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The Green Bay Packers struggled at Lambeau Field against the Jacksonville Jaguars yesterday. Many of their problems included an inability to make good decisions (especially offensively), difficulty in executing plays, and the recurring penalties. Green Bay gave up over 100 yards yesterday due to penalties. In a 28-25 loss, the Packers ended their regular season at Lambeau with a 4-4 record.

But the bigger story was the fairness of the judging staff. Ed Hochuli must be the greatest NFL referee in the league today. He always watches the game unbiased and makes some of the fairest calls. I was especially impressed with two decisions that he made.

First, Jaguars safety Donavin Darius clothelined Packers wide receiver Robert Ferguson in a nearly-debilitating manner. Ferguson was unable to get up after that hit. When Darius hit him, he jumped with his forearm extended and contacted Ferguson across the neck, knocking his helmet right off (chin guard and all). Hochuli first called an unnecessary roughness personal foul against the Jaguars. But even more impressive was his decision to eject Darius from the game (only five minutes after I suggested that he should be ejected). Intent or not, it was a move that could have resulted in something fatal. Ferguson was hospitalized and diagnosed with a strained neck (fortunately, it was not something worse).

Second, the Packers had just been called on a false start penalty. Packers quarterback Brett Favre tossed the football to the umpire so he could set it on the new line of scrimmage. The umpire was obviously not paying attention, and the ball hit him in the head… he immediately threw a yellow flag. Favre’s face showed that he didn’t have any intention of hitting the umpire, but it seemed like a lost cause. Hochuli told the umpire that it was not a penalty, and the Packers were able to save a little face (despite their loss).

If anything could have gone wrong for the Green Bay Packers yesterday, it did. But despite all of their troubles, it was good to see one of the best referees presiding over the game. I just hope that the errors and penalties are out of the players’ systems now… it’s two more games to the playoffs, and Green Bay needs to be tough and accurate to remain in the game.

I was a little surprised that Jack O’Neill was promoted to general at the beginning of Stargate SG-1’s eighth season. One of the big reasons why I watch the show is because I admire Anderson’s portrayal of the Air Force/SG-1 commander. He’s in command, he’s funny, and he knows where to tell the “man” to go. So I was saddened when he was no longer a part of SG-1 because of his promotion to general.

Which brings me to the following link. Rumor has it that Ben Browder (John Crichton, Farscape) will have some role in Stargate SG-1’s ninth season. I enjoyed watching Browder play his character, and I’ve noticed some similarities between Crichton and O’Neill (although Crichton came off a little more aggressive). I don’t have a problem with him joining SG-1, and even welcome his contribution to the show. I just hope it doesn’t turn out like the X-Files, where you had new people come on, but fans didn’t react kindly (I personally thought it had a lot of potential and the acting was great).

But the other part of the story was bringing Anderson back, “in some capacity” to play O’Neill again. In my mind, O’Neill and Jackson (played by Michael Shanks) make the show worth watching. Furthermore, the interaction between all of the members of SG-1 has brought the series the success it has. It would be difficult to imagine a new SG-1 after watching it for so many years (well, after watching its so many seasons). I didn’t dislike Jonas Quinn as the replacement member during season six, so I’m sure I’ll continue to enjoy the stories. But I would like to see them keep O’Neil. To paraphrase the Asgard, “although my continued viewing of the show is not contingent upon General Jack O’Neil, it is preferred.”

Browder joins SG-1

I picked up the final DVD (volume 7) of Last Exile the other night and watched the conclusion to this great story. After waiting to see it how the story unfolds for 10 months, I felt it was worth the wait. Although it became a story of good versus evil, it was also a story of hope, friendship, and unity. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest at least renting it (if it’s available) and watching it. Once you do, you’ll be hooked the way I am. Next chance I get, I plan to watch it all back-to-back-to-back (dude, that’s like 13 hours!).

Last Exile

Being someone who was put at-risk of losing his job due to budget cuts, I was actually relieved to learn that I was on the chopping block when it finally happened. The future seemed uncertain at the time, but I looked upon it as an opportunity to move forward in my life.

Unfortunately, someone decided that it would not be humane to let employees at DOT know that they’re losing their jobs before the holidays. I believe that this is actually inhumane, because employees must wait longer yet to learn their fate. When I left the agency, morale was already at an all-time low. On a recent trip there to wish my former office director congratulations on her retirement, I could feel the tension in the hallways. Employees don’t want to hear bad news, but they want to know if it will be them so they can start competing for other positions or start planning for the future.

John Nordbo, an employee at DOT, mentions another issue in his editorial with the potential layoffs: bumping rights. The whole thing is going to be a logistical nightmare for many employees and the human resources bureau. In its simplest terms, if an employee had a previous position, was promoted to a higher position, and is then laid-off, that employee can “bump” back to a position of the same previous classification. If that position is not vacant, then the incumbent of the position is “bumped” out, possibly facing his or her own layoff. When you compound this among many employees (DOT has 340 staff in its reduction plan), you can imagine the mess this makes.

So, I agree with John Nordbo’s editorial. I’ve already been down that road, and I was fortunate enough to find something fairly quickly. But others may not be as lucky. It seems unfair that employees should wait until they know of their fate at the the very last minute. I know that DOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi has the utmost respect and compassion for all of the employees that work under him, and I know that he has as much trouble dealing with this as anyone else at DOT. It’s not a matter of blame, but a matter of timing. DOT should provide its employees the opportunity to know what’s going on and offer them a chance to plan for their futures.

Links:

Wisconsin State Journal: Layoffs, With The Holidays On The Mind

Editorial: For Dot Employees, Not Knowing Their Job Future Just Prolongs The Pain

Last night, Dimebag Darrell of Pantera and Damageplan was gunned down while performing in front of an audience last night. The shooter also fatally shot five other people, including two members of Damageplan, before a police officer fatally shot the shooter. What would drive someone to pull off such a terrible mistake is beyond me.

Dimebag was a leading force behind Pantera, and his guitar riffs blew us away. He influenced so many people, and he helped keep the spirit of metal alive. I’m dedicating this blog to him and his bandmates, his family, his friends, and his fans.

Links:

Lars Ulrich (Metallica): RIP Darrell

MSNBC: Metal world mourns death of “Dimebag” Darrell

MSNBC: Deadly Ohio nightclub rampage baffles police

I’ve added new pictures to my site… desktop backgrounds. I’ve taken a copy of the dragon image above and turned it into a desktop image. So for those of you who like dragons breathing fire and holding a guitar residing on your computer desktop, you’re in luck. Please remember that this is copyrighted material.

To set as a desktop image, open the image completely, right-click on it, and select “set as background,” or download by selecting “save picture as…” from the drop-down menu.

In my haste, I also forgot to add a picture of my desk. I’ll continue working on the article next year. In the meantime check out my desk if you haven’t seen it before.

Brian-lair-dragon - 800 x 600

Brian-lair-dragon - 1024 x 768

I tested out the site some more, ran across a few more problems, and hopefully corrected them. I was speaking to one of the web developers at work (Wendy), and she gave me a solution to the problem I had with the error pages. It was great advice, because I found a handful of other pages with the same error. So hopefully the site is ready for prime time (I’d say complete, but these things continue to evolve).

By the way, I’m still considering a RSS feed, in case anyone is interested. Otherwise, I may just use XML to create automated blog entries, with permalinks listed at the bottom of each one.