Take ME to Orlando!

Oh, yes, there’s nothing like a sweet, sunny Orlando vacation to give you the super relaxing and fun time you’re looking for. I just have a major fascination with Orlando vacations. I’m just like everyone else, I guess – just searching for that sensation that comes with getting to the Sunshine State, kicking back in the sun and having an incredible time. The people are great, the food is fantastic, the days are hot and the nights are cool. There’s just so much to do in Orlando, especially during the summer months. Orlando has it all, baby – Disney World, Epcot Center, golf, concerts, sporting events, sightseeing, and so much more.

There's No Suing in Baseball!

Bonds is suing fellow players now? This could open up a whole can of worms. Sportswriters and announcers will be getting slapped with suits right and left for criticizing athletes. Bonds is going to ruffle a lot of feathers with this one, because everyone knows that there’s no suing in baseball.

One of the great things about sports is that attorneys aren’t good at them. Sure, they negotiate players’ contracts and are behind the scenes, but that’s their role and it’s very limited. Now, lawyers will be suing other athletes on behalf of their player clients and it is going to get ugly.

This article appeared yesterday in The Boston Globe:

Curt Schilling expressed no emotion yesterday after being informed that attorneys representing slugger Barry Bonds may be targeting the Red Sox pitcher for comments he made about the San Francisco Giants to HBO’s Bob Costas.

In a joint statement, attorneys Todd Schneider and John Burris said they are representing Bonds “in connection with legal issues arising from the myriad of false statements attributed to him by players, the media and others.”

Attorney Michael Rains, who has represented Bonds in the slugger’s ongoing BALCO steroids case, told the San Jose Mercury News, “This is directed at Schilling more than anybody. Schilling said some things that were inappropriate and potentially defamatory. I know it was upsetting to Barry. We talked about the issue and I know he was talking to some civil lawyers to put people on notice that he has someone defending him.”

Schilling, when told of the statement issued by Schneider and Burris, said, “I didn’t read it and I don’t have any comment about it. That’s not something I’m going to talk about.”

In a recent appearance on the HBO program “Costas Now,” Schilling brought up Kimberly Bell, a former mistress of Bonds who in 2000 testified before a grand jury about the slugger’s steroid use. She also testified that Bonds gave her money to buy a new home - money, she said, that came from baseball card shows that was not reported to the IRS

“If I wrote a book about Bob Costas and in that book I wrote about Bob Costas’ girlfriend being on the road, and Bob Costas giving that girlfriend card show money and I outlined your daily steroid regimen, I’ve got to believe your first line of defense is to sue my (butt) off,” Schilling told Costas.

In their joint statement, Schneider and Burris said they “want the public to know that Barry’s silence in the face of the accusations should not be construed as an admission of any kind. In fact, Mr. Bonds retained Schneider and Burris because of the false nature of these statements. While pursuing Hank Aaron’s home run record, Barry felt that it was more prudent to remain silent. Now that the record has been broken, Burris and Schneider will evaluate any and all statements attributed to him that are false. His attorneys are particularly concerned about individuals profiting from his accomplishments by attributing statements and/or conversations to him that never occurred.”

In the aftermath of the Schilling interview on HBO, Bonds referred to Costas as “a midget who knows (nothing) about baseball,” and said, “Don’t worry, my day will come.”

If Schneider and Burris are to be believed, that day may have arrived.

In their statement, Schneider and Burris said, “Certain members of the public and of the media are attempting to personally profit by making false and misleading comments about Mr. Bonds. This conduct has to stop and should not be tolerated by a society which prides itself on free, open and fair public dialogue.”

Doing Laundry Can Be Exhausting

Now Vick's Getting Sued

One day after Michael Vick was offered a plea agreement that would send him to jail for approximately one year, now he has a civil suit on his hands. This sounds ridiculous and probably doesn’t have any merit. When I first read it, I thought it might be a prank.
Vick has been accused of a lot of different things, but up until now, no one has questioned his allegiance to the United States. This suit appears to be a case of someone piling on. I’d like to get a little more background on this inmate to determine if this suit has any validity at all. I doubt it does.
Here is the story as it appeared on ESPN.com:
Embattled NFL quarterback Michael Vick, facing federal charges related to his alleged participation in dog fighting, has been hit with a "$63,000,000,000 billion dollar" lawsuit filed by a South Carolina inmate who alleges the Atlanta Falcons star stole his pit bulls and sold them on eBay to buy "missiles from Iran," FOX News has learned.
Jonathan Lee Riches filed the handwritten complaint over "theft and abuse of my animals" on July 23.
Riches alleges that Vick stole two white mixed pit bull dogs from his home in Holiday, Fla., and used them for dog fighting operations in Richmond, Va. The complaint goes on to allege that Vick sold the dogs on eBay and “used the proceeds to purchase missiles from the Iran government.”
The complaint also alleges that Vick would need those missiles because he pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in February of this year.
“Michael Vick has to stop physically hurting my feelings and dashing my hopes,” Riches writes in the complaint.
Riches wants $63 billion dollars “backed by gold and silver “delivered to the front gates to the Williamsburg Federal Correctional facility in South Carolina. Riches is an inmate at the facility serving out a wire fraud conviction.
Vick's attorneys, meanwhile, are negotiating a plea deal with federal prosecutors before new dog fighting charges are filed next week, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
No plea agreement involving Atlanta Falcons quarterback Vick has been filed, according to the court clerk, FOX News has learned.
Vick was accused of being involved in a dog fighting ring called "Bad Newz Kennels" run on property he owned in Surry County, Va. In late July, Vick pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities, and conspiring to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture in a Richmond, Va., court.
Vick could reach an agreement ahead of new charges expected to come down next week after two more of Vick's three co-defendants prepare to enter guilty pleas later this week. By reaching a plea agreement, Vick could avoid any additional charges.

"Viva El Tigre!"

Unless he experiences a complete and total meltdown, Tiger Woods is on course to become the greatest golfer in the history of the sport within the next five years. After that, it’s likely he will set a record for winning major tournaments that will put him in the stratosphere of PGA history.
One of the great things about Tiger is that he’s a great role model, a solid citizen and a family man. People have searched long and hard to find chinks in the man’s armor, but they don’t exist. He lives to play golf and has dominated the sport since the day he turned pro.
Some fellow pro golfers and sportswriters occasionally whine and openly admit that they’d like to see someone come along and knock Tiger off his pedestal. They’re tired of seeing Tiger sin, they say. He’s taken a very difficult and trying sport – one most human beings can’t play well – and made it look easy. This frustrates people and they lash out sometimes.
I say “Viva El Tigre!” I hope he wins until he’s 100 years old if he wants to play that long. I can’t wait to see him cleaning house on the Senior Tour. I will never tire of his excellence. Every time he turns the rest of the field into pretenders, I smile from ear-to-ear.
Tiger’s fourth PGA Championship victory moved him one closer to the all-time record for winning majors, a chase that should dominate the sport's attention over the next two, three, maybe four years, at most.
He has won 13 times in 44 majors as a professional (Nicklaus won 11 in his first 44). If Woods maintains that pace, you had better get your tickets right now to the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco – just up the road from Stanford, where Woods went to school – because that's when he's going to tie it.
Except it won't take that long. Like his first name might imply, Woods is at his best when he's about to pounce, about to go for the kill. He tends to refocus, redouble his efforts and leave the rest of the field realizing they never stood a chance.
And there isn't going to be anything Tiger Woods wants more than his 18th major. Except, of course, his 19th.
"Well, when you first start your career, 18 is just a long way away," he said. "And even though I'm at 13, it's still a long way away. You can't get it done in one year.
"It's one of those things where it's going to take some time. And hopefully health permitting and everything goes right and I keep improving, that I'll one day surpass that."
That's a nice, humble sentiment, but the way Woods is playing now, "one day" is going to come one day soon.
If anything, his recent 5-for-22 stretch in majors (starting after his 2002 U.S. Open win at Bethpage Black) may prove to be a slow period in his career. It included dealing with a swing change, some possibly inferior Nike equipment (at least according to Phil Mickelson) and the illness and death of his father.
That's all behind him now. Maybe it's no surprise that in his last six majors he won three times and finished second twice.
Tiger is at the absolute top of his game right now, both physically and mentally. He actually claims he is (gasp) "improving." Asked if he was better than in 2000, he didn't hesitate.
"By far," he said. "Just experience. Understanding how to handle it and how to manage my game around the golf course. I have more shots than I did then just because (he has had) that many more years to learn them. And how to make adjustments on the fly just comes with experience.
"And I'll say the same thing seven years from now – more experienced then than I am now. It makes things a little bit (easier) coming down the stretch.
"You look back then; I hit the ball long, I hit it high (but) didn't really do a lot with the golf ball. I tried to, but I didn't really have an understanding how to just do it."
As he showed this week, there doesn't seem to be a shot he doesn't possess, a challenge he hasn't already faced or an external circumstance he can't overcome.
There are essentially no questions left. People tried to make a big deal that Southern Hills, with its crooked fairways, was Tiger-proof. "I don't understand why people kept saying that," Woods said. They won't again after he shot a major record-tying 63 on Friday and virtually coasted to the title the rest of the way.
And any thought that diaper duty as a new father might rattle him was finished here. He called meeting his wife and baby daughter after the round "more special" than any other celebration, which means, if anything, he now might be more motivated.
The only question is whether he can hit the accelerator and make quick work of this run toward the record and then work on putting it into the stratosphere.
He has plenty of time. Nicklaus won his last major at 46, a thrilling victory at the 1986 Masters. Woods is in far superior physical condition than Nicklaus ever was, and it is nothing to think he can remain an elite competitor until he is, say, 45. Vijay Singh is 44, and he has won twice on the tour this year and is the seventh-ranked golfer in the world. The runner-up here, Woody Austin, is 43.
If he is an elite player until only his 45th birthday, he'll have 52 more chances to win just the five majors needed to tie and six to break Nicklaus' record. Think he can win one out of every 10? Please.
If he were to maintain just his recent pace – five wins in his last 22 majors – he'll wind up with a breathtaking 24 or 25 majors before he turns 46. If he gets better, he may soar past 30.
"I certainly believe there is an art to winning," he said. "I've been in so many different circumstances to try and win championships, to win tournaments that you start getting a feel how to do it."
About the only thing that could derail him is boredom or, say, pursuit of becoming president of the United States. He may, indeed, one day become president. But this guy never is going to get bored of winning.
Perhaps this is when the charge to the record becomes official. Tiger is close now, a big year from pulling this into his sights. Next year starts beautifully for him, at Augusta, where he seemingly always is in contention, and the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, where he has won five times in the last nine years.
History is coming now. Sooner, perhaps, than even Tiger Woods realizes.
(Portions of this article came from cbssportsline.)

If You're Not Thinking About Fixed Asset Accounting Concerns Right Now, My Question To You Is -- WHY NOT!!

There are a lot of fixed asset managers out there as we speak who attempt to calculate depreciation using spreadsheets that they must program and update manually and by hand. This is an archaic way of doing things and these managers are not on the leading edge, to say the very least. Creating deprecation spreadsheets requires an incredible and painstaking expenditure of time and many problems can rear their ugly head. http://www.fixedassetsoftware.com/ wants to assist you in getting off your spreadsheets and make your life of fixed asset accounting simple. Their Sage FAS® software can inexpensively streamline your fixed asset depreciation and asset inventory tracking activities for lower cost and increased productivity. The whole kit and kaboodle is easy to install, customize, and use. FAS solutions are comprehensive, seamlessly integrated fixed asset management systems perfectly suited for businesses of any size.

Diamonds: Everything Else is Second Best!

Diamond rings are what makes the world go round. Marriages, engagements, graduations, anniversaries – every really special occasion is accompanied by a diamond ring. Rubies, pearls, gold, silver – sure, they’re nice. But, when you want to really go with the absolute finest, a diamond is the one and only way to go. Everything else is a distant second. Whenever I see a beautiful, sparkling diamond, I think to myself – like Louie Armstrong said – it IS a wonderful world!

Stuffed Jungle Animals at www.thejunglestore.com

I love stuffed animals and one of the best places to buy them online is at http://www.thejunglestore.com/. I had a girlfriend in high school who loved giraffes. A buddy of mine collects elephant-related items. Whether you like pandas, leopards, tigers, lions, bears, monkeys, hippos, gorillas, rhinos – you name it, they have it at http://www.thejunglestore.com/. They also have endangered species stuffed animals, which is great. Did you know that the bald eagle was recently taken off the endangered species list? I think that’s awesome!

Jenks is White Sox Hot!

Bobby Jenks exited the White Sox clubhouse almost as fast as he's been setting down batters over the last few weeks. The Chicago closer retired the side in the ninth last night in the White Sox 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners, his 33rd save in 38 chances. He's set down 38 straight batters, tying David Wells' American League record set in 1998 with the New York Yankees.
It's the fourth-longest streak in major league history.
"That's unbelievable," said White Sox starter Javier Vazquez. "That's tough to do, especially in (that) situation."
Jenks has been providing game-ending shutdowns on a consistent basis all season, but his latest run is definitely impressive. Jenks doesn’t get a ton of press – he just goes about his business in a calm, methodical manner. He’s not out late at night partying or chasing groupies and is a man of few words. Jenks is beloved by his teammates and respected throughout the league as a solid individual and a team player, something that’s more and more of a rarity in today’s sports world.
Jenks did not make himself available to the media afterward because he did not want to discuss the streak, a team spokesman said. He's three batters away from tying the record Jim Barr set for San Francisco in 1972.
Josh Fields hit two homers, Jermaine Dye went deep and Juan Uribe doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh for the White Sox, who have won seven of nine against four teams in playoff contention: the New York Yankees, the Detroit Tigers, the Cleveland Indians and the Mariners.
Vazquez (10-6) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings, struck out three and allowed one intentional walk. He improved to 7-1 in his last 10 starts and has won at least 10 games in eight straight seasons.
Kenji Johjima and Raul Ibanez hit solo shots for the Mariners, who trail the Los Angeles Angels by 3 1/2 games in the AL West and are tied with the Yankees atop the wild-card standings.
three-game sweep, but didn't give much run support to Jarrod Washburn (8-9) in Chicago.
The left-hander allowed seven hits and five runs in 6 2-3 innings to lose his second straight and third in six starts. He struck out six, walked two and has not won since pitching eight shutout innings at Kansas City on July 4.
"The whole game I felt like I threw better than I have in quite a while," Washburn said. "I've been struggling a little bit, not throwing the ball that great. For the most part, I thought I threw the ball real well today."
Manager John McLaren said, "He had some crisp pitches, and he pitched well enough to win. He deserved a better fate than that."
Tied at 3, the Mariners failed to capitalize after loading the bases with one out in the seventh and paid for it in the bottom half.
Dye led off with a single and came around on Uribe's double off the wall in left, making it 4-3. Uribe advanced to third on the throw home and scored with two out on Darin Erstad's triple to shallow center, the ball rolling by a diving Ichiro Suzuki.
Dye homered in the second, and Fields went deep in the third and sixth — his first multi-homer game.
(Portions of this article were taken from yahoo.com, espn.com and mlb.com.)

Stars Removed from Hollywood's Walk of Fame

It's another story of stoned celebrities going through rehab. Only these are real stars.Sixty-one stars from the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles - including those of Charlton Heston, Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Frank Sinatra - have been removed and stored while a $500-million hotel-shopping-housing project is built on Vine Street near Hollywood Boulevard.

“We pulled Heston’s star because of Soylent Green and Planet of the Apes,” said Official Academy Wannabe Richard Liss. “Cary Grant got the axe for Houseboat and Charade and Clark Gable was pulled because of Mogambo and To Please a Lady and for the fact that he had really bad teeth. We 86’ed Sinatra for On the Town, all of the Oceans movies and for the simple reason that he punched out way too many people during his career.”

Eight of the terrazzo star squares crumbled as they were removed from the walkway."We saved the brass. They'll be rebuilt," said Tim Maxwell, project manager for Webcor Builders, which is involved in the construction project.The stars were placed in a secure warehouse, where they'll remain until the project is completed in 2009.The removal of the stars and the closure of a half-block near the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine has angered some people."This was done for a private developer. This was not done for the public's interest, like when the stars were removed back in the '90s for the Metro Red Line (subway) construction," said John Walsh, a longtime Hollywood activist. "Closing down sidewalks for years at a time like they do here would never happen in New York City."

The sidewalk needed reconstruction because it was improperly sloped and didn't meet federal requirements for providing access for wheelchairs, said Ken Summers, project director for Webcor Builders. The new sidewalk will be flatter, he said.