Baby Falls and Keeps Trying to Fall!

My buddy Channing Work filmed his awesome son doing his thing. Looks like he loves the rush of falling backwards! http://youtu.be/rNvt9NvGPdQ

For Love of Boxing

“Floyd, if you’re a real man, fight me," Pacquiao closed. "Let’s do it for the love of boxing and for the fans. Let’s do it not for the sake of money. Let’s make the boxing fans happy.”

Now that's an athlete giving back to his fans.

Stop Mouthing Against Sherman

There are plenty of articles and news media coverage concerning Seattle Seahawks' Cornerback Richard Sherman emotional outburst while being interviewed by Erin Andrews immediately *after they clinched the NFC spot in the 2014 Superbowl. There is a glimpse of the post game interview after he's had the chance to collect his thoughts but I just wanted to point out a few things. Yes, he could have approached the question better but it's a sport, it's the adrenaline, it was *RIGHT after. Let him celebrate that he contributed to the final play of the game that helped elevate his team to one of the most popular games on television. If anything, read the following articles then make your judgement. If you're still not somewhat brought back to earth, then stop watching sports. It's a competition and if your team won, you wouldn't have really cared either way. Yes, I always support celebrations because hell, if I made a touchdown, I should be able to do what the hell I want.

From Richard Sherman himself on Monday Morning Quarterback not to mention that he has been writing a column for the last six months:

It was loud, it was in the moment, and it was just a small part of the person I am. I don’t want to be a villain, because I’m not a villainous person. When I say I’m the best cornerback in football, it’s with a caveat: There isn’t a great defensive backfield in the NFL that doesn’t have a great front seven. Everything begins with pressure up front, and that’s what we get from our pass rushers every Sunday. To those who would call me a thug or worse because I show passion on a football field—don’t judge a person’s character by what they do between the lines. Judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family.

Taken from The Nation:

There will also be less discussion of who Richard Sherman actually is, and the genius of both his preparation and style of play. In fact, when it comes to smarts, skills and psychological gamesmanship, Sherman, is in many respects the cornerback version of Peyton Manning. Just as Manning treats every trip to the line of scrimmage like he’s Hannibal Lecter trying to get into the head of Clarice Starling—OMAHA!—Sherman has a deeply cerebral method to his perceived madness. Read Lee Jenkins’ profile of the Stanford graduate in the July 2013 issue of Sports Illustrated, titled Warning: Don’t Take The Bait. As Jenkins writes, “Whether you think cornerback Richard Sherman of the (NFC champion?) Seahawks is a smacktalk poet laureate or just another loudmouth doesn’t matter. He’s a shrewd, dedicated lockdown defender who doesn’t mind getting on his opponents’ nerves—in fact, he prefers it that way.”

He has also apologized from taking away from his team's accomplishments since all the focus has been on him but main take away from the ProFootballTalk article was what Coach Pete Carroll had to say:

“When you really love somebody and care for them, you do everything you can help them be everything they can be,” Carroll said on the radio. “At times they are going to make mistakes and break your heart, but if you love them, you stay with them. You give [them] the best chance to be all they can be. Richard is a wonderful spirit. He’s got an amazing heart, and he has great sensitivity. He goes all the way to the end of the spectrum when it comes to expressing himself.”

NFL Films Presents also presented an amazing background piece about his background which I found pretty intriguing. Watch it here. And of course, here he is mic'd up including where he gets punched in the face. He did ask for it, but that's a different matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBy7HVcsUK8

BBC's Sherlock is Back!

Last night marked the premiere of the BBC's Sherlock Series 3 staring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman here in the US. If you're like me and find yourself stuck at the airport waiting for an assignment or have the time for some awesome television, make sure to catch the first two series which are only 3 episodes each. Granted each episode is 90 minutes but it some of the best television out there!

You can catch up on either Netflix on if you are an Amazon Prime Member, have at it! If you need more convincing, BBC America posted the '10 Reasons Why Steven Moffat's 'Sherlock' is the Best' which you need to read. Just to mention, I think that the US version, Elementary isn't too bad either only because of Jonny Lee Miller.

Verizon Edge: Still Scamming You Twice

Seriously, if you really want or need that new phone, just buy it; don't subsidize it. Or if you really must, use your credit card but don't think Verizon's newer Edge plan is better. It's still awful.

As noticed by CNET and confirmed on Verizon's site, the carrier has made a tweak to Edge that does let customers using it upgrade even more frequently if they're so inclined — now, instead of waiting for six months to trade your phone in and get a new one, you can do so after just 30 days. Of course, you're still responsible for paying off half the retail cost on the phone, which means you won't save much money with this new plan. The earlier you upgrade, the less time you're paying Verizon two phone subsidies (the monthly Edge payment as well as the phone payment already built in to your contract) — but it's still not a good deal, just a less bad one.

However, Verizon subscribers who wants to upgrade their phones whenever they want are probably better off just buying phones at their full retail cost — you control exactly when you buy a new phone, and you get to keep or sell them afterwards rather than give them back in to Verizon.

NFL Championships Game of Thrones Style

If you like Game of Thrones and are excited about today's AFC & NFC Championships, this Austrian promo video is for you! Why didn't this show here as a US version? http://youtu.be/EsmQ2uwItKU

Hipsters Ordering Beer

If you love beer, drink beer, are into beer tastings and the overly hippy hoppy beer or ales, whatever, this video is for you! http://youtu.be/KWBV7yKWhWE

Beat Zelda: A Link to the Past in 5 mins!

Wow. Speechless. Just watch and be amazed. Also, while we're at it, anyone have a spare SNES and ZALTTP copy that I can borrow for a bit? http://youtu.be/tiNe-okXMGU

Spotify or Pandora and Introducing Beats Music

With the impending January 21st release of the subscription only Beats Music, I'm thinking two things: 1: why on earth do we need another music streaming service and 2: with Spotify announcing unlimited ad-supported service just yesterday, why would I want to pay $9.99 a month?¹ I'll admit, I do like Beats Music "Madlibs" type playlist creation and the interface does looks pretty slick. Since they have a free trial I'll give them a shot. As a small bonus, apparently because I'm an AT&T wireless subscriber, I have the opportunity to get 90 days free on the family plan! After that, it's $14.99 a month and I already know that I'm 90% NOT going to pay. I'm all about equal opportunity and trying out new services, but both the free Pandora or Spotify options don't have me wanting to spend money.

Unrelated, my wife and I are REALLY contemplating unplugging our television services later this year. Time to hunker down right and spend money wisely. Too bad turntable.fm didn't last and what the heck HBO? Why can't you detach yourself from a cable subscription already?!

In our experience it’s always been a living, breathing human who has brought us that song we fell in love with. The song you couldn’t stop playing over and over. The album you deemed a headphone masterpiece. The mix tape that made you think “I’m gonna marry this one.” We tried to remember a time a robot found us magic but all we could find were the times the robot made us laugh: “You like Pantera? Have you heard of Black Sabbath?” “You like Mumford and Sons? Here’s another song with banjos!”

We wanted to build a service that was more than a server, one that was truly of service to the listener. We wanted to combine the trust that comes from excellent hand-picked music with the personalization that knows you’re an individual and that a handful of stations can’t satisfy all listeners.

If you want to be transported somewhere else, try RIGHT NOW. Just tell Beats Music where you are, what you feel like doing, who you’re with, and what kind of music you’re looking to hear and we’ll take care of the rest by delivering you an endless playlist for your context, be it real or imaginary.

As of this writing, the following are numbers of 'Likes' from their Facebook Page: 6.3 million for Pandora, 4 million for Spotify and 92k for Beats Music. I guess that's good for a service that hasn't launched yet.

---

1. Pandora One cost $36 a year or $3.99 a month; Spotify costs a similar $9.99 a month. ↩

Sitting Idle Costs Money or in this Case Drivers Too!

It makes sense. If you sit parked with the engine running, you burn gas. If you drive around aimlessly content, you burn gas. In this case, the San Francisco Cab Drivers Association was caught with their tanks on empty. Some people call this disruption but I call it laziness, content, sitting fat, dumb and happy or reactive and definitely not proactive.

The San Francisco Cab Drivers Association (SFCDA), an association for registered taxi drivers that promotes fair working conditions and business practice, reports that one-third of the 8,500 or so taxi drivers in San Francisco – over 2,800 – have ditched driving a registered cab in the last 12 months to drive for a private transportation startup like Uber, Lyft or Sidecar instead.

Box Throws in Free 50GBs!

I'm a paid, and happy, user of Dropbox but with the other company Box updating their iOS app to 3.0 and throwing in free 50GBs for life, I might just have to switch on over! That's a steal in my book. I also wouldn't be surprised if Dropbox threw something out there too in the next week or so so keep an eye out. If anything, there's nothing to lose with signing up!

We couldn’t be more excited to announce that today we are releasing our brand new, completely rebuilt Box for iPhone® and iPad® app. And to commemorate this, we are offering 50GB of free storage for life to users who download the app in the next 30 days.

Stop and Use Honest

Since the birth of our daughter, my wife and I were already all about Jessica Alba's company, Honest. In fact, I was so eager to check them out that I ordered a sample a few months prior to her being born and even scheduled our first bundle to ship while we were still at the hospital! We've been subscribers ever since and haven't looked back.

In lieu of recent events of allergies, particularly to methylisothiazolinone (MI), popping up, I thought I'd reiterate their not only effective, but unquestionably safe, eco-friendly, beautiful, convenient, and affordable philosophy. If you haven't read the report on NBC News, I'd get on it then head over to Honest and try out a free sample. Here's a small excerpt:

Dr. Robin Gehris said she has been seeing more and more kids with reactions to the wipes. It’s possible, she said, that this is because manufacturers have bumped up the amount of MI used in wipes 25-fold.

Being the cautious father I am, I still felt compelled to look up the ingredients of the Best, Natural, Plant-Based Baby Wipes by Honest and wasn't surprised at all that it DID NOT contain MI. Here are all the ingredients:

Purified Water, Citric Acid (Fruit-Based Stability Agent), Silver Dihydrogen Citrate (All Natural, Water-Soluble Preservative), Decyl Glucoside (Sugar-Based Cleanser), Sodium Citrate (Corn-Based Antioxidant), Punica Granatum (Pomegranate Fruit) Extract, Glycyrrhiza Uralensis (Licorice Root) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomile) Extract, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber Fruit) Extract, Peucedanum Ostruthium (Masterwort Leaf) Extract

You can read more about Jessica and Chris' story here. Once again, it DOES NOT contain methylisothiazolinone (MI). Go grab a bag and try them out!

The Super Awesome Trinity Knot for Neckties

I'm definitely a lot more comfortable these days with tying a bow tie thanks to Mr. Offshoreorganbuilder, but this is something new to me! This Trinity knot is my next knot! I guarantee it! Watch Alex Krasny do it up! Maybe I'll even post a knot selfie on my Instagram later this week. http://youtu.be/QPyxTrhsBiM

Here's a picture of it too!