Help Me Make "Bail" - Donate to the MDA

On July 17, 2013, I am set to serve time on behalf of the MDA - Muscular Dystrophy Association - in the annual Sacramento Executive Lock-Up.  This event is done every year, locally and nationally, to promote fundraising on behalf of the MDA.  These funds then go towards research regarding a variety of muscular ailments, including ALS (i.e. Lou Gehrig's Disease).  And because many of these diseases have no known treatment - let alone a cure - there is little to no medical assistance for providing necessary care and comfort to those afflicted.  Thus, money raised also goes to providing the care and assistance those victims need.

Please visit my personal fundraising page here (http://www2.mda.org/goto/jdhein22).  As you can see, I have already raised over 10% of my bail.  However, if each of my regular readers of my blog contributed $10.00 apiece, I could easily double what has already been raised.  And every dollar counts - so even if you can only afford a $5.00 donation, it will be appreciated.

Thanks!

February State of the Yard

I know it is the dead of winter. However, I just did an audit of my backyard and right now I am feeling like 3/4 of the plants and shrubs are either 50/50 or doubtful of returning next year. Argh! Seriously, 52 drip line spots to replace! Not to mention the flag stone patio and (obviously) the vegetable garden. Oh yeah, and the entire backyard probably needs to be ripped out. It is mostly moss and crabgrass, thanks to Madison and Davis. Oh yeah, did I mention they are in the middle of a two month project of digging an unneeded and unwanted irrigation ditch leading to the gate of the vegetable garden? Thanks for the surprise birthday present, jerks.

On the bright side, the front yard, beds look great. Looking forward to putting some more drip lines on the north bed and sprinklers facing Kerry's lawn. I think the only thing that will need replacing are the Dahlias. Dang snails! But I got a plan for them. Oh, they will never see what is coming.

Gong Hei Fard Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! Welcome, Year of the Snake.

Weekly Review of Jacksonville Jaguars

I am thinking of starting a project next year reviewing every NFL game, in-depth, for a single, random NFL team. This is something Packers, Patriots, and even Vikings fans have now grown accustomed to, from our respective beat reporters (i.e. McGinn, Bedard, and Pelissero, respectively). However, most teams - and their fans - do not have such luxury. Most do not have someone who painstakingly breaks down film, conducts interviews, and grills scouts on an individual play-by-play basis. So, my idea would be do it for a team for which I have no real affinity and for whom does not have an existing option. So, I think I am settling on the Jaguars.

The idea would be to review each play up to 10-15 times in order to determine who on the Jaguars won their individual battles on the play, who did not, and why, ultimately, each play succeeded or failed. I have the all-22 access on NFL.com, so I should be able to get a pretty good sense what happened on each play. I would award points from -3 to +3 for each player. I would also take into account outstanding or horrible effort by the opposition, and adjust my points and critique as appropriate. My goal would be to post a complete breakdown of my findings by the Friday following the game.

The goal in doing this would to see if I have what it takes to review game film, scout teams, scout players, and learn why a particular team wins and why another loses. Granted, I won't have the access to players, coaches, and scouts like the aforementioned writers do (and have rightfully earned), but at least I can try to give a shot.

Thoughts? Other than a waste of time.

Happy Tu B'Shevat!

Go plant a tree or eat some grapes, figs, dates, pomegranates, olives, barley, or wheat.

See http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/jewish/tu-bshevat for more information.

2013 New Year's Resolutions

So, 2013 is upon us.  my only proud accomplishment off from my 2012 resolutions was brewing beer. Although, i havent actually bottled it yet, so, maybe that resolution was moreso undetermined than anything.

One thing I did accomplish in 2012 that wasn't an official resolution was no McDonald's.  That is right - I never went to McDonald's once in 2012.  Given how close in proximity I live to McDonald's and that it is kind of an ubiquitous American institution, it is kind of hard to imagine that I didn't fall prey to its tempting fries, nuggets, McRibs, or Egg Nog or Shamrock Shakes.  But I did.  So, pat me on the back.

That being said, after last year's "official" debacle (6 of 12), lets set our eyes on some new resolutions for 2013.

1.  Ride my bike more.  I like riding my bike.  In fact, you might say I love it.  I also have access to a pretty nice little bike path along the American River.  I was thinking that I should go on this trip once every other week.  Would like to do it once per week, in the morning, but we shall see.
2.  No ice cream.  I love ice cream - in fact, my favorite cake is an ice cream cake.  However,  Dahlia's exposure to dairy needs to be limited her first year or so.  And that means no ice cream for Paige - who is also a big fan.  So, I think I will try to take one for the team here, and bypass ice cream for the year.  I just finished off the last vanilla and I already miss it.
3.  Grow a moustache.  Yep.  I am aiming for November - the whole Movember craze inspired me.  I will probably do something for Halloween, and then just go with it for a month.  Then we will see what happens.
4.  Eat more quinoa.  It is, after all, 2013's super food of the year. I am aiming for once a week.
5.  Go to a Raiders game.  I have never seen the Raiders play.  Granted, I am a huge Packers fan and my wife is a huge 49ers fan, so there really is no "rooting" interest.  But, I love NFL football.  So, I should go, right?  They also play Denver and Washington at home, so I could go merely to see Peyton Manning or RGIII.
6.  FaceTime for Grandparents.  With Dahlia joining Hein Family - West, I need to set-up a regular, weekly facetime/skype with Grandpa Hein and GJ.  How do Mondays at 7 PM sound?  I will encourage Paige to do the same for Grandpa Brad.    
7.  Date Night.  While movie night was a colossal fail in 2012, I think we can do a semi-monthly Date Night.  Especially with so many people volunteering to babysit.  Every month, I plan one Date Night and Paige plans one Date Night.
8.  Find some recreational activity.  I used to play summer baseball (no, not softball, baseball).  However, my arms and knees are kind of jacked-up and it makes it really difficult to dig America's past time.  I also used to play pick-up basketball, but that ended once I moved to CA and nowhere near a gym.  I have contemplated tennis again, but that is too expensive.  Notwithstanding all of these excuses, I need to figure something out and do it.  Paige has yoga (which I don't really like); so I need something for me (other than planting shrubs and grass seed all spring/summer/fall long).
9.  Help around the house more.  With Dahlia around, I cannot get away with not helping around the house anymore - otherwise, it looks horrible and I get annoyed.  So, this means more than just doing half of the laundry (i.e. starting the washer and dryer, but never folding), half of the dishes (i.e. washing/diswashing machine-ing, but not drying or putting away).  Granted, I have been already - admit it Paige! - but, I need to keep it up and make a concerted effort.  We will let Paige "grade" this one at the end of the year.  
10.  Draft a Will.  I have the technology and the brain power to do so.  I just need some "will power" to do it - especially now with a little one in the family.  I also hope that it will inspire some other - cough, Grandparents on both sides, cough - to do the same.
11.  De-Clutter.  Dahlia is about to turn 5 months old.  That means she is going to be mobile soon.  It also means we will need to baby-proof the house.  This provides us with a good excuse to de-clutter.  Go to a more streamlined ascetic in our house.  Less knickknacks, etc.
12.  Try-Out for a Play.  Wow.  Yep, why not?  I am sure I could find some play or skit or thing I could do. Or at least try to do.
13.  Fly a Kite.  Of course.

So, those are my resolutions. What about you?

Potential Packers Free Agent Targets

Here is a list of NFL free agents that the Packers could, should, but won't investigate in free agency. Not because these players aren't good or a good fit, but just because the Packers never spend any money on other teams's draft picks. However, if the Packers are truly adamant about re-shaping their team to be a more physical and tough team, they will need more than the draft to accomplish it in 1 year.

All of these players are 28 or younger. All are coming off so-so years.

So, with further ado, here are some potential (but always long-shot) targets for the Packers:

Offense
1. Mike Goodson, HB (Oakland) - tough; sparingly used (college, pros); success in zone-blocking
2. Dustin Keller, TE/FB (NY Jets) - ideal size for H-back; assignment sure, good hands; better leak option than Kuhn (see what Rams did with Kendricks?)
3. David Nelson, WR (Buffalo) - giant (6'5"); can box out; fascinating pairing with Finley
4. LaRod Stephens-Howling, HB/KR (Arizona) - mighty-mouse, but a completely different runner than DuJuan Harris; KR
5. Chris Ivory, HB (New Orleans) - buried on depth chart; has looked like dynamite when given opportunities
6. Mike Pollack, C/G (Carolina) - size, agility, flexibility for interior line
7. Ramses Barden, WR (NY Giants) - genuine monster, at 6'7"; would diversify the receiving corp.
8. Brandyn Dombrowski, G/T (San Diego) - great size, youth; tatted-up means nasty, right?
9. Branden Albert, G/T (Kansas City) - tall, long tackle, agility to even play guard; might be out of price range.
10. Brady Quinn, QB (Kansas City) - whaaa? Sure, why not? How about a young, beaten pup of a QB for McCarthy to mold?

Defense
1. Matt Shaughnessy, DE (Oakland) - tall, long arms; strong against run, setting edge
2. Sean Smith, DB (Miami) - Safety size with CB speed
3. LaRon Landry, S (NY Jets) - feared across middle and in run support; attitude
4. Shawne Merriman, OLB (Buffalo) - can lightning strike twice? Might help to be exposed to winning culture.
5. Terrance Knighton, DT (Jacksonville) - nickname is "Pot Roast"; another big, run-down body
6. Victor Butler, OLB (Dallas) - replacement for Walden, faster than Moses
7. Jason Jones, DE (Seattle) - again, tall, long arms; can set edge.
8. Bradley Fletcher, DB (St. Louis) - good size/speed guy; buried on depth chart
9. Louis Delmas, S (Detroit) - addition-by-subtraction, more so than anything; feared across the middle
10. Keith Rivers, LB (NY Giants) - don't you just need to take a flyer on this guy?
11. Kenny Phillips, DB (NY Giants) - perfect size/speed for Safety in Capers's scheme. Why not?
12. Antwan Barnes, LB (San Diego) - pass rushing specialist out of 3-4
13. Antoine Cason, DB (San Diego) - perfect size/speed; experience in 3-4

Blogger!

Well, that sucked. I was trying the new Blogger iPad app and it ate a blog entry I was drafting. Spent about 2 hours on it analyzing potential Packers free agents.

2012 Resolutions - So How Did I Do?

So, I listed 12 resolutions for 2012.  Seeing as it is 10:45 AM on December 31, I am guessing now would be a good time to review how well I did.

1.  Volunteer 4 times this year.  FAIL.  I didn't volunteer once.  :(
2.  Travel to a foreign country.  FAIL.
3.  Travel to a state I have not yet been to.  FAIL.
4.  Eliminate the Puka Shells.  SUCCESS!  No longer wear 'em.  I will wear some beads every once in a while, but that is rare.
5.  Go Fishing.  FAIL.  Not once.
6.  Shoot a gun.  SUCCESS!  Went out in late January 2012 and shot a hand gun, rifle, shot gun, and even a semi-automatic.  It was a fun day.
7.  Brew some beer.  SUCCESS!  I have a pilsner that will be ready for bottling next weekend and consumption in early February.
8.  Make the basement into a usable space.  SUCCESS!  We cleaned it up and organized it.  However, I don't know how much more functional it can get other than storage.
9.  Grow grapes.  SUCCESS!  I am actually looking to build a 3 tiered trellis for the vines to spread out in 2013.
10.  Movie Night.  FAIL.  We went to the movies 4 times - The Artist, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and Skyfall.
11.  Eat more carrots.  SUCCESS!  So much so that I actually got a stomach ache.
12.  Meet Aaron Rodgers.  FAIL.  I made no attempt.

Overall, 6 out of 12.  Pathetic.  How did you do?

I will post my new resolutions for 2013 tomorrow.  Let me know any commitments you think I should try to make.

Define "Domestic Terrorists"