BCS update

We are entering the last weekend of college football before the Bowl games begin. If you are a Michigan fan like me, you have to be hoping for 2 things to happen. (1) UCLA must be USC and (2) Arkansas must be Florida. If USC loses and Florida wins I think Florida will leapfrog over Michigan for the #2 spot in the BCS rankings. I do not think there is much chance of both happening. How is a 10-2 teams ranked 5th in the standings? There are 7 teams playing this weekend. 2 of those games have teams ranked in the top 15, which could have implications of them not playing in a BCS bowl games if they should lose.

1. Ohio State (12-0) - idle
2. USC (10-1) vs. UCLA (6-5)
3. Michigan (11-1) - idle
4. Florida (11-1) vs. Arkansas (10-2)
5. LSU (10-2) - idle
6. Louisville (10-1) vs. Connecticut (4-7)
7. Wisconsin (11-1) - idle
8. Boise State (12-0) - idle
9. Arkansas (10-2) vs. Florida (11-1)
10. Notre Dame (10-2) - idle
11. Auburn (10-2) - idle
12. Oklahoma (10-2) vs. Nebraska (9-3)
13. Rutgers (10-1) vs. West Virginia (9-2)
14. Virginia Tech (10-2) - idle
15. West Virginia (9-2) vs. Rutgers (10-1)
    

How Safe is Myspace?

I use to have a myspace account. Not familiar with myspace then the article below is a must read. The original concept of myspace was fantastic. But since then it has grown to form a mind of its own. When you go on myspace it doesn't take long for to see or read things you wished you haven't seen. This is the reason why I have cancelled my myspace account. Because of recent activities I have decided to copy and paste the following article on to my blog. This is a great article for parents and children to read. This article can be found on Plugged In Online and was written by Tom Neven.

The World Wide Web gets its name from its sense of all-encompassing connectivity. But the word web has another, less-friendly meaning, too, as in trap. And a lot of Internet users—be they kids, teens or grandparents—aren't applying that connotation to today's world of virtual gathering spots such as Xanga, PureRave and, to mix metaphors, the Web's 60-million pound social gorilla, MySpace.

A Multimillion-Member Public Forum
Myspace.com was founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson, whose primary motivation was to provide a means for independent musicians to gain fans and publicity. Since then, the interactive Web community has grown to more than 60 million user profiles.

Even though there's nothing to prevent an individual from creating multiple online profiles as long as each has a unique e-mail address, that's still a gargantuan number. And according to MySpace, the site adds nearly 85,000 profiles a day—about 2.5 million a month. (Users spend a mind-blowing average of one hour and 40 minutes a day on the site.)

Clearly, this is a new social phenomenon. Businessweek reports, "Although [online] networks are still in their infancy, experts think they're already creating new forms of social behavior that blur the distinctions between online and real-world interactions. ... Increasingly, America's middle- and upper-class youth use social networks as virtual community centers, a place to go and sit for a while (sometimes hours)." When Plugged In Online posted a poll asking about readers' relationships with MySpace, nearly 10,000 responded within a week. While just over 20 percent said they'd never heard of it, better than 60 percent said they themselves or a friend already had a page on MySpace.

Who, exactly, has a page on MySpace? And what do they do with it once they have it? The site requires users to be at least 14 years old, although founder Anderson admits there's no way they can check all registrations, never mind that anyone can lie about such information. A user creates a profile that can include as much or as little as she wants. She can post photos, a "life quote," the name of her school, the results of a personality quiz and a listing of favorite music, movies and TV shows. The site also allows users to create a Web log (blog, in Internet-speak) and to communicate with each other either through e-mail or by instant messenger (IM).

Scrutinizing the Spiders of MySpace
MySpace has a few built-in safeguards. Most, though, appear feeble in the shadow of its sheer size. In an attempt to monitor the nearly 2 million photos uploaded by users every day, "flaggers" manually view images and delete any that violate the site's no-nudity policy. But they know their limitations, as evidenced by this disclaimer in fine print: "Information provided by other myspace.com members (for instance, in their profile) may contain inaccurate, inappropriate or offensive material, products or services and myspace.com assumes no responsibility or liability for this material."

So, for example, MySpace takes no responsibility for Darin, a 21-year-old who recently popped up as one of the "Cool New People" who were being introduced to other users. Darin's profile opens with several f-words, features a provocative photo and discusses his "porn star name." The background wallpaper shows a woman clad only in lacy bra and panties. Those aren't the worst photos on the site, either. Not by a long shot.

Another stab at safety involves the site's commitment to never providing a user's last name, address or phone number. Also, users can set up their profiles so that before outsiders can view their page, they must be explicitly invited to become an online "friend" (a word you'll see over and over again on myspace.com). Still, some "residents"—many of them teens—volunteer far too much information about themselves. They'll list their hometown, school name and church name. They might post several photos of themselves, sometimes with classmates and friends, thus providing a smart predator lots of clues. And predators have become a serious issue on MySpace.

At least one fatal crime has been linked to the Web portal; a 14-year-old New Jersey girl was allegedly murdered by a man in his 20s whom she met on the site. And a federal grand jury in Connecticut has indicted two men whom prosecutors allege used myspace.com to set up sexual encounters with girls who were 11 and 14 years old. Connecticut's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, is crusading for tighter rules and more supervision of Internet gathering spots, MySpace chief among them.

Unwelcome Neighbors
On the lips of teens everywhere right now, of course, is the assertion, "But I don't post too much of my personal information. I just use MySpace to meet my friends." Assuming that's true for a moment, MySpace still presents problems. Big ones. For every "Christian Singles" group, there are literally thousands named "Touch Me, Tease Me" or "Make-Out Whores" or "Gay California Boyz."

Added to that concern is Playboy magazine's announcement that it intends to publish a "Girls of MySpace" photo feature. Julia Angwin writes for the Associated Press, "The site has so many explicit pictures that Playboy Enterprises Inc. has launched a casting call for a ... nude pictorial for an upcoming issue of its magazine." Michael Sprouse, senior vice president of marketing at Playboy, told the AP, "We've done a lot of these types of castings, and this is by far the best response we've gotten to date."

According to MediaPost Publications, the pornography giant established its own MySpace page promoting its search for models, and has purchased advertising on the site.

In response to those who are concerned that the upcoming feature promotes pornography to teens, a MySpace spokeswoman insists that the majority of the site's users are 18 or older. But online marketing expert Pete Blackshaw, of the firm Intelliseek, doesn't agree. "We're in an environment where half of all teens have created blogs or personal home pages. Venues such as MySpace have fueled those percentages. MySpace is deeply woven into teen culture—that is without question."

A Teen's Dream; a Parent's Nightmare
What is MySpace: good, bad or ugly? Actually, all three. As with so much else in the world, Internet sites such as myspace.com mix everything up in one pot before it's served. Some parents, then, will choose to ban these congregation sites altogether. And they'd be in good company doing so. "It's a parent's worst nightmare to have a young person on this Web site dispensing all kinds of information," says Blumenthal. Fellow Connecticut public servant Bill McKenna, who is a police sergeant investigating a spate of MySpace-related sexual assaults on seven 12- to 16-year-old girls, adds, "It's a predator's dream come true, this Web site."

Others will allow teens access provided that they adhere to strict rules and fully understand the need for caution. But as more and more sleaze is slathered onto the site, and as more horror stories emerge from its depths, that's getting harder and harder to do. I'm a dad myself. My 16-year-old daughter has a MySpace profile set so that only her friends can access her page or communicate with her, and she knows not to engage anyone she doesn't recognize. Many of her Christian friends also host pages. (Indeed, despite being woefully outnumbered, the various Christian groups on MySpace boast hundreds of thousands of members.)

Still, we may have to rethink our membership, since even the most vigilant user can so easily stumble across unsavory—and unsafe—content.

Back to the Basics

If you have counted all my posts then you would have know that this is my 100th post. For those of who don't care to count to 100, or maybe can't count that high, this is my 100th post.

Most of my posting has been random. I don't have a theme I go by. If it's on my mind when I sit down to write, I'll probably end up writing about it. I have tried to keep people annomous when I write about them, even if it's on a positive note. Of course when it comes to family all gloves are off. (Most of the time)

I don't consider myself a great writer. As I sit here to do this post I have already re-written it several times because I don't like how it sounds.

So much goes on in my head, that I'm not really sure how to get it out so that is sounds good. Delilah can attest to that. I actually drive her crazy by not saying a whole lot. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's that I am not really sure how to say it so that it makes sense. Ok, enough randomly.

If you have been following Delilah's blog you know that we have decided to attend another church. We both felt it was time to move on. It was a tough decision for us to make. One that we have been struggling with for 1 1/2 years. Although we very much loved the people at our old church and enjoyed being able to serve there we decided it was time for us to move on and serve at another church. We are enjoying our new church we are attending and hope that God will use us in a powerful way.

Recently Delilah added this cool new feature to her blog it is called Stat Counter. It's pretty neat. It offers a lot of information about who visits your blog. It tracks a how many pages they have looked at and other various stuff. I just enjoy seeing how people get to my blog and where they are from. It's pretty neat stuff. I have decided to use Stat Tracker and Site Meter at the same time. The only reason I really use it, is because I just enjoy seeing where or how people get to my blog. So keep on visiting and don't worry, I'm not going to track you down or anything like that.

Peace.

The Lost Deer

This is the second weekend I have been hunting. The first time I went hunting was when we came to WV for Jude's birthday. Now it is Thanksgiving weekend and I decided to go hunting with Tim Wednesday night. That night I saw about 8 deer while walking back to the spot I wanted to stay at. It is hard to be quiet when you are walking on leaves. None-the-less, I would walk a couple of yards and stop and take a look around. When I was getting close to spot I wanted to stake out, I spooked a couple of deer. I saw a deer on the ridge above me and I saw two deer across the hollow going up another ridge. They apprently caught my sent and took off. After staying at my spot for a while I decided it was time for me to head back to the house, by this time it was 5:15 and the sun was starting to set. As I was walking back to the house on the "big" ridge I was doing my take a couple of steps and stop and took a look around routine. I was doing this for about 5 minutes before I came up on a "large" deer. All I could see of the deer was its hind quarters. There were two trees blocking its head and the majority of the neck from my view. Which was a greet advantage to me because this meant the deer couldn't see me and since the breeze was blowing from the deer to me it also meant it couldn't smell me. At this point I was trying be as quiet and carefu as I could not spook it. I watched as the deer's neck would move up and down and then stay still for a little bit as it tried to figure out where the leaf crunching was coming from. I was able to get about 15-20 yards from the deer. Finally the deer took a couple of steps going from my right to left poking it's head out from behind the tree. The doe never saw me. I decided to take a shot of it. I had "buck" fever. Or should I say "doe" fever. When I took a shot the deer was still walking. I know you're suppose to wait to take a shot until the deer is standing still, but I couldn't wait. I aimed for the "kill" zone. The area that is above the back of the front leg in the chest. I sighted the area in, trying to lead it just a little bit. I pulled the trigger and let the arrow take flight. The doe jumped and ran about 10 yards and stood there trying to figure out what had just happened. It quietly walked off, I was trying to keep my eye on it as I followed behind but it slowly disappeared into the forest. I walked over to retrieve my arrow to continue my journey back to the house figuring my first shot at a deer was a miss. When I got to the spot where the deer was standing I found some blood on the ground and when I retrieved the arrow there was blood and hair on the shaft of it. I assumed that the arrow just grazed the deer because there wasn't a lot of blood on the ground. I tried tracking the blood but was only able to track it for about 15 yards as the evening sky was getting darker and it was tougher to distinguish blood on the colored leaves on the ground.

With my adrenaline racing, I ran back to house which was only about 150 yards away. I was "yelling" I shot a deer and need a light. Now, you would think people living in the woods would have a decent flashlight. But not the Miller's. Anyways, Tim, Kellen, and myself went back to woods to try and track the deer. We decided would head down towards the creek in the hallow. By the time we got to the creek it was dark out and we decided we would try in the morning. As I laid in bed that night, the scene kept running through my mind. I kept seeing the deer taking a step then me taking a shot at it. If only I would have made a little noise to get the deer to stand still. Ugh!!!

Thanksgiving morning I headed out hunting again. As I walked back to the spot I enjoy I kept my eyes open for my "lost" deer. I saw three deer that morning. I decided to head back up to the big ridge and try to track my deer again. I got to the spot where the deer was standing when I hit it. I was able to track the blood pretty good. I did lose it a couple of times and had to really look hard to find the trail again. My heart started racing when I found larger amounts of blood on the ground. I started thinking, maybe I actually got a decent shot off. The trail took me down to the left side of the ridge and it followed the ridge and the crossed over the logging road and went down the right side of the ridge towards the skinny ridge. I saw white object laying next to a log about 30 yards down from the logging road. I heart skipped a beat and I continued to follow the trail until I ended up at the white spot laying next to the log. The doe seemed a lot smaller than what I remember it being. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't larger than it was. Feeling proud but yet disappointed, I walked back to the house to get Tim since I haven't had any experience field dressing a deer.

My "LARGE" Doe

Tim & I Doing the Traditional Bring a Deer for Thanksgiving Dinner

Obviously

Obviously no one really cares about the BCS and my theory on how it is faulty considering there was a record 35 visitors to my blog yesterday and no one left a comment. I guess my visitors don't care about college football.

Jimmy Johnson won the Nextel Cup this year. I don't care that he won. Actually I didn't follow NASCAR very closely this year. It was because Ryan Newman did not have a great season. He finished 18th and 979 points behind 11th place finisher Tony Stewart. It's hard to watch your guy not finish well race after race after race. My props off to Jimmy Johnson and Hendrick Motor Sports even though I don't like Hendrick Motorsports at all. I kept hoping that Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson would wreck each other during races. That would have been funny.

The BCS is flawed

Yes, the BCS is flawed. It should not determine who plays in the national championship. Lets take a look at the top 15 in the BCS standings as of November 20, 2006.

1. Ohio State (12-0)
   
2. Michigan (11-1) - lost to Ohio State who is 12-0
3. USC (9-1) - lost to Oregon State who is currently 7-4
4. Florida (10-1) - lost to Auburn who is 10-2
   
5. Notre Dame (10-1) - lost to Michigan who is 11-1
   
6. Arkansas (10-1) - lost to USC who is 9-1
   
7. West Virginia (9-1) - lost to Louisville who is 9-1
   
8. Wisconsin (11-1) - lost to Michigan who is 11-1
   
9. Louisville (9-1) - lost to Rutgers who is 9-1
   
10. LSU (9-2) - lost to Auburn who is 10-2 and Florida who is 10-1
    
11. Boise State (11-0) - Boise who?
    
12. Auburn (10-2) - lost to Arkansas who is 10-1 and Georgia who is 7-4
    
13. Texas (9-2) -lost to Ohio State who is 12-0 and Kansas State who is 7-5
    
14. Rutgers (9-1) - lost to Cincinnati who is 6-5
    
15. Oklahoma (9-2) - lost to Oregon who is 7-4 and Texas who is 9-2
    

There are other factors that figure into BCS standing such as strength of schedule, the Harris Poll, USA Today Poll and the AP Poll.

There are a couple of key games left to play that will help sort some of it out or possibly make it a little more confusing.

1. Ohio State is packing their bags for Arizona
   
2. Michigan is in a holding pattern to find out where they are heading
3. USC still has Notre Dame (10-1) and UCLA (6-5) to go through
4. Florida still has Florida State (6-5)
5. Notre Dame has USC (9-1)
6. Arkansas still has LSU (9-2)
   
7. West Virginia still has South Florida (7-4) and Rutgers (9-1)
   
8. Wisconsin is waiting to see what bowl they will be playing
   
9. Louisville still has Pittsburg (6-5) and Connecticut (4-6)
   
10. LSU still has Arkansas (10-1)
    
11. Boise State still has Nevada (8-3)
    
12. Auburn is waiting for the BCS to sort itself out
    
13. Texas still has Texas A&M (8-3)
    
14. Rutgers still has Syracuse (4 -7) and West Virginia (9-1)
    
15. Oklahoma still has Oklahoma State (6-5)

Some of the teams still have to play a conference championship game. At this point not one teams deserves to play in the championship game with Ohio State over the next team. Because of who they lost to or who they lost and who that team lost to. For example: WV lost to Louisville who lost to Rutger who lost to Cincinnati. Cincinnati is a 6-5 team. Notre Dame lost to Michigan do they deserve to play in the Championship game if they beat USC? Likewise, I don't think that Michigan should play Ohio State again (even though I am a Michigan fan) because the best Michigan would do is end up being co-champions with Ohio State if they should beat them. There are many variable with the BCS system.

I think the best system to use would be like this. There should be a 4 team playoff. The top 4 BSC teams would play in 2 bowl games. If they win the first game, they get to play in the championship game, if they lose the first game they get to play for third place in the second game. The way the BCS is now, Ohio State definitely deserves to play for the championship, the question (at this point) who should Ohio State play? Michigan? USC? Florida? Notre Dame? This picture will hopefully clear itself during the next 2-3 weeks.

Hmm

Well, I was going to try to a complete overhaul on my blog's appearance. I wanted to change the colors and format. The problem is, that I really haven't found a "free" format that I like. So for the time being I will make minor changes. Hopefully I will be able to tweak it a little bit at a time to my liking. Peace

Under Construction

Pardon my mess. This blog is currently under construction

Great Wife Almighty!!

A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
and brings back exotic surprises.
She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
diligent in homemaking.
She's quick to assist anyone in need,
reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn't worry about her family when it snows;
their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
her husband joins in with words of praise:
"Many women have done wonderful things,
but you've outclassed them all!"
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!
Proverbs 31:10-31 The Message

I have a great wife. I don't always treat her like she deserves to be treated. A lot of times I am selfish in my actions and thoughts but she keeps treating me with all her love. We are going through a rough time in our marriage right now. It is all from my doing. I started taking her for granted and did not put forth the effort and energy to make things right. Now I am putting forth the effort. It is much harder now than what it should have been. I have a great wife. She is a great mother and my best friend. She is always looking for the deals and ways to stretch the dollar. If you have seen me recently you also know that she is a great cook. This post does not do justice of how great of a wife I have.
With love.