My prediction of the USC-Oklahoma game was way, way off. I thought that Oklahoma would come out looking to play and at first they did. Then the momentum shifted to USC and it was pretty much over by the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Oklahoma, in my opinion, looked much worse this year than they did last year against Kansas State and LSU.

USC saw an opportunity to show that they were the number one team in the nation and they took it. Does Auburn deserve to be up there with them? Yes. The BCS needs to be rethought and I would really like to see some kind of playoff, even if it’s a +1 type where two number ones square off and the third number one takes on the winner of that game. I really cannot see an 8 or 16 team playoff because of the length of time that would be added to the end of a season. Teams would playing into middle of the spring semesters and take away some of the crowds that attend/watch the college basketball action.

I had a ton of time to sit and watch college bowl games over the break and most of them I caught (though I missed Pittsburgh vs. Utah). The most surpising games of all were Texas Tech vs. Cal and Tennessee vs. Texas A&M.

I, as a Texas Tech student thought that Cal would come out with a win. Not a huge win, but maybe 7-14pts. But, Tech prevailed with huge plays and some horrible penalties on Cal’s part. Cal’s offensive show left a lot to be desired and proves that they probably would have been ripped apart had they played Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Their defense faired a little better but altogether they racked up 5 penalties for a total of 59yds. One of the penalties sealed the game for Tech as Cal’s special teams knocked down the punter on 4th down and short. The personal fouls are what killed Cal and though Tech’s defense was looking sloppy at the end they pulled out the win.

The A&M game was another huge surprise. Everyone expected them to come out with all of their “traditions” and put a beating on Tennessee. It wasn’t to be. Tennessee just flat out played harder and wanted the win a whole lot more than the Aggies. Tennessee shut down the run game that the Aggies were trying to pull from the very beginning and the overall performance by A&M looked horrible. I really do not have any respect for the A&M program as they seem to be full of talk but when it comes to playing they lack the punch to back it up. Yes, they beat Tech but it was not by a lot and was mostly due to bad defensive play by our team. We’ll see how A&M fairs next year and make a final judgement about Franchione.

The national championship between Oklahoma and USC is tonight and I plan to watch it. I think Oklahoma will come out strong and put a stop to the USC offense from the very beginning. As long as Oklahoma can keep Leinart from eating away at them they are going to win. My prediction is Oklahoma by 14.

After getting into Lubbock last night around 6:30pm I thought a post about the new year would be a good idea, but, of course my internet was down. It is back up now which of course, makes me happy.

I did not end up doing much for New Years Eve. I went to a friend’s house and played 90’s Trivial Pursuit. If you were born in the late 70’s or early 80’s this game is probably for you. Some of the questions I knew immediately and a few of them left me scratching my head (although it seems the girls knew them). We then watched the horrible TV coverage of the festivities. I have never been able to understand certain networks choices for who they have host a show (cough, Ashlee Simpson).

So, what are my New Years resolutions? I am going to take something that I read in American Soldier. Everyday, General Franks would take a note card and on one side write out the challenges that he might face that day. On the other side of the note card he would list the things that he wanted to accomplish by the end of the day. I am going to apply this to a year timeframe.

Challenges I Will Face This Year

• An overload between work and school.
• Dealing with “hard” people.
• Illness
• Choices pertaining to my future.
• Stress

Things I Will Accomplish This Year

• Make Straight A’s
• Apply for the 150 hour MBA Program
• Work on my organization skills
• Redesign this site
• Rekindle old friendships

That is all I have for right now. I am going to be posting about the bowl games (don’t forget the BCS National Championship tomorrow night) and other holiday things. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Jerry Orbach of NBC’s Law & Order passed away yesterday of prostate cancer. I found him to be one of the funniest characters on the show with his Bronx attitude and non-politically correct comments. From what I have read about him he was a very accomplished Broadway star with a great voice.

He will be missed.

I have dived into reading General Tommy Franks’ biography/memoir titled American Soldier and I have been thoroughly captivated to the point where I almost cannot put the book down.

Gen. Franks has an amazing story that begins with his upbringing in Midland, TX and moves through his time in the Army to his thoughts on present day events such as the war on terror and WMD.

The book explains a lot about how the first Gulf War was fought and how the implementation of techniques that Gen. Franks had devised helped win the war.

I am finding that a lot of the book has key points on leadership that apply not just to military personnel but to managers and bosses. Gen. Franks goes into great detail about how his decisions on and off the battlefield shaped his men and his family and how responsibility for ones actions means a lot to the people below you.

So far it is a great book and will probably get even better as I get deeper into it. Definitely pick it up as it is worth being read.

To be honest I have been contemplating whether or not to write about this for a while now and tonight after reading some things on a website that I frequent I decided I should.

I, as a Christian, feel that mocking the Christian faith is wrong. Now, I know that it is going to happen from time to time and for the most part I keep my mouth shut or make a comment like ‘Hey, that isn’t necessary’ but I have come to realize that it is becoming more and more o.k. and almost encouraged to make fun of religion and in particular Christians.

There is no real reason that I can think of for the mockery except that some people actually believe that some of the extreme Christian Right sabotaged this year’s election or something idiotic like that.

I have seen comments making fun of the 700 Club, and granted, I do not really like the show but if you are non-Christian and you watch it, then it is your own fault. You have a remote, use it. Why complain about something that you have complete and utter control over? The Christians are not taking over television, you have nothing to fear. You can still see Janet Jackson’s breasts and Michael Jackson interviews on NBC, ABC, and CBS all you want. We are not invading your everyday life, in fact, if you have not noticed most of the things that were supposedly invading your everyday life are being removed (10 Commandments, Manger scene’s, etc.). My point is that the political correctness has finally reached a head in my mind and I am worn out by all of it.

I have to stop telling people ‘Merry Christmas’ because they may not celebrate it? Since when? If someone said ‘Happy Kwanzaa’ to me I would nod and smile and maybe respond with a ‘you too’ just out of sheer kindness. I would not take them to court over it let alone get bent out of shape.

What I find disheartening is the fact that a lot of this negativity is aimed directly at Christians. If any of the things that were being said/done to Christians were done to people of another faith those people would be up in arms about it. If a group of Muslims were told they could not have their prayer mats at a public park they would sue the city faster than you can imagine. I am tired of this “If you are going to have one faith you have to have them all” mentality, people need to get over themselves and realize that not everything is going to suit them all of the time and that people around them are not obligated to change everything to make them happy.

Sometimes people need to realize when to keep their mouths shut and their eyes open and understand that the only way to enjoy each other is to tolerate each other and that goes both ways.

I am kind of new to the whole fantasy sports thing and I made a huge mistake in the dropping and adding of players on my basketball team. I had Jermaine O’Neal, one of the players involved in the Pistons vs. Pacers brawl and he had been on the unavailable list for a while (due to his suspension), so I, not thinking, dropped him from my roster. For some reason it did not register in my head that O’Neal would not be out for the entire season. But before I could put him back on my roster someone else picked him up.

So now I am watching as my season may or may not go down the tubes since O’Neal was ranked 7th in the fantasy league’s rankings.

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Houston received some snow, which I did not see since I was in Tyler enjoying Christmas with family. Not seeing snow does not really bother me, I see enough in Lubbock to hold me over. Christmas was great though, seeing family that I have not seen in a while and probably will not see again for some time. All in all it was a good time.

I will be in Houston until the 2nd of January when I head back to Lubbock. If you are in town and want to meet up, e-mail me at s [at] badice dot com.

I will probably be a little short on updates until the holidays are over for a few reasons.

1. I hate this keyboard. Typing on it is like pulling teeth.
2. I have a lot plans/prior engagements that I have to make sure I meet.

After the new year though I should be back to writing a lot.

I have been looking into how to deal with timezones in PHP and daylight savings. From what I have been able to find, daylight savings in the U.S. takes place from April through October. The only states that do not observe daylight savings are Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and Indiana.

To write internationally compliant code I have decided to just include a checkbox that says “Does your local area observe daylight savings?” and if it does have the code during the daylight savings months subtract another hour from the time. This allows the code to be used pretty much anywhere in the world. The only thing I need to look into more is if there is anywhere in the world that falls back two hours. I do not think there is anywhere like that but I need to double check.