Blogging ... at YA Confindential

So ... after Sunday's games, both the incredible, and the abominable, I don't have a lot for you guys. Moreover, I've got the day off, so I can only direct you to my post at YA Confidental, a rather depressing piece on the state of bloggging in general.

Hopefully you guys get it.

Pirlo and the Azzurri

They really haven't done anything that impressive yet, and they're going to face a real challenge against the German side on Thursday, but I would still like to congratulate my Azzuri, and especially Andrea Pirlo, on a hard fought victory yesterday.

They dominated the English for two full hours, and things were not looking good when the second penalty shot went wide, but it all worked out in the end.

Now, happy writing, everyone!

Several Announcements

::BEGIN FOOTBALL TALK::

I do have several important things I need to update you all about, but before we get to that I want to talk about the Minnesota Vikings.

I know most of you don't care about the NFL, and I'm okay with that, basically because I don't care whether you care or not.

Point is: I'm extremely worried about my team this year. I'm really happy with the Donovan McNabb pickup, for several reasons, but mostly because the Vikings are known for resurrecting the careers of black quarterbacks. We picked up Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham; won with Duante Culpepper even though he was young, and are now set to define the twilight of another hall of fame black QB: Donovan McNabb.

Those are all good things.

But I'm worried about this season because as much as I love and respect McNabb, he doesn't have the weapons that any QB would expect to have in order to succeed. I realize the only major free agency loss we had this off season, when related to Donovan, was Sidney Rice, but the best argument I can make to that is this: our number one deep threat receiver is now: Bernard Berrian. Bernard Berrian, y'all.

::END FOOTBALL TALK::

Anyway, I've probably said way too much about football by now, and I should move on to more important and relevant things.

The next announcement, as you probably already know, if we're friends on Facebook, is that I just finished what I'm calling the umpteenth draft of Warrior-Monks. It's taken me over two years to get here, and I've had to cut it from 477,000 words to 160,000 but now it is finally out with some writers I trust to help me polish it to a nice finish, and I honestly have to say: I don't know what I'm going to do with my days.

Write the next story, I guess.

Finally, and this is bad news in some way, but I'm also still undecided, my day job has asked me to move to a new shift. It's call the DuPont schedule, and it's probably unlike anything you've ever heard of. I'll be working 12 hour shifts, 4 day shifts the first week of the month, then three days off. 4 night shifts the second week of the month, then another three days off. Then 6 shifts, 3 night and 3 day, followed by 7 days in a row off. There are some major advantages to this shift, like getting 7 days off every month without having to use any vacation time, but the thing that worries me the most is that I've gotten into a great routine with my writing and blogging, and I'm concerned that this change is really going to affect that.

In particular, I will no longer be able to blog every weekday at 7 AM EDT. I would love to write a bunch of posts ahead of time and schedule them for the mornings, but that's just not me. I'm an off the top of the head kind of blogger, and though I may schedule a post ahead of time every once in a while, it won't be happening on a regular basis.

Hopefully things will settle in soon enough, and I'm sure I'll be able to adjust (especially since they're offering me a VOIP phone and a laptop so I can do my night and weekend shifts from home), but it's going to take some time to get used to, and I just don't know what kind of blogging presence I can expect to have, yet.

I'll do my best to keep you guys up to date.

Draft Drama

Was there something big on TV last night? I heard there was a big wedding. Did I watch? Hell no. I only care about Princes and Princesses if they wield magic swords. I did hear that the Princess had a lot of knuckle fat when the Prince slipped the ring on her finger.

No, I'm not kidding. That's what they said on the radio this morning.

Last night I was busy flipping back and forth between the NFL Draft, and the Atlanta Hawks closing out the Orlando Magic in the NBA playoffs. Both were dramatic scenarios.

Yes. I am a D&D nerd who loves video games, fantasy novels, Star Wars, and all things dorky, but I also love sports and I'm not ashamed of any of it.

There is a great story behind the Hawks. A sports writer for the Orlando Sentinel, Mike Bianchi, lambasted the team for their alleged mental weakness, and basically said they would never be able to stand up to the Magic. The Hawks have traditionally struggled against Orlando in the playoffs in recent years. The story is that this writer, who is apparently about 4'10" was in the locker room last night before the game, and a fight nearly broke out.

I don't really care about that. I'm just glad the Hawks were able to motivate themselves to get past their nemesis. Now they're off to Chicago.

The NFL Draft is also interesting. I know most of my friends and readers are women writers, so I'll try not to bore you with all the details. I do think the draft makes for some great stories though. There are so many disparate characters involved, and so many cogs and wheels spinning, and it can be really interesting to see the last minute deals taking place.

This year was quite different because of the labor situation, but it was lots of fun watching NFL commissioner Roger Goodell get nearly booed off the stage.

Here's what happened with my three teams:

The Atlanta Falcons made an aggressive trade up to get Alabama Wide Receiver Julio Jones. I like Jones and think he will be a great player in the NFL, but my personal opinion is that we gave up too much to get him.

The Minnesota Vikings took Florida State Quarter Back Christian Ponder with the twelfth pick. They did not have to make any trades, as last year's dismal record earned us that pick. I get that we need a QB, but I was really hoping that Jake Locker would be there, and am disappointed we couldn't get a player I already knew and loved. I don't know much about Ponder.

The Seattle Seahawks drafted Alabama Guard James Carpenter with the twenty fifth pick. This one has me stumped. No one drafts guards in the first round.

Anyway, here endeth my sports rant. I've got to get to writing (for real). Please have a wonderful weekend!

Why Am I Not Surprised?

Before I throw my (far less than) two cents in, watch this video:



In case you hadn't already heard or you had no idea what it meant, the roof of the Metrodome in Minneapolis Minnesota collapsed on Sunday. It had been leaking since two feet of snow were dumped over the area on Friday. I lived in Minnesota for years, and am a huge fan of the Minnesota Vikings, the principal professional sports team that uses the facilities at the Dome (the Minnesota Twins played there until Target Field was built last year).

I'm not shocked in the least bit. Why? You might ask. Because, I would tell you, whatever engineer designed that building was a moron. The roof is made of Teflon cloth, which is space age enough, I suppose, but what supports it? What keeps it from sagging in the middle? You would think steel girders of some kind would provide the structural integrity to hold the roof up in adverse conditions, or at least some kind of flying butress system that would support the weight from outside, using steel cabling to connect to the panels. But no. The roof of the Metrodome is supported by air pressure. This brilliant idea means that the roof has collapsed no less than 5 times since the Dome was built.

I could go on about this a lot longer, because there are many implications behind this newest occurrence, some good, some bad. Hopefully it means the Vikings will get a new stadium with a retractable roof that can support its own weight. The terrible thing, for now, is that the game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants that was supposed to be played at the Metrodome on Sunday will now be played tonight, in Detroit. Anyone who knows anything about football knows what a huge unfair advantage that is for the Giants. And how badly it screws other teams over. The Vikings don't really matter because they are essentially mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but what about NFC East teams like Philadelphia and Dallas? Or teams with better records than the Giants, like New Orleans and Atlanta? Suddenly the Giants have to play one less away game than everybody else.

Not fair. Anyway, here endeth the rant. Enjoy this aerial photo of the Dome's collapsed roof for a moment before you head to the next blog: