Stretchin' It Out, Keepin' It Nice...

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I'm a Sailor's Peg...

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Sirius and XM Merger News

I got the following email today from Sirius, confirming the merger rumors:

February 19, 2007

To: SIRIUS Subscribers

Today is a very exciting day for SIRIUS customers.  As you may have heard,
SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio are merging to form the nation's
premier audio entertainment provider.  

This combination of our two offerings will benefit you - our loyal listeners.
As a single company, we'll provide superior programming to you every day with
the best of both SIRIUS and XM.  Currently, XM and SIRIUS broadcast a wide range
of commercial-free music channels, exclusive sports coverage, news, talk, and
entertainment programming.  Howard Stern.  Oprah and Friends.  The NFL.  MLB.
NBA.  ESPN.  CNBC.  Fox News.  Additionally, the combined company will be able
to improve existing services such as real-time traffic information and rear-seat
video as well as introduce new ones. 

After shareholder and regulatory approvals, we anticipate that the combination
will be finalized by the end of 2007. Until then, both companies will continue
to operate independently.  We will continue to provide you with the
uninterrupted service - as well as the outstanding customer support - that you
have come to expect and enjoy from SIRIUS. We do not anticipate any changes in
your service during the merger process, however, please call our customer care
team on 1- 888-539-7474 should you have any questions.

We look forward to the many benefits this combination will offer and continuing
to make your listening experience an enjoyable one - offering more of the Very
Best Radio on Radio. 

Stay tuned,

Mel Karmazin, CEO


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Interesting Take on the Tattoo Bet

Less than a week to The Departed's DVD release. For those of you who haven't Googled it yet, the memorable Irish punk song from the movie is The Dropkick Murphys' "Shipping Up To Boston."

*****

Bears fan who lost bet must change name to Peyton Manning. Hopefully he likes 6'5" quarterbacks, laser... rocket arm.


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22s Son! Do Work!

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No embed code for this one, unfortunately. Rob's imitation of Big Black.

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Why you should watch The Unit

Snake Doc performs a Fulton Extraction in the Season 2 premiere.

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Blackberry Wallpaper, TMNT trailer, Watches

Here's my current Blackberry Wallpaper (Resized to 320w x240h). It shows Jonas "Snake Doctor" Blane and Mack "Dirt Diver" Gerhardt from Season 1, Episode 2, of one of The Unit.

Newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trailer.

Finally, I ordered this Suunto T1 watch today. It measures heart rate, calories burned and whether you're in your target zone while exercising. Plus it looks really cool. Suunto's official site. No word on whether it includes motivational pixie dust too.

Polar is a watch brand Nathan put me on to. I almost ordered this one instead of the Suunto. A lot more expensive, but it has the heart rate monitoring capability and other exercise functions, along with a compass, altimeter and barometric pressure monitor.

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R.I.P. Curtis Manning

I don't think I've ever wanted someone to pull a trigger so badly on a TV show as I did when Curtis' history with Assad was revealed tonight.

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XM or Sirius?

My favorite quote regarding the Cowboys' loss to Seattle, from Steve Czaban's blog:

It took almost the entire first half, but wasn’t it worth it? You know what I am talking about. Watching a Cowboys game these days and just waiting around for a Terrell Owens drop is like watching Three’s Company repeats and waiting for Jack Tripper’s signature “fall behind the couch” move.

Czabe is the reason I miss XM sometimes. He's a regular guy who's a sports fan and talks about it like my boys and I do - equal parts knowledge and humor, and without engaging in any of the following misdirection to make himself sound smarter:

1. He doesn't do "The "Aikman," which has now spread like wildfire and engulfed the entire sports commentary world. By "The Aikman" of course I mean employ the following sentence structure at every important juncture of the game and twice on Sundays.

   When you talk about [insert specific football skill/coaching technique/defensive formation/offensive formation/memorable game/memorable play/etc.], you're talking about [insert applicable player/coach/game].

   For example,

   "When you talk about a guy who stabs people in the nuts and is on the cover of Madden the next year like nothing happened, you're talking about Ray Lewis."

   That sentence is the structural equivalent of origami. Why not just say, "Ray Lewis sure is lucky that America has such a short memory"?
   
2. He also doesn't insert "a" or the phrase "a guy like" before saying anyone's name to make his point sound more universal. Asshole, just described the specific person everyone knows you're making reference to! No more "When you have to line up in man coverage on a Chad Johnson, you better jam him at the line." No one believes that there is an army of Ocho Cincos in a warehouse in Cincy just waiting to show you that they can all get off the line with equally little resistance. Just say, "Chad Johnson will beat you every time if you don't bump him at the line." It's not brain surgery.
   
3. Finally, he doesn't start every sentence with "Obviously,..." as in:

   Obviously, [X team] is going to have to score more points in this football game if they want to go home victorious.

   Really, jerk off? I was incredulous the first few times I heard this one, but it hasn't subsided either. I thought that certainly, the only reason someone making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to sit on their ass all weekend watching football games would say something that elementary would be as a preface to the meat of the analysis they're paid to provide. Nope. They all stop there. It's as if they have no sarcasm detector. Check this lightning bolt from the Colts/Ravens game this past Saturday while the Colts were bleeding the clock from 7:39 to 0:18. I'm pretty sure it was Simms, but I was going for my 25th Diet Dr. Pepper of the day:

   Obviously, the clock may become a factor here.

Nice, huh?

Makes that 8-to-5 with a 45 minute commute on either end sound great when these code-breakers are working three hours a week. I mean, there's no way they give any thought to what they're going to say during the week or it would have to come off better than this, right?

Oh well, it's not like I'm going to boycott, but damn... ! It's a real similar feeling to the one I have about this final season of The Sopranos. I'm going to tune in because it is what it is, but do what you can not to completely ruin it for me, will ya boys?

My switch to Sirius came last year when I got this monster installed in my car. My reasoning was that the NFL Network was on Sirius, which I just assumed I would like, and it would come in handy if I got caught on the road during Sunday games. I also wanted to check out Howard Stern's show, which is genius in spots and really off-putting in others. In truth, NFL Network's morning radio programs are mediocre at best, so now I'm without the best 2 morning drive sports shows: The First Team on Fox with Steve Czaban (Fox Sports Radio) and The Tony Bruno Show (Sporting News Radio). In a perfect world, Sirius would acquire the rights to broadcast both Fox Sports Radio and Sporting News Radio. In a less-than-perfect but still inhabitable world, Sirius would acquire the rights to broadcast one or the other. Of course neither has happened. Makes me wish the rumored XM/Sirius merger would take place already.

One small silver lining is that Tony Bruno can be streamed here, which is nice at work but doesn't help in the car. I haven't found a site to stream Czabe from yet. If anybody knows of one, hook me up.

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Firefox 2.0.0.1

Firefox 2 was released December 19. Download here. Release notes can be found here.

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