicals in DNA -- may not seem like much to non-scientists. For one thing, you'll have to look in a microscope to see it.

"Creating protocells has the potential to shed new life on our place in the universe," Bedau said. "This will remove one of the few fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe and our role."

And several scientists believe man-made life forms will one day offer the potential for solving a variety of problems, from fighting diseases to locking up greenhouse gases to eating toxic waste.

Bedau figures there are three major hurdles to creating synthetic life:

- A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.

- A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.

- A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy.

One of the leaders in the field, Jack Szostak at Harvard Medical School, predicts that within the next six months, scientists will report evidence that the first step -- creating a cell membrane -- is "not a big problem." Scientists are using fatty acids in that effort.

Szostak is also optimistic about the next step -- getting nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to form a working genetic system.

His idea is that once the container is made, if scientists add nucleotides in the right proportions, then Darwinian evolution could simply take over.

"We aren't smart enough to design things, we just let evolution do the hard work and then we figure out what happened," Szostak said.

In Gainesville, Florida, Steve Benner, a biological chemist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution is attacking that problem by going outside of natural genetics. Normal DNA consists of four bases -- adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine (known as A,C,G,T) -- molecules that spell out the genetic code in pairs. Benner is trying to add eight new bases to the genetic alphabet.

Bedau said there are legitimate worries about creating life that could "run amok," but there are ways of addressing it, and it will be a very long time before that is a problem.

"When these things are created, they're going to be so weak, it'll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab," he said. "But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen."

I once read a book called 'The Island of Dr. Moreau', in which a scientist, Dr. Moreau, performs vivisections (live dissections) on various wild animals, and essentially transforms them into hominid creatures. For some reason, this article evoked memories from reading that book... either that or Jurassic Park.

Obviously, this will present a morality issue for certain pockets of individuals, but I believe that it's seriously time to lay our morals to rest to gain way for what's really important: the future of our healthcare, scientific research, and environment. It's possible that, with the correct allocations of funding, we could be making a stronger push into the still-mysterious realm that is stem cells, and subsequently, discover cures for diseases. It's certainly time to begin focusing on these issues, and I will make sure my vote goes to a president who holds these issues high on his or her platform.

Banner 17 on the horizon?

Ok, well as many of you who enjoy basketball and professional sports may know, the 2007-2008 Celtics is an entirely different team than the baby Celts of yesteryear. I mean, let's see... we still have... Paul Pierce. Oh, yeah, plus Leon Powe, Kendrick Perkins, and Rajon Rondo. Plus Tony Allen. Kandi Man is listed as a free agent, so that only gives us 5 of the same guys from last year. The new additions? How does Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, James Posey, Eddie House, and Scot Pollard sound? Plus, tack on Big Baby Davis from LSU and a couple other newbies and we have ourselves a motherfucking contender! We still need a veteran PG to help guide Rondo in what could be the biggest season of his career, despite the fact that he's only a "sophomore". A backup Center would be great, as well. Obviously, Mutombo is still on the free agency, and Chris Webber is somewhere out there... I can't imagine why these guys wouldn't want to jump onto the Celtics ship at this point in their careers... but we shall see. But yeah, another difference between this season and the past few seasons? This team will be good. No, scratch that. This team will potentially be, dare I say, unbelievable. We will be able to go places the C's haven't been to in nearly 20 years with this team. I cannot wait for the season to start, and look forward to watching the Celtics on national TV (a major change from the past few seasons!)

News flash: Incubus freaking rocks! Why have I not realized that until now??? I always liked Incubus, but never realized how damn good they were, nor how many excellent songs they have produced... from the impeccable vocals, the excellent musicianship, and the superb lyrics (which I seem to connect well with on many levels), Incubus has easily placed themselves in the upper echelon of modern day rock bands. It's just too bad they won't be rolling around anywhere within like 2000 miles of me for at least another touring season.

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question

wow.

Miss South Carolina has teh smartz... not really.

So yesterday my roomie showed me a hilarious youtube clip of Miss South Carolina trying to answer a simple enough question. The question was: "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?" Her answer?

Look, it's the "I'm bored and have nothing better to do with my time" blog!

Hello, everyone.

This marks my first endeavor into the so-called "blogosphere," as all of the media pundits like to refer it. Hopefully, this will be a fruitful and exciting experience for not only me, but you as the reader. My plan is to keep a steady watch on global news, business, sports, and even weather reports, and then throw in some opinion, about a half cup of good humor (and possibly even some bad humor if I receive any nasty comments on my blog), and maybe even a pinch of overly dramatic emphasis (y'know the deal... every blogger has to pull out the "my life is in shambles" rant at least once). But seriously, I don't plan on being one of those cliché bloggers who does nothing but whine about how their personal lives are going downhill... does it mean I don't have personal problems that I'd love to spill out every once and a while? No, of course not! I just know that it wouldn't make for a professional blog, nor would anyone care to read about it. But anyway, hopefully you will find this to be a rewarding blog to read... oh yeah, and leave me some love! (< comments)