December 2007 Archives

As time winds down on another year, I once again find myself pondering the expression, "don't have the time" and its brother, "can't find the time". Did so quite similarly last year and the year before and the year before and the year before. Everyone says it. Have you thought about what the person you're saying it to thinks about it? Spoiler alert: Do not expect any grandiose conclusions or Earth-shattering insight in this post. The more I thought about it over the last four years or so, the more I realized I still have no position on it.

About the time: A 91-year old person shouldn't take on a 35-year project with hopes of finishing it. He/she probably doesn't have the time. There are also instances where an arbitrary deadline is imposed. Someone called and is coming over in an hour. "I don't have time" to cut the grass before they get here.

Where age or deadline is not a factor, is it really true when someone says that? If so, wouldn't the person you’re telling it to know it? There are 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, etc, etc... (If you get less than that, you're exempt from these foolish thoughts). So, what you're really saying is, "I don't wish to use my time that way". To say it that way, of course, is kind of rude so we say, "I don't have the time" instead.

A task could/should be done and both of us are capable of doing it. I tell you, "I don't have the time". How should you react to that? Is my time more valuable than yours? Am I implying that you DO have the time? Am I simply saying I don't want to do it? Am I over-analyzing? Yes, absolutely, to at least two of those questions.

I planned to add considerably more thought to this essentially self-plagiarized (Auto-plagiarized?) entry after having another whole year to think about what I am trying to say but I have somewhere to go in a few minutes and ...

I don't have time to do it now.

Happy and Safe New Year from CrabAppleLane

Quote of the Day

I had to do this once, to see it once before I die.

Wanda Bowers, Milwaukee Resident at Times Square

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "It's that time again, the end of a year - time to tote up Google's blogging activity for the last 365 days."

I suppose a tip of the cap is in order for the New England Patriots. They finished the regular season undefeated and are going to now attempt to finish as Super Bowl Champions. In so doing, they’d join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only team to do so. Whereas the Miami Dolphins did it with class and humility, the Patriots chose a different route. With the exceptions of Tom Brady and Kevin Faulk, the Patriots are thugs. Most people rooted FOR the Dolphins. Most people are rooting AGAINST the Patriots. Count me in the latter group. It wasn’t always like this. Until this season, I thought their organization was the class of the NFL. Spygate, running up scores, and Belichick’s supreme arrogance changed all of that. They have an Us Against The World mentality. I’m rooting for The World and I think they have a chance. The Pats are not playing the kind of football now that they were playing earlier in the season. They can be beaten.

As for the New Orleans Saints, their season came to an end today. They weren't mathematically eliminated but it would have taken a monumental turn of events to facilitate entry into the playoffs. 1) They had to win today in Chicago (Failure 33-25). 2) The 9pt favorite Redskins would have had to lose at home to the Cowboys, whose starting players aren't going to play much if at all. 3) The 3pt favorite Vikings would have had to lose at Denver today. Denver is awful. I'm glad it's over.

One from the backyard on this dreary CrabAppleLane Sunday.

CrabAppleLane Chipping Sparrows - December 30, 2007 - OK, some of you need to move over to the right side.

Quote of the Day

Hats off to us

Randy Moss, New England Patriots

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Just realized the first round competition for candidates happens next week, 'though why anyone thinks havin' a bunch a people vote on somethin' when they're still nursin' a hangover from New Year's Eve is beyond me."

I offer a couple of pictures today because the writing well has run a bit dry. The first one was taken just a few minutes ago. The other two are from City Park and were taken a few days ago.

Santa's Tree Farm - Bush, LA - December 29, 2007 - Too late - Santa's Tree Farm is right up the road from CrabAppleLane. I think this lot has been closed for a few years now. I can't remember the last time I saw anyone here buying a tree. All of the Christmas tree farms around here have fallen on hard times. Not really sure why.

City Park at Marconi - New Orleans, LA - December 26, 2007 - Not sure if this is a bus stop or a train station. I can't think of a bus that runs here and that train in City Park has a very haphazard schedule.

Not open - City Park Ave - New Orleans, LA - December 26, 2007 - Bummer - I'd have settled for strawberries or avocados.

Quote of the Day

Oh now feel it coming back again
Like a rolling thunder chasing the wind
Forces pulling from the center of the earth again
I can feel it

Lightning Crashes, Live

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Somewhere in the deepest reaches of Hell, a demon just earned its horns."

Found this one the other day. It's a fairly new one that provides one thought-provoking entry after another. -Rob

Merry Christmas

I offer some FlickR photos of New Orleans that have caught my eye.

Ever seen the French Quarter in New Orleans at night? Go see this fantastic photo from justanuptowngirl taken just a few days ago. This is one of the best photos I have ever seen of the Quarter. Just WOW.

A restaurant tells you everything you need to know about their menu in four words in this photo from HolmesBartonHolmes. Well, it's all I need to know.

And this one from New Orleans Lady. I love that photo but I can't really say why. Probably the abandonment aspect but I'll have to think about it some more.

And, finally, this one from JoeZeppi. My great, great aunt had an efficiency apartment on Governor Nicholls Street. No bicycle, though. She was bedridden.

Quote of the Day

Holmes and BartonHolmes met in high school, hung out in the darkroom of their photography class together, and cruised around the city looking for the perfect shot and good onion rings.

Barton-Holmes, FlickR profile

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Pack up the black and gold, folks, and break out the purple and gold."

We went to see the late (10:30PM) showing of National Treasure: Book Of Secrets last night. It's a Disney movie that was shown complete with a Disney cartoon. I approve of reviving the cartoon before a movie tradition. Without saying anything about the movie, I can say with some certainty that those who liked the first one will like this one. There is nothing remotely plausible in either of them but they're both fun. As William Hurt, the Big Chill critic, once said, "Sometimes you just have to let art... flow... over you."

Something on my mind today: There are schoolyard kids everywhere that wish their parents had named them something else. Italian courts are doing something about it. I think they're wildly overstepping and overreacting and they surely could have found a better example to weigh in on. "Friday" is not that bad and that court surely didn't read the same book that I did.

The first quarter is coming to an end in the Saints-Eagles game and the Eagles lead, 21-14. Looks like it's going to be a wild one. Back to it.

Two from the front yard on this gorgeous CrabAppleLane Sunday:

CrabAppleLane Roses - December 23, 2007 - These roses in the front yard are not largely untended. They are entirely untended. They thrive in spite of woeful neglect on my part.

CrabAppleLane Bradford Pear leaf - December 23, 2007 - I never get tired of this contrast.

Quote of the Day

How can you leave us hanging like this? We demand details! Does your preferred technique involve major food groups? Audience participation? Not that the specifics would change this answer, we’re just curious.

Brian Alexander, MSNBC Contributor

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "You can buy lasers from as low as $49 to $1,999 and up depending on how powerful (mW milliwatts) and what color beam you prefer your laser to have."

Roger Clemens issues a statement through his agent almost a week after the Mitchell Report was released. Naturally, he denies the accusations but I wonder how many consultants and lawyers he had to talk to first.

Marques Colston left out of the Pro Bowl. Not right. Hopefully, he'll show them why this week and next.

Amused to read that the Atlanta Falcons are courting Bill Parcells. After Bobby Petrino, Parcells is just what they need. Another quitter.

Quote of the Day

I will shoot you, blow you up, then you go home and hang yourself. PAYMENT in ADVANCE

JOHNNY FOTO, FlickR

Blog of the day via Blind Cavefish is here.

Quote from said blog: "There isn't enough tinsel in the world."

Fun idea for a blog. -Rob

A few minutes of live blogging came to mind this afternoon because I was composing this in the computer room with the game on in the living room.

The Saints fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Four plays later and the Cards are up, 7-0. This has been the hallmark of the Saints all season. When they're not making mistakes, they're playing dumb. When they're not doing either, they win.

Brees to Colston, they just tied it up. Saints are chasing the Vikings for the last playoff berth and the Bucs for the division title so some scoreboard watching is going on but they have to pay attention to the task at hand; beating the Cardinals. The loser of this game is pretty much eliminated from playoff contention.

The Saints D held and forced the Cardinals to punt.

Saints are in the red zone as the quarter ends.

Stecker in for the touchdown. Saints are up, 14-7, and a shootout appears to be in the offing. Neither team offers anything in the way of defense.

The Cards blow right down the field and it's Warner to Fitzgerald for the touchdown. The extra point will make it 14-14.

The Cards D holds and the Saints have to punt.

Gasp ... the Saints D holds and forces a punt. I'm off to watch the game.

Enter the 4th quarter. Saints ahead 31-21 and the D forces a punt. Cards fake the punt. First down. Bummer. Back to the game.

It's over. Sloppy game. Both teams turned the ball over twice. The Cardinals had way, way too many penalties. What concerns me is how close this game was. Drew Brees completed 26 out of 30 passes and two of the four incompletes were drops. He was on fire. The running game was also fine. This should have been a blowout. Obviously, most of the Saints problems are on defense. They just cannot get to the passer and cannot get off of the field.

High 40s and blue skies here this afternoon. Hope it's as nice where you are.

Two from the CrabAppleLane backyard this morning.

CrabAppleLane Backyard - December 16, 2007 - Saw this toadstool yesterday. Was surprised it withstood last night's cold temps.

CrabAppleLane Backyard - December 16, 2007 - Had some trouble bringing these berries into sharp focus. Couldn't do that but I love the sun's reflection in the berries. Love the red and blue parts of it, too.

Quote of the Day

I wasn't looking for an edge. I was looking to heal.

Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees Pitcher

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Both of these teams still have playoff hopes but they can’t afford to lose another game this season which makes this game a must win for both teams. Look for both the Saints and Cardinals to pull out all of the stops in a likely very high scoring game."

Dealing with an issue on my right elbow this morning. Had the exact same problem with the left elbow about two years ago. Appointment this morning with the same orthopedic (Firefox's built-in spellchecker prefers orthopedic to orthopaedic) surgeon. Will probably require surgery, too. Going for an eye exam this afternoon. Once these two minor issues are resolved, I should be good as new. OK, well, almost.

Below, I offer an image of a part of New Orleans known as "Mid-City".

New Orleans - December 11, 2007

Quote of the Day

What the Falcons sorely need are people they can believe in. Vick's problems destroyed whatever hope this team had in 2007. Petrino's approach killed whatever opportunity they had of unifying and moving forward. Now the Falcons appear to be back where they were when it became clear that Vick was heading to jail -- they seem to have no clue how to point themselves in a positive direction anymore.

Jeffri Chadiha, ESPN.COM

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Remember that scene in Airplane! where people with guns, bats and pipes line up to take a crack at the hysterical passenger? I was reminded of that as Blank, McKay, Dunn, White, Ma, Pa, Jesus, Santa, Nas, Flipper the dolphin and all of the world's adorable doe-eyed orphans weighed in on a guy who actually left all his players a four sentence letter instead of saying goodbye."

I imagine last night's Saints-Falcons game looked good to someone at sometime but I have no idea why. I suppose Michael Vick was still in their thoughts and the Saints, well, everyone wanted to get the Saints on TV after last season. Still, the Saints waxed the Falcons both times last year even with Michael Vick quarterbacking. The Falcons season went into the tank when Vick was indicted and the Saints have been disappointing all season. They are chasing the Bucs for the division and won't catch them and chasing the Vikings for the last wildcard and probably won't catch them, either, mainly because it would involve them being consistent for three straight weeks. Not likely. There were better games to showcase this week.

Gorgeous day yesterday in New Orleans. The regular readers here know I try to spend these kinds of days in City Park. I just cannot understand why more people aren't doing this. I'd say less than 20 people were there yesterday. That's not to say I don't like the peace and quiet. Below, I offer two images from beautiful City Park in New Orleans.

City Park - New Orleans, LA - December 10, 2007 - Not a bad place to picnic.

City Park - New Orleans, LA - December 10, 2007 - Someone did a great job cleaning up this sidewalk. It's right on Marconi Drive for those who know the area.

My City Park images.

Quote of the Day

Oh yeah, we meet again
It's like we never left
Time in between was just a dream
Did we leave this place?

Live, The Dolphin's Cry

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Ellen Susan's jewel-like photographs of contemporary American soldiers are at once intimate and revelatory."

Congratulations to Tim Tebow on winning the Heisman Trophy. He’s a great player by any measure. I think Darren McFadden should have won it and I’ll bet 92,000+ Tiger fans in Baton Rouge would agree with me but those two are surely the best of the bunch this season. As an LSU fan, I don’t relish having the Tigers play Florida and Tebow two or more times over the course of his career. I’m pretty sure they won’t have to see McFadden any more and that’s a good thing. Darren will be coming to NFL Stadiums and he’s a real treat to watch when he’s not playing your team. Ahh, hell ... even when he is playing your team. As for you, Tim, see you next year in The Swamp.

One from the CrabAppleLane backyard today.

CrabAppleLane Backyard - December 9, 2007 - The changing of the seasons comes a little later here. I have one more date with yardwork this season. Will probably be next weekend. Like the blue here.

Quote of the Day

The bride wore mud.

Richard Robbins, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The question that comes up now is “How many Heismans will he win?”"

As I was tooling around last night looking for information about FDR Mall (See 3rd photo below), I ran across a site that has the same photographic interest in City Park since Hurricane Katrina as I do except she goes into more detail and has better photos. Her photo of "Roosevelt Mall in the Rain" is what informed me about FDR Mall.

City Park - New Orleans, LA - December 5, 2007 - Told Sheila O'Malley that I loved the tilt in her photo the other day. Not as wild about it in mine. Thought about correcting it but decided against it. I was level.

City Park goose - New Orleans, LA - December 5, 2007- This is one of the less silly geese I encountered yesterday. There were 10-12 geese, 15-20 ducks, and 7-8 swans in the area I chose to eat. The geese were honking and chattering at absolutely everything.

FDR Mall - City Park sign - New Orleans, LA - December 5, 2007 - In spite of the directions, I'm not certain where FDR Mall is or was although I think it might refer to the street and its attendant live oak canopy.

Quote of the Day

And the Ohio State defense? Pretty darn effective against Big Ten Conference opponents.

But this is big-boy football now.

Joey Johnston, MSNBC contributor

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Your Monday Moment of Noir"

Another Blade Runner fan. -Rob

Big weekend in football at CrabAppleLane.

First, we have the LSU Tiger's fine victory over Tennessee yesterday. It was close and hard fought as EVERYONE expected it to be. The Tigers were ripe for the upset. Their starting QB was out and their All-American defensive tackle was hobbled. Their crushing loss to Arkansas last week and the controversy swirling around their coaching staff made this a tough week. To their everlasting credit, they stayed focused and got the job done. A lot of dominoes fell afterwards yesterday and the Tigers should find themselves in the hunt for a national championship. They should have no trouble jumping over Georgia, Kansas, and Virginia Tech AND staying ahead of Oklahoma and USC. LSU is the champion of Georgia's conference and they also own a 48-7 victory over Virginia Tech. Kansas is not a conference champion. It will be Ohio State and LSU. Some "experts" will claim LSU doesn't belong in that game and other "experts" will probably make them a double digit favorite.

The Saints are playing division-leading Tampa Bay today in the Superdome and I'll be there. This will be the first Saints game I've attended since 1998 and I've been looking forward to it for a few weeks. The Saints pretty much have to "win out" to get in the playoffs. I have no confidence in their ability to do that but a win today would be a good start and would make the day go by faster. :)

This is the last week of the regular season in fantasy football. One of my teams, Erasers, has won their division and will play a first round opponent next week. No idea who that will be but there's a pretty good chance that it will be CrabAppleLane Blog contributor, Hyde. The other, Ragpickers, is essentially in the playoffs now because they have to win to move on. That league features 8 teams playing for four playoff berths this weekend. Glad I'm not the commissioner ... OH, wait.

The Sunday picture was taken on Saturday and it was inspired by Susan’s comment a few days ago. I just love red versus blue. Hoover calls this color “Ferrari Red”.

The red vacuum cleaner meets the blue carpet - December 1, 2007

Quote of the Day

I’d line up against anybody and look forward to that opportunity.

Les Miles, LSU Head Coach

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "It's Championship Weekend and the SEC Championship Game is no longer compelling so it's not too much of a surprise to see GameDay headed to San Antonio for the Big 12's title match between Oklahoma and Missouri."

A little more compelling now. -Rob