Dawning of A New Day

A transformative night.

A transformative candidate.

Barack Obama did something that many didn't think was possible. He lifted a majority of US citizens beyond and above the racial divide.

As I took it all in last night I was again struck by the idea that our society has come so far. I thought of Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier in baseball. Jackie had to be so tough that he wouldn't fight - turned the other cheek. He took the abuse so that the other great players to come wouldn't have to. It didn't hurt that he was also one of the best baseball players to ever play the game.

I've pondered whether Obama is the Jackie Robinson of US Politics. And I've decided that he is not. Men like Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X and countless others whose sacrifices were so profound played that role. Barack Obama is more akin to Henry Aaron: able to achieve greatness because the barrier had been diminished.

But there was another player in US politics who should not be left out of this: Jesse Jackson. The moment of last night for me was not Obama's speech and it was less the anouncement of the victory. The moment for me was Jesse Jackson fighting back the cascade of tears glistening in the night light in Chicago. His lip trembling and his emotions raw. This is a man who lived the struggle and most of his past tears have been shed in sadness. Those tears last night were totally different.

That image will stay with me as we proceed through the next four years.

Fired up! Ready to go!

B!

Politics and The Media

I've been delving into polls and blogs and news sites leading up to the election. Today I found an interview with Joe Biden with Barbara West on WFTV channel in Florida conducted on October 23rd. It's been getting a bit of buzz on the interwebs. She's conducted interviews with Obama, Biden and McCain previously. Check these out and let me know what you think of her questions and the responses to them.

Oct. 23 Joe Biden interview

Sept. 12 Barack Obama interview

Sept. 26 Joe Biden interview

Oct. 14 John McCain interview

Intermission

It seems like taking a break is contagious around here.

Some goings on in the world that is my world:

I’m heading to Bend this weekend for nephew’s birthday, friend’s birthday and some quality time with the family and with Heather. Heather’s met the folks and an aunt and uncle. Now she’ll meet Stu, Melissa, the boys and a zillion friends that I’ve known for a good long time. I know she’s up to the task as she’s such a sport, but it’s still a bit daunting.

I’m having surgery. Nothing major. In my weight gain of the last 8-10 years I developed an umbilical hernia. It’s been bothering me a lot lately so the Doctor’s and I have decided to get it fixed. The surgery takes only 30-45 minutes and I should be back on my functional feet in a few days and fully active within a 4-6 weeks. I’ve got to negotiate the scheduling of it, what with summer weddings, plans and all. Oh, and work. Can’t forget about work.

Tuesday, June 10 The Portland Timbers will play Hollywood United in the U.S. Open Cup. Hollywood United is a club team from Los Angeles that was founded by some actors and rock stars. They are a cut above your local pub team and word is that they are bringing some of their big names to PDX on the 10th. Anthona Lapaglia is the current owner of the squad. Pretty cool. What’s also pretty cool is that I will be in the broadcast booth for the match. I’ll be doing play-by-play on the USLLive broadcast. The match will only be available On Demand once it’s completed but it’s still a great opportunity for me to re-test my skills and continue to slowly re-engage myself in the broadcast biz.

Birthday Play By Play

Chronicling the birthday as it unfolds:

1. Birthday wishes from Aunt Debby

2. Birthday wishes from Aunt Judy

3. eCard from Shannon

4. Voice mail from Mom

5. Chocolate from boss

6. Brick of cheese from Shannon

7. Birthday wishes from Stephanie

8. Birthday text from Heather

9. Raisinets, Goobers and Sno-Caps from Mary

10. Comment from Sicily

11. Birthday wishes from Eric

12. More birthday wishes from Mom

13. Birthday wishes from Lucas (and an offer of a scotch. Yes!)

14. Birthday wishes from Rachel

15. Birthday wishes from Wookie and the rest of Timbers Army

16. Birthday wishes from Diane

17. Birthday wishes from Laurie, the Lady Cobra

18. eCard from Candy - and lunch too

19. More birthday wishes from various Timbers Army personalities

20. Voice Mail from David - with a song and some French slang

21. Comment from the CilleyGirl

22. Birthday wishes from Katharine

23. Birthday wishes from Stuart

Awesome day so far.

Triple Threat?

A few weeks ago I floated a tidbit about an opportunity for me to do some additional writing. Well, that opportunity is nigh.

Starting next week I will have a share of the OregonLive Timbers Blog. This blog was originally conceived by Bob Kellett several years ago. Bob also ran a group of blogs called The Offside, which is generally considered to be among the finest of football sites in the world. Bob's pulled back a bit and now just writes his own fantastic Timbers blog for The Offside. He left some big shoes to fill at O'Live. Big shoes.

In the past year Donald Bramlett has manned the station at O-Live. He's tireless in his pursuit of information and tidbits. I hope to be able to add some entertaining and insightful observations from time to time. Our styles are very different and it should lend to a good, regular dose of Timbers content for our readers.

This does not mean that I'll be leaving The 107 Report. Far from it. I will be getting some assistance from time to time on the show, but the goal is to do a regular weekly 30 minute program starting with a preview show the weekend of April 12 and our traditional annual roundtable discussion a few days later. I'll occasionally take a week off and also throw in an extra show from time to time. I hope that it's a banner season for the report.

But wait, there's more! You may also see me from time to time on The Timbers Webcast doing halftime interviews that also will be shown in stadium on the big screen. TV adds 10 pounds. I wonder how much weight a jumbotron adds?

So, I'm about to be very, very busy with Timbers media items. Unique opportunities, each of them. I hope to be able to keep contributing to this blog as well. Maybe not as many posts per week, but I'll still have quirky insights to share.

Wish me luck. And feel free to buy me a beer every now and then.

B!

Advocate This!

Every time I walk into a Fred Meyer store I am reminded of the power of the consumer.

Now, I’m not a huge consumer advocate type of guy. I don’t go out of my way to complain. I think I’ve sent a total of one meal back at a restaurant in my entire life. Hey, if I order it and I don’t like it, whose fault is that? Anyway, back to Fred Meyer.

In the late 90’s the Fred Meyer location at Northwest 20th and Burnside went through a major renovation. Everything was replaced and redesigned.

This is where Bruce had to go to work.

Y’see, they replaced the shopping baskets. The traditional rectangular baskets with the two fold out handles. The ones that work really, really well. The ones that many of the people that live in the neighborhood and walk to and from the store use to buy a day or two worth of groceries.

Well, FM tried to fix them.

They replaced every shopping basket in the store with an ergonomic, stacking basket. Shaped like a kidney bean it had a plastic handle that was attached right in the middle of the basket. They sure looked fancy and they were easy to carry. Hugged right to your hip.

But you couldn’t fit anything of any size in them. At it's widest, the floor of the basket had maybe 3.5 inches of space and it flared out to a wider opening at the top. What’s the use for a basket that can’t hold a half-gallon of milk standing upright? Or a head of lettuce? It was absurd.

I immediately used the power of the internet and got a note in to the Manager of the store. I explained the problem and asked him to resupply the traditional baskets.

I received a pretty quick reply from him (within one day) and he let me know that he had checked out my concerns and that they were bringing in a stock of traditional baskets that afternoon.

I went to the store and, lo and behold, rectangular baskets. They kept the kidney bean ergo-baskets around for a few months, but nobody ended up using them.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

So that’s my one standout consumer action story. One that actually had an impact on people doing their daily business. Small scale? I suppose. But it had to be done.

Do you have an advocate story? I’d love to hear it.

B!

Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog

Blogs.

I am really starting to love blogs. I recently put up a poll question about how many blogs each of you visit regularly. I’ve got a few myself, they’re listed down there on the right. Way down.

Anyway, I want to recognize two blogs here today (and inadvertantly, a third).

The first is A Work In Progress by my friend, Stephanie Earls. Her blog was really the catalyst for my blog. She’s taking a break from blogging for a bit to concentrate on her overloaded duties of her real profession, a features writer for the Albany Times Union. Anyway, now would be a great time for any of you that like fun, lively writing and home renovation to check out her blog since it will be in a holding pattern for the next month or so.

The second is Mile 73 by Heather, a recent transplant to Portland. One of the good kind of California immigrants from what we know of her. Our mutual friend, Dave, of Daveknows: Portland, thinks her blog and mine have similar styles. A bit all over the place, with an emphasis on personal observation and neuroses. She’s a new read for me, but you should check out her blog and her vast links to other great, fun blogs on the ‘net.

That’s what I’ve got for now.

B!

You've Got Mail

I've dedicated an email address to blog related questions.

So, If you've got a question or comment that you don't wish publicized, or if you just wish to chat about something, please send me a note at hswagain@gmail.com

Butter Flavoring On That?

A friend and I were having a quick chat on gmail last week about movies. Movies that we love. Movies that we quote. Movies that we never really tire of seeing but that we don’t watch with much frequency anymore.

It got me thinking. It’s time for a marathon movie day. An all day affair of movies, food, drink, naps and more movies.

Of course such a day must involve the holy trinity of movie-going treats: Sno-Caps, Goobers and Raisinets, as well as some of the newer kids on the block: Hot Tamales and Red Vines.

So, I need your help. We’ve got to make a list. I’ll start:

• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension
• The Princess Bride
• The Big Lebowski
• Kingpin
• Fletch! (but not Fletch! Lives)

Chime in, dear readers. We may even put you on the invite list.

B!

Something's Gotta Give

Remember the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry, Elanie, Kramer and George enter the contest to see who can go the longest without, um, hmmm...taking care of their personal business?

Jerry delivers that classic line at the end, "Meanwhile, I'm in this Contest, I'm dating a virgin, somethings gotta give!"

I think I’m about to enter that territory. Between my work, this blog, the TV show, my podcast (which should start up again soon,) a possible writing opportunity, plus a slowly expanding social life (rising like yeast? Is that the worst simile in history?), I’m rapidly reaching saturation.

So, something’s gotta give.

I don’t expect it to be this blog, although it may suffer some collateral damage in the way of shorter or less frequent posts. More likely I will choose to scale back my role on the podcasts and may have to reconsider the TV show. This would normally make me really disappointed. But if things come to pass properly you’ll end up getting the very best of what I have to offer, just on another page and website.

We'll see. Stay tuned.

B!

Fantastic Practical Jokes

I've never been much for practical jokes. At least not pulling them. My mind just doesn’t come up with things that way.

When I was in college there was one great practical joke that I heard of. In my Freshman dormitory, Wig Hall, someone had the doorway to their room removed.

They were away for the weekend and one of their friends, who had planned this meticulously, got drywall, paint, plaster, etc and drywalled over his doorway. When he returned his room had disappeared. A classic bit of nuisance.

Several months ago this clip was floating around the web. If you haven’t seen the Yankee Proposal prank, check it out.

B!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I got bored with the old look. So. Here's a new look for the blog. There are a few new elements available in blogger and over the course of time I'll continue to change things.

I want to thank everyone who reads and comments and gives me great feedback. If you want to be kept informed of when I post you can subscribe to the feed via email through the link at the bottom of the page. Or here.

An RSS Feed is also available although not directly supported by Blogspot on the page. You probably have an icon for Feeds (it's orange and white, looks like a radio transmission) in your browser's toolbar.

Carolyn Hax

Anybody else enjoy Carolyn Hax's advice column? (It's The Washington Post and you'll need to register.)

The Oregonian started running her column a few years ago, three times a week. I instantly became a fan. I used to read the column aloud to a small gathering at work every Tuesday and Thursday to plenty of laughter and smiles.

She's got attitude. Sass. But she talks straight. Plus, she's a dynamite writer. Unlike other advice columnists of the past who avoided confrontation and conflict at all costs, she's a proponent of communication, no matter what the difficult conversation might be. Now, she's not heartless. She acknowledges times when you should just keep your mouth shut, but it's almost always because you were being selfish in the first place. Nice.

I encourage everyone to check her out. She tackles just about everything that comes her way with wit, humor and intelligence. I wish I could do that.

B!

Getting Nimble Digitally

So my laptop has been getting a bit overused and overtaxed recently. So it was time for some upgrades and some changes to our computer use.

For starters, I finally signed up for our own DSL service. I've been a bit of a pirate, grabbling the signal from the crap public wifi or one of our neighbors. But now we've got dedicated wifi, secure, within the home. This makes me more mobile as I can now get wifi in the kitchen or living room instead of only upstairs. Hopefully I'll be less of a hermit but still as connected.

Friday I did a bit of retail therapy and bought a 160GB portable hard drive. It's shiny cherry chrome red. Pretty, actually. I've moved over half of the items from the laptop to the drive which has resulted in the laptop moving a bit quicker.

This morning I decided that I needed more RAM. I was trying to open a very involved webpage and I couldn't do it, even with the stronger wifi signal. So, Staples and their Easy button provided me 1GB of RAM for a song. I installed it correctly. Nothing exploded.

So, I'm pleased as punch with my laptop. It's behaving like it's brand new except I know how to use it. That gives me a slight advantage if we were keeping score. Aw hell, why don't we?

Bruce 2 Laptop 0

The next goal in getting nimble is to burn some copies of my favorite CDs, plant them in a big wallet carrier and use them in my car instead of the original discs. It should allow me to keep the car more organized as well as the homestead. But it will take some time to put it together.

Have any of you recently done some similar upgrades? If so, what have you done and did it work out as you had hoped?

B!

CD Baby

You’ve probably heard about CD Baby. It’s a local company devoted to selling music online. Particularly independent music, the kind that won’t see the major retailer's store shelves.

My friend’s band, Fuzzball, just released a CD and CD Baby has it. I ordered it last week and it arrived yesterday. I have to admit, the shopping experience on CD Baby was unlike any online shopping I’ve ever done.

It started with the CD being out of stock. So they allow you to input your email and they notify you when it arrives for sale. Here was the email:

It's back in stock now. You're the first to know.

It just got here an hour ago.We can send it to you in tomorrow morning's mail. Just click this link:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/fuzzball

Enjoy!

This appears to be a company about the little touches. They probably send that same email to everyone but it didn’t feel like it to me. Impressions, turns out they matter. It’s not that their interface was better or easier to use (although it was easy) it’s the confirmation emails that I received that made me smile and appreciate this company. This one came to me from the sender “CD Baby Loves Bruce”:

Bruce -Thanks for your order with CD Baby!

This is just a happy
automated email to let you know a real person will email you as soon as your
package is sent, and you will also receive a paper receipt with your order in
the mail.

Please save this email in case you have any questions about your
order.

And the final email from them:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized
contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was
in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd
as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched
down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon
Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, inour private CD Baby jet on this
day, Wednesday, January 23rd.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your
picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't
wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh...

--Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby

This is a company that deserves more of my business. In a world of increasing automation and ‘bots that do everything, it was nice to find a company that uses that technology creatively. They set a high expectation for me and have delivered.

Anyway, check out Fuzzball’s CD “The Last Umbrella Stand” It’s good power-pop with really interesting cover art and (shameless self-promotion) yours truly even got a shout out on the album thanks. That’s always a cool thing. It’s permanent. Like “Kilroy was here” or some such thing.

B!

Gmail Revisited

Some recent trinkets from my Gmail adbot email reader

Jello shot release cups - www.twistnshot.com - Release Jello shots with ease! Reusable Plastic shot cups.

Johnny Drama T-Shirt - www.CollegeFlavor.com - People Will Stop You at The Bar & Ask Where you Got it.

Ethical Hacking - www.intriniumsecurity.com - Find IT security weaknesses before the hackers do!

And from the SPAM filter:

Spam Primavera - Toss with linguini, serve immediately

Spam Veggie Pita Pockets - Serves 8

Creamy Spam Broccoli Casserole - Makes 8 servings

Please, Speak up.

This blog has been getting a lot of visits lately. Granted, many of them are directed here because of one or more odd google searches, but still. Lots of visits.

But, even with all the traffic, it's been pretty quiet around here. So, if you've enjoyed (or even not enjoyed) what you've read here, try to feel unshy and post a comment or two.

That is all,

B!

DVDs: Season's Greetings

When DVDs surfaced on the market fifteen years or so ago I was skeptical. I grew up in the era of VHS vs. Beta, Vinyl vs. CD and Mac vs. PC. VHS had become the standard for home recording and they finally made some of the machines that you could actually program. Having seen the battle of platforms I did not jump into the realm of DVDs until about 2002/2003.

But the DVD was different. Here was a little disc that allowed you to dance around within your favorite movies. Great images. Great sound. The little suckers are perfect. Of course there’s now the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray debate brewing but I don’t have a dog in that fight yet.

Which brings me to DVD box sets. I love these things. There’s something about being able to fit an entire season of TV on your shelf that I find satisfying. There’s now a huge volume of discs available from old time TV to sports to that little show that came and went and should’ve stayed around a lot longer.

What I also love about DVD box sets is that they are starting to create a new social structure. Some of my friends do marathon sessions of 24 on long weekends. They’ve even done an entire season in a single day.

Some friends and I are currently in the midst of ‘Twin Peaks’ every Wednesday night. We get together for food and drinks and settle in to watch this show we all remember from the early 90’s with its bizarre cast of characters and quirks. We’ve also brought out an opening band with episodes of ‘Freaks and Geeks’ to start the night. This is a must see show for any child of the 80’s.

My favorite DVD box set is Joss Whedon’s ‘Firefly’. Those of you that know me well know that already. It has been, and remains, one of my standard gifts to the uninitiated. In my undisciplined opinion it is the finest TV series to ever be cancelled after 14 episodes. I have a set that I loan out to people to bring them into the fold. Nobody as of yet has returned it and not enjoyed it.

My collection of TV DVD sets isn’t huge, but here’s a sample:
The Flash (not campy but still cheesy 1990’s TV superhero show)
Smallville
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Seasons 1-7
Various Professional Wrestling volumes (a vice of mine, forgive me)

The DVD is really the first foray into on demand entertainment. Whenever you want it. On your own schedule. No rewinding. Netflix and Blockbuster’s mail service make it a snap to stay on top of your favorites. Sure, it’s being challenged by actual on-demand and online entertainment but, just as books won’t be entirely replaced by a computer, I don’t think the DVD box set will disappear until they stop making TV shows. Which, with the writer’s strike, is a real possibility. Never mind about that point then…

I’m always in the market for a show that I’ve missed in its first run. Buffy and Firefly are both something that I found after the fact. Do you have a DVD set to recommend?

B!

Gmail - At Least It's Not As Creepy As MySpace

I really like Gmail. I switched to it just before moving in June when I had to cancel my Verizon online account.

Gmail came highly recommended and overall I’ve been very satisfied. Great spam filters. Versatile archiving. Except for this one thing:

Ad bots.

They run an automated ad generator at the top of the email screen. It’s not a graphic or anything, just a link and a quick blurb. Except their ad bot is reading my email and generating targeted ads for me. It’s just a bit on the creepy side.

In the past week I’ve had the following ads come up, some more than once:

Indianwives – forgo the traditional arranged marriage; join the new century (eww.)

Bourne Identity becomes funny – the guys from MST3K take on Matt Damon (OK, this actually sounds funny)

Albany Apartments – great rentals in the capital region (I’m willing to visit Albany, but I didn’t know I wanted to live there – does the bot know something I don’t? By any chance does it know the Powerball numbers?)

Netflix – Get Netflix (reasonable)

Room Paint Designs – myAuraPaint.com by Benjamin Moore – high quality, eco-friendly paints (too many house/remodeling emails?)

101 cookbooks – Minty Chocolate Christmas Cookies (isn’t the bot smart enough to know I’m on a diet?)

Now some of those make sense, but Indianwives? Where is that coming from? Did this bot actually put together a link between an email I sent to someone about Indian food and another lamenting my status as a single guy at holiday parties with happy, loving couples?

I’m considering writing some really provocative emails just to see what the bots will come up with. Feel free to send me some too. If I can make it a game it won’t be so creepy.

Gmail – Get your creep on. In writing. In a fun way. Oy.

B!

Your Space or MySpace?

I’m not much when it comes to being a geek. I’m certainly a dork and possibly verging on a nerd, but not a geek. Geek’s not only own technology, they understand technology. They fix technology. They build technology. I’m the lowest end user of the technology that they fix and build and I certainly don't understand it.

I really don’t know much about it at all. I couldn’t describe the difference between HTTP and FTP or HTML and other such acronymy things. It’s all pretty much Greek to me (which I actually flunked in college – no joke. It was the third major…). And this leads me to MySpace.

What is up with MySpace?

I joined MySpace in May. Here’s my page. I joined for three reasons:

1. My friend’s band, fuzzball, had a page and it seemed a good way to keep tabs on them.
2. Nathan Fillion, the actor who played Captain Malcolm Reynolds in Joss Whedon’s Firefly, has a page and he writes regularly, but you need to be his friend to read it. I am his friend.
3. Timbers Army had set up a page and I like to be in touch with those yahoos as well.

So immediately after joining I start getting requests to add friends. Curiously I check out these people. Wow. Most of these women are very confident in their bodies. Very strange names. I quickly realize something's up and they’re not really my friends. After a few weeks the emails dwindle and almost stop. Thankfully.

Anyway, so I add a few people and then forget about the site. Then I move to my new house. I change email addys, etc. So yesterday, I decided to jump back on MySpace to see what I might be missing. After 15 minutes of trying to locate my password email from them back in May I get back on the site. I figure they probably don’t have my email (which is reducing the spam) so I decide to update it.

Here’s the rub. They need to email the old email to change to a new email. That would be fine if this was June 28th, but that email addy is dead, Kaput. So, I search to see how to update an email if the old email is dead. Kaput. No other options that I can find. Not the end of the world, really.

I still don’t understand MySpace. Most of the pages are really hard to navigate and even to look at. A high percentage of users listen to really crappy music. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like rap music. I was even part of a short lived rap duo in high school. But this music is awful. Plus everybody thinks they’re a DJ. It’s a very strange place. I still don't quite understand why I'm supposed to be on it.

Anyway. Feel free to send me an add. I just won't get the email.