12/9: I’m lying in bed and my wife says to me, “Albany schools are CLOSED because of the snow!” Groggy, I’m thinking, “Yeah, that’s nice. So what? We live in Albany, but you don’t teach in Albany, we don’t have a kid going to school in Albany schools.” Had I been more awake, I would have picked up on the nuance; if Albany schools are closed, then virtually ALL the schools are closed. And indeed they were, including the two where Carol teaches. Except the school in Rensselaer, who went “Nyah-nyah” to everyone else when the storm wasn’t as bad as many had feared.

This meant I could go to racquetball without taking Lydia to day care first, as her mother would take her.

We had a babysitter that night and went to hear the Albany Symphony Orchestra at the “acoustically perfect” Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Friends at church, Philip and Marilyn, had tickets they couldn’t use. The first segment was the world premiere of Dr. Michael Woods’ “funk and jazz-inspired” “Places of Light”. It was enjoyable, but it reminded me in places of 1970s and 1980s television detective show theme songs such as the Rockford Files and Ironside. The next part was Spirituals at the Holidays featuring 6 African American spirituals newly re-imagined by leading American composers and sung by young African American baritone, Nathan De’Shon Myers. Not only was he great, but the pieces were as well. The dialogue between the singer and the horn player in the last piece was tremendous.

During the intermission, I saw a number of folks I knew, many from church. Then there was this woman who looked VERY familiar, but who I could not place. It appeared she was having a similar experience. I told her my name, and she told me hers, then suddenly I knew EXACTLY who she was: she was, and maybe still is, the best friend of my ex-wife. We had a pleasant enough time, though, when my current wife comes over. Naturally, I had to introduce them. Carol says, “So how do you know each other?” The woman and I look at each other uncomfortably, before I said, “We have a mutual acquaintance.” Almost immediately after that, I noted who the “mutual acquaintance” was. I’m not so sure why I was being so coy about it at first.

The second part of the sold-out concert was Beethoven’s 5th. The tune is so well known as to invite parody. There’s the Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy that appears on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. P.D.Q Bach does a hilarious “New Horizons In Music Appreciation” that sounds like footbal play-by-play on this album. So the conductor took the first four notes quite fast, and the reply more elongated.

Even married folks need to date.

12/16: Carol’s two schools are each delayed two hours, which means she only has to go to the latter. I check the listings and the day care is not on the list at 6:25. So, I take Lydia on the bus, only to find the day care, which was open last week, was indeed closed. The problem is that I have 25 minutes until the next bus home, and freezing rain’s coming down. I thought to stop at the Dunkin’ Donuts, but I had no cash. So I stopped at the drug store, put her in the cart, and rode her around for 15 minutes, buying nothing. We went out to wait for the bus in a fairly sheltered area, loitering in front of a not-yet-open shop. I drop Lydia off with her mother, try to get back downtown in time to play some racquetball, but it’s too late, so I head to work. I call Carol at home and say,that I’ll come home if she wants to go to her second school. But she’s already decided that she doesn’t want to go out if she doesn’t have to in this weather.

And it’s a good thing I’m at work, because others were not. This storm, with far less snow, was worse because of the ice, and some of the folks at work weren’t making it in at all.

It appeared to me that the administrators of the schools that closed on the 9th felt so badly to lose the day that they stubbornly (and wrongly, to my mind) decided to be open on the following week, when it was far more treacherous.

When last we chatted about this, Verizon owed us a check for $67 but instead, sent us a bill for $87. The good news is that the bill was inexplicably reduced to $22. The better news is that we got the $67. The bad news – you KNEW there was bad news – is that Verizon is threatening us with collection procedures if we don’t pay them the $22, which of course we won’t because WE DIDN’T ORDER ANY SERVICE FROM THEM ON SEPTEMBER 6, WE DISCONNECTED SERVICE FROM THEM ON SEPTEMBER 6.

I call today, lest our credit become besmirched. Apparently, the technician who came on September 6 was not the necessary authorization of the disconnecting of the second line, even though he disconnected the second line. That order didn’t go in until October 31, when I had my last conversation with Verizon customer service.

In any case, I was told that it would be taken care of today. As if I actually believe that. If I mention this topic again, know that my blood pressure will have gone up 20 points.

It’s the end of year, a time of reflecton. What am I doing what I’m doing with my life?

What career should you have?
brought to you by Quizilla

This is silly. I’d never be a scientist. I’m a splash of this, a jigger of that kind of guy, not an x milliliters of this and y cubic centimters of that.

I did have an old girlfriend to whom I would say, “She’s tidied up and I can’t find anything”, because she used to tidy up and I COULDN’T find anything. She diddn’t much like it when I said that, but then I didn’t much like her hiding my stuff.

(That was NOT a total non sequiter.)

As for the meme below, don’t even know where I got this. I went to Gordon’s site then a link from that, then a link from that. Definitely a European, rather than an American perspective, which I liked…

Haymaker

You are one of life’s enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.

You can’t see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn’t lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.

Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You’d probably open another bottle and say there’s no contest.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

This is mighty interesting, since I’m NOT an atheist, merely “liberal” (whatever that means) theologically. But I DO relate to perhaps 50% of the first paragraph, the part about having a “strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.”

Something (obvious) that occurred to me today is that, as I age, an increasing number of people that I’ve admired will die per year, people with whom I grew up, figuratively or literally. Two that passed recently were
Jack Anderson, a reporter so tenacious in his incvestigation of Richard Nixon’s Presidency that he made it onto Nixon’s Enemies List, which many considered a badge of honor, and

William Proxmire, Senator from Wisconsin, whose savage attacks on goverment spending, especially the military industrial complex, and his entertaining “Golden Fleece” award.

I certainly won’t note every significant passing, but these two giants, for this political science major, could not go unmentioned.

You can always tell it’s the holiday season: NFL games on Saturday. (Giants won!)

Some time ago, someone asked me, just how does that quarterback ratings thing work? Being a librarian in good standing, I had to find out. Since the regular season is winding down, I thought I’d share it with you.

But before I get to that, I want to be on record that I take no responsibility for this man wearing a brassiere on his head, just because I sent him two boxes of Royal gelatin, one cherry and one strawberry. Having said that, the headwear is quite becoming, and looks like one of those old-fashioned football helmets. It’s likely to become a new fashion statement, a retro look. You read it here first.
Lefty Brown: trendsetter
Kelly Brown: there to capture it on film
Roger Green: innocent bystander

And now those QB ratings-
Since it was a while back (2001), the records may have changed, but the formula has not:

NFL quarterback rating formula
The NFL rates its passers for statistical purposes against a fixed performance standard based on statistical achievements of all qualified pro passers since 1960. The current system replaced one that rated passers in relation to their position in a total group based on various criteria.
The current system, which was adopted in 1973, removes inequities that existed in the former method and, at the same time, provides a means of comparing passing performances from one season to the next.
It is important to remember that the system is used to rate pass-ers, not quarterbacks. Statistics do not reflect leadership, play-calling, and other intangible factors that go into making a successful professional quarterback.
Four categories are used as a basis for compiling a rating:
• Percentage of completions per attempt
• Average yards gained per attempt
• Percentage of touchdown passes per attempt
• Percentage of interceptions per attempt
The average standard, is 1.000. The bottom is .000. To earn a 2.000 rating, a passer must perform at exceptional levels, i.e., 70 percent in completions, 10 percent in touchdowns, 1.5 percent in interceptions, and 11 yards average gain per pass attempt. The maximum a passer can receive in any category is 2.375.
For example, to gain a 2.375 in completion percentage, a passer would have to complete 77.5 percent of his passes. The NFL record is 70.55 by Ken Anderson (Cincinnati, 1982).
To earn a 2.375 in percentage of touchdowns, a passer would have to achieve a percentage of 11.9. The record is 13.9 by Sid Luckman (Chicago, 1943).
To gain 2.375 in percentage of interceptions, a passer would have to go the entire season without an interception. The 2.375 figure in average yards is 12.50, compared with the NFL record of 11.17 by Tommy O’Connell (Cleveland, 1957).
In order to make the rating more understandable, the point rating is then converted into a scale of 100. In rare cases, where statistical performance has been superior, it is possible for a passer to surpass a 100 rating.
For example, take Steve Young’s record-setting season in 1994 when he completed 324 of 461 passes for 3,969 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.
The four calculations would be:
• Percentage of Completions — 324 of 461 is 70.28 percent. Subtract 30 from the completion percentage (40.28) and multiply the result by 0.05. The result is a point rating of 2.014.
Note: If the result is less than zero (Comp. Pct. less than 30.0), award zero points. If the results are greater than 2.375 (Comp. Pct. greater than 77.5), award 2.375.
• Average Yards Gained Per Attempt — 3,969 yards divided by 461 attempts is 8.61. Subtract three yards from yards-per-attempt (5.61) and multiply the result by 0.25. The result is 1.403.
Note: If the result is less than zero (yards per attempt less than 3.0), award zero points. If the result is greater than 2.375 (yards per attempt greater than 12.5), award 2.375 points.
• Percentage of Touchdown Passes — 35 touchdowns in 461 attempts is 7.59 percent. Multiply the touchdown percentage by 0.2. The result is 1.518.
Note: If the result is greater than 2.375 (touchdown percentage greater than 11.875), award 2.375.
• Percentage of Interceptions — 10 interceptions in 461 attempts is 2.17 percent. Multiply the interception percentage by 0.25 (0.542) and subtract the number from 2.375. The result is 1.833.
Note: If the result is less than zero (interception percentage greater than 9.5), award zero points.
The sum of the four steps is (2.014 + 1.403 + 1.518 + 1.833) 6.768. The sum is then divided by six (1.128) and multiplied by 100. In this case, the result is 112.8. This same formula can be used to determine a passer rating for any player who attempts at least one pass.