So great

Ahead of the very interesting NE/NYJ matchup, this video shows just how great a coach Belichick is.



Love the exchange with Vinatieri at the end too.

V-Mart Closed

Red Sox let Victor Martinez sign with the Tigers for a 4-year $50mm contract. No brainer in my opinion. Martinez was a short term solution to the Sox lack of power. There's no way Martinez was going to fit into the Sox scheme for the next four years. He's 33 now, and not likely catching for the next four years. I do like this little nugget out of ESPN:

"Martinez is a Type A free agent, meaning the Red Sox will receive the Tigers’ No. 1 pick (No. 19 overall) and a first-round “sandwich” pick (a pick that will come after the regular first round and before the second round). Next June’s draft class is anticipated to be very strong, and the ’11 draft may be the last in which the Sox will be able to employ their very successful strategy of paying above slot in later rounds for premium talent that dropped because of contract demands."

As an added benefit, maybe it means Varitek is coming back.

Student Council

I forgot to mention, but Emily was elected Student council Rep for the third grade.

Click "Student Council" for link

Everyone note that Jerry Brown is not responsible!

Political statement absurdities are always abundant. However, this statement recently caught my attention.

From Bloomberg:

"Nov. 12-- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, citing a $25.4 billion budget gap over the next 19 months, declared a fiscal emergency and called lawmakers to a special session next month to begin dealing with the problem.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican whose term ends in January, late yesterday ordered the session to start Dec. 6, the day newly elected legislators are sworn in....

By Jan. 10, Governor-elect Jerry Brown, a Democrat who will be sworn in Jan. 3, must propose a plan to erase the next year’s deficit... “This special session underscores the enormous challenges facing the state,” Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Brown, said yesterday in a statement. “While the governor-elect did not create this fiscal crisis, he and his transition team will continue the work they started after election day, collaborating with administration and department of finance officials, the legislative analyst’s office, legislators, and others to address California’s budget problems.”

Wow! Didn't create it, huh? Really? A man who's last two jobs were State Attorney General, and Mayor of Oakland since 1999 and doesn't take office until January 2011, didn't create the state's financial crisis? NO ****!?!?! Why? Why preface your official public statement with such an obvious fact, but for the ability to START your term telling everyone, "it's not my fault!"

Consider this my official statement (I unfortunately, do not have a spokesperson ... yet):

"While Mr. Moore is not a resident nor governing official of the state, and thereby in no way responsible for the California fiscal crisis, he will make every effort to stimulate the California economy when there."

Halloween & Couple other random

Our "Zombie" Fairies - whatever that means

The neighborhood Trick or Treat crew

Emily's class pumpkins - we won it at Octoberfest


Leftover Disney picture

Katie's Sushi dessert - candy made with Rice Krispy treats, fruit roll-ups, Swedish fish, gummy worms and chocolate "soy" sauce.

Jobs for a brighter and more prosperous future

Solyndra is a solar panel manufacturing company in California. One of the few remaining U.S. solar operations. As reported by the Oakland Tribune, "the company's fortunes sparkled in September 2009, when the Obama administration announced $535 million in taxpayer loans to finance construction of a new solar-equipment factory. In December 2009, the company filed for an initial public offering of its stock expected to raise $300 million. In May, Obama toured the Solyndra facilities in Fremont." He touted how he was visiting a facility that was, "actually doing extraordinary work of building up America." He also gave "credit to those in the back, who are building the facility so we can put more people back to work and build more solar panels." He follows on with, "It's here with companies like Solyndra are leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future... We need to build a foundation built on growth... Go back to making things...go back to exports. The engine will always be companies like Solyndra."

Grrrreeeeat. The problem here is that we can provide loans and grants (which BTW are very difficult to get) so that we can tout a "Green industry" that provides "jobs for our future," but we don't have economic policies and business policies that promote growth. My experience with one Massachusetts solar company is that the government loves to talk about green jobs and developing at-home technology manufacturing, but does very little about it.

Well, it was announced Wednesday that Solyndra (which dumped its IPO plans not long after Obama walked out their doors) is scrapping its expansion plans at that same Freemont facility (which was to provide 1,000 new jobs), is closing another U.S.-based factory, and laying off 250-350 workers.

Why? Because it can't compete with the manufacturers in China who can provide the same (or better) solar panels for substantially less cost.

So thanks for that.

People are Awesome

Amazing video of some amazing things

Trip Summary

We had a good (tiring) trip. This was our third time to Disney, so we have in down to an extent. Over four days, we hit Magic Kingdom three times with half days at each of Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach (water park), and Epcot. The kids were interested in getting autographs and pictures from all characters - EXCEPT princesses.

The kids are old enough that we were able to tackle some of the more daring rides. Katie started off timid. Although Space Mountain was her favorite ride last trip (in 2007), she was reluctant to ride it at the beginning. However, it turned around by the end. The last day, we rode Space Mountain three times. Other favorites included Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mickey's Philharmagic, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear's [something], Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride.

Hollywood Studios was a bit of a disappointment. We felt that with the kids older, they would have more stuff to do. There was, in fact, very little to do. Emily and I LOVED the Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster (Katie wouldn't go). And neither one of them would do the Tower of Terror. The nightime show Fantasmic was the only real family highlight.

Epcot is... well, Epcot. Odd place. Lots of walking around. We had a nice lunch in France (only after finding the English pub had an hour and a half wait). There are a few fun rides there. Soarin - a virtual hand glider over a virtual California - is really cool. GM's Test Track was also fun with your open air car hitting 65 miles an hour. Finally Mission Space - a simulated rocket ship - was also an enjoyable experience (again - Katie passed). We ate dinner at Corral Reef - a seafood restaurant inside Epcot's aquarium. Something seemed wrong about that.

We have now been to Disney at three different times of year - April, August and now October. Although more crowded than we expected (lots of New Englanders with Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots gear), October was the best timing of the three. August and October had similar crowds, but it was 20-30 degrees cooler. April was a zoo.

Dis Pics

Remembering back to August 2007...

And April 2006...

And away we go

The kids have three days off for Teacher conferences. We had a timeshare week expiring in October. Consequently, we're off to Disney World.

We leave tonight, and unfortunately have to connect through Dallas. Direct flight ticket prices on Delta were just ridiculous. We'll spend four full days there, and the flight home Sunday morning (again through Dallas). The good news is that we used miles to fly and got a good deal - first class all the way.

We'll update the trip along the way as possible.