Been a little busy...

Sorry the blogging has flagged as of late.  I have had my hands full with stuff at home both mundane and meaningful.  As I posted earlier, we got our son Zach off to basic training in the Air Force.  He has called a couple of times but just to relay that he arrived and to leave his address.  It is very strange knowing he is there and wondering what he is going through.  He is on our minds constantly.  We are really looking forward to attending his graduation when that arrives sometime in June.  In the meantime, he is in our thoughts and prayers and we hope this is a good path that he has chosen.

I would also like to thank Barb and Jess for all they have done lately.  They threw me one heck of a birthday party and they have just been terrific.  Barb has earned major kudos at work.  She is doing an exceptional job and that has been recognized.  I am tremendously proud of her for everything she does, here and at work.  You're the best, Sweetie!

I am in the midst of deciding on a home theater surround sound system.  I have been doing a lot of searching and I have settled upon what I want.  It's just that it is not available yet and may not be until mid June.  In the meantime there is almost an identical system available that I seriously tempted with.  Both support HDMI 1.4 so if that becomes the new standard with 3D TVs and such I will be all set.  The yet-to-arrive-model is a 7.1 system while the other is 5.1.  Honestly, 5.1 would be fine by me.  Even if I get the 7.1 system, I may only set it up as 5.1 given the size of my theater room.  The real reason I am holding out (so far) is that the system that is already available has only 3 HDMI inputs while the other has 4.  Currently I only need 3 (Xbox 360, PS3 and Digital HD cable TV) but I'd like to have an extra just in case the need would ever arise.  Maybe I am being silly there, I don't know.  The The yet-to-be-released set also comes with an iPod dock that works with iPhones, so that's cool as well.  We'll see how long I can hold out waiting for the other system to become available.

Gaming-wise I haven't been playing much.  When I do get time I have been playing Just Cause 2, which is too fun for words, and MLB 10: The Show.  Just Cause 2 is the ultimate sandbox game.  You can lay waste to anything and everything and then deal with the consequences.  It is by no means perfect but I am having more fun with this game than I ever had with a Grand Theft Auto title.  There is so much to do it is unreal.  In The Show meantime, little John Schmaltz is tearing it up in AA ball for the Red Sox affiliate.  He could get a call up to AAA at any time.  Once again, The Show is where it's at as far as baseball is concerned.

Lastly I have spent far too much time worrying about the St. Louis Rams.  Anyone that knows me know that I am a complete draft-aholic and I have been keeping up with all that as usual.  But just when it seemed as though the team was going to be sold to Shahid Khan, who is very keen on making things work in St. Louis, minority owner Stan Kroenke has decided to try to break NFL rules and buy the team outright.  The rules state that since Kroenke owns 2 other sports teams (the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche) in a city with an NFL team, he cannot own those 2 teams and and NFL team at the same time.  The thought is that he would be competing for the sports dollars in Denver against a fellow NFL owner.  It's a convoluted rule, but it has been in place for a while and there seemed no chance it was going to be lifted for Kroenke.  But he made the play anyway, so he must have something up his sleeve.

First of all, I feel very bad for Khan, who stepped up when this city needed him to.  Secondly, despite Kroenke owning 40% of the team since their arrival in St. Louis, there is no guarantee that he is committed to keeping the team here.  The stadium lease deal will likely be voided in 2014 (a long story) and Kroenke can do whatever he wants with the team.  When he announced he had matched the offer to buy the Rams, he made not a single mention of the city of St. Louis.  He is from Missouri, but he is a billionaire business man with homes all over the place, including Malibu, California.  Who says the city of Los Angeles doesn't get their massive stadium built and Kroenke is free to go wherever he wants after 2014, which would be right around the time the stadium is completed.  Sound crazy?  Perhaps, but even the local media is wary.

I am just sick to death of uncertain ownership issues (which couldn't have come at a worse time, right before the draft) and having to worry about whether this team will remain in St. Louis for the long haul.  There shouldn't be this sort of anxiety and uncertainty year in and year out for a team that has been welcomed here with open arms.  At the very least, Khan was hoping to be approved in May.  Now with this latest development, we won't know what's going to happen for a much longer time.  More uncertainty.  And even if Kroenke gets the team, the future may not be in St. Louis.

As someone who has been a die-hard Rams' fan since they arrived in St. Louis, I am just about fed up.  This is the most dysfunctional sports team I have ever seen, and I lived through the Blues era when they were thought to be moving to Saskatoon.  This team never gets anything right.  Other than a glorious 5 year run from 1999-2003, this has been the very worst NFL team in the league.  The last 3 years have set a new league record in futility with a 6-42 record.  Not only do we have to endure record-setting bad football, but all under the threat that the team could pick up and leave if that's what the owner wishes.

Rant off and good night!