The View From Wisconsin

Computer annoyance of the day (too big for Twitter or Facebook): I have been trying to print out a simple set of directions using Streets & Trips 2006. Only one small problem: Every time I've printed them out, the print is backwards and upside down. The map itself is okay; it's the words and writing that are messed up.

Now, there's a Knowledge Base article on support.microsoft.com that covers this issue. I've read it before, and I believe it's got something to do with bi-directional printing or some ridiculously simple thing.

There's just one problem: it no longer exists. See, apparently Microsoft doesn't keep issues to products that have been replaced by three new versions (2007, 2008 and 2009) around on their website. So, I'm stuck with printouts that are readable if I hold them upside down and backwards - but not if I'm just reading them.

What's strange is, I can print the maps to PDF, and the text comes out OK. The Maps look bad, though.

Some thoughts for a Saturday Morning in August:

• I just ran through my iTunes list, comparing it to the titles on The Beatles: Rock Band. Of the 45 regular tracks and the one "bonus" track for the Xbox ("All You Need Is Love"), I only have 25 of them. Does that make me less of a Beatles fan than I thought I was?
  
• Speaking of which, part of me wants to read through the Rolling Stone article on the breakup of the Beatles, and part of me doesn't. Mostly because trying to explain the breakup of the Beatles is like trying to describe World War II.
  
• I think I did a good thing in scheduling my Furlough days prior to November/December, and not on a weekend. I suspect at some time before the year is over I will get ordered on to first shift due to snow and such.
  
• After watching the Cowboys-Titans game, I'm convinced that that HD scoreboard at Cowboys Stadium is going to get hit, hit, hit with punts - unless they figure out how they can raise it up without causing other problems.
  
• The Brewers are on the Triple-A portion of their schedule, with games against Washington, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh (who, unfortunately, we've proven that we can't beat). If they go 9-0, then maybe we can salvage the season. I doubt it, though.
  
• Saw a new "100 Calorie" product at the store last night - Little Debbie has a new Cookies & Cream cake that looks yummy on the package. Only one problem: you open up the box, pull one out, and it's smaller than an iPod nano. Seriously: it's smaller than an inch by inch by two inches. I tried not to eat it in two bites, but it was incredibly hard to do so.
  
• Marcel Goc. Why? In essence, signing him was a trade between the Preds and the Sharks for third-line centers. Former Pred Scott Nichol signed with the Sharks, essentially as an "upgrade" from Goc, who isn't as tough and doesn't score as much. Most observers see him as a Milwaukee pickup. I'm thinking I'll be seeing him in Admirals laundry this year.
  
• Guilty pleasure: watching Man vs. Food. I'm waiting for him to show up at the Heart Attack Grill in Tempe, AZ.
  

PT Cruiser repair update: My PT Cruiser's vent issue was finally solved on Thursday. The replacement cable came in, and the only thing left to do was remove the old one and put the new one in. So - slip the old cable off its connections to the control levers on both sides, take it out of the clip attaching it to the control panel, and... wait a minute, that's a bolt there stuck all the way back under the dash frame. And the head is recessed enough that my nut driver can't get around it to loosen it.

So, as I'm struggling to figure out how to get it off - and considering snipping the cable off - I realize a neighbor of mine is out in his garage. He has a small wrench that fits, and with a little more help after getting the cable seated right, I finally have the vent system defogging my windows. Putting everything back in was relatively easy compared to that.

I took a good look at the old cable - what had happened was that the cable itself got frayed, probably from years of constant switching and (perhaps) the lever seizing up on the lever atop the vent canister. When the canister got stuck, for whatever reason (I'm still thinking that a seed or twig or something fell into the vent system), the cable got bent from my attempts at switching from vent to defogger.

After seeing how the controls for the HVAC system in my car works, I can only say two things:

1. It is rather disheartening how Chrysler cut corners on the PT Cruiser by concentrating more on the exterior and looks of the car instead of thinking through the interior and controls, and
2. Looking at the inside of your car is a little bit like going to a sausage factory or attending a congressional hearing. You know the old saying by John Godfrey Saxe: "Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made."

I just found out that I start my "furlough" journey this week on Thursday. I got three of the top four days I had selected for my chosen furlough days, and it just happened that my first two "wrap" around my vacation right at the end of this month.

In one way, it's good, but in another, it's not, mostly because it's unclear as to whether or not I can take OT this week.

I had a whole blog post put together on my opinion on something that happened Saturday night, but a lot of things have happened since then to push them to the back burner.

First of all - I fully expect the city/county of Waukesha to get the Highway 164/59 Waukesha Bypass renamed to the Les Paul Memorial Parkway within a short time. My greatest regret is that I never got a chance to meet the man since moving to Waukesha in '93.

Secondly - I have no qualms about the Eagles deciding to sign Mike Vick. Better them to get steamrolled by PETA and the other nut-groups that are going to protest his every move. And I still am not convinced he's going to be anything more than an "anomaly" in the history of the NFL, anyways.

Third - What the heck is up with the Admirals and their weird schedule to start the season? Six straight road games, then six out of seven at home, then another eight straight on the road?

Fourth - When in the world are the Predators going to get their message boards back up and running so I don't have to go crazy blogging and Tweeting?

So I wake up, turn on the 'puter, do a few clicky-linkys and find out that the Brewers have, in essence, thrown in the towel for 2009.

Bill Castro fired as pitching coach; J.J. Hardy sent down to Nashville; Bill Hall sent down "for assignment" (IOW, we're about to give him his unconditional release).

A face palm isn't adequate to describe these moves. This is close to "bang your head against the wall" level.

Good Lord, I do NOT want to have to wait 26 years before this team goes back to the post-season again.

So even as I'm sitting there, still stewing and wondering how I'm going to replace the remote control I'd thrown at the TV after watching Gary Bettman's press conference, it appears that there were some nefarious acts going on in the Great White North that would lead to me nearly punching out a newspaper box outside a Waffle House a few years later.

In all the lovely stuff that's been happening with the Phoenix Coyotes, a little piece of information has come out that the sale of the Nashville Predators back in 2007 was started - not because Craig Leipold was getting tired of owning them, nor was it because he wanted to own the Wild instead - but because Richard "Just Chill" Rodier was trying to undermine the continued existence of the team by some very underhanded means.

Rodier, apparently a good two years prior to asking Leipold about purchasing the team, inquired about the lease terms between the team and the city of Nashville - by contacting the city's Director of Finance. In early March, there started to be a bunch of articles in the TG&M about the "financial difficulties" of the Predators. Part of the articles related that the terms of the lease agreement might not be met because of the lockout.

Guess what happened two months later? Yep, Metro Nashville asked the Preds for their financials, because there was all this "media frenzy" about it. And, apparently Rodier was arguing that the only physical assets of the team were hockey pucks.

(pause here for meaningful eye rolling)

This began two years of bickering and arguing between MDC and the Predators about their lease. And it made the situation that eventually led to the Predators' sale to David Freeman and company that much more difficult.

Guess what - that's only the TIP OF THE ICEBERG. Leipold also mentions that Balsillie and Rodier were negotiating to purchase the team while all along planning on moving the team to Hamilton. (Which, of course, Predator fans already knew after hamiltonpredators.com went live.) In fact, it was the very first Terms of Sale Sheet that Ballsy gave CL. CL rejected it, but Ballsy basically presumed from that point until the team was sold to Freeman that the team was his to do whatever he (blankety-blank) well wished.

And then there was Rodier's attempt at trying to sic the Canadian Competition Bureau on CL and the NHL. Guess what, Canadian taxpayers? For the next 10 months, your federal government spent your money to determine that Ballsy and Rodent were acting stupid.

I'm not happy as to how CL ended up dumping the Preds and then scrambling to purchase the Wild instead. That hurt a lot. But as it turns out, he wasn't the bad guy in all this.

I have claimed over on the Predators message boards that the whole story of Balsillie's attempts at getting into the NHL should be published, like either Lords of the Realm or Barbarians at the Gate. Unfortunately, such a book would probably not be able to make print until sometime in like 2014, because you know Rodier would sue the publisher.

Too bad, because Dirty Ice: How Jim Balsillie Tried To Break Into The NHL would be a VERY interesting read.

Twitter's down, Facebook's acting up. So what do you do? You blog.

Defcon17 is happening right now in Vegas, and I understand that they do little "warmup" exercises to show their L337 H4Kzor Skillz (or something like that).

Of course, Twitter's server can't take high loads to begin with, but hey.

This may come to a complete shock to those of you who haven't known me for a long time, but at one time I was really into Christian Rock music. I got away from it after I was married, partly because of the distance and partly because I was getting more into "regular" rock and roll at the time.