Drug through the mud?

Or is it "dragged through the mud"? While I was a graduate student a professor of mine made that statement with respect to the academic tenure process. Actually he said it was like getting dragged naked through the streets in the mud. Surprisingly, he left the university before actually going through tenure - perhaps he didn't want to go through that, or maybe he just decided it wasn't worth it after all, or maybe something better simply came up. I don't know.

But, a dozen years later I find myself disrobed and muddy after completing, just this evening, the final assembly of all of my materials. It is not all that dissatisfying though, and not nearly as painful as I was led to believe. The key word there is believe. If you can look yourself in the mirror each morning, and can honestly say you have acted on what you believe - then that is all you can really do. 6 years ago I left a fair amount of money on the table to return to academia for one more shot. But I told myself that I was going to impact academia with what I believe - that we do not prepare our students for industry, that we are too often self-serving, and that the individualistic approach in academia has long been disproven by all types of communities that are far more efficient. I enjoyed assembling my P and T packet because it reminded me that while I have not built the highest and whitest ivory tower for all to see, I have acted true to the values that I still hold dear. And if academia doesn't want me after that, well, ... their loss.

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Is there Sawx Magic this year?

Anyone who knows me knows me as a card carrying nutjob of Red Sox Nation - and proud of it mind you! So where do I stand w.r.t. Sox' playoff chances, especially in light of that juggernaut whose name I won't say?

Well, my answer is that I am not without hope. But a lot of things have got to come together at just the right time. The Sox have shown the capacity, at times, to be deservedly called an elite team. Lately they have been playing very well (perhaps in streaks). Theo made some fantastic deadline deals, they have a great homefield advantage, and some players who have not contributed are now contributing (hello Dice-K, Bucholz, and yes Big Papi).

Of course there are reasons to doubt them as well. Can Alex Gonzalez hit like he has the past 2 months? Will Ortiz go back into a funk when the spotlight turns back to the steroid allegations (which they undoubtedly will once they are on primetime TV night after night)? Are Lester and Beckett healthy going into the playoffs? And what do you do with Wake?

But these are all sideplots. To me the playoffs will boil down to a few simple deciding factors:

1. We believe we have the best starting pitching, a near-best bullpen. Do we? These are our hole cards without question, and we need it to come up aces.
2. Nobody wants to say it, but boy do we miss Manny's bat in the lineup. Not one word from me about wishing he was here, I don't. But Ortiz-Ramirez struck fear into every opponent, and could change any game when their turn came up. Every Sox fan in the last 5 years, in a close game, would count batters before these guys got up again. Youk and Bay are wonderful players, but we won't see the likes of that duo again for a long time to come.
3. Let's face it, these playoffs are more about those damn Yankees than it they are about us. If they play the way they have been playing, who is going to stop them? Nobody. Especially in that bandbox BS little park they play in (another post on that later). A-Fraud, CC, Burnett, Texiera all have to show they can do it on the big stage under the bright lights. Does CC remember 2007? You bet the Fenway Faithful will remind him.

In the end, these playoffs are the Yankees vs. the Yankees.

p.s. Am I overlooking the Angels. you betcha

In the end, you do what is easiest...

I have setup my blog on various hosted tools, as part of other tools (particularly at the University, like Sakai and Moodle), and installed locally hosted tools (doesn't everybody Wordpress now?). In the end though, I switched over to Google's Blogger because it is just so durned easy.

I must be going through a phase - lately I have been divesting myself of digital artifacts and environments, consolidating in an effort to make my online life more productive and less intrusive. We are always good at coming up with whizbang things, but not always good at figuring out how to make them effectively fit into our lives. That, we do on our own.

One thing this blog tool does not do (at least I haven't found it) is categorize entries to create a blogroll for different communities. So on this blog you will find an unordered mix of postings ranging from professional (Education, Software Engineering and Web Development) to personal (family, friends, and of course the Red Sox), to opinion (politics, society).

As always, what I post does not a reflect the position of my employer (Arizona State University or the State of Arizona).