Baseball Opening Day

In honor of Major League Baseball's Opening Day, which I'll be celebrating for about the fifth year in a row Monday in Cincinnati, I bring you baseball's best logo.

The best logo?

Yes, that's right, that of the St. Louis Cardinals. Bright, vibrant red with a gloss-white stitched scripted logo. There's grace in its simplicity and power in its design.

In my mind, the Boston Red Sox's and Detroit Tigers' logos are tied for second.

Call me old school.

Go Reds!

Singlespeed Day

It was a day tailor made for the 32x16. 70 and sunny with a cooling breeze. Perfect.

Despite 5mg/day of prednisone and some 18mg or so of methotrexate a week (with today as my dosage day), as well as numerous work-related projects, I called it a day around 3:30p and took my daughter for a two- or three-mile bike ride. I had my choice of bikes, but I chose the trusty single-speed. There's such grace and elegance in its simplicity.

Come to think of it, my daughter was on a single-speed Trek, too. How cool is that?

We had an outstanding ride. Sure, I used to cruise 250 miles a week ten years ago this point in the season. But at least I got my ass out the door. I count that an accomplishment.

Northeast Christian Video

A friend asked if I'd be willing to join a "placard parade" to share how my church impacted my life. Wanting to help and prove supportive, I said sure (knowing I'd have to attend all three church services in a single weekend).



As I was preparing to go onstage with my sign during the first service, I was thinking I HAVE to do this two more times. By the time the short (five-minute event) was over, I found myself thinking I only GET to do this two more times.

The experience was absolutely moving live. The video doesn't capture the energy from the service (with the crowd's applause, cheering and unabashed reactions to others' signs), but it at least gives you an idea what it was like.

Enjoy.

"We Love It When You First Try Fixing It Yourself"

I once met a plumber that told me "we love it when you first try fixing it yourself." He was referring to home owners who make matters worse when they try repairing plumbing issues themselves.

His point?

Not only do home owners come to realize first hand just how much value there is in a plumber's expertise and know-how, these home owners make a bigger mess of the project.

As a full-time IT consultant, I've come to see the same situation (unfortunately) is true with computers and well-intentioned users. That's why I found this USA Today article so entertaining.

Enough! Web Pages Resembling Stock Cars

Software developers are a funny lot. I love them, don't get me wrong. These are the wonderful men and women who brought us word processing programs, Flickr, instant sports scores on the Web and much more.

But the popularity of new Web tools, plug-ins, social-networking tie-ins, bookmarks and favorites links is becoming too much.

Web pages are beginning to resemble NASCAR stock cars. Just as the race machines from the world's leading motorsports series are ridiculed for their preponderance of ads, logos and sponsor decals, so too should Web pages.

At what point do we stop? I recently visited a Web page that contained so many social networking, bookmark and favorites links it reminded me of a NASCAR racer's front fender! There were ad links. logos and buttons for a dizzying array of options, including Digg, Buzz, Adding To Google, Adding To Yahoo, RSS feeds, XML links, send to my cell phone options, etcetera.

Enough is enough!

Someday the shakeout will be complete and but a few (maybe a half-dozen?) links will essentially become standardized. Until then, browsing the Web will prove reminiscent of strolling the race track, pit lizards and all.