Space... The Final Resting Spot

So it turns out a company is getting ready to send people to the moon! Well dead people... A small amount of said dead people....Houston-based Celestis, Inc. has announced plans to launch cremated human remains to the surface of the moon as soon as 2009. It said it would be able to send one gram to the moon for about $10,000.00, and well seeing ass how most people when cremated weigh about 3 to 5 ponds this comes out to less then 1% and leaves your families to deal with the other 99%, unless of course you can come up with $989,505.00 then they can send all of you to the moon. I don't know it sounds cool what do you all think?

A New College Basketball Post-Season Tournament

Well it's true it's true, the Gazelle Group has started a 16 team post season tournament to add to the other two post season tournaments (both run by the NCAA) and offer the opportunity for sixteen other teams to play post season ball. Normally I wouldn't be to interested in a new tournament, but this time is different. This time my home town team the UTEP Miners are playing in the first year of this tournament.

While it may not seem like a big deal to win an inaugural tournament or even play in one, I think it will really help the Miners who have shown signs of great play this year. It will give them, who by all accounts are a young team, a taste of post season play and will help them gel just a little bit more. I also think they will have a great shot at going far into the new tournament, especially with the way it is set up. According to the CBI website (http://www.gazellegroup.com/cbi/index_main.htm) the CBI will be played as a single-elimination tournament, up until the Championship Series, with all games being played at campus sites. The Championship Series will be a best of three series, home-away-home, in which the higher seed will get the first and last (if necessary) home games. All bracketing is done according to region geographically (East, West, South, Midwest) to minimize missed class time. Brackets will be balanced competitively within each region. The first round will have 8 games, the second round will have 4 games, followed by a semi-final round, and finally a championship series. It is an interesting approach to post season play in my opinion combining elements of the NCAA Tournament, the NIT, and the professional post-season.

I think the addition of this tournament shows how strong Conference USA truly is. Including the CBI, C-USA is sending five teams to the post-season (Memphis to the NCAA, UAB to the NIT, and UTEP, Houston, and Tulsa to the CBI). Not only that C-USA has the most teams of any conference in the CBI, which fields teams from 12 different conferences. The Field seems strong enough with only one team below .500, a couple at .500, and the other thirteen teams above .500. UTEP starts playing tomorrow at home against an old rival Utah from the Mountain West and will hopefully move on towards round two. Houston, out of C-USA, has already punched its ticket for round two tonight after beating the Nevada Wolf pack from the WAC.

All in all I think this is a good tournament, a great learning opportunity for the players, and another chance for fans to watch their teams play in the post-season. With that said good luck to all the C-USA teams and GO MINERS!

Tin Man, meet Simon Cowell

He was off to see the Wizard the wonderful Wizard of Oz looking for a brand new heart. Who would have thought that a heart was hiding in the body of one Simon Cowell. It turns out that the blunt and antagonistic judge on American Idle was really a kind, big hearted giver.

You see it was reported in Us Magazine today that Mr. Cowell gave the family of a 3 year old cancer patient $162,000.00 to help them pay off their mortgage and give them a little bit of breathing room in order to take their daughter 100+ miles round trip to receive treatment everyday.

Mr. Cowell gives Operah all the credit saying she taught him how to be a "do-gooder" adding “I never knew that doing good could feel so good.”

Well to all of this I say kudos Simon, you have shown me that there is a little bit of good in everyone.

Death of a nation.... Kevorkian runs for Congress!

That's right boys and girls, Dr. Jack "I like Killing" Kevorkian is running for office. And not just any office but he is running for the U.S. House of Representatives. In an Interview with The Oakland Press of Pontiac, Mich. Dr. Jack stated he was running because "we need some honesty and sincerity instead of corrupt government in Washington."

The sad thing is I think he is more honest then many of our congress men and women.....

Don't take life to seriously....

The bills are piling up, your running late for work, you lost your wallet, and to make matters worse your dog crapped on the sofa. Man sounds like it is just one of those days, but does it have to be?

I know for some people it is easy to get caught up in everything that is going on and at times it is important to thake things seriously, it is important. But in general does life have to be serious? The answer is NO!

Life is meant to be enjoyed. It is meant to be a time of learning, fun, and whatever you want it to be. Ever wonder why some people never seem to be mad and everything seems to go perfectly for them? It isn't because they are lucky or that everything seems to go their way it's because they don't sweat the small stuff. If you spend your time worrying or uptight you're never going to enjoy yourself, you might have fun every once and awhile but in the long run life will be sad and hard. On the other hand if you spend your time laughing, learning, and genraly stopping to smell the roses you will have a much better time. Life isn't as bad as people will lead you to believe, I know where I am I can walk around and not have the military patroling around or anything and if I look at everything as an oppertunity for somesort of fun, I tend to have fun.

Another thing to remember is to laugh at yourself. Who cares if you made a fool of yourself because you trip. Just laugh at yourself. I'm sure it looked funny, and as an added bonus you won't feel as bad about it. I promise. Just sit back and laugh, have fun, and be happy.

Let's take two different examples. First look at the former Soviet Union. For them it was all about work and making sure things worked. I never knew someone who wanted to go there on vacation, have you? Well they sent people to prison and basicly had a grim and cold existance. Sure their parades were off the hook, but other then that it just seemed like they had one goal and that was to be better then the "Capitalist" West. Do you know what happened to them? That's right they collapsed. Now look at Brazil, are they serious about everything? That's right no they aren't they take things in stride and are a lot happier percapita then the Soviet Union was. In fact if I were to guess I would say they are happier then a lot of other people. I mean just look at Carnival!! -------->

Now doesn't that look like she is having fun? I think so and that's what I want you guys out there to do, have fun. It's like Van Wilder said, "You can't take life to seriously, you'll never make it out alive." Well I'm going to leave it at that and if your day ever just seems like there is nothing to smile about and no way to have fun just remember these guys...

If they can find time to have fun during a war, surely you can find time at work.

Where has my country gone?

I was born during the Reagan Administration in the great year of 1984. I guess you could say I had a good life so far. I mean I can't really complain. Like most people I have seen good times and bad times, gotten in a little bit of trouble, had my share of heartbreak, and even been involved in some pretty cool things. And until now, until this very day, I had no regrets.

You see I was watching the news and they were doing a story on the Democratic Presidential Primaries and how pivotal each state is now, and I couldn't help but ask my self, "What happened to the Democrats?" I should first tell you I have never been a Democrat and well I tend to lean a little right on some issues but am more moderate then anything else. I have no political affiliation, the only thing I ask of my fellow Americans is to use your mind. Oh well back to the point, This week the attacks between Obama and Clinton seem to have gotten worse and Spitzer getting caught trying to "frisk" her I had to ask myself what has happened to the Democratic Party of the past? While I sat at my desk pondering this conundrum I was only brought to a much more pressing question, where has my country gone?

I mean in the 23 years and counting I have been alive it has really changed and I am really distressed by what I am seeing. I listen to stories on the news about Universal Health Care and immigration and I realized we are letting our country be hijacked by a group of people that want to subvert our Constitution and replace it with a Socialist Canon. I can't help but wonder why no one is stepping up, and I mean really stepping up, and saying something about this. I mean sure there are people on the radio and TV that whine about our freedoms being taken away and what not, but where are the large demonstrations and rallies against the 'Socialization' of our country. I mean we had massive rallies over immigration.... We are slowly letting fringe elements take over our country and I just don't know how much longer America can take it.

We have strayed from what we are supposed to be, what we were founded on. Our country is lost and I for one am going to find it.