The CNN.com Comment Section and My Addiction

Hi, my name is Ryan and I have a problem.  I cannot stop reading the comments at the end of any article I find on CNN.com.  I don’t know why I do it or exactly what my sick obsession is, but I believe it has something to do with keeping myself aware of how disturbed and sad people behave at times.

The two things that stand out the most in the comments are one, their political affiliation so overwhelms their life that a story on any random news event solicits an “It’s all Obama’s fault” reaction or “Bush created this mess!”  The second is the complete disregard for human decency.    That’s the biggest one.

After reading some of the horrific things people post, I’m struggle with wondering if there is such a thing as human decency.  You’ll read an unbelievably sad story about a kid that’s been kept in a cage all his life and died without ceremony because of a lack of personal contact and food, and the first comment says he probably deserved everything he got.  CNN.com will lead with stories of abduction and people show absolutely no regard for any of the family members as they put forth their dark ideas of what probably happen to the child.  It’s sickening.

And yet I still read the comments.

Maybe I’m searching for material to write about.  Perhaps I examine the sick comments in the hopes that I’ll find the deep, thoughtful, and genuinely insightful analysis that the article was lacking.  I have to believe that for all the demented people out there that post sick and disturbed thoughts in the Comments section, there are plenty that are kind and caring individuals who don’t want to post.

The good news, for me, is that I trust that though people explore their darker side on the internet, they are still good at heart.   Even if their words and actions show otherwise, I have to trust that a person, at their core, is good.  There are certainly exceptions to every rule, but even a villain is the hero of their own story and believes they are doing right through whatever flawed logic they are embracing.  So are they demented people in this world posting on the internet?  Yes.  Do I think most of them are as dark and disturbed as their words suggest?  Nope.

They do, however, give me plenty of ideas for my next short story, screenplay, or novel.

The Greatness of being a Daddy on the Weekend

My weekend was long.  Long in that it was exhausting.  I’m going to ache for days exhausting.  But it was good.

Being a Daddy changed my life considerably over the last few years.  At first it seemed that the change meant a lot of what I loved in life was going away.  Watching sports, playing video games, hanging out with the guys, and watching movies in the theater all had to suffer.  Truthfully,I sacrificed the movies in the theater almost completely.  Hanging out with the guys is less weekly now and more quarterly.  Sports are now on the DVR or via NFL Rewind.  The video games get played once or twice a week around midnight.  And yet my life is better.

You see, I get to do things that the single, childless me never got to do.  I get to completely embrace the kid in me.  Take Saturday night for instance.  My wife really wanted to take our girls to the Del Mar Pumpkin Patch and so off we went.  It wasn’t cheap, ($30 I think) but had a ton of rides and attractions for little kids.

There was the carousel that my daughter didn’t want to get off.  “I just want to ride the horsey Daddy!”

There was the rocket ship that went around and around and she slapped high-five with the operator every lap.

There was the tea-cup type ride that she loved spinning around and around in with Daddy on board.  Dizzy fun.

There was the little train that she road for about 10 minutes and smiled for the entire time (except when I was taking pictures.)

There was the bouncy house and little inflatable slide where she expended as much energy as possible and giggled non-stop.

And there was the petting zoo, which we never made it to.

Why, might you ask, did we miss the petting zoo?  A petting zoo is gold with little kids and she had asked to go, but something else grabbed a hold of her and would not let go.  The GIANT inflatable slide.  Huge.  At least two stories high and probably closer to three.  And she had to ride it.  Since it was a little high and all the kids on it made it a bit dangerous for a tiny two-year old toddler to get tossed around, Daddy had to go.  The steep climb to the top required me to carry her up over and over and over and over.  And over and over and over.

“Again Daddy!  Again!”

The upside to carrying her to the top time after time was that I got to ride the giant slide over and over.  My back was killing me afterwards, my legs burned, and I was totally exhausted, but I was a kid again.  I had the wonderful opportunity to slide as fast as I could, laughing aloud, because I had my toddler in my arms.  At almost 40 years old, I did something I’ve probably wanted to do every time I saw one of these giants slides over the last 30 years, but it just seemed socially unacceptable then.  Now, I’ve got a kid, so it’s okay and endearing when I play with children.  It was great.

To balance things out, there was Sunday’s slide.  Family photo day at the railroad park in Poway and of course, the two-year old getting some time in on the playground was a must.

“Daddy, will you go with me?”

“That’s okay Beautiful.  I’ll watch you.”

“Please Daddy.”

She knows how to get me to do almost anything and that simple elongated please does it every time.

So, I climbed up into very cramped quarters and a half covered slide gave birth to me.  Yep, it was a tight fit and I think that one ride down hurt more than the twenty the night before.  That’s a little lesson to first time parents.  Playgrounds are meant for people under 4 feet tall and 80 lbs.  How does the weight come into play?  Remember that the “M” means mass in E=mc squared and in this case the increased mass meets the low resistance of the slide and you gain speed.  Some serious speed on some slides.  Sunday I didn’t find myself airborne, but it has happened coming off a kiddie slide before.

By 5pm Sunday afternoon, with my eldest daughter’s weekend completed, she, my wife, and my baby girl all drifted off for a little nap.  Finally, I got some NFL action.  I love my DVR.  Without it I would’ve missed nearly every minute of my Mavericks winning their first ever championship this summer and I’d miss almost every minute of the Chargers’ every Sunday afternoon.  Then after 9pm, when I was folding clothes, I had the laptop propped up in front of me with NFL Rewind giving me the Cowboys’ game replay.  Granted I have to stay away from my phone, TV, and the internet all day on a Sunday to watch the games like that, but at least I get to watch them.

So, the weekend concluded with rocking the exhausted two-year old to sleep at 10pm.  She’d fought sleep after dinner for about 90 minutes and since my wife drifted off again, I got the “closer” opportunity.  There really is very little that’s more rewarding than being the closer at bed time.  You have a child tired beyond words and all you have to do is answer a few random two-year old questions, hold her, rock her slowly, and see her eyes flutter shut.  The over the top benefit last night was that when she closed her eyes, I got a simple, sweet, “I love you Daddy.”  And she snuggled in real close and was done.  So was I.  Heart melted.  I love being Daddy, especially on the weekends.

ESPN on the Xbox Doesn’t Make Any Sense

I get that Microsoft is trying to make the Xbox 360 and whatever the Next Generation Console will be, the center to our entertainment, but ESPN on the Xbox simply doesn’t make any sense.  The most glaring and obvious problem is that most people who have the ESPN feature activated on their Xbox already have ESPN via cable.  I have ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, and ESPNU, so do I really need more ESPN?

Secondly, though I know there are people out there without cable or satellite who just use Hulu, Netflix, and media streaming boxes like the Xbox for their video entertainment, but even there I think it fails.  Though I find the lack of 5.1 audio on the HD videos a real problem for Hulu Plus and Netflix, the Xbox is a worthwhile delivery system for that content.  Comparitively, the ESPN tool definitely ranks below Netflix and has about the same crappy level of interface that Hulu Plus does with significantly less content.

The interface is a big problem.  It’s so clunky and appears completely disorganized, that even if there is good content there, I haven’t found it.  I think that’s the biggest issue.  We have a desire to watch movies and tv shows on a larger screen than our laptop and to share the experience with family or friends.  Sports highlight, which is what it appears 99% of the content on ESPN on Xbox is, isn’t something I really need to share with anyone else or watch on my 50″ TV.  Besides, if you stream that “HD” content, you’ll possibly become nauseated by the jittery delivery of the video.  If I want to share it, I’m probably going to find the highlights online and post the link to Facebook or Twitter and therein lies the largest problem.

Sure, most of us have ESPN, but even if we don’t, we have the internet for seeking out highlights, scores, and news in a much more efficient manner that yields far better results.  GOOGLE beats my Xbox every time when trying to find something, unless it’s playing the video games loaded on the hard drive.

The day that ESPN starts streaming live games via the Xbox (maybe they already do, but I’ve never found any) and then gets the picture quality to look better than plugging my laptop into my TV, I’ll be interested.  Until then, I’ll stick with cable, my laptop, and my cell phone for my sports updates.  Thanks for trying though.

Revis Situation About Ego and Not Substance

Darrelle Revis, the Jets shutdown corner, is all the rage this week in New York for ending an interview.  Sports Talk Host Mike Francesca on WFAN pestered Revis continuously about his 100 yard interception return this past weekend and whether or not he was guilty of interference on the play.

You can read elsewhere about what happened in the interview in detail, but essentially, the host (Francesca) was enjoying getting Revis riled up and eventually the Jets PR man directed Revis to hang up.  Not surprisingly, Francesca doesn’t have a great relationship with the Jets, but his fan base was loving it.  Francesca knows that and kept pushing the agitated player to try to get more emotion out of him.

The problem, in my mind, with this is that Francesca was just feeding his ego and not pursuing substance.  As a radio producer and a host in my previous life, this is one of the types of circumstances that would most annoy me.  As entertained for the moment or the day Francesca’s fans were by the exchange, so much more could have come from a different approach.  Allowing Revis a more comfortable, non-combative environment, could provide an opportunity for him to share more about his insight on the upcoming game for the Jets and even better, a chance he could join the show again later in the season.

Granted most player and coach interviews don’t amount to anything and even some of the guys that give you their cell number and say, “call anytime” don’t really pan out, you always have the chance of developing a rapport with a player, coach, PR person, or other team insider that may give you more (on or off the record) than you could ever expect to get otherwise.  Or you could go for the moment of entertainment like Francesca did.

Yeah, I’ve made that choice too.  Anyone who knows my history knows that I personally killed any chance that Rick Sutcliffe will ever join Scott & BR again on XX 1090 in San Diego.  That being said, I hope I’ve learned some lessons over the years and though entertaining hosts are nice, I prefer mine to provide a little substance too and when you operate from all ego it’s hard to really give your listeners the information I think they really want.  Really want if they’re really fans of a particular team.  If they’re just listening for the entertainment, then you’re serving your clientele properly by focusing on the shallow end of the pool, but you probably won’t catch me tuning in anytime soon.

Battlefield 3 Xbox Hard Drive Install only 1.5 GB

Again, thanks to the access of Gamerzines, we get info on the Battlefield 3 Xbox 360 Hi-Res Texture install.  Apparently, it’s only going to take up 1.5GB of hard drive space.  Of course, if you install the whole game that’ll take up considerably more room, but at least I don’t have to upgrade my HD just to play the game the way I want to play it.

That being said, a little research landed me on a 120GB refurbished HD for just $25.  Gonna pick that up and install all my games on it to quiet down the dvd drive and fan.

Enjoy the latest BF3 Trailer.  Warning, it contains a few four letter words.

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Political Poetry and The Trail to Fail

SIGNS OF THE TRAIL TO FAIL

 

Footfalls precede arrival

Jogging around my ‘hood

Bumper flags show such gall

Battling the collective good

 

Tea Parties For Lil’ Girls

One Blasts at Passer Bys

Gays are Ending The World

The next to advertise

 

The ring of dissent grows

Our nation pulled in two

Grand collection of foes

Enemies we must choose.

 

The government stands still

Entrapped in nothingness

Fights for “the people’s will”

And keeps us in this mess.

 

Few await one lone voice

Clear, without partisan

Saying, “this ain’t a choice”

To better our great land.

 

Big government is wrong

But small has its limit

There has to be a bond

No sole claim “I did it.”

 

Both sides work together

And meet in the middle

Now light as a feather

This is not a riddle!

 

Once our informed leaders

View opponents as friends

Part of a theater

Seeking a kindred end.

 

I trust they will inspire

and stop the one way rail

Finish the verbal fire

Divert our trail to fail.

 

– Ryan Schulze 10-21-11

Battlefield 3 & DICE are Worrying Me A Bit

Battlefield 3, the new military First Person Shooter from DICE, is due out next week on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC and I’ve already got mine pre-ordered.  It is my hope that Newegg has the product already and is shipping it today to guarantee I have it time, but I doubt it.  I won’t fret over that, but the recent news about the 360 version has me a bit concerned.

Battlefield 3 on the Xbox 360 will have a Hard Drive Install option to the High-Res Texture Pack available on one of the two disks shipped with the game.

In an interview with Gamerzines, BF3’s Executive Producer leaked some, but not all the details:

“There’s nothing magic about it. “It’s the same thing we do for PC and PS3, so there’s nothing extra….It does make a difference, yes, absolutely. The whole engine is based around streaming textures, streaming terrain and a lot of other content…The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don’t have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive. So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a ‘standard-def’ version for the 360 if you don’t have a hard-drive.”

That’s the end of the so-called details though and that’s where I’m a bit concerned.  I want to play the game at its best on a 360 and I do have a hard drive, but only 20GB, which only yields about 12GB of real space.  The last line of the quote, “if you don’t have a hard drive” is a promising, but if you’re not aware, RAGE, another new shooter allowing an install for better graphics needs 22GB of space for its optimal settings.  So, I’ve searched high and low and posed questions to DICE, but at this time I don’t have answers.  Will I need to just clear out all the demos off my 20GB HD or do I need to pick up a 60GB or 120GB expansion?

As someone that is truly excited about the game, I’m trusting that it doesn’t disappoint like Black Ops did.  For all Black Ops did right in new map designs, eliminating some of the obscene Killstreak problems, and new match options, they missed on almost all of the local split screen offerings that would’ve made the game our go to party game.  No matter my concern over BF3, it doesn’t come close to my skepticism over Modern Warfare 3.  Sledgehammer Games is developing MW3 alongside some Infinity Ward rejects so I have no idea what to expect from the game.  The guys that made COD great are long gone and I’m not familiar at all with anything Sledgehammer has done prior to now.

Are you ready for next week?  Are you as concerned about the 360 version and the need for HD space as I am?

National Sports Media Absent-Minded

With the recent news reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN that Carson Palmer will start this Sunday for the Raiders just one day after being acquired from the Bengals, many of the national media are jumping at the chance to say the Late Al Davis‘ organization is making yet another mistake.  Nevermind that Hue Jackson, the Raiders Head Coach has said he’ll make the decision Friday.

I’m guessing they’ve all just forgotten their last story on the Raiders.  The one where they traded one and perhaps two 1st round picks for Palmer.  That’s a hefty price.  You not only expect Palmer to play great, he has to play great.  So, what if Boller plays this weekend and he tosses four touchdowns, zero picks, and leads the team to a great win. How does that work out for the Raiders?

It’s simple.  Carson Palmer has to play this weekend and the rest of the season. Win or Lose. It’s a must.

Man’s Best Friend

A sad day in the Quen family is being tempered by the dedicated behavior of Lucky the Dog.  Lucky did what we’ve come to expect of the family pet and yet are always surprised by their actions when they do.  Lucky’s owner, Joseph Quen, passed away hunting in the wilderness two weeks ago.  When the search finally found Quen’s body, who do you think rested at his side?  Yep, Lucky the Dog. KIEM TV had the story. (http://kiem-tv.com/node/2409)

Owning a dog is an interesting anthropological study.  At least I feel it falls under Anthropology since it’s all about man’s interaction with a formerly wild breed of animal within our home.  An animal.  Living, breathing, and walking around searching for food and comfort within my home.  In my home you have to add escaping the grasp of a very curious and friendly 2 1/2 year old plus a relatively immobile 7 month old with quick hands.

All the burden associated with owning a dog sometimes consumes how Latte (our dog) exists in my life.  Often I only seem to focus on her need for food, exercise, the chance to relieve herself outside, and that constant yearn for affection.  However, once in a while she reminds me of why she is truly our four-legged furry family member.  Her needs for affection have landed her on my lap when I need a little extra comforting and that scientifically proven calming effect from petting a dog had made my day just a little bit better. (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/made-each-other/201005/dog-good).

Then there are the really surprising times she reminds me of how important I am to her and her to me.  One random day in a dog park a large lab charged me.  Pounding the ground at full speed that lumbering 100 lb. animal got me to tense up as it closed in.  I have no idea whether it was going to hit me or just race by me.  The dog never had a chance to reach me.  Just 2-3 feet from my trembling stiff body, my 11 month old puppy, weighing no more than 25 lbs, crashed into the labs side and knocked it off course.  At first I thought it was just my imagination, but often when I’m in a park with the double stroller and another dog gets a little too animated around the stroller or me, my 3-year-old Lab-Staffordshire (mini pit) mix informs the dog that it’s just a little too close for her comfort.  Now, she’s a pretty small dog, but she’s a tightly wound 35 lbs. of muscle now at three years old and doesn’t back down from anything.  She’s submissive to the appropriate dogs, but not if that dog invades our space with more than a friendly sniff.

About six months ago she again reminded me of one of her other many skills.  Around 2am I thought I heard a knock at the door.  I was drifting off to sleep and as we’ve all explored those little bumps in the night, I’m certain my patrol of the grounds would have convinced me the sound was all in my head.  However, someone else was at guard that night too.  Latte went absolutely ballistic.  That 35 lbs of fur bristled and she put out the biggest big dog bark I’d ever heard her muster.  When I got downstairs she was standing on the sofa and letting whatever was on the other side of our walls know, at full volume, they were not welcome.

I took a little tour out the front door and noticed nothing, but I’m convinced someone was testing who had dogs or alarms and who didn’t and now they know messing with my house elicits something worse than an alarm; an alarm with teeth and an attitude.  Latte’s incredible hearing and innate desire to protect helps me sleep at night.  I had no idea how much I rely on her until we went on our first vacation where my little toddler at 2 years old slept in another room.  We set up a bed for her in the living room on the sofa.  She loved it.  What I didn’t love is that I wasn’t between the front door or the balcony door and my daughter.  We set up the baby monitors mostly so I could hear everything going on in our little mini-apartment and sleep more soundly.

Recounting the blessings of dog ownership brings me to a sad conclusion…she doesn’t get everything from me she needs.  Latte was once my main source of enjoyment and pretty much my only job.  In the fall of 2008, I went unemployed for seven months and those jobless days started just prior to us adopting Latte for my wife’s birthday.  Latte had me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  We went to every dog park I could find and walked at least 2 hours most days.  She curled up with me every where and followed me at all times.  She spent the evenings resting on my wife’s pregnant belly with her head nestled in my wife’s growing bosom.  To say she was content would be an understatement.

Then I got two jobs and disappeared for 60 hours a week.  Then the first child showed up and once my wife returned to work, I was around the house more, but occupied.  Eventually though, the stroller provided plenty of walking opportunities and Latte didn’t suffer too much.  Then kid number two showed up this year and Latte’s life significantly changed.  We still get out for exercise most days, but I have very little free time when home with the kids.  If I’m on the floor, I’m not there to wrestle with the dog, but read or put together a puzzle with a toddler.  When I’m curled up on the couch, there’s most likely an infant sleeping in my lap and no room to cuddle with daddy.

The neglect of Latte led me to rethink a desire for a third child since my current third child (Latte) doesn’t get all the attention she really needs.  Today, I’ll make an extra effort to give her some affection, a treat or two, and plenty of time chasing the ball, but another kid is going to have to wait until my 2 1/2 year old is old enough to take over some of the dog loving our household needs to do.

LATTE BEGGING FOR A WALK

To E-Read or Not To E-Read

So, now Amazon’s got me really intrigued.  They have a new e-reader, call it the Kindle Lite, for just $79.  Yep, under a $100 for an excellent e-reader.  The price is a bit misleading, because that’s the ad-supported version.  Ad free, it runs $109.  I’d probably go with the one with the Ads since they supposedly only appear when you’re on the homepage or as you’re powering down or up.  No big deal there.  It doesn’t have sound or a QWERTY keyboard.  It doesn’t even have a touch screen keyboard so surfing is a bit of a chore as you have to scroll through letters to type.  It’s WiFi only.  No 3G support.  All disappointing, but if you’re just using it as an e-reader, then do you really need audio, 3G, color, a keyboard, or any of the other fancy bells and whistles found on the more expensive versions.  Honestly, if I was going with one of the pricier, more robust models, I’d probably just invest in a tablet pc or an iPad.

Therein lies my problem.  My phone is practically dead and despite Verizon‘s current refusal to do anything to rectify the problem, they are going to help me eventually and then I need a new phone.  Do I step up to a sweet smart phone with a large brilliant display that will be e-reader enough for me OR do I remain a generation behind with a standard phone?  I like having a multimedia device at my fingertips and being able to watch videos anywhere at anytime is a nice feature, not to mention the music for soothing my little girls.  Of course, any phone can handle the music and I, more than most people, could really do with less TV in my life.

So, I think for now, I’ll probably wait.  I will get my new phone at some point and try reading on it and then see if an e-reader is something I need.  No books to buy, keep track of, store, give away, or protect is a nice plus.  Little girls crying…gotta run.